About Karthik Reddy Mahakala
Hey everyone! My name is Karthik Mahakala, and I am a rising Sophomore studying Environmental Biology at Columbia College. Specifically, I am extremely passionate about environmental health sciences, which encompasses how physical, chemical, and biological factors in the natural and built environments impact public health.
This summer, I will be evaluating the reliability of consumer-facing packaging signals for skin-lightening products across Northern Manhattan as a research assistant in the Llanos Lab.
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Influencer Of
Youness Robert-Tahiri
MSocSci Psychology Candidate (Laidlaw Scholars Alumnus), University of Cape Town
Recent Comments
Hey Erin, I was just talking about in my post, how reading the Literature has shaped my project so much from what I first thought it would look like. It's so interesting to see how many of your dosages, timings, and even overall research questions were similarly impacted by the papers within your field!
Karthik, it's super interesting to hear more about your project on SLPs in cosmeceuticals! I remember having read The Poisoner's Handbook and learning about toxic chemicals in consumer products that have now been removed due to concerns about their effects on human health. I would be curious to learn more about the algorithms you use in analyzing the harmful chemicals and whether it's a particular dosage of SLPs or the presence of SLPs at all. Looking forward to hearing more as your project progresses!
Hey Erin! That handbook sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out! I am using R to create my algorithms, and as you guessed, I am more so just looking for the presence of the chemical, as a lot of CoCs don't have a thoroughly researched safe concentration/
Karthik,
Your work sounds so interesting! I'm particularly intrigued in how you hope the skepticism you wish to create will reshape SLPs --- are you aiming to inform policy, nonprofit work, etc?
Hey Leo!
There's a nonprofit called WE ACT for environmental justice that I am hoping to share a few infographics I made with. Additionally, I am hoping to contact the NYC Department of Health directly to report the SLPs that contain illegal chemicals.
Hey Erin!
Thanks for sharing the IHCs from your project. I've heard so much about your project just verbally, but it's so amazing to see some of the fruits of your labor and the physical manifestations of your research! I am currently in a Dry lab, right now but your project seems super cool and has inspired me to branch out a little and maybe try doing more wet lab-related stuff in the future.
Hey Ruchi! I completely relate to your post about how the workshop really shifted my mindset. I also came in with the impression that the leader is the most extroverted or driven individual in the group; however, I've come to see that it's more about establishing harmony within the group and is something anyone can accomplish.
Hi Tomás,
That's so amazing that the librarians were able to better help you contextualize bioethics within social infrastructure! My area of expertise is definitely more in STEM-related fields; however, I have had to spend a lot of time reading on legislation due to the nature of my project. I am excited to see how the librarians might be able to help me!
Hi Joy! I completely relate to not being able to imagine your research journey when you don't have a central question defined yet. I'm a very structured person, and so it's also been hard for me to work on my project knowing that we have hard deadlines. Something I've been trying to work on is being okay with not having a fixed question and instead being open to constantly changing and shaping my research methodology as I do more research and come up with new ideas. In the same way that my essay topic for E3 at UW was constantly changing, I am attempting to apply that same philosophy to my current project and be more open to the idea of a constantly evolving research question that continuously improves. Best of luck, and I hope that my thought process can be of some help to you as well!