Tai Brass
The simplest way to describe my experience this summer would be to say that this program was so much fun! As a double major in microbiology and zoology, I certainly love learning, and working in such a supportive lab environment gave me the chance to learn a lot. Even outside of the lab, everybody involved in this program was so kind, and it was great to hear the experiences of undergraduates from other universities as well.
Before the start of the program, there’s this anticipation. There are people you don’t know, you might not know the campus very well, and you have to go through move-in and such. But once you get settled in, meet everyone, and see the laboratory, it all turns into excitement. There are so many ways you can spend your weekends as well as people from other programs to meet. The chance to spend more time on research was perfect for me to test my skills and learn new methods but being able to share that time with other scientists was different from anything that I’ve done before.
It's difficult to summarize the wide variety of experiences I got to be involved in this summer. You get a lot done in a single day, and then with regular field trips or webinars, it makes each week feel engaging and rewarding. I feel so much more prepared for whatever comes next! I couldn’t be more glad to have been a part of this years SURP, and I think I’ll find it difficult to find a program better than this one.