This is a picture of my bench today while I was simultaneously preparing protein samples for a gel and quantifying the concentration of protein in the solutions. It is messy. It is far messier than my desk at school ever is. When I first arrived at the lab one of the first things that I noticed is that there was stuff everywhere. Now I understand why. A messy bench means science is happening.
I ran into a few bumps in the road today: solutions that weren’t working, gels that weren’t “polymerizing” (I’ve been trained to not say “solidifying” since this is inaccurate), and math. I’m not confident with math and had to find someone to check all of my calculations after I did them, which slowed me down. I was reminded, as I foundered with “simple” formulas like C1V1=C2V2, that the part of the value of this experience is getting out of my comfort zone. Some Fellows might have gotten queasy at the thought of white-water rafting. I get queasy at the prospect of math. I also get queasy at the sight of a messy desk, but I’m getting used to it.
I’m curious, fellow Fellows: how has this experience pushed you in ways you didn’t expect?
Great insight, I have to agree with the “messy bench” being indicative of science happening… Science can be messy! In response to your question; I was in math last year, and for the upcoming year I recently discovered I will be moved to science. I feel as if I was just getting confident in Math and now, it’s off to science. I began this externship with a whole host of math lessons in mind, speaking of comfort zones… and now I will be shifting gears, onto the world of 7th grade Science. The externship has not really forced me outside of my area of comfort, how ever circumstances have!
My externship is really getting me out of my comfort zone, even within my comfort zone… that sounded weird, so let me explain. Math is my comfort zone. I love math, I love teaching it and learning it, I love everything about it. But within math, statistics is my weakest area, the place where I start to feel uneasy, and my externship is in a STATISTICAL research institute! I’ve learned that while there is such a thing as a stupid question, I can’t be afraid to ask it. So what if I forgot some basic thing that makes my mentor’s eyes roll (not really, but I imagine they are in his mind) when I ask for clarification? I’m learning that I have to stomach a little bit of embarrassment to ask for the help I need. It’s enabling me to learn very quickly and do stuff that’s actually pretty impressive considering I’m only on day 10 of this.
I know the feeling. I’ve definitely made a few hilariously obvious mistakes during my time in the lab. Fortunately the team is super patient with me! It’s interesting to encounter something new that is second nature to the people that you’re working with. On like my second day my mentor said: “Make a 10x solution of BSA for our binding buffer. I’ll be right back.” When she came back I was just standing there…and we both started laughing.