I stumbled across Freshwater@UW a year prior to my current participation, and I’m pleased that my persistence landed me into this program. As someone who finds comfort in familiarity, this program was the right step to coming out of that comfort zone and to explore research in a new laboratory setting.
I had the privilege of working at ERIC (Environmental Research and Innovation Center) in UW-Oshkosh, where I conducted my research in evaluating methods for analyzing microplastics from beach sand samples. Microplastics is a hot topic in the environmental field, and we’ve come a long way in developing several methods for analyzing microplastics. The problem lies more in which method to use and how effective they are at extracting tiny microplastics that you can’t even see with the naked eye.
One key lesson I’ve learned about research is that it involves a lot of reevaluating, revising, and importantly, retrying. Rather than picking up another person’s project, I had to start from the beginning. I had to navigate through the seas of different methods from other scientific journals while remodifying them several times to fit both my limited time and resources. Once I settled with a method proposed by the NOAA, the true battle was finding and ordering everything before I could start on my project. The process required a lot of patience and persistence, especially when the methods didn’t show promising results. However, all these moments gave me great insight on what graduate level research would look like, as well as a key lesson in being independent.
But being part of the Freshwater@UW program is just more than research. It also branches into helping communities and learning different career opportunities. Not only does ERIC provide research projects, but they also test samples for campus members and external clients. I was able to help people know if their drinking water is safe and alert them of any possible dangers. Another welcome surprise is my weekly beach routes where I collected beach water around Winnebago County in order to test for E. coli. If the beaches reached a concerning level, it was our duty to warn the public by putting up signs and informing the Wisconsin DNR for elevated E. coli. Based on these experiences, I can see myself working in both a field and lab setting while working with the public through education and science communication.
I’m grateful that Freshwater@UW has given me the opportunity to explore research in UW-Oshkosh. I’ve not only pursued my interest in microplastics, but I’ve learned the valuable skills of constructing my own project and independently solving any related conundrums or mistakes. With everything I’ve learned, I see my career heading to a professional track and hope to use the skills I’ve learned in improving Wisconsin’s water.
Written by: Jena Choi, Summer 2024