1. My Growth as a Young Scientist
You’re probably wondering who I am and what this portfolio actually means.
Well first of all, my name is Anaeli Shockey. I am currently doing my mayor in
Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico-Cayey. This portfolio will contain all the
courses, researches. seminars, amongst other things that are science related, that I
have taken or done. The summer before starting the University, I was accepted to a
program called “RISE” which stands for Research Initiative Science Experience. This
part of the program was six weeks long starting in June and it involved taking the
course BIOL 3009 and taking a lab. Let me give you some insight on how it has
helped me grow as a young scientist.
Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been interested in the field of
science. Yes, admittedly, I don’t like all sciences (especially, Earth Sciences), but I’ve
always liked Biology and Chemistry very much. At the RISE class, BIOL 3009 (which
is general biology), at first, I thought that I was sacrificing my summer for something
that would help me very little. However, it taught me many things, one of these
being that it made me realize how much I really am interested in science. While
taking the class I found myself being intrigued by the things I was learning. Do you
know how the DNA replicates? Well I do, and it’s one of the things I learned in this
summer course and one of the things that I found extremely interesting. I believe
that the first step to becoming a young scientist is to realize that you actually enjoy
studying science and that it intrigues you.

2. One of the advantages of being in this program over the summer is that I got
to learn my way around the lab. There I learned the rules of the lab and how to dress
(this is very important for girls because they cannot have their hair loose (it must be
tied up), they must have long pants and closed shoes, meaning no sandals). I also
learned where the safety elements were located, how to use them and in which
occasions. For example, there is the shower and the eyewash station at the back of
the room and it’s main uses include extinguishing a fire that you may have on your
body and washing out your eyes if they accidently have contact with chemicals.
Another thing I learned was to properly name each instrument in the lab and what
each of them is used for. For instance, we have micropipettes; these are used to
measure micro quantities of liquid substances. I consider knowing your way around
the lab and it’s rules very important for you to be a good scientist. Also, I found
myself liking to be at the lab and doing experiments, and that, plus knowing my way
around the lab, has definitely helped me grow as a young scientist.
In this course a research proposal had to be done. To do this, you obviously
needed to choose a topic. After choosing the topic, you had to think of a problem
related to it that you wanted to solve and then start developing it. You needed to do
research on the internet and/or books to get assimilated with the topic and find out
everything you needed to know to be able to propose a possible solution to that
problem, in other words, a hypothesis. This part of the class in particular was very
time consuming, but it was also very beneficial. Why? Because I learned how to
develop a research proposal and how to write a research paper on that proposal.
There were opportunities to practice the research proposal and this way the

3. professors and classmates helped by pointing out what you should improve. This
experience was very educational and a very important part of becoming a young
scientist, especially if you want to become a researcher.
This experience was one of the most educational ones I have ever had that
has helped me grow as a young scientist. At least three important bases were
covered by this course alone. These being: realizing that I enjoy studying science,
knowing my way around the lab and learning how to do a research proposal. I am
very thankful for this experience and everything that I have learned because of it. I
can’t wait to see what else I will learn in the courses and experiences thatwill come
throughout my life. I expect to continue growing as a scientist and being able to
complete all the goals that I propose to myself.