Week 3 is over! I can’t believe we’re already transitioning to the fourth week of this summer REU. I’ve learned so much in this short time, with much more to learn and implement in the coming weeks.
Mentor Meetings:
- Continue reading
- udacity java course (Almost finished) Rashmi quizzed us the prior week on our general java knowledge and recommended
- rashmi gave java book to read (Introduction to Java Programming and Data Structures, by Y. Daniel Liang, 11th edition)
- Haley gave us Related work help http://slowsearching.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-formula-for-academic-papers-related.html?m=1
- read more visualization papers and co-design papers Katie and kay sent
- read Davidson article (https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513383.2513451)
- Planned potential pre/post survey questions with Haley for pro-health Friday meeting with Hanifa (Next Friday)
- Went over co-design ideas with Haley and Rashmi
- Waiting for participants for participatory design workshops (IRB approved, Posted flyers in Kirkwood)
Challenges:
- Mental acuity
Initially, the first few weeks of the REU program went rather well in terms of getting acclimated to this research environment, transplanting into an entirely new geographic location, and separation anxiety from home and my friends. However, in week 3 I really felt like I hit a mental “Wall” and that’s when the imposter syndrome started seeping into my thoughts, much like after realizing I had been accepted at an R-1 Institution. I was initially overwhelmed with: the breadth of tasks required of the summer REU students, project requirements, mentor expectations and most importantly getting acclimated to a graduate level environment. I was very fortunate that I was paired with Hanifa as my project partner, her goal-oriented demeanour has already rubbed off on me and keep me on task. I feel that this week was really the kick in the face that I needed in terms of self-efficacy. I have a lot of catching up to do, as I feel that I really struggled to gain traction this week. I can do better.
- Tuesday meeting: Confidence
In our Tuesday meeting, Professor Siek and Professor Connely asked how we’re doing in terms of the research projects and skills we are learning, I mentioned that I was learning Java, and disclosed my limited knowledge of HTML, R studio and CSS. Professor Siek then asked what we thought about the readings and our citation trees, specifically she asked Hanifa and I if we read the Epstein paper(Hanifa) and the Mcgee-Lennon paper (Myself). When I mentioned that I had indeed read the McGee-Lennon paper, which she immediately asked my thoughts. While I had indeed read the paper, at the moment I was not confident nor prepared mentally to present an opinion on the spot. I froze and tried to use my notes as a crutch, when in reality afterwards I realize I knew exactly how to articulate the McGee-Lennon paper but my anxiety took over in that instance. This is something on a personal level I need to improve on and work on. Often I have to remind myself, often saying verbally that: I’m not an imposter, I know my subject material, and that I should be more confident. For the next meeting, I will be more prepared mentally.
- Time
Time is a true enemy of mine, my time management is slightly lacking but it is rather unstructured. Which is one of the qualities I admire in Hanifa. It really can de-stress a situation when you can manage all of your time to work, play and socialize, something I never understood how my mentors could possibly manage. I tend to try to do everything at once and jumping head first into the flames with no clear plan. This is often successful for me academically, with the caveat being it’s highly stressful and afterwards, I needed time to decompress and then re-enter the world during semesters. However, this is the first time I haven’t had time to decompress. Right after finals week, presentations in the lab and general anxiety and stress about overcoming my fear of flying, I jumped on a plane to Bloomington, IN the very next day. Going forward, I need to really manage my time better and focus on my mental health and find a balance so to avoid don’t burn out and declining mental acuity.
In addition to REU deliverables, some of the things I need to accomplish in the coming weeks are:
Wk 4
Paper progression
Finish Java(Monday -> Assignments from Rashmi this week)
adults wearing devices
Experiment with Tutorials that Rashmi might suggest in Java/Android Studio
Read ~ 2-3 papers (Davidson(Article in Ben’s study)(Data Viz)
Design Pre/Post survey questions for Friday pro-health meeting
Gre prep Current scores (148 Verbal, 138 Quant) Baseline
Wk 5
Co-Design prototype
GRE prep
Read 1-2 Papers
Java, Angular.js, Vue,JS
Wk 6
Prototype data viz
Read ~ 2 papers
Final Paper deliverables
GRE
Personal > write need to add timelines where I meet with faculty, discuss expectations, potential mentors in grad school
Wk 7
App Building
Read ~ 2
Final Paper deliverables
Gre writing
Wk 8
continue building
Learn more programming
Read ~ 2-3 papers
Final Paper deliverables
Gre prep finished
Wk 9
Continue building in the android studio
Final Paper deliverables
Wk 10
Finish final paper and present at the symposium
Deliverables:
Note: This week really felt like a judo chop to the face, one that I expected but truly needed, to visualize and see my place .in research.
McGee-Lennon, M., Smeaton, A., & Brewster, S. (2012). Designing Home Care Reminder Systems: Lessons Learned Through Co-Design with Older Users. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 49–56. https://doi.org/10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2012.248684
Le, T., Thompson, H. J., & Demiris, G. (2016). A Comparison of Health Visualization Evaluation Techniques with Older Adults. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 36(4), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2015.93