You might be curious about the title of this blog post, and I’ll get to that right now. Today was full of conversations with people from incredibly different departments, positions, and roles in the organization. This diversity is especially highlighted by the fact that we have mostly been talking to people in the CTID department, and we barely crossed paths with these people today!
We started off with Todd Bachman and Vanessa Cooke, who are in charge of Procurement Administration. Essentially, they work with FHI 360 after they have been approved to do research to make sure that they have the materials necessary. It seemed to me that their job was an interesting mixture of accounting, networking, and business. They also brought us some items from many different companies, such as tiny cars and yo-yos, which we played with for the rest of the day.
After a very short lunch break of half an hour, we met with Hannah Goetz, who went to Cary Academy and is now interning at CTID. This was an incredibly interesting conversation because her knowledge of Cary Academy gave her a unique perspective and allowed us to make the conversation more specific to us. Her talk about her experience taught me how crucial it is to step out of your comfort zone and interact with those around you, especially in college.
Next, Anna Lawton, who works with BECS, came and talked to us about human-centered design. She described the idea behind her research as “soft science;” essentially, while “hard science” is quantitative and based off of hard facts, her type of research is based off of interviews and other qualitative information. She talked about a trip she took and the research she did there, including individual interviews and group interviews. This was a really interesting new side to research that I had never really considered.
Lastly, Margaret Groves, the Director of Regulatory Affairs, came and discussed her career and the regulatory affairs department. Essentially, this was the legal side to research, which requires making sure that all of the research is following protocol so that it can be utilized when it is finished. The most interesting part of this conversation was when we talked about how, when you are doing research in multiple countries (which is done a LOT at FHI 360), you typically go by the most stringent research regulations so that you can publish your information everywhere. I had never really thought about all the consideration that went into research, so this was very interesting.
Overall, a great day! We talked to a bunch of amazing and passionate people, finished all of our projects (!!), and ate some delicious burgers. I can’t complain!