Introduction to my Research Blog




Mandelbrot fractal generated from quasicrystal image.  Code credit: Veena G.  Fractal: malinc.se

Welcome to my blog!  Amo blog ku swagoto!  Wilkommen auf meinem Blog!

My name is Veena Ghorakavi.  I am an undergraduate student at Texas A&M University majoring in computer science, biochemistry, and minoring in mathematics.  I have many interests and passions.  One of my greatest loves is academic research.

This blog is dedicated primarily to understanding and explaining academic research.   The scope for the blog articles is covered below:
  • General research topics
    • Deciding which field of research is best for you
    • How to approach a professor
    • How to determine time commitments for research
    • Thesis versus non-thesis work
  • High school research
    • When to start applying for laboratories 
    • Good topics for research
    • Research competitions to be involved in
    • College applications 
  • Undergraduate research
    • When to start applying for laboratories
    • What to look for in a professor
    • Research grants and scholarships to apply for 
    • Balancing work, research, and studies
    • Graduate applications
  • Graduate research 
    • What to look for in a laboratory and graduate advisor
    • Balancing work, research, studies, and family 
    • Research grants and scholarships to apply for
    • Funding
  • Post graduate research work
    • Funding
    • Transitioning to academia or becoming a professor
    • What to look for in a laboratory 
  • Open source work
    • How to highlight open source project work
    • What projects to contribute to 
    • Open source versus proprietary
  • Transitioning between industry and academia
    • Starting a business
    • Industry to academia: What role do you play?
    • Academia to industry
  • Miscellaneous topics 
    • Time management techniques
    • Avoiding burn out 
    • How to deal with personal tragedies during research
    • How to make the most of the research experience
There will also be some discussion about my work in bioinformatics.  Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field where the current focus is on applying computational techniques to the biological field.  Bioinformatics covers a vast range of topics from classifying genes to epidemiological techniques.

Since my primary focus is an interdisciplinary fields, there will also be discussion about other topics such as mathematics, physical chemistry, computer science, and such.  There will be discussion about how different policies may impact research, what different schools are good for, and just general advice about how to proceed through one's career even with setbacks.

I really hope this blog is of use to any one who reads it.  If you have any questions, concerns, or any corrections to make, I am always here to help.  Please enjoy, and I hope this blog is useful.

Thank you!

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