03/03/2026
Avery E. Guo ‘28 (she/her) was a Brown Generated (LINK, Advanced Undergraduate Research) researcher during the summer of 2025.
Avery shares their experience:
“My research project this summer focused on building an interactive, user-friendly data visualization tool to help researchers better understand genomic data. The project aimed to visualize results from aligned mixed-membership clustering analyses in a way that makes complex population genetics data easier to interpret. Over the course of the summer, I learned new programming skills, especially working with JavaScript, while also thinking carefully about user interface design and how visualization can make complicated datasets more accessible.
Working in the lab environment was a really valuable experience. I learned how important strong visualizations can be when communicating scientific results and gained experience presenting my work and discussing research ideas. My project was fairly self-guided, which pushed me to develop independence and accountability in managing my progress. I met regularly with my mentor and worked closely with a postdoctoral researcher in the lab, who provided helpful feedback and guidance as I developed my coding workflow and organized the project.
Overall, the experience gave me a deeper understanding of the research process. It showed me that meaningful results take time, patience, and perseverance. While there were moments of frustration when I hit plateaus, those challenges helped me become more realistic about how research projects develop. The collaborative lab environment and the mentorship I received made the experience especially rewarding, and it motivated me to continue engaging with the lab beyond the completion of my project.”
It is inspiring to learn and hear about Avery’s experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