I always had the inclination that I wanted to travel the world as I grew older, and I dreamed of pursuing a career that would allow me to do so. After taking AP Chemistry with Mr. D., I discovered a love for science and problem solving.
During my senior year, I decided to attend Northeastern University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, with which I will be graduating in the spring. I felt confident that I would find many opportunities to grow as a young scientist, engineer and researcher at Northeastern. Furthermore, this school was very appealing to me due to its Cooperative Education program, through which students are able to alternate semesters of learning in classrooms with full-time work in the form of internships or “co-ops”.
I completed my first co-op at the BioMicro Center at M.I.T. from July - December 2023. As a core genomics laboratory, the B.M.C. provides DNA sequencing services to researchers at M.I.T. and the surrounding areas. During my co-op, I worked in quality control and primarily operated the Fragment Analyzer and Femto Pulse machines. In short, I determined the fragment sizes/distributions and concentrations of the DNA/RNA samples that were submitted to us. This experience helped to lay the foundation for my benchtop laboratory and analytical skills. By the end of my time at the B.M.C., I had completely rewritten the protocols for both machines to reflect all that I had learned while working with them and to make the next co-op’s job easier.
