Japan: Liam Oenick
Program: Research Internship at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Summer
Major: Biology & Japanese
Liam participated on an 8-week research internship that takes place before the 10-day UW Food Systems and the Environment in Northern Japan faculty-led program. Students who are accepted to the faculty-led program have the option to also apply to do research in a laboratory led by a faculty member at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.
What is the moment you are most proud of?
Throughout this program, I am proud of how helpful I was able to be with the care of the chickens and data collection. There’s a lot of work that goes in to caring for the more than 400 chickens in Professor Goto’s care, and when he complemented how eager I was to take initiative and help wherever I could, it made me feel like my efforts had been appreciated.
How were your program academics similar or different from taking classes at UW-Madison?
I audited the seminar class that Professor Goto was teaching while I was here, but other than this once-a-week event, I didn’t spend much time in a classroom. Because it was a short program, I was spending most of my time in the laboratory, chicken coop, or in the student office working on the data analysis. Professor Goto and several of the graduate students took the time to teach me specific things about their research and how to use RStudio for data analysis, but it was more free-form than I would expect from classes at UW. This program wasn’t a class; it was a research internship. Compared to working in a laboratory at UW, this program was much more focused and intense, as I didn’t need to schedule lab work around classes, and I was able to be in the lab full-time.
Communication barriers can be difficult to surmount, but repeated efforts and the use of bilingual dictionaries or translation apps can help bridge this gap. Keep trying; it’s worth it for the relationships you can build.
Pictured above: When we were visiting a local chicken farm to look at practical applications of Professor Goto’s research, I met two adorable three-month-old pigs. They really liked being scratched and pet, and I did my best to give them as much affection as they wanted. The sleeves of my white lab coat were very muddy because they kept head-butting my hands and arms when I stopped scratching one of them to scratch the other pig.
Describe your internship, research, or fieldwork and how the experience helped advance your career or studies.
I worked for 8 weeks at professor Goto’s lab studying chicken genetics. Research experience of any sort would have been useful for my biology degree, as data analysis, DNA extraction, and care of experimental animals are transferable skills in pursuit of further research experience, but this program specifically placed me in an area conducive to improving the skills necessary for my Japanese major. Studying the biological sciences internationally has improved my skills in both fields, and helped prepare me for the international job I’m applying for after graduation.