Michael Mu is a Senior majoring in Biology. He was awarded a Fall 2019 Independent Grant which she used to attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
I joined the Pallas Lab more than 3 years ago, pretty much right when I started my college journey at Emory. It’s definitely been one of the highlights of my undergraduate career, and has factored in heavily in my decision to do an honors thesis, as well as apply to MD/PhD programs.
The Pallas Lab ExperienceTM is a unique one for sure. It is an all-undergraduate lab, meaning that, throughout the last several years I’ve been a part of the lab, anywhere from 10 to even 25 college students chip in a bit of their time every week to take care of pretty much all of the lab’s experiments as well as day-to-day functions. This has both upsides and downsides. The cons are clear—for one, we have to face the daily challenge of maintaining lab upkeep, even taking responsibility for ordering supplies or contacting companies for replacement parts for equipment that seems to constantly be breaking down. There is also the challenge of keeping up efficient and organized communication and coordination, as each of us only has limited time each week so that we often have to cover for each other and finish each other’s tasks and experiments, through which many miscommunications can occur. And we have to do all of this without getting paid (although I think it is true that most undergraduate researchers don’t get paid).
However, there are just as many pros. We get more of Dr. Pallas’ attention, expertise, and advice, as he constantly teaches us new techniques and strategies for how to function optimally as a researcher. His outstanding mentorship is probably what can actually make some of the cons turn into pros, as instead of facing all those challenges alone, we have someone who can back us up and show us the ropes when we fail, thus making every day an effective learning experience.
And most importantly of all, we get to do what many undergraduates don’t get to do—lead ourselves in our own independent projects and research investigations. The decisions I have gotten to make on my very own project, and the freedom to take it in any direction I can imagine (within scientific and monetary reason, of course), have at once been the most rewarding, and most frustrating experiences of my years at Emory, due to the many times when my data came up negative, when I spent sometimes entire summers chasing a hypothesis only to come up empty-handed.
But although research is often never as easy as “eureka!” in a bathtub, it is because of this fact that I find it so fulfilling. Although success may bring short-term satisfaction, in the long term I crave a lifestyle where something new comes up at every turn to keep me lively and on my toes. I like research because although it’s full of plot twists and road blocks, a hard-fought climb makes the view at the top of mountain that much sweeter.
Thus, I am grateful to Dr. Pallas, to my fellow undergraduates whom I’ve worked under, learned from, struggled with, and shared laughs and jokes with, and to my time in lab all these years. Although I am looking to pursue a different area of research in the future, my experience in lab has taught me much about the scientific process and given me the foundation for conducting quality research. It has also convinced me of the power of research and the many incredible aspects of science, of discovering science for myself—for sure, it is a voyage worth traveling, a page worth turning in an adventure book that no one has ever read before.
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