THE BEGINNING

Kicking off my research internship with the team at Vanderbilt University

   The official start date of my internship is today, May the 23rd, 2022, but the internship actually started a few days ago when I, along with Dr. Nakazawa, visitedt our colleagues over at Vanderbilt University on May 18th and 19th, 2022. So this very first blog will focus on that trip and my experience.

   The visit was for two primary purposes: to meet the team with whom I will be working over the summer and discuss the project's different steps and my main tasks. However, we also had time to tour tour the campus and such as the Data Science Institute, the Makerspace, and the Retro Computer Exhibit. We had time for lunch and dinner with each of the two project leads. We went to get breakfast at this restaurant with a retro look, where I saw a jukebox for the first time. But despite the cool places we visited, the most valuable experience for me was the time spent with each of the project leaders around a table during lunch and dinner. I saw how the passion of a father in the tech, digital, and programming fields is passed to his 7th-grade son. I talked with an English professor who is taking an Artificial Intelligence class. This person's willingness to spend time gaining skills outside of his center of interest was very inspiring to me.

  When we talked about the actual project and what we should work on, I realized how high my supervisors' expectations of me were. It should be noted that this is my very first internship/undergraduate research, and even though I have some experience with python, this is going to be my first time working with big data and cluster computing with PySpark. However, instead of worrying about whether I will meet their expectations or not, I will take this as an opportunity to learn new things. I will expand my knowledge in fields outside my major (I am doing research in literature as a computer science major anyway). I will take advantage of all the available resources, such as my two great supervisors, to provide the highest quality of work I can possibly do.

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