11 Skills and Attributes: Relationship Building
Leadership Objective: Communicate with professors and graduate students
Activity: PopLab Researcher (2007-2011)
Evidence: PURE Symposium Presentation
My initial research in Professor Eric Pop's research group involved working closely with both the professor and two graduate student mentors. Starting two research projects with the mentors before the end of the summer enabled me to interact closely such that my abilities were developed and applied well on each project.
With the beginning of my 2nd year coursework, I integrated my research projects into my courses via ECE 396 and ECE 297, the Honors Project and Promoting Undergraduate Research in ECE (PURE) courses respectively. Since I was getting course credit, I maintained regular communication with my mentors. When I made the effort to continue my research in the office or lab, I shared my results with my mentors. My mentors and I also met with my professor at times, allowing us all to understand our abilities and improvement opportunities. The four of us had broad talents and motivation, creating the synergy needed for me to build both my technical and interpersonal skills.
The culmination of my relationship building with my mentors was when they reviewed my research presentation with me. Due to their support I received many compliments on my PURE Symposium presentation. This support also motivated my later vision for a PURE Research Presentations Workshop.