Nowadays, many universities have developed undergraduate scientific programs that promote

student participation in scientific research and improve their scientific skills by providing economic

assistance at the same time. Along these programs is the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement

(RISE) in the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey (UPRC). I joined the RISE Program during the summer of

2013 and took the Summer Bridge course, then made the cut to continue participating in the program to

take the Seminar Scientific Literature and Bibliography course, and then continued to take the

Biomedical Techniques course. By taking these courses, I have developed into a more complete scientist

by taking a basic biology course including the laboratory, reflecting on and summarizing many scientific

seminars, workshops and presentations, and also working with two different professors from distinct

areas of study. These experiences have helped me learn many new scientific writing techniques,

improving my writing as a scientist, and refining my laboratory skills as a young scientist.

The classes taken last semester took place at the “Miguel Melendez Muñoz” (MMM) in room 201.

During the Seminar Scientific Literature and Bibliography course, our two professors usually gave

presentations and workshops on how to prepare scientific writings such as annotated bibliographies,

seminar reflections and review papers, from which I learned many new things and acquired new writing

techniques. We also went to some seminars about investigations done by researchers, where I learned a

little about the different topics presented such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the Turing Machine, C.

elegans and the nervous system and adrenocortical cells and LIPIN1. In addition to the seminars we also

got a chance to talk about our future academic goals, our doubts about the presentations and discuss

some tips on what we should do to complete our goal with some of the researchers who presented the

seminars.

The workshops taken this semester took place in the “Nuevo Edificio de Ciencia” (NEC) in different lab

rooms. This class helped me improve my laboratory techniques and knowledge. I learned how to

perform different techniques such as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, chromatography, DNA

Barcoding, protein profiling, working with different kinds of microscopes, electrospinning, sputtering,

the coliphage method, working with magnetic nanoparticles, working with double interface bilayers and

bacteriophage enrichment, filtration and purification. It also helped me learn how to write scientific

manuscripts. Almost every Friday we participated in different workshops from different professors from

different concentration areas of study. Throughout this course, I had the opportunity to do research

with two of these professorsh, one from genetics and another from biochemistry. Aside from these lab

techniques I also went to three different scientific seminars, on which I had the chance to participate in

a creative writing contest by writing about one of them. I chose the Hidden Properties of Carbon Dots

Seminar and wrote a poem about High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

The main purpose of last semester’s course was to learn how to write a review paper, which are

critical and analytical evaluations of information that have already been published. Before searching for

articles, I was aware that I had to choose a topic of my interest, thus enjoy preparing the paper and not

get bored. By finding and reading the primary articles I acquired a fair amount of knowledge about the

topic, consequently being able to complete my review paper with the help of my two professors.

Learning how to write a review paper helped me improve my research and writing skills, identify the

difference between primary and secondary sources and learning about a topic aside of my studies.

The purpose of this semester’s course was to investigate with two professors and write a manuscript

about the two different topics of each one. While writing these manuscripts, I had to gather information

about the investigation themes. By investigating with these professors and writing these manuscripts I

learned what new things the scientific world is currently studying for different purposes, mostly medical.

Knowing how to write these manuscripts helped me develop into a young scientist by knowing how to

elaborate an abstract, introduction, methodology, discussion, results and conclusion. Hence allowing me

to better understand the subject investigated and expand my knowledge on that topic for future

investigation.

Similar scientific programs are helping undergraduate students improve their research skills the same

way RISE is helping me. These programs help enhance the students’ scientific mind and give them a

chance to learn additional material aside from their school work. They also provide students with

research opportunities and help them approach the world of research with better preparation. Finally

they benefit these students by distinguishing them from other students and give them recognition.