Week 11:
Mayo Clinic

August 7, 2013

This week we continued to work on the CAP analysis for our sleep deprivation study. We have approximately 20 out of the 50 records analyzed thus far. Our goal is to have all the records analyzed before my last week here, so I can help with the data analysis. This is what I will be spending most of my days doing during my last couple weeks here. I’m starting to go a little crazy looking at brain waves all day, however, each record gets a little bit easier as I gain more experience.

Thankfully, some of the days have been broken up by putting our surveys together.   We have had an intense assembly line going, which included stapling, putting multiple labels on paperwork, stuffing envelopes, labeling envelopes, sealing envelopes, etc.    In addition, everything has to stay completely organized to ensure that the names and ID numbers match on all the paperwork. We were able to knock out our Parkinson’s Disease and REM Sleep Behavioral Disorder survey in about two hours, since there were only 250 subjects. Our epilepsy survey, however, has 1000 subjects, so it will take a couple days to complete that. We won’t receive many surveys back before I am done, so hopefully I will be able to come back in the fall for a few days to help with the data analysis. The picture to the right is of some of my colleagues and I working on putting the surveys together.This summer I had the opportunity to meet some amazing, talented students from all over who were completing research through the Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program at Mayo. Unfortunately, their program ended this week, but had a great last week together. The past weekend we participated in a volleyball tournament through the Mayo Graduate School. Our volleyball team, pictured in the top left, was named “Kidney Stones”. Although we didn’t win, we had a great time playing and interacting with some of the graduate students. We celebrated our last days together by eating a home cooked meal. One student from Sweden, who is very passionate about cooking, made us some delicious shrimp tacos (shown in the picture to the bottom left). Being able to meet these other students has been one of the highlights of my time here in Rochester. It has given me the opportunity network with other undergraduates and share our experiences with each other.

“The man of science in searching for the truth must ever be guided by the cold logic of facts, and be animated by scientific imagination.” – Dr. Will Mayo