Week 11: It’s Time To Go

It’s Time To Go

I still can’t believe it’s officially over. 

After seemingly countless hours of coding, bug hunting, frustrated keyboard smashing, and Taylor Swift reference searching to write these very blog posts, I’ve finally delivered my final senior project presentation (watch here if you weren’t able to attend in person!! https://youtu.be/cjSCCcftj2M) 

And yet, for me, it’s not really over at all. In both the literal and figurative senses, I don’t think it ever truly will be. 

You’re (Never) On Your Own, Kid: The People That Made It All Possible 

I am and will always be forever indebted to the kindness, support, and encouragement constantly offered to me by my mentors and friends. Words will never be enough to convey the depth of gratitude and admiration I have for all of you and everything that you’ve done for me, but regardless, I’d like to take a moment to thank a few individuals who have been a significant influence on me and my project. 

First and foremost, my external advisor, Dr. Bhakti Baheti. When I first came to her and asked her if she would be willing to advise me throughout this project, she immediately agreed. Since then, she’s been there for me despite her countless work and personal obligations, and I am constantly in awe of her wealth of knowledge in this field of research. Without her, I would be nowhere.

Next, my internal advisor, Mrs. Swetha Bhattacharya. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of knowing her ever since I was in her sixth-grade computer science class, and I can only say that she’s one of the most caring, supportive people I’ve ever known. She was always there to encourage me to keep going and to persevere through the difficulties I seemed to be constantly facing. Even though she was relatively unfamiliar with the more specific technical aspects of my project, she nevertheless took time out of her day to help me brainstorm solutions, and I am so grateful for that.

From Penn’s AI in Biomedical Imaging Lab, Dr. Ujjwal Baid and Prof. Spyridon Bakas. They’re the most talented and knowledgeable people I’ve had the amazing opportunity to get to know, both as researchers and as people. I wouldn’t know anything about anything related to this project if it wasn’t for their boundless kindness and generosity in offering me an extended internship with the lab, making me feel at home when I stayed over the summer, and teaching me everything I needed to know. 

(photoshop creds to Aaron Thomas) 

And last, but certainly not least, my friends. I’m not going to name any names because honestly, there are simply too many of you to list here without boring whoever happens to be reading this. But I will say this: through the ups and downs of not just this project, but life in general, you’ve always been there for me. Every single time. To support me, to cheer me up, to tell me that everything’s going to be okay. And I don’t think I can ever fully express how much that means to me but just know that you are appreciated so, so much. You know who you are :). 

The Great War Continues: The Future of My Project 

As I’ve mentioned in past posts and during my final presentation, my work on this project is in no way bound by the official duration of this senior project. Although I’ve reached a point where I can safely call my work a success, my original goal was to apply my work to actual research projects in order to remedy the issues I set out to solve, and I’m determined to keep going until I’m able to do so. My first step will be to reconstruct full diagnostic slides from patches that have had their pen markings removed, and from there, I will use this data in the original glioblastoma research I was doing when I was inspired to pursue this project in the first place, bringing it back full circle. I hope to have more updates soon, but until then, the only thing left to do is to say bye bye baby ;). 

Catch you later :))