S-STEM/TRAIN Scholar Kimberly Merrill's Blog

    Throughout my undergraduate education and research, using spreedsheets has become like putting on pants. It provides many useful recording and analytical tools to manage. However, this semester I was introduced to relational databases, which seemed like pants that were much more difficult to get on. At first, I was really confused about everything from the terminlogy to the navigation. After working through the assignments and projects, I feel a lot more confident in understanding relational databases. I've found that they remove a lot of redundancy in data, and I particularly like tables that break it down in to smaller parts. Relational databases also are nice if you're sharing access with others and if it needs to be modified by others. Spreedsheets have more repeitition and aren't great for combining related data as concisely.      In class, we had to explore databases and apply our knowledge in a database project. The first project was to take a csv of ...

This course has enlightened me about the many ways I haven't been taking care of my mental or physical health. I was probably already aware of these deficits, but didn't view them as a pressing issue. School seems like such a temporary effort that matters of sleep, anxiety, and self-care become perceived as "part of the journey."  Stress, scheduling life, needing more time, and developing a healthy sleep schedule don't resolve when you graduate, although. Thus, I felt that I should endeavor to create positive habitats and thinkng now, that I can carry into my STEM career with the exception of sleep.  I have decent time management, but I simply don't have enough hours between school, work, and parenting to sleep 8 hours every night. Therefore, sleep in the one thing that maybe when I don't have a job AND school there may be a little more time for. I am aware of the implications it is having on my health, but I just need to tough through a couple more semest...

 It has been difficult to not see Daring Greatly by Dr. Brown as an attack on my perspecitves of life. However, her challenge towards normative shame culture is perhaps the exact ideas I needed to consider.  First, I recognize now that my notion that I am not enough and need to simply work harder to be enough is more detrimental than motivational. I have always considered myself a wholehearted person, but according to Dr. Brown's definition, I am furthest from that description. My lack of a sense of worthiness drove me to excel in academics and be highly competitive. The down fall of this strategy to high achievement, although, was my inability to cope with failure and an eventual, overwhleming burn-out. I will not sleep, overexert my brain/body, and disengage with any self-care/social events to make sure I have the best grades, performance reviews, or be the mom with the most elaborate snacks at the 1st grade bake sale. I don't know if breaking the thought that I have be the ...

My upbringing, family, and culture has hevaily influenced my mindset. I grew up in a very rural area on a farm. I had no neighbors and didn't live close enough to friends to have playdates. It was often just my siblings and parents working outside in the day and playing sports or riding horses in the evening. Opening huge metal irrigation gates, hauling giant hay bales, and climbing trees gave me experiences and lessons that I don't think many children in urban arease get exposed to. I feel like I developed a different preception of the world and life, which is sometimes a little isolating. However, I think it has benefitted my educational path in science by understanding there are different lifestyles and environments than just what is perceived in the city.  My dad was an old rancher that raised us in cowboy culture. It's a very proud culture rooted in resilience, hard work, and plain ol' toughness. Although criticized and misunderstood, the culture has many values li...

My educational journey has taught me as much about myself as the material and knowledge learned in my degree field. Reflecting upon Carol Dweck's presentation on mindset, I believe I have a blend of the growth and fixed. I have always considered intelligence to be a separate trait from apt to learning. Alike to Dweck's comments on growth mindset, I valued the effort put towards academics.  Despite believing I can improve through perserverance, there have been moments that my fixed mindset wasn't harmful. I agree with Dweck that anyone can learn more efficiently with a growth mindset. However, I believe some people are naturally gifted in different cirriculums. For example, I have never studied for a math test and put little effort towards learning it. Yet, I am always the student with the highest math grade.  I was fortunately not a victim of stereotype threat as found in "Problems in the pipeline: Stereotype threat and women's achievement in high-level math course...

 Although college may seem like just an institution to gain knowledge about a particular field and master the involved information, it is much more of an experience where students learn valuable skills and practices that carry over into their career. During my college experience, I've faced challenges specific to my major and the overall secondary education rite of passage. Throughout overcoming these obstacles and struggles, strengths and assets have developed within me that will be desirable to employers. Below, I will go over some skill and experiences that can transfer into a career one day: 1. Time managament.      College students face due dates constantly, most of which require employing time management strategies. It seems like a magic trick balancing jobs, full course loads, family/friends, and extracurricular activities. Freshman year is often challenging figuring out what works and doesn't work with time restraints. Procrastinating and overloading is a gra...

It seemed like I would never settle on a degree. I started my higher education pursuing a degree and career in journalism, which seemed odd considering my strong math background. It wasn't until a general biology class that I realized I really loved learning about natural sciences.  Despite that epiphany, it didn't necessarily narrow my interests down to a single major. Many areas of biology, math, and other sciences all were fascinating. Biology and particularly ecology seemed to be what really grasped my attention. Thanks to the guidance of some mentors and to the TRAIN program, I am settled on and nearing the end of a bachelor of science degree in environmental science at ASU.  I've had the opportunity to conduct research in areas of forestry and ecology. During these experiences, I genuinely felt I was where I belonged. Although I would've never picked it as a career three or more years ago, research is now a passion I wish to pursue. My favorite thing to do is fiel...