On this page, you will find all relevant documents for my STEM I project, such as my Grant Proposal and Project Notes file, that are a large part of the STEM I research process. This documents were made in part to practice technical writing, but also to understand existing scientific literature on the field that I chose to explore with my STEM project. Even though the various files on this page served different purposes throughout my research, they have all been instrumental in helping me improve my technical reading and writing skills.
Throughout the year in STEM I, we complete two major technical writing assignments: the Grant Proposal and the STEM Thesis. The Grant Proposal combines the traditional literature review process with proof-of-concept testing and preliminary data to pitch our STEM projects to investors for funding. The proposal is approximately ten pages in length, excluding the references and appendices, and is completed over a period of about two months. The project is completed in intervals, with checkpoints and a draft due before the final version. Each checkpoint sequentially adds an important part of the proposal, such as the preliminary data, methods, and materials.
A crucial component of the research process is building a foundational understanding of topics important to a specific research field. A large part of the workload for STEM in the first half of the year surrounds the Project Notes file, which is a collection of project-relevant information, such as existing research and patents, that are meant to guide the research process while helping improve technical skills. For the first two terms of the year, the notes file contains twenty peer-reviewed scientific journal articles along with two existing scientific patents related to the project.
Here, you can find a diagram of my testing setup that I used to collect data for my project. This diagram was made using the BioRender software for biological diagrams and is featured on my February Fair poster!