 Purdue University's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or CERF, is an intensive 11-week program that provides a hands-on paid research position in a lab. CERF offers mentoring opportunities alongside graduate mentors and faculty guidance as well as numerous professional development opportunities. CERF is an opportunity for me to challenge myself with new ideas and allow myself to think critically about my research topic. CERF program will teach you stuff like research experience, professional writing, and how to present at a technical conference. You'll be able to network with professors, industry professionals, and make meaningful connections with your peers in the research community. It's been a lot of insight into graduate school which is amazing, especially like the deep dive into research, so I'm getting a better understanding of what it's like to be a graduate student. CERF has definitely allowed me to look back and look forward as well and talk to people that aren't graduates now and their trials and trebuchets and see what I can do right now to prepare myself for graduate school, what should I expect, but also the good parts of graduate school being enjoyable parts learning experience. CERF gave me the opportunity to have this different lab experience while also still having a learning experience like I would have in school and I never thought that as an undergraduate I would feel this comfortable in a lab setting and feel as confident in my research abilities. The CERF program can prepare you for graduate school and a variety of careers in academia and in industry. CERF helped me gain preliminary experience in terms of the research which will be super helpful when I'm applying for the graduate school. Throughout the work that I did in this fellowship I gained confidence in myself, in my ability to do research and I also have more confidence about committing to research. At first was not considering graduate school at all but now I am definitely considering and integrating it into my future plans. I have lots of mentors and I have an amazing faculty advisor. They provide constructive feedback on a continuous basis. They provide constant communication throughout the week. We have conversations about graduate school and they help me prepare for my various informational interviews and they help me make connections with faculty and graduate students across the nation. CERF will provide you with these new skill sets that will help you in your future career choices or education purposes. Really being a professional researcher is my dream job. I don't after this experience I really don't see myself doing anything else with my life.