Blog Post #3 by Kristi Xing
In the past month, we have had to completely redirect the trajectory of our project. Once we realized that the way we were going was not panning out as we hoped, we went back to the foundational hypothesis of the project and brainstormed our algorithm for two hours. When it was over, we had a new project outline, with new goals and a better understanding of our hypothesis. That whole experience taught me that science is very rarely a straightforward discovery process, but because of that, we learn a lot more about what we are studying through the ups and downs of conducting research. I also learned what it was like to conduct experiments that are not successful, and to be able to move on from that with a better understanding of our scope of research.
With this experience, I have also learned a lot more about myself, and what I enjoy doing and would like to pursue in a career. Throughout this project, I have really valued sharing and collaborating with people in order to create new ideas. The creativity, in combination with problem-solving approaches, produces the thrill of creating something new. In the future, I would like to pursue that thrill in my career, so I have learned that innovation is a part of myself that I would like to utilize in my future career path.
Academically, and knowledge-wise, this project has pushed me beyond my comfort zone. Before this, I had taken a couple computer science projects in high school, as well as a semester-long Intro to Python course, but I had always struggled with being able to apply it or even visualize how to use these skills outside the classroom. This project was hard-core coding, with many aspects that seemed very daunting. I had no clue what a virtual environment was, how to use Github to collaborate on projects, or even what to download to run Python. Because I had so many questions, it was daunting to approach the grad student I was working with (though he was very patient and nice), and so many of these things I had to figure out on my own. Although it was time-consuming, frustrating, and confusing, I now feel like the computer-science realm is much less intimidating to me. I definitely do not know everything, or anything close to everything, but I now feel like I could figure it out if need be, and that’s pretty powerful in my opinion.
