The first few weeks were full of orientations, trainings, mentor and supervisor meetings, and project discussions. I got acquainted with some of the internal processes at Mayo, the general employee workflow, and my workflow as a research and development intern. To maintain the quality associated with the Mayo Clinic tradition, the clinic has a well-defined corporate culture. The work environment is awesome. I am surrounded by really smart individuals who are passionate and enthusiastic about the work that they do. I have learned a lot about both the history and the core values of the clinic. As a side note, there is a wonderful documentary by Ken Burns that gives a fascinating walk into the rich history of Mayo - it is titled The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science.

My supervisor, Stephanie, has been very caring and supportive. Her comments and bits of advice have been helpful and insightful, and she also does an excellent job of finding the right connections for me. My mentors, Drs. Feichen Shen and Yanshan Wang, have been great learning resources and have already made me familiar with several new artificial intelligence and informatics techniques. Per my request, they got me engaged in two research projects. Since the projects involve state-of-the-art approaches, I cannot disclose any further details at the time, but I hope to be able to reveal more in the future.

It is surprising how many of the research and development skills acquired at Luther are directly applicable to my current work. I am thankful to professors Richard Merritt, Alan Zaring, and Roman Yasinovskyy for their ardent support and help in building these skills. If you are a Luther student reading this blog post, go find out about the exciting summer opportunities at Luther and do not miss out on a wonderful journey called research!

I am grateful for the opportunities that the program has provided to the students and am looking forward to the new adventures to come!