My Work at Columbia University

Background

As a first-generation low-income student, my responsibilities lied in my coursework, yet, I was able to find this position as a physics lab assistant as part of the work-study program.

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Set Up

I worked this position during my whole time on campus, post-COVID, through to the end of my senior year, where I assisted in over 30 physics lab sections throughout my three years on campus. 

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My primary active responsibilities involved helping TAs troubleshoot equipment, assisting them if there was confusion with experimental setups, and addressing any issues that occurred during the lab time. 

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However, while I got the change to collaborated and visualize how a TA session was run, a significant part of my role was to test, calibrate, maintain, and prepare equipment for the lab sessions. This was where I had the chance to bridge my technical skills with my theoretical experience, making sure all the equipment worked by documenting each piece of equipment and each of the results from the test experiment runs. I ensured the numbers matched to the theory, running through each calculation and problem solving where issues arose. Often, voltage was perhaps too high, or the wrong resister of capacitor was used in a circuit, but it was also an occurrence that equipment itself would not work.

Additionally, I produced various spreadsheets of equipment inventory and data for future refence to my supervisor and edited various lab procedures to ensure clarity and ease for students perhaps with non-physics-based backgrounds.

My work at Columbia University highlighted the significance of proper lab practices, problem solving, and bridging theory and technical skills in scientific research. From calibrating equipment to documenting experiments, every step is essential to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the results. These practices form the backbone of my current and future research.