Practicum Reflection Essay
For my practicum project, I interned at Dr. Sujay Kaushal’s biogeochemistry laboratory in the biochemistry building here at the University of Maryland, College Park. I was lucky enough to get in touch with Dr. Kaushal through a family friend who received their PhD in Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland, and therefore, had worked with Dr. Kaushal before. However, I still had to email Dr. Kaushal on my own time and introduced myself individually, I was only provided contact information from the family friend. I will admit, at first I was very nervous to reach out, as many future practicum scholars will be when deciding their project. The best way to contact a professor is to be respectful, keep the message short, and make the request you have as clear as possible. I recommend including that you are a college park scholar looking to complete your practicum so expectations are appropriately set. It is important to acknowledge that professors are extremely busy people, so it should not be taken personally if a response is not received. There are many professors on campus that run a variety of interesting labs, so it will never hurt to reach out to as many as possible. The more, the better, because there is a higher chance of securing an internship and establishing a practicum project. Never be scared to reach out, some professors actually get enthusiastic about seeing younger students interested in their research.
For my internship, I was in charge of collecting stream samples from the surrounding watershed, filtering out debris from the samples, and acidifying them with nitric acid to prepare for analysis in a variety of instruments. Also, I assisted with data upkeep and organization, as well as acid washing of lab equipment. Going into this internship, I did not know much about biogeochemistry or what it covered. The longer I worked in the lab, the more I understood. Biogeochemistry covers a range of scientific elements and how they impact environmental factors and surrounding ecosystems. The 'bio' refers to the microbial ecosystems that may be impacted through anthropogenic activities. The lab often monitored these through temperature and saturated oxygen levels (indication of photosynthesis). The 'geo' refers to the debris and geology of the watershed, covering what kind of rocks and minerals may end up as debris in streams based on runoff from surrounding areas. The 'chemistry' covers elemental concentrations within the water, such as sodium, phosphorus, nitrogen and sulfur. Anthropogenic activities can cause excess amounts of these elements in the water and lead to potential ecological issues such as eutrophication. All of these factors work in harmony to assess the health of a watershed, and analyze what we as a population can do differently to help reduce pollution that may lead to an unhealthy, dead stream. As an intern, I saw all of these elements working together when I would use a stream probe to collect saturated oxygen concentrations, filter housing to collect different debris, and saw the sample's data being generated through different machines, such as an Inductively Coupled Plasma Membrane Spectrometer (this helped detect different elements present in the sample).
Throughout the course of the practicum, I understood the importance of working as a team. Science is built off of collaboration, and not just with other scientists. The lab would collaborate with the university and government agencies to provide recommendations for approaching watershed restoration and conservation. Through the government agencies, new policies or laws could be established. Progress cannot be achieved just through a scientist identifying a problem and a solution. This applies to more than just environmental issues, but also medical and psychological. People of all careers and backgrounds must work together in order to build a solution and implement it accordingly. However, being in a team gave me a greater appreciation for how intelligent the people I was working with were. They constantly came up with new hypotheses and suggestions that were interesting to listen to. Not only did they communicate about science, but everyone in the lab were friends. No one was left out or left behind, making the scientific community feel much more welcoming. Despite my extremely positive experience at the lab, it opened my eyes to the reality of doing research. Going into my internship, I had my heart set on doing ecological and biological conservation research, specifically for wildlife. Yet, being in a research lab and seeing the amount of time spent on a screen analyzing data and writing papers was extremely unappealing to me. It was not as glamorous as I would have liked. I still wanted to help animals, and wildlife, in some manner, so I decided to keep my biology major, but switch to a pre-veterinary track with an interest in zoology and exotic care. This way, I can still help animals through treatment and rehabilitation, just with a more hands on manner. Once I am done with my bachelors, I hope to go to veterinary school. I still hold a strong passion for conservation, and I can certainly thank Science and Global Change for helping fuel that fire through education and application.
Thank you so much, College Park Scholars, for such an amazing experience.