我的研究经历:rees智库

我一直瞒着你们一个大秘密. Since May 2023, I have been involved with a research opportunity called rees智库. I am finally going to share with y’all the nitty gritty details of this amazing extracurricular activity.

什么是REEES智库?

The rees智库 is the brainchild of 4 professors who wanted to build a program they wished they had as undergraduates. 他们的目标是增加俄语的多样性, 东欧, and Eurasian Studies and provide students with research skills to “make it” in academia. A big part of what they do is help us form connections with each other and current scholars in the field.

Through the Think Tank, I was partnered with my mentor, Dr. 路易斯·波特, who is a historian focusing on Soviet internationalism and foreign policy during the Cold War. Dr. 波特和我在极速身上花了很多时间, figuring out exactly what I wanted to contribute to the conversation about my topic (keep reading for more on that).

我是怎么听说这个智库的?

On May 1st, 2023, my Russian professor 劳拉·戈林 sent me this email:

当天晚些时候，我回复道:

And thus, I was introduced to an entire world of academia that I was really unfamiliar with. However, the Think Tank made it more accessible to me by providing me with “safety in numbers.”

我遇见了谁??

I met some of the current (and future) top scholars in the field of REEES. 这学期我和阿迪布·哈立德一起上苏联历史课, I opened up the acknowledgments section and found a whole bunch of REEES mentors being thanked in it! 这就是这个研究机会有多大.

As for future top scholars, I am referring to my cohort of researchers. 我们来自美国各地, from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast and everywhere in between. 我很自豪能代表中西部地区!

Unrelated, but fun fact, there was a board games convention held next door to the ASEEES Convention. 一个时刻, 我在看一些非常严肃的, 重要的教授, 下一个, 在非常严重的情况下, 重要的桌游爱好者!

我做了什么??

研究. 关于拜科努尔航天发射场. 你可以在我做的这个网站上在线查看.

There is much to say about what research is, but I’ll give you the short version.

1. I came up with a research topic, which was the legacy of the Space Race in Kazakhstan. Basically, the biggest legacy is the world’s largest and oldest spaceport.
2. Over the summer and part of fall term, I researched very diligently. Gathering as many sources as I could, I wrote a research paper. Thank you to the Writing Center, who answered all my questions about phrasing and flow.
3. I presented that research paper at the ASEEES Convention in Philadelphia in November 2023. 我这辈子从来没有紧张过. I was gripping the edge of the podium so nobody could see how my hands were shaking! However, the entire room was extremely supportive and asked great questions at the end.
4. I completed a website using ArcGIS StoryMaps (a new skill I learned via the Think Tank) in January 2024. Website design was not my forte before this project (ironic considering I am a blogger), but now I feel a lot more comfortable navigating that space. I am also confident that I can somehow manage to accidentally delete everything off of a program where it is nearly impossible to delete everything.

我是怎么做的?

Hey, to be an undergraduate presenting at THE American Slavic Studies Convention is pretty cool. Some people have even likened it to a high school quarterback playing in the Soup-er Bowl, 但我不确定那是什么意思. 我的导师, 劳拉·戈林, 他说我为演讲做了充分的准备, 我觉得这是莫大的赞美. She very patiently listened to me fret about my project during fall term, 只要有可能，她总是给我鼓励. That #1 in Undergraduate Teaching means something, am I right?

Everyone in my cohort had fantastic, interesting research to share. For example, my friend Christian gave a very enlightening talk about Mexican-Soviet relations. 你以前听过吗? I learned something new from every one of my cohort-mates’ presentations, including that Baku began as an oil-drilling city (Thanks, 渺位!). 我没想到会学到这么多德涅斯特河沿岸的知识, which is a small internationally unrecognized state within Moldova, 但苍井空列出了所有重要的事实和日期. 当然, 这只是我学到的一小部分, 所以请看看我的同伴们的项目 智库网站.

I am very excited to watch my new friends grow up and become a significant part of REEES research. They’ve got a wonderful head start because of the Think Tank!

你也能做到吗?

是的! 请! 做应用! This research opportunity has been instrumental in helping me figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. 我学到了实用的研究技巧, 遇到了一些很棒的人, 经历了我的第一次学术会议. If you are thinking about GG电子官方软件下载 and what kind of research opportunities there are, you definitely should consider GG电子官方软件下载 and its connection to the rees智库.

莱克斯 Wallace (she/her) is excited to be returning to GG电子官方软件下载 as a sophomore. She works as an GG电子官方软件下载的博客ger, Russian Teaching Assistant, and Writing Consultant. 她计划攻读SOAN和俄语双学位, but you’ll have to ask her what she ends up declaring in the spring. Her current obsessions are oat milk, NCIS, and Doc Martens.