Much of my work this semester was done from home at my desk as I worked to sort through and analyze the data I had obtained.
Author: Jenova Kempkes | Major: Biomedical Engineering | Semester: Fall 2022
My name is Jenova Kempkes, and I am in the College of Engineering studying biomedical engineering. As much as I love my major, I decided to explore other options for research and began working with Dr. Gray in the Exercise Science Research Center (ESRC). I was really fascinated by Dr. Gray’s focus on cognition and aging, and I wanted to aid in research that was centered around human participants rather than work at a lab bench. After a couple of years learning under Dr. Gray and being exposed to various aspects of her research, I was able to find a research topic that interested me. The goal of my research is to help better understand the relationship between biological sex and aging in healthy older adults. By understanding if there are differences in various cognitive constructs based on age and sex, clinicians can begin to look for specific signs of decline sooner and interventions can be more appropriately tailored to increase the effectiveness.
My work began in the spring of 2021 when I started assisting in the ESRC on the Digital Cognitive Multidomain Alzheimers Risk Velocity (DCMARVEL) study under Dr. Gray. Through the DCMARVEL study I was able to help in data collection. I helped guide healthy older adults, both male and female, through a series of physical and cognitive tasks. It was through my work in this study that I began to think about my own idea for research. I was curious if biological sex had any impact on cognitive decline. Fortunately, I was able to use the DCMARVEL data I had already helped collect to determine if there was a relationship between the two variables. This is the point at which I applied for funding to continue with my research.
Since beginning with the research grant in the Fall of 2022, a lot of my work has been educating myself. The very first step was finding out what research already existed on the topic. Through hours of reading and sorting through articles, I was able to gain a better understanding of the work already completed in the field and determine what areas could use further investigation. After the literary review, I was ready to begin organizing the data I would need for my study. This involved sorting through all of the existing data from the DCMARVEL study and formatting it in a way that was usable for my specific study. One of the most tedious parts of this was finding a female that “matched” every individual male participant based on specific criteria.
The remainder of the semester focused on data analysis. This was a challenge for me as I have never taken a statistics class. While I have completed rudimentary analysis on data in my engineering classes, never before had I worked with data on this level. In combination with help from PhD students, my mentor, and a lot of googling I was able to gain a rudimentary understanding of the statistics that would be ideal for my study. I learned not only what tests to run, but also how to interpret them. The first time I spoke with one of the PhD students about statistics it sounded like a foreign language. It was rewarding to begin to understand the words and concepts as I progressed through the semester.
At this point in my research, I have assembled each of the necessary components for my study. I understand the background of the problem and the existing research. I understand the protocols followed to obtain the data, and I have analyzed the data. This means that I will spend the spring of 2023 assembling each piece into one complete paper about my results. While it does not sound like a lot, I am a terrible writer so it will be a struggle for me to write my very first research paper. However, I am excited for the opportunity to practice my research writing skills and hopefully continue to grow. My goal is to be able to present my work by the end of the semester.