• The best experience I gained from this was the chance to do research under a fellowship and the insight on how fellowship and committees work.

• The ability to closely observe the day-to-day aspects of psychophysical research.

• The best part of my experience was to be able to divert away from a typical classroom setting, and enjoy a more interactive form of learning opportunity. Working with Dr. Silver and Ariel Rokem was a wonderful experience as their guidance provided a productive direction to my self-motivation. I also looked forward to the weekly seminars and discussion sessions. These seminars helped answer a lot of my questions about research opportunities in the vision sciences.

• Learning and applying what we learned into clinical aspects.

• Working one on one with the researching Doctors. It is great working with people who are experts in their field.

• Not only being involved in a project with having a mentor but also learning what other students involved in.

• I really enjoyed most aspects of my summer research from interacting with subjects to data collection. However, what I found most fascinating was to witness how training the amblyopic eye can yield amazing results. One of the subjects I ran improved 4 lines of acuity after 40 hours of videogame play (training period). This really shows how plastic an adult brain can be despite the conventional belief that treating amblyopia is a lost cause after the critical period has passed.

• Results! I was elated when I got results for my project! I am thankful that NEI research summer program provides me an opportunity to finish my 2-year long project.

• Being able to take a great deal of control during the whole research process.

• Meetings with Dr. Liu and Dr. Wildsoet discussing about the project.

• Being able to publish my research findings at ARVO, and the opportunity to attend the presentations at ARVO.

• This summer was great in so many areas that I don't think a single portion could be labeled "The Best." I guess the best part of the summer was probably that I never stopped having fun. The challenges of running my own project with my own experiments were awesome, conversing with students from other optometry programs was interesting, and spending the weekends exploring San Francisco and northern California was fantastic. Overall, Berkeley's relaxed research environment provided many opportunities to learn about a specialized region in vision science and to have fun! In retrospect, I would like to live everything all over again!

• The best part of my experience was getting to work with a first-rate researcher and see how they think things through in the research process.

• I enjoyed meeting with other doctors to discuss and further my research on sports vision, spending time with other NEI students (in and out of their labs), and learning about other types of vision research. I also enjoyed our weekly seminars and the luncheon with the PhD and vision science grad students.

• Learning about everyone's experiments ... and hearing about individual interests.

• The best part of the experience was being able to learn about all the exciting progress being made in the field of vision science research, not only by the lab I worked in but also in the labs of my peers. I'm certain that I wouldn't have been able to have gained such exposure to the current findings in vision had I not participated in the program.

• Research is a different learning style from that of a class. it requires more self-motivation and a spirit of exploration. Throughout the summer, I've experienced a lab guy's daily life and enjoyed this kind of creative and investigative environment. Many interesting experiments were going on in the building that really attracted me to the colorful vision science world.

• Being able to work closely with my faculty mentor, having hands-on experience in the pediatric clinic, and being able to participate in all aspects of research (data collection, analysis, submitting an abstract).

• The best part of the experience was interacting with my mentor and colleagues within the program (sharing techniques, knowledge, experiences) — it definitely made this research experience a lot less daunting than being purely independent.

• To have exposure to clinical research besides primary care. (2nd Yr).

• I feel the same way as last year; it is getting to have better idea about our school and on-going researches, and promoting better understanding in optometric-related knowledge and still getting paid!! (Usually the opposite way, we pay to learn). (2nd Yr).

• The most beneficial part of participating the second year is that the project from last year was related to this years project, so the research was continuous, not disjunt. (2nd Yr).

• The best part about this program is the autonomy we had along with the project. While my mentor offered their guidance and support, (they were overseas), we had the opportunity to work on our very own project from scratch. I thought that the presentations were worthwhile and gave us the opportunity to organize our data and to show ourselves how much we've accomplished this summer. It seemed as though working on the presentation gave me a better understanding of our project - organization is key. Although I enjoyed working in my lab lab, I think we would have benefited more from the program if they were here. Communication via email was helpful but tedious in terms of typing out the day's experimental details that would have otherwise taken a few seconds to verbalize and show. Well, all I can say is that it kept me busy. Fortunately, I was working with 2 other people on my project. If it were not for them, I would've either failed the "boards" (I don't know if I've passed yet) or had less data to present.

• The best part of my experience was having the opportunity to pick the brains of other researchers in my lab and gain an understanding of the work that goes on here at the UC Berkeley School of Optometry.

• Meeting all the great people in my lab ... Making summer a very practical experience because we had to write three research papers about our research and a couple of presentations.

• The best part of my experience was being able to work on my own project.

• The best parts of my experience were seeing all the different labs and getting to be very involved with one topic. I like that the atmosphere was relaxed. I think you can really tease out where one applies pressure to oneself vs. the external pressures of a didactic/testing environment.

• Working with the subjects ... since my subjects were all long term (they were here the whole time I was here) I got to know them. Plus I learned a lot about perceptual learning and amblyopes.

• The best of my experience was getting to see how eye exams for infants/toddlers and handicapped persons are done. I was also able to assist in those examinations and learned the various tools that a "normal" adult exam would not require.

