http://www.coe.edu

Coe College

Researcher

May 2023 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I enjoyed collaborating with my colleagues on the determining the Berezin range of composition operators. One property of composition operators is the numerical range. The numerical range of an operator is a special set of values that are computed using the operator and has the geometric properties of convexity and compactness. A more restrictive set known as the Berezin range must satisfy an additional condition. We seek to find operators where the Berezin range has the same geometric properties as the numerical range. If the question is reframed about the numerical range and the Berezin range using linear algebra, then we can investigate the properties of the operator using its associated matrix instead through its eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

What I wish was different

I would like to be paid a living wage.

Advice

I highly recommend doing math research.
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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I liked learning the confocoal microscope and getting an understanding of making microbial growth media and other techniques such as making biofilms.

What I wish was different

I wish all the equipment had been fixed in a timely manner and that the professor was more punctual.

Advice

Good oportunity to learn about biofilms but you need to take the initiative.
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Student Researcher

June - August 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

Flexible hours, amazing supervisors, rewarding work, great learning experience

What I wish was different

Advice

It was a very rewarding experience where you get out what you put in. I will be finishing my project before the end of the year and publishing a paper early next year.
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Psychology Researcher

May 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

Learning the proper techniques for carrying out psychology research.

What I wish was different

That I had been successfully registered for the class that coincided with the research.

Advice

N/A
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Logistics Coordinator

May - August 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

This job let me learn more about college as a whole and how the departments are intertwined. It let me work with faculty and staff I have never met with before to provide a great experience for incoming students.

What I wish was different

Since we were all new this year, the start was quite rough, however, this role, if followed consistently, can really grow into something more in the next few years.

Advice

Know your connections and who to reach out to appropriately. The key to success in this role is communication with others as it is a very personable role.
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Undergraduate Researcher

May - July 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I loved how much hands on experience I gained from working with various machines and organizing data. I also appreciated the emphasis that was placed on keeping files and records neat and organized throughout the research process. This experience has allowed me to feel prepared for more research opportunities outside of Coe.

What I wish was different

I wish I had more time to work on my project. 3 months wasn't quite enough to get all the data and work I wanted to do. In hindsight, I would have come in early and stayed late more often than I had.

Advice

Don't be afraid of machines! But more in depth, make this kind of work requires a lot of self motivation and self driven work, so make sure you can stay productive every day.
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Summer Assistant Area Coordinator

May - August 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

Learning first-hand the ins and outs of the Residence Life department on campus, connecting with hundreds of students, and building real professional relationships with my supervisors.

What I wish was different

I wish that I had received some more consistent guidance. While my supervisors were of great help, there were times where I felt alone during the process.

Advice

I would advise to remain positive and to always think of how YOU could be doing a better job. How could you improve? What could I change so things work just a little bit better than before?
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Research assistant

May - August 2019 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

Great team, friendly and relaxed work environment and good hours.

What I wish was different

Shorter timeframe for the project.

Advice

It can be hardwork, but if you put in the effort, it's very rewarding.
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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June - July 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I liked the work style. I work best when I do something different everyday, and I appreciated the large number of experiments that my team got to run. I liked working in a group of women who want to learn about science.

What I wish was different

I wish I had taken more courses relevant to biochemistry before this research. In any case, I learned a lot.

Advice

Sometimes when the results are out of your control it's more important to focus on your growth as a student and scientist.
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Senior Research Associate

June - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

During this summer of research, I had the role of being both a digitizer for data that was received from a Mars satellite and as a supervisor for a project involving producing a working glass prototype that was capable of detecting neutrons and scintillating from the energy received. My role as a supervisor also gave me the chance to travel to different universities to conduct testing with different techniques not available at Coe College.

What I wish was different

One item that I had not realized upon taking on the job of supervisor was the loss of being able to operate equipment outside of instruction and instead simply observed and consulted when needed. As someone who enjoys working with equipment, I found the change from making glass to looking over spreadsheets to be very jarring initially. There was also my physical disability during the summer, but that was not something that could be readily changed without forwarding medical treatments by about a decade.

Advice

Go out of your comfort zone and don't let things hold yourself back from contributing to a project. Having had an incident from the past semester that left me with a damaged spinal cord, my physical capacity for work was severely diminished. Although in situations like this where hardships are not always avoidable, it's important to be able to still do everything you can within your limits and don't be afraid to seek help if it becomes too much.
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researcher

July - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

learning to use software, collecting data from the mars making new senior friends

What I wish was different

more money, more advanced research

Advice

you have higher chance to go good ranking grad school
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Student Researcher

June - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I really enjoyed the research experience that I was able to get through this opportunity.

What I wish was different

Nothing, everyone was very supportive, and it was a very welcoming environment.

Advice

It was definitely worth it terms of experience and learning.
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Technician

May 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

Laid back and easy going

What I wish was different

There were a few tasks requiring a large amount of physical labor.

Advice

You can learn to work at the IT office at any skill level.
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Research assistant

June - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

The experience and the new skills that I was able to learn.

What I wish was different

Advice

Be prepared to learn a lot!
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Student Researcher

May - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

The flexibility that this research offered was great.I could work on my own time which made this very enjoyable.

What I wish was different

More resources like computers would have been great.

Advice

I would encourage all math and computer science majors to get involved in research and internship early in their college career which will be a huge boost to their resume later when its time to apply for jobs.
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Physics Research

June - July 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I got the opportunity to travel to the UK to do research. It was a great opportunity that I got to learn new things & meet many great people.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Research

May - August 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I liked the freedom to research a topic I was interested in. I developed new skills while applying material from classes I had taken to my project.

What I wish was different

There’s not really anything I wish had been different. I enjoyed the structure of the program and my project. The collaboration was beneficial.

Advice

My advise is to give research a chance! Research allows you to explore an area that you’re interested in. Don’t be intimidated by the thought of a research project.
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Economic Research Assistant

June 2018 • Cedar Rapids, IA

What I liked

I enjoyed learning the basics of R and Excel through practice and working on multiple projects at once.

What I wish was different

Advice

Stay organized and take notes on everything. Make backups of your work at multiple stages.
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