Dispatch from a Baylor Summer Fellow | Steven Podczerwinksi

Being a part of the OEL BTRUE summer program and researching in the Trakselis Lab has been a blessing I am always thankful to Jesus for and fully engaged in. Although I knew from the previous summer that research has captivated my attention and figuring out why I would love these projects, I have not really stopped from the rush to think how the privilege of being a researcher can benefit back into the community.

Mostly everything around us has been discovered as part of some form of research. Take that fan someone is trying to use to beat the summer heat. Fans used to be only handheld and manual. Or how about before the light bulb, where the usage of oil and fire were used for streetlamps? Surprisingly, that also propagated the discovery of the benzene ring in organic chemistry. 

One can see how technology and research build upon themselves and move forward to society. Then this was part of something bigger I learned from the lesson provided by Community Global Learning Collaborative—that there is a deeper purpose in this work that is not really for the fame and glory like a Nobel prize or medals, but rather to help all individuals through our experiments and applications. 

Realizing that I do have a purpose to serve, no matter how small it might be or how many of my experiments fail, in this position will serve a reminder of why I love spreading kindness forward when it may seem fruitless and give the motivation to continue whenever I hit my drought. Thus, I want to share too that it isn’t just applied in the line of work that we researchers do, but in all aspects of life as human beings. No matter the chaos or depressiveness of the situation, one can stand right back up and keep building oneself and others up without flaunting your light.