How did you learn about this opportunity?
I found this opportunity online. The enrichment award helped me go to a conference to present my research in Montreal, Canada.
Tell us a little bit about your experience.
I was able to travel for 3 days to Montreal to present my research at McGill University. At this international conference I presented a poster entitled "Priming effects in color perception in Greek-English and Russian-English Bilinguals." Staying right near the university, I was able to participate in every event that the conference put on. There were several talks and two poster sessions. Additionally, I was able to walk around Montreal to see a beautiful city that I had never visited before. I was also able to sample the food of the region, and meet several locals. Montreal is an incredibly interesting place that is unlike any city on this continent.
"This kind of experience gives me a significant advantage in that it shows I am capable of presenting my research."
How did this experience impact you academically?
This opportunity allowed me to disseminate my senior thesis, as well as network with several academics. In preparing for graduate school, this kind of experience gives me a significant advantage in that it shows I am capable of presenting my research in addition to running the study and analyzing the data. Furthermore, it gave me much to discuss in graduate school interviews. I know several new aspects of the literature and therefore have a much firmer grasp on aspects of a research-based graduate program. Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to perform even better in the lab environment here at Penn State. I now know many of the other aspects of the field to which my lab belongs.
What are your career goals or plans? How did this experience impact them?
As previously stated, I plan on attending graduate school in order to pursue a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. The enrichment award has given me the opportunity to both practice the dissemination of my work and network with several fantastic academics in the field. As such, it gives me a much stronger foundation on which to build my graduate research. In applying, I can discuss my experience presenting work, as well as the conversations I have had with some of the most prominent members of the field.