Hi! My name is Shannon Dame, and I’m a rising junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering and minoring in Materials Science and Engineering. I’m super excited to be participating in the WAGS fellowship this summer, and I’m really looking forward to the work that I’ll be doing surrounding pregnancy, transplant rejection, and immunology.
I am fortunate to be continuing to work with the same mentor I had this past academic year (Dr. Russell Urie in the Shea Lab), which makes it easier for me to jump right in during the program. My expectations are that I’ll be pretty busy with several types of tasks that I’ll be helping with, including literature review, animal work, and data analysis. My mentor has some really interesting plans for the summer that I’m excited for, as my role will be a lot more hands-on and involved than during the school year. I hope to gain valuable experience and confidence while working in the lab full-time, so I can feel more comfortable as I plan for my future in science and figure out how I want to be involved for my future career.
Some challenges that I expect to encounter might be dealing with a larger workload and deeper responsibilities, getting out of my comfort zone to connect with other people in the lab, and navigating communication. I know I have the ability to thrive while doing this work because I have a good work ethic and attention to detail, so I know I can contribute well to the project while working through those challenges. The research we’re doing is something that I feel can be really important and impactful, so I think that passion will also help me overcome any difficulties I might face while learning this summer.
I’m looking forward to seeing where this summer goes and how much we can accomplish. Lastly, I’ll share again my most fun fact as of late–my umich club softball team recently competed at Nationals in Georgia!
