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I thought I would share a reflection this week from a portfolio I recently published for a capstone class.

I am deeply satisfied with and appreciative of the education I have received at Penn State. My coursework in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, and my experiences in the Schreyer Honors College, the Presidential Leadership Academy, and the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship Program have all helped me grow as an individual. As follows is a reflection on how these experiences have shaped my development as an individual at Penn State, as well as the ways they have contributed to my objectives as an individual and a professional moving forwards.

1. Personal Development

Above all else, my experiences at Penn State have helped me to learn how to more effectively interact with people with a variety of personality types. Learning how to work more effectively with others has indeed been perhaps the most valuable form of education I have obtained at Penn State, and the education for which I am perhaps most appreciative.

Working with others has also made me more aware of my own strengths and weaknesses as an individual, and more confident in my ability to contribute to group work with my unique combination of interests. Along this line of thought, I have learned that all sorts of people can contribute productively to larger projects without individually possessing all of the skills required to complete the project.

Finally, as I have spent more time at Penn State than at any previous stage of my academic life working on large, collaborative projects, I believe that I have grown into a much more patient individual than I was at the beginning of college. I mean this in the sense primarily with respect to myself, rather than others. I have grown to become much more comfortable realizing that large tasks cannot be accomplished immediately, but must be tackled slowly, piece by piece. I have become much more adept at breaking down large projects into smaller, manageable components, and then accepting that, although I may not be able to finish a large project quickly, I will ultimately be able to produce good work and complete my work in an effective manner by completing these smaller tasks one by one.

2. Professional Development

First, a significant number of the projects I have worked on at Penn State have required me to speak about my work in a public setting. These talks have taken the form of class presentations, poster presentations, as well as talks to larger audiences. All have helped me to improve my public speaking enormously. I have always enjoyed public speaking, and in fact participated in debate throughout high school because of my interest in it. The presentations I have given in my four years at Penn State have helped me hone this invaluable skill, and I have confidence it will continue to serve me well throughout my professional life. One of my favorite presentations that I have given in college, working the lab of Dr. Donald Defranco at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to determine the effects of the drug dexamethasone on neonatal development, can be found here.

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Next, through HESE, I was fortunate enough to attend the the Global Humanitarian Technologies Conference hosted by the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers in Seattle. This was my first experience attending a professional conference outside of Penn State, and it helped me appreciate the merit of conferences as a tool for professional development. At the conference, I was able to interact with an enormous number of students and academics in the fields pertaining to and outside of the research I helped conduct at Penn State. Having this sort of a positive experience early on has definitely made enthusiastic to consider similar experiences in the future. Above is an image of one of the many fantastic keynote speakers from the conference, discussing the politics of disaster relief.

Finally, my various experiences at Penn State have helped me become more confident interacting with other professionals in a variety of fields. I have worked with graduate students, post-doctoral students, professors, deans, and executives as a Penn State student, and this variety of experience has given me the confidence to interact and collaborate with a diverse array of professionals after I graduate.

3. Short-Term and Long-Term Career Trajectory

My next professional goal after graduating from Penn State is to attend medical school. I am interested in using my degree as a professional both to treat patients as well as to conduct medical research. The interdisciplinary education I have sought out at Penn State through the aforementioned experiences has been invaluable in cultivating this interest in combining academic research and its application in medicine, and preparing me to effectively combine them as a professional. In a recent conversation with one of my favorite professors at Penn State, the poet Dr. Robin Becker, she attested that even she, as a professional in a field demanding a high degree of specialization, would be less fulfilled if she only ever had one trajectory as a professional. I empathize entirely, and have always had interests in diverse areas. It has been essential for me to learn to balance my interests, and how to dedicate appropriate amounts of time to each of them. This has been perhaps the central challenge I have faced as a developing individual at Penn State. I still have room for growth in this respect, but I nonetheless feel I have built a strong foundation for myself through my education at Penn State.

More specifically, the education I have received at Penn State has given me a fantastic background in conducting academic research. As an undergraduate, I have been fortunate enough to conduct independent research, present my findings at poster sessions, talks, and conferences, and even publish some of my work in peer-reviewed journals. Because of the education I have received, I am fairly certain I want research to be a central component of my career, either in a manner directly related to my career as a physician, or more peripherally, relating to the interests I have developed as an undergraduate in areas like Neuroscience, Biochemistry, and Humanitarian Engineering.

Finally, my education at Penn State has taught me that very rarely do professionals achieve their goals by following straight paths. As an undergraduate, I have become better at trying multiple paths before deciding the one to follow, and learned that this skill will most likely be indispensable to me as a professional. I have experienced many twists and turns to my professional development at Penn State, and I expect to find many more after I graduate, in medical school, and in my life as a physician. I can say with confidence now in a way I could not four years ago that I am prepared to take on each of these challenges as I encounter them. I could not be more thankful to Penn State for giving me the foundation to do so.