I Want to Learn as Many Languages as Possible!
Meet Kaavya, the iGEM ambassador for Japan. For her, just being at the jamboree, and talking to the people there is what reinforced her love for languages and synthetic biology. She was struck with the realization that she could be missing out on so much learning just because she didn't speak the same language as the researchers. She is a firm believer that scientists shouldn't have to translate their works just for our benefit. This is one of the reasons for her being such a proficient polyglot- to lessen the burden on the people wanting to share their works.
“I want to learn as many languages as possible so I can interact with people in their own languages and lessen the burden on them.”
She moved to Japan to learn Japanese and her motivation to join the ambassador program was that she wanted to promote the power she sees in science in her community in Japan. She feels that this is even more important now, during the pandemic and is trying to promote synthetic biology and make it powerful, fun, and accessible.
Looking at the bright side of things, it is so great that we’re all able to connect so easily and collaborate online.
“Even through the isolation we can go online and there’s always someone in some time zone who is awake and can help us.”
She fondly recounts her days as part of the first NYU iGEM team.
“My favorite experience in iGEM was when our team first got some lab space and we spent hours cleaning it together.”
That was the moment they finally felt like a real team. Up until that year, their NYU campus didn’t have an iGEM team, and the three lab leaders who started the team had to go around asking professors for lab space, and finally getting it was a surreal experience- they had been doing prep work for months and they finally had the space to do lab-work.
“Spending hours in the lab together definitely helped keep team morale high”, she says.
“That's how we bonded the most- just being in a lab together, doing experiments, and going out for food after.”
Kaavya believes that although everyone on a team is very capable, it is really important to choose your strengths. She remembers that her team established roles really late.
“We thought, okay, everyone can do everything. But that was no good.”
She admits that she was never good at computers, and the dry lab part of the project wasn't one of her strengths, instead, she was the wet lab point person, and her love for interacting with people helped with all the collaborations.
As any team can relate, there is a huge learning curve throughout the competition, and Kaavya recalls with nostalgia the after Jamboree dinner where the team could finally relax.
“It felt like we did it.”
