Mentorship Essay

The main purpose of participating in an undergraduate research program is to develop skills or experience in a specific discipline or field. Those skills may contribute towards workplace knowledge, or may be generic abilities that can be dispersed throughout the entire professional space. Both are advantageous to the participating student. Learning these abilities somewhat enforces workplace ethics and value into future graduates. URE’s ultimately give EXCEL students an excellent opportunity to learn through mentorship and self-discovery rather than sitting in a class.

Inherent in URE’s and any other sort of mentorship program is reciprocity. I should be able to learn from my professor, and my professor should be able to learn a little from me. Though, it definitely leans a little more towards a certain side. The most important thing to remember is that important, fleshed out ideas rarely, if ever, come from a single person. People come together to develop and create, as that is human nature, and having more perspective from other individuals can help with any project. Mr. Parkinson states that professional wear and being demonstrably eager to participate in front of your professors are ideal ways to come on board in a research position.

A lab that develops artificial general intelligence, or works to further broaden the capabilities of artificial weak intelligence, such as automation of certain industries, would be an ideal for me. Though the former may seem a bit far-fetched from where I’m currently standing, it’d be great to participate in at least the conceptualization. Apart from AI related labs, potentially other general coding/developmental labs, or something related to the environment, such as