This internship has been very connected to what I’ve learned so far in school. First of all, all of the neuroscience I learned in biology this year, and the trigonometry I learned in math have come in handy more times than I care to count. But beyond the actual content I’ve learned, the soft skills I’ve developed at HTH have been helpful. For instance, I’ve noticed that the self pacing I’ve learned at HTH is vital in a real job, where there’s almost no structure to the day. Though I had a slightly rocky start, as I got used to pacing my work, I’ve become far more productive (and less bored, because I’m consciously choosing to not just work at one thing all day). Another HTH skill that I’ve found really useful in my job is research. I’m pretty independent at my job - I have a daily meeting with my mentor, and then I’m left to do whatever task he assigned me - so I’ve had to rely on my research skills to look up minor things I need help on. That means that if I really do have a problem with something, I can ask my mentor for help after I’ve troubleshooted it myself.
Through the interviews I conducted (and also regular conversations I’ve been a part of), I’ve decided that the mission of the Salk Institute is to further science. Whether that be for curiosity, battling ailments like cancer, or even other things like architecture and theatre, it depends on the lab, and the person.
Something fun that’s happened in my internship has been talking with my colleagues. Though I was pretty intimidated at first, (these people are so much smarter, older, and more experienced than me!) I’ve started to really enjoy talking with them, about science, or even random stuff. Many of my colleagues have recommended books for me to read, and one of them even lent me her copy of a book that she heard me and someone else talking about (The Astonishing Hypothesis, by Francis Crick). Another fun thing that I’ve been told about is an office tradition, where the new employee has to bring in some pie-like dessert (it’s aptly named “new-guy pie”). I plan to bake a pie over the weekend, pictures will undoubtable appear here.
I’m actually taking a mix of the Sprinter, Coaster, busses, and my own two feet to get to and from my internship. I’m travelling from Oceanside to the Salk, which ends up being about a two hour long journey (from the moment I leave the house to when I arrive at Salk). I’ve actually really enjoyed it so far. Minus the weird people, I’ve really liked having some time in the mornings and afternoons to read, listen to music, or decompress, without having to pay attention to the road (like in a car). And I’ve even discovered that another student takes the same Coaster as me, albeit with different stops, so we’ve decided to try to find each other if we can.
Some skills I’m learning at my internship are MATLAB (I’ve actually gotten pretty good at basic things), Fourier math concepts, and a working knowledge of visual perception and neuroscience. I’ve mostly been getting this knowledge from books, the internet, and talking to my mentors/people in the lab.