People Involved
Placement Supervisor: Dr. Shelly Brunt
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| Dr. Brunt's profile from Faculty page on the website of Department of Biological Sciences. |
Dr. Shelly Brunt has been an outstanding supervisor and a constant support through out the term. An ultimate source of everything Microbiology !! Each week she would come down to the lab and answer any questions I had and prepared me for any critical questions students might ask regarding the procedure or the data. She teaches BIOD21 and BIOD26 apart from working in the capacity of a lab coordinator for BIOC17. Her research interests are specifically the role of molecular chaperones and regulation of gene expression in fungal and protist development.
CTLB03 Professor: Dr. Kamini Persaud
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| Dr. Persaud's profile from Faculty page on the website of Department of Biological Sciences |
Dr. Persaud taught the classroom component of CTLB03. She made the classroom component fun and interesting for us by engaging in meaningful discussions and inviting guest speakers to enrich our understanding of working in a professional environment. She constantly emphasized the importance of reflections on our placement activities to help us extract the most out of our placements. She acted as a mentor who provided guidance about professionalism and building team work with the peers we worked with through out the term.
Lab Manager: Daniel Yi
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| Daniel's picture taken from the Teaching Technician's webpage of Department of Biological Sciences |
Daniel's main job is to set up the apparatus and equipment at each bench and provide technical support to the Teaching Assistants. He is a skilled microbiologist and he was always there to help and troubleshoot problems. He is the go-to guy in microbiology labs for both, the students and the TAs.
Lab TAs: Darren, Elizabeth, Fraser & Arujan
All the TAs I have worked with are graduate students in Dr. Terebiznik's lab. Darren has TA-ed before but Elizabeth, Fraser and Arujan were new TAs. They have been supportive and accomodating throughout the term. If I was ever stuck or was unable to answer the questions, they have always been there to rescue me.
Lab Assistant: Me
I am Zujajah. Third year Undergrad pursuing a double major in Biology and Biochemistry. I am motivated and dedicated to the job and interested in teaching and facilitating my peers with a strong fascination towards the world of microbiology which offers huge diversity. This is why I decided to work with Dr. Brunt and help out during weekly microbiology labs.
Why am I important??
This is exactly what I asked myself when I entered the lab for the first time. The TAs gave the lab talk and went over the entire procedure and crictical aspects of the experiment. When the first lab talk was over I felt as if I was at the wrong place and there was no need for me to be there. However, soon afterwards I was proved wrong. I realized that there were many students who were just not comfortable in asking the TAs because they feared loss of participation mark. There was no such issue in asking me. TAs have a lot on their plate and cannot be available to answer everyone at the same time. I on the other hand can help in this regard. Moreover, some students were of the quiet type and did not approach anyone for help. When floating freely in between labs, I could observe the mistakes they were making and help them out. Some of the TAs I worked with were new and it had been a while since they had taken the course. I as someone who had taken the course recently could better help out students with minute details that TAs might overlook while explaining the bigger picture. Therefore, I believe that I was a vaulable asset for students in their labs.
Why am I important??
This is exactly what I asked myself when I entered the lab for the first time. The TAs gave the lab talk and went over the entire procedure and crictical aspects of the experiment. When the first lab talk was over I felt as if I was at the wrong place and there was no need for me to be there. However, soon afterwards I was proved wrong. I realized that there were many students who were just not comfortable in asking the TAs because they feared loss of participation mark. There was no such issue in asking me. TAs have a lot on their plate and cannot be available to answer everyone at the same time. I on the other hand can help in this regard. Moreover, some students were of the quiet type and did not approach anyone for help. When floating freely in between labs, I could observe the mistakes they were making and help them out. Some of the TAs I worked with were new and it had been a while since they had taken the course. I as someone who had taken the course recently could better help out students with minute details that TAs might overlook while explaining the bigger picture. Therefore, I believe that I was a vaulable asset for students in their labs.
Community I served: BIOC17 students
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| Students working in the Lab with microscopes during first week (This picture does not show actual students in BIOC17 for privacy reasons and it only depicts the lab scenario) |
The Students I have worked with are mostly third year students with few fourth year students who are completing their undergraduate degrees in a variety of disciplines ranging from neurobiology, biochemistry, human biology, health studies etc. While most of the students are taking BIOC17 as a program requirement, few students have also opted for the course as an elective. The students are the same age as me (around 21 to 22 years) and I have seen a lot of them in many of my other courses. It has been an enjoyable experience working with them. By the end of the semester we all became really good friends and I hope to stay in touch with most of them after the placement is over.
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