Week 1

I’m Caleb, a rising senior studying Psychology and Biology. I’m from Charlotte and I’ll be doing research with the Silver lab in the Wake Forest Biology department this summer. The planned focus of the research is on chemesthesis in earthworms, which is the detection and response to various irritating and aversive chemical compounds by an organism.

I had an exhausting past semester, both in and out of school. I currently feel very much unable to downshift to the slower pace of summer because it’s not what I’ve been used to- with that said, it is still early on. This is my first time doing Bio-specific research so one of my major goals is to gain experience and assess how I feel about it as a future job and career. Specific goals will largely depend on which upcoming publications my professors wish to focus on. I’m building off of what previous undergraduate and graduate students have done so the first few weeks will involve learning and practicing established procedures. A successful summer would include a data set worthy of inclusion in a publication and would go up to being able to write an honors thesis.

I also want to increase my fluency in French and Japanese. I’m aware that realistic, small steps and continued interaction with the language are key components of improvement but I haven’t planned out a schedule yet. I’ll write this here now so that I can update.

The last major goal is to continue relationship-building and strategic planning for my cultural diversity and inclusion organization on campus. I’m meeting with people from the administrative side to see how campus can be more inclusive, one relationship at a time, and to plan events starting pre-orientation through the rest of the year to foster a changed campus culture.

Till next time,