139 Research Reflection by McKenzie Price

Faculty Mentor: Jack Silcox` (Psychology, University of Utah)

I began my undergraduate research experience out of necessity. Research hours were a requirement for a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering, and I had put it off for way too long. Absolutely petrified at the thought of cold emailing PIs, I mustered up the courage to message Dr. Brennan Payne with the Language and Memory Aging (LaMA) lab. Long story short, I have now been a research assistant with the LaMA lab for two years. Both Dr. Payne and Dr. Jack Silcox, my UROP mentor, have been instrumental in not only my independent research but also my overall undergraduate experience. I have always been curious and asked a lot of questions, but they have given me the tenacity and confidence to find the answers. Research wasn’t a career option I had considered before, but now it seems like a viable way to turn my love of learning to a lifelong endeavor.