Research Assistant; University of Victoria, Math and Statistics Faculty
Hi, my name is Andy Chen and I am currently a Research Assistant at the University of Victoria for my first co-op workterm. I am a research assistant for Dr. Xuekui Zhang in the math and statistics faculty where I am working on a project, Diagnostics of Viral Infections Using High-Throughput Genome Sequencing Data.
This term I have been learning about data analysis and machine learning models to diagnose plants correctly in order to prevent further infections. I have learned to code in R to process this data. Viral plant infections cause major economic losses and with no treatment for virus-infected plants, accurate and efficient diagnosis is important for preventing and controlling these diseases.
In the co-op program, I have learned what a data analysis career consists of and I can determine if I would like to pursue it as a future career path. I have also learned many new skills that are useful for future employment.
I realized I am enjoying this job as it makes me feel I am positively contributing to the world even if it is as small as diagnosing plant viruses through data analysis. I feel motivated and proud to work and be able to contribute to a good cause.