Gentner Lab- First Impressions

I was definitely nervous before starting my internship, because this was my first ever experience doing research in a lab. At the same time though, I was even more excited! The first week there, Vanessa and I were handed the box containing the new air sampler (which we would later use in collecting our air samples) and basically given the directions, “YOU become the experts”. Our project this summer would be all about experiential learning; instead of simply giving us answers or simply telling us how to use the device, our PI and others in the lab wanted us to delve into the task ourselves, and this was something that was especially exciting and surprising to me. It showed me that our project was truly OURS, and one that would contribute to the lab as a whole, and knowing this made it all the more fun, as did being able to get to know all the great people we would be working with.