My name is Jesse Parent and I’m a graduating Informatics senior in Dr. Scimemi’s Neuroscience lab. I am actually a non-traditional 'transfer' student who went back to school for a STEM career change. I originally came to UAlbany because it was an online-only degree and I had to work during the day. Fortunately, I had a flexible enough to work and slowly gain more research experience over time, and upon recommendation I found my way into this lab. I started last semester in the Fall.
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| My first outreach at the Brain Awareness Day 2018 at Bethlehem High School (Delmar, NY) |
What an experience it has been! I would encourage anyone interested in cross-disciplinary research or applying computer science or informatics to biology to try it out. A lab like Dr. Scimemi's is open and welcoming and there are a lot of different ways to contribute - even if you have little background in Neuroscience. I wasn't sure how much real biology I would touch upon during my time in the lab; when I showed up, there was strange looking grey box and some parts to assemble and I spent several months setting up that hardware and related software. But the neuroscience was there: my first project involved using custom telemetry for electroencephalograms (EEG) to interpret brain activity in mice.
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| Our lab at the 2018 Society for Neuroscience Hudson-Berkshire Chapter Meeting (Scotia, NY) |
One of my favorite things about undergraduate research is that the learning is much more raw, and real. It's a challenge, and sometimes (or a lot of times) you are dealing with questions that nobody knows the answer to - unlike your typical classroom lecture. But you have to stay humble and persistent. I was humbled often by thinking I had solutions that weren't solutions, and I had no way of knowing they weren't solutions until I asked the right question. Sometimes you won’t know which question is helpful - but it's OK! That's part of the process; just keep communicating where you are along the way - this was one of my first Big Lessons.
Not being a natural science major, I gained a lot of respect with real life challenges of "doing science", and having to know the "full stack" of science. That is, having to know the ‘why’ at all of the different levels, from where to put electrodes, to how the signal is transmitted and converted into what the software reads out, how to process that data to illustrate what we're looking at, why we're looking at this subject specifically, and how all of this relates to a particular issue within the field. A formative experience was my first lab report, an in-house presentation of what had done so far in the lab. During your first life science presentation, you make mistakes and learn a lot. There's a precision and familiarity that comes with each specific field of study, and I've only touched upon what that is in neuroscience. It has been like painting: setting a primer coat on for the first time - a bit messy, but I feel confident about building upon it in the future. Experiences like this really make undergraduate research worth it, in my opinion.
I have been a part of research teams in four different departments on campus (which actually my secondary agenda for coming to UAlbany; previous institutions I attended did not have this diversity in undergraduate research opportunities). If you are at all considering doing research, I must encourage you to do so. The Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (CURCE) has really developed nicely and its staff are exceedingly helpful. I actually received two grants from CURCE for some of my other independent research projects! If you are interested in biology and neuroscience, definitely check out Scimemi Lab. When your PI gives you room to try and fail, explore, and is willing to invest in you as a student and cares about your career future, it makes a big difference in your lab experience and how you feel about the subject matter.
The best mentors and PIs will help you capture enthusiasm while helping you get a lay of the land, and I really wish everyone can experience that in their undergraduate studies. It changes how you view understanding, how you see yourself in the process of education, and gives you a glimpse of how hard it is to build knowledge. Maybe, like me, you discover you like this process and want to work at contributing to the what knowledge we have. Having great labmates around you help, too - which was a part of this lab experience for me. Previously, I worked one-on-one or in isolated pairings, but this open lab atmosphere and ability to communicate and be next to others “in the trenches” - it was really my favorite environment so far. There are overlapping, interesting projects, and some of the best moments are the side conversations that offer perspective and insight into other’s situations - or at least commiserating about The Struggle of science!
My secondary project involves setting up an open-sourced MySQL-based database to automate some of the downstream computations involved in processing large batches of data. Being able to work with new software, hardware, databases, documentation, talking with creators/inventors of devices, and trying to relate all of this understanding functionally to the lab has absolutely been challenging, but it has also been great training and exposure to lab life. Of course, it is a lot of fun, too; it lets you feel like you are voyaging out on the great sea of understanding, and you have your role, your mission and you have to play your part. You have good days and bad days in the lab, but that's all part of the journey.
I wish I started sooner so I'd have more time in the lab and get more experience in a biology environment. It has helped me solidify that I want to take my informatics training towards biology, rather than leaning purely towards computer science. Particularly, the area of computational cognitive neuroscience or the computation that underpins cognition and information processing. I hope to pursue graduate research on that topic, and will be involved in summer research on representational brains and phenotype, modeling neural development.
Outside of the lab, I’ve worked on research projects in Informatics (Autonomous Systems and Machine Learning), Cybersecurity, and Electrical & Computer Engineering (Human-Robot Interaction); I’ve been involved in student tech groups such as IEEE, ACM & ACM-W, ASIS&T; UAlbany Students Stopping Trafficking & Exploitation of People (SSTEP); and e-NABLE (simple prosthetic hands for those in need). I also frequently bothered folks via departmental list servs about cool events such as Princeton Envision Conference, Machine Intelligence Conference, Ethics of AI, or New York Celebration of Women in Computing. There’s are many quality opportunities locally (and Dr. Scimemi is a great facilitator of opportunities for you to develop your skills and provide outreach for the community). Get involved!
Feel free to connect on Twitter @JesParent, and good luck on your journey of understanding!
Jesse Parent
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