Did I Choose Research or Did Research Choose Me?

In the fall semester of freshman year, I applied for and got my research opportunity. I would be

working in the Wenqin Luo lab in the Perelman Department of Neuroscience. Her lab focuses on

studying somatosensory behavior in mice, with a special interest in itch behavior. I was so

excited to get research experience so early, especially because at Penn, an unofficial

requirement set by Penn students is that you must get research experience by the summer

before sophomore year. Of course, I didn’t believe this because 1) research doesn’t define you,

2) it’s very hard to get research jobs because EVERYONE is trying to get one or researchers

aren’t hiring someone of lower qualifications, and 3) not everyone wants to do research. For me,

I was just happy I was getting experience so early, especially as a premed student.

Because of COVID, I wasn’t able to work in the lab until December 2020 and even that was

restricted. I was there maybe once a week or every two weeks because we were just beginning

the research process. The research stalled heavily after that because there were a few

difficulties with our original design (we needed to build a 3D camera arena to house and record

the mouse). Around March, I realized that I had nothing to do in the summer. Since high school,

I’ve always participated in some sort of academic summer program. With this in mind, I kind of

started freaking out because I knew that I needed to do something that would build my resume

and make my med school application stand out.

Then, I met my current close friend. She was a friend of a friend and I met her by chance in Hill.

We were talking about research and then she brought up autism research she was doing at

CHOP. I was so excited for her because autism research is something I’m extremely passionate

about and hope to do post-graduation. She then urged me to reach out to her linguistics

professor, who told her class about the research, and ask him if I could apply. I wasn’t too sure if

I would get it because I wasn’t his student but she sent me the email and I decided to try. Fast

forward, I’m now working at the CHOP Roberts Center for Pediatric Research doing autism

research. Soon after in May, my PI at Perelman offered me a full-time research job for the

summer to continue the mouse itch research and as a bonus, I would help a Ph.D. student with

his own research, making it a 2-in-1 opportunity.

I went from having half a research job to having three in the course of a couple months. It’s an

understatement to say my summer was extremely busy, commuting 1 hr and 15 min from

Northeast Philly to West Philly at 7 in the morning to work from 9-5 at both labs. It was very

challenging but very rewarding as well. I’m now participating in my fourth research project at

Annenberg and I couldn’t be more blessed and happy. So, what I would say to incoming

freshmen and current underclassmen is: you don’t need to be like me and be working in four

labs. If you’re lucky enough to get one, do extremely well in it and if you can’t get one freshman

year summer, don’t worry! You have so much time to get into research so just take your time

and enjoy college.

- Joyce D