Greg Inozemtsev, Queen’s University

This summer I’ve had the best summer job I have had so far. I was part of the team working on the ASD-CARC website. I was finishing my second year of a Computer Engineering program at Queen’s University, and was looking for work related to my degree program for the summer. One of the interviews I was invited to was with ASD-CARC’s Dr. Jeanette Holden.

To be honest, I did not know much about autism spectrum disorders when I first met Dr. Holden. However, she had me interested right away. I could immediately tell that Dr. Holden is very passionate about her work, and as she described her vision of an international web system that would not only allow people from around the world be a part of her research, but also build a strong support community, I knew I wanted to be a part of the project.

The main reason I chose to study engineering is that I would like to work on practical projects that aim to improve people’s lives. The ASD-CARC website is an ambitious project that has exactly that goal at its foundation. As well, the project was a perfect fit for my skills, since I have worked on web applications before.

None of the work I have done before was quite of this scale, however, so initially there was a steep learning curve. Within a couple weeks I learned the internal workings of the website, and was able to contribute code. I have definitely learned a lot about modern web programming technologies. I worked with two other Queen’s students, and another important thing I learned was working on a large project as a part of a team. The task seemed almost overwhelming at times, but by working collaboratively and splitting up work we were able to get a lot done by the end of the summer.

As I worked on the web system more and more, I became interested in autism spectrum disorders. I have done some reading on the subject, and I now appreciate the complexity of the task the ASD-CARC researchers are facing, since autism can produce an extremely wide range of symptoms and effects in different people. I worked very hard all summer to make as significant a contribution as I could.

At the end of my term with ASD-CARC I have not only improved my skills and learned new ones, I also felt that I helped the research team get closer to their goal, however little. And knowing that the product of my work will actually be useful to many people around the world was also very satisfying.