Research Presentation at the East Central Illinois American Chemistry Society Conference

November 14, 2020

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I participated in research in Dr. Hutchens Lab in the Mechanical Science and Engineering department investigating plant tissue analog (PTA) actuators and size dependency on swelling of the PTA materials during the Fall 2020 semester. I chose to be part of a research group since Fall 2019 because I had performed research during high school at a medical research facility as well as during a summer at Columbia University. I wanted to continue researching to learn more about the medical field to understand what advancements researchers are looking into.

This semester, I participated in the East Central Illinois American Chemical Society (ECI ACS) undergraduate research conference with another student in my research group. Both of us focused on synthesizing PTAs that when swelled would change shapes. We investigated methods to create spheres, flowers, and waves by swelling bi-layer PTAs. Since we had enough research supporting our hypothesis, we were able to participate in the conference. We decided to create an oral PowerPoint presentation. Throughout this experience, the strengths that I was able to bring to the table were that I took the lead in organizing the presentation, communicating with the ECI ACS committee members and my professor, and keeping my group member in the loop throughout the process. From working with my team member to create a presentation, I gained more insight into that it becomes increasingly more important to keep an open mind when you and you team member both equally take part in the project execution.

During non-pandemic times, the conference would take place in person. However, due to the pandemic, the conference was moved to a one-week virtual presentation where judges and other participants would be able to view everyone's presentations. Therefore, the most difficult aspect of this experience was trying to create a recorded PowerPoint through zoom with my group member. Our task was to keep the presentation under 12 minutes while providing all the necessary information in an easy-to-follow format to allow any viewer to understand our research. This difficulty became easier once we took the perspective of the viewer. We imagined who might be listening to our presentation, what jargon would be difficult to understand and should be explained further, and if we needed any other visuals or background information for the viewer to fully follow along. While trying to understand the viewers, we also realized that we needed to be have more dynamic and enthusiastic manner in order to keep being engaged through a virtual platform. In fact, one of the comments that was given from a judge was :

Absolutely gorgeous work! I really enjoyed the presentation, your explanations, the fact that the two of you were explaining your shared project. Very well done!

At the end of the day, my partner and I won two awards from this conference, Wolfram|Alpha Outstanding Presentation Award and Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Outstanding Presentation Award.

The team leadership competency that I chose to develop is continuing to grow in relationship management. My goal in the relationship management competency is to be able to have a better way to stay in touch with people that I have created a bond with. I've known my partner since Fall 2019 and have been working on this project with her. However, we tended to only discuss the logistics of the project. We didn't get to know each other on a personal level. Furthermore, I had already presented this project but without her in a different research symposium. This semester, I decided to get her involved with the presentation since she contributed an equivalent amount as I had. Throughout this experience, I was able to have more meetings with her where I focused on understanding her more, how she is doing during the pandemic, how her side projects are going within the research group, and where she hopes to improve as well.I believe that throughout this team activity, I was able to learn how to make a relationship with a "work" member. This ability will help in the future when I work for a manager within a team in industry full time. In that case, I would most be part of a group and would need to get to know the team members. Because I have had experience through creating a research presentation and presenting at a conference with a "work" team member, I now have a better understanding about how to create better professional relationships.