Bi-Monthly Journal
This is a bi-monthly updated blog tracking Chase's progress throughout the completion of his project.
SummaryThe second half of June largely focused on finishing up all of the back-end planning for the project, as well as the set up for the SLR. First, I discussed the project in detail with Dr. O'Donnell and my Severn Mentors. We decided on moving forward with the SLR as outlined in my original constructed plan, as it seemed feasible for the scale of this project. Additionally, based on Dr. O'Donnell's past experience with similar summative papers, my order of events seemed like the correct progression in constructing an SLR. Dr. O'Donnell, Mr. DeMarte, Mr. Witzel, and myself all began to brainstorm on different journals I could write for. The main question was whether or not I should write for certain journals or rather just write a typically structured SLR and then adapt it from there. We came to the conclusion that I should write the SLR in a general format, with inspiration from real journals. Based on the quality of my end product, I will tailor my SLR to be formatted and later published in the appropriate journals. In terms of resources to find research papers, we came up with a number of different potential sources. The first is simply to use google scholars to find published papers on the specific topics I am looking for. Mr. DeMarte suggested that if there are any papers locked behind a pay wall or other restriction, that I could reach out to the Severn Librarians and ask for their & Severn's assistance in gaining access to said journals. Additionally, Dr. O'Donnell offered to reach out to the librarians at Sienna College and request that they make an account for me to use during the span of the fellows project. This would give me access to the SciFinder Scholar database as well as a ton of scientific research journals, which would be extremely helpful in finding resources for my SLR. I also set up a note taking and organizing system to keep track of the many papers I will have to read for this SLR. For now, I will be using Zotero, a free application for Mac that allows its users to organize research papers into groups and keep track of research. It will be immensely helpful in keeping all of the versos papers in order and organized by subject, focuses, etc. In the future, however, I am planning to rely on the new Safari UI coming with Mac OS Monterey in the fall of this year to organize my research. This system will be directly linked with safari since it is being developed my Apple for their next major MacBook update, and it will be extremely easy to use because of how integrated it will be with my research experience. essentially, it will allow me to organize all of my tabs and research papers into groups that will make writing my SLR and the other papers much easier. Until this update comes out, however, I am planning to use Zotero as my main organization system. Looking ForwardLooking forward, my main focuses are to meet with Dr. O'Donnell again over zoom to discuss some of the papers I am beginning to read, as well as choosing, organizing, and reading more research papers. The goal by mid July is to have chosen a number of papers to begin to look into and summarize, and hopefully have begun that process as well. I also plan to work on the website and fill in all of the remaining empty spots to make it easy to navigate, which should be complete as soon as I get home from sailing training in the coming week.
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Project Planning + MentorsThis update contains all of the work done on the fellows project thus far, including the first half of June as well as before June Much of this initial period of the Fellows project has been largely focused on planning. Planning what the project consists of, who my mentors will be and when I can meet with them, and other nuts and bolts behind this project that need to be established prior to attacking the actual heart of the project itself. The first step in my process after receiving the go-ahead from the fellows committee was establishing my fellows mentors. I reached out to Mr. Nick DeMarte and Mr. Eric Witzel (my AP Chemistry and AP Biology teachers, respectively) and they both agreed to assist throughout the fellows project. Additionally, I reached out to Dr. Jodi O'Donnell from Sienna college to assist with the project. In addition to establishing my fellows mentors, I also spent a few days finalizing a preliminary project timeline and project plan. Using some free websites and Microsoft work, I outlined the phases of my project as well as the general time frame for each phase. Redefined Project Phases
In order to polish this outline into the final format it is above, I met with my Severn-based mentors, Mr. DeMarte and Mr. Witzel, over Zoom to help boil down my application and larger ideas into an executable list of deliverables. We also discussed the 40% summer work requirement for the fellows program, required for entrance into the program as a true fellow rather than a provisional fellow. The original plan was to finish some amount of the Scientific Literature Review (SLR), the first main deliverable outlined in Phase 1. However, after meeting with my Severn mentors, we decided the best course of action would be to create a preliminary SLR by the end of summer. This would essentially be a rough draft of the SLR, which includes all of the huge amounts of research necessary to review prior to actually writing the SLR itself. Brainstorming & Program Expectations- Leadership labAfter my 40% summer work bar was established and my preliminary project outline finalized, I felt ready to take on the Severn Fellows Leadership lab. Here, I met with the other 2021-2022 Severn Fellows to discuss each of our projects, work on brief elevator pitches (as a way of practicing discussing the projects in simple, engaging ways), and establishing the expectations of the Severn Fellows Program. Additionally, I set up this website as a means of recording and presenting the project, and fellows program director Ms. Mary E. Carsley discussed with the provisional fellows how to request funds and find success overall in the fellows program. This leadership lab overall was extremely helpful in establishing the rules and expectations as well as kickstarting any fellows projects not already started. Looking ForwardThe goals for the coming weeks are to finally meet Dr. O'Donnell over Zoom to discuss my project (currently in the works), begin to specify which journals I should write for, and find the best resources for research papers relevant to the SLR. From there, I will hopefully begin the very beginnings of choosing and organizing research papers to read, and potentially begin reading them for content. I will also hopefully set up an advanced note taking system to organize all of the many papers I will end of reading, as well as the key ideas from each integral to the SLR. Finally, I hope to polish the website so it is more visually pleasing and easy to navigate.
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