• The experience has expanded my knowledge of current research in the various fields of optometry and it has increased my appreciation of the importance of clinical research for increasing our knowledge about how to better treat our patients. I feel I've gained motivation to consider postgraduate research after obtaining my OD degree. It made me realize that there are many opportunities in clinical research. I enjoyed every minute of working on my research project. I found my entire experience stimulating and I feel I've had a very productive summer. The experience has definitely just opened another road option for me to take after graduation.

• Working with our subjects. It was a great way to practice patient interaction. I feel more confident in being able to make my patients feel comfortable and also build rapport. It was great early exposure to what lies ahead in the clinic.

• Meeting all the great people in my lab. Making summer a very practical experience because we had to write three research papers about our research and give a couple of presentations.

• The best part of my experience over the summer was being able to work with fun people in a relaxing lab environment. I felt that the course of the summer was truly up to me. The amount of time and effort I put in is what I would get out of it. At the same time there was an abundance of help. Everyone in lab was willing to lend a helping hand when needed.

• Learning new lab techniques (histology) and hanging with the cool researchers in my lab.

• Completing my project and getting experience with clinical research. My lab was very focused and well organized. I enjoyed learning about current optometric research and how our lab was contributing to it.

• The best part of my experience was getting the chance to work with a really great mentor. I've learned so much from him; not only about what it takes to be a good researcher but also what it takes to be a good clinician. I've had research experience before but only as a lab assistant contributing to a large project. This summer I had my own project to work on and I felt that I learned so much more about what research was all about.

• Understanding more about myopia and the issues surrounding it; it's very helpful for clinic too!

• The best part was being able to explore the unknown. It was a great intellectual vacation from learning things in the classroom that has been known for decades.

• The best part of the NEI experience is getting to see what optometric research is like and seeing if it's for you.

• The best part of my experience was being a part of fighting retinal genetic dystrophies through research.

• Mostly the freedom to work at my own pace and to have a say in what direction I wanted to take the summer project. I think it was an invaluable experience for my optometric career, even if I don't see myself doing research. I learned a lot about how the data and scientific information that I receive in lectures are gathered. Where does all the information that we know of in optometry come from? From the years of hands-on research done by academic professionals at these fine institutions.

• The best part was learning about and being part of the research that is going on in optometry and being able to apply concepts learned outside the classroom. I also enjoyed the opportunity of meeting faculty at Berkeley and working with low vision subjects.

• The best part of the experience is the opportunity to design and conduct research in an environment that allows for a great mixture of independence and mentor guidance.

• Getting to know everybody in the lab and feeling a sense of accomplishment knowing that I'm making an important contribution to the field of Optometry.

• The best part of the experience would be the opportunity to work and explore in my area of interest. It gave me the opportunity to learn more about the work I was performing as well as the arena of vision research.

• Learning about developing research ideas and learning about the specific field

• Working with different lab personnel organizing/managing my own experiment (thinking through the process, creating own story); seminars and learning about others research

• Working in a lab where everyone gets along with each other and enjoys each others company. What I was working on was very cool as well. Learning about diabetes and electrophysiology was a great experience. Also I've never been this involved in research before. I've learned so much about what goes into being a research scientist.

• The best part about this summer was getting to study something no one else had studied before and something that I really was interested in studying (compared to previous research projects). Although I had fears about giving a scientific presentation at the end of the summer, the presentation showed me just how much I learned and accomplished during these ten weeks. I also treasured the relationships I made with the post-docs in lab that were so helpful and encouraging through the obstacles I ran into during the summer. I loved the atmosphere of the lab I worked in too.

• The best part of my experience was to gain a perspective of what clinical research is about. I liked the working environment and the project I was working on.

• Working on my own project (with the help of undergrads) and being able to make decisions about the direction of the project. As I learned more about previous glare testers and the theory behind our test, I had a better understanding of what our goals were and what we needed to do to try and achieve them. I really liked how my mentor gave us the freedom to work on our own and occasionally consult him if problems or questions arose. I f elt I was really given the opportunity to be a true "researcher".

• The best part of my experience this summer was the opportunity to work in a lab on a full time basis, to gain a greater understanding of what is required to be a vision science researcher. I was able to interact with the principal investigator almost daily to receive advice and feedback as my project progressed. The close and frequent interactions made my time with the program more productive.

• The best part of this summer was the opportunity to continue the work I started last summer. Lab was actually a nice departure from studying for boards and working in clinic. [returning 2nd-year student]

• Mostly new exposure to the equipment and the ways that we can diagnose a patient with a disease. Since my research involves people with optic atrophy, it was nice to find out about and become familiar with the tests that we can use on these patients to find out about their condition. [returning 2nd-year student]

• Working along with a fellow student in learning about Visually Evoked Potential techniques and theory. I feel like I accomplished a lot with regards to my own thesis project. Meanwhile, I was learning about a new subject, which certainly added interest to my overall research experience. [returning 2nd-year student]

• The best part about this summer was being able to work with my mentor again and being able to experiment with a new perimetry instrument. [returning 2nd-year student]

More comments can be found at:

What would you do differently?

Did the benefits outweigh the negatives?