csMajor - Bioinformatics Pathway

Certificates June 2020 Certificates Bioinformatics Workflow Self-Assessments
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1

Technical Area:

  • I was able to learn a new programming language, R, and start to master the basic concepts of using R.
  • I also started to get used to using Slack and Asana more frequently.
  • Lastly, I have gotten used to using Google Meet for webinars by presenting my Jupyter Notebooks via Google Meet.

Tools: Python, Jupyter Notebooks, Anaconda, R, RStudio, GitHub, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, Asana, and STEM-Away Forums.

Soft Skills:

  • Held office hours to answer any technical questions
  • Created exercises/problem sets after each Python webinar to test the participant’s knowledge (to see how much they learned from the webinar)
  • Resolved issues (technical and non-technical) that some interns were facing
  • Communicated with interns and mentors via email and Slack
  • Learned to adapt my course curriculum and office hours to the other interns’ interests and availabilities.
  • Learned to reach out to people on LinkedIn and effectively grow my professional network via LinkedIn

Tasks Completed:

  • Improving on using R
  • Attending Lead Sync Up Meetings, Team Meetings, and Technical Training with Mentor Meetings
  • Teaching students on how to efficiently use Python for data visualization and data manipulation
  • Holding office hours to answer any questions that some interns may have regarding Bioinformatics
  • Reaching out to students individually to see if they have any questions about the exercises I assigned them, or if they’re struggling to understand how to use a new application, such as GitHub or Jupyter Notebooks/Anaconda.

Three Achievement Highlights:

  • Taught Python (through the form of webinars) starting from the basics n groups of ~30 students for ~1.5 hrs per week
  • Reached out to mentors and co-leads for assistance through proper channels of communication
  • Led multiple webinars with other leads to teach the interns technical and non-technical concepts.

Meetings/Trainings Attended: The Gene Team Meetings, BI Leads Office Hours, Office Hours specifically for Python, Leads Sync Up Meetings, Technical Training with Mentor Meetings, and watched the recordings of the meetings I couldn’t attend.

Goals for the Upcoming Week:

  • Work on understanding how to use R more efficiently
  • Answer more interns’ questions regarding technical and non-technical concepts
  • Hold more webinars and/or office hours if the participants and observers are struggling with particular concepts, such as using GitHub.
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Final Assessment

  • Technical Areas
    • Went from having no experience with R to a basic understanding of R
    • Learned how to use various project management tools such as Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, Asana, and GitHub
    • Learned how to convey important information such as instructions and tasks via Slack in a convenient manner
    • Managed 2 GitHub repositories for both Bioinfomatics teams
  • Leadership Skills
    • Learned how to communicate with teams virtually through Slack and Google Meet/Zoom
    • Held office hours for interns that have technical questions regarding the Python webinars
    • Attended and helped with weekly office hours for the two teams
    • Held and ran multiple webinars to teach interns the fundamentals of Python
    • Applied weekly feedback provided by interns to improve my leadership skills
    • Communicated effectively with the leads about technical details of tasks
  • Achievements
    • Became a lead without having prior internship experience with STEM-Away
    • Led webinars with big teams of up to 30 people
    • Led multiple webinars with other leads to teach the interns technical and non-technical concepts.
    • Reached out to mentors and co-leads for assistance through proper channels of communication
  • Meetings/Trainings attended: The Gene Team Meetings, BI Leads Office Hours, Office Hours specifically for Python, Leads Sync Up Meetings, Technical Training with Mentor Meetings, and watched the recordings of the meetings I couldn’t attend.
  • Goals
    • Instill an interest in the interns to continue learning Python outside of the internship
    • Network with leads, mentors, and interns from the internship