Biomedical Engineering Senior Dariela Almeda
Participating
in the IE Pre-Grad Internship has been one of the most
important programs I have been involved with as an undergraduate student.
I was very fortunate to work under the guidance of Dr. Lisa Brannon-Peppas
and Tania Betancourt who were very patient with me and taught me many
things. I had the opportunity to learn about graduate school. For
example, how the application process works, how the coursework and
research are organized, and most importantly I had the chance to
experience a bit of how graduate school really is by spending time in the
laboratory with Tania.
I was assigned a research project on developing a rapid production method of biodegradable nanoparticles used for cancer treatment. This experience taught me about polymer science of course but more importantly I learned a lot about research protocol. Thanks to the funding obtained through the IE Pre-Grad Internship I was able to travel and attend the annual AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) conference to present my research. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I will probably try to do more research work before I graduate. This program helped me decide that graduate school and research are my career choice for the future.