Entrepeneurship

I want to be an entrepreneur.  Some of the traits I can identify from my PDP that align with this thought include the following:

• I value integrity, education, friendship, and culture
• I am organized, productive, honest, and determined
• I want to help and inspire people
• I want to do something that I love and enjoy
• I want to be happy

Some weaknesses or opportunities for improvement include:

• Leadership skills
• Standing up for myself and what I believe in
• Networking skills
• Presentation skills and being comfortable in front of peers/superiors

Entrepreneurship is not all about starting a business.  I think that it is about believing in yourself and your abilities.  It's about not giving up on your dreams and being determined.  Ultimately, I think a person with the mindset of an entrepreneur will be more successful and happier than a person who thinks like a businessperson or other.

Implementing a Lean Process

Implementing a Lean Process for my desk study area
The seven muda are:

• transport: I guess what would be considered transport around my desk area is the accessibility of things on/in/around my desk, such as pencils, pens, scissors, rulers, scratch paper.  I placed things in an organized fashion so that they can be easily accessed when I need them.
• inventory: For inventory, what I did to eliminate waste was to organize the most important things and kept them on/around my desk area. For items that were not important, I stored them in a separate area.
• motion: For motion, I removed things that I didn't need around my desk so that I could easily sit down at and get up from my desk.  This is important because I need to be comfortable when I am studying or doing homework.
• waiting: This one is not really relevant to my specific situation.
• overproduction: In my particular situation, I interpreted overproduction as only having the school materials, text books, notebooks relevant to the homework I am working on at a particular time on my desk when I need them. Otherwise, I keep other text books, folders, and notebooks on my bookshelf or in my backpack so they are out of my way. That way, I don't have an "overproduction of schoolwork" on my desk. 
• over processing: This one is not really relevant to my specific situation.
• defects: This one is not really relevant to my specific situation.

Criteria for Evaluating Group Members

Criteria to evaluate group members

1. Attendance- participation--- thoughtful ideas, and discussion
2. Ambition/Initiative-- getting done what you say your going to do done.
3. Cooperation/Communication - Good communication, answered emails, came to meetings, works well will other teamates.
4. Research Quality - Overall quality of assigned sections (amount of material, legitimacy)
5. Deadlines met - Was the students information posted in google docs in a timely manner
6. Ideas/Contribution - Were his/her ideas useful to the project, did the person contribute to the overall design of the project
7. Reliability

5S Process

 Before

After

The 8 phases of the 5S process are:

1. Sorting: I removed unnecessary items from my desk area.

2. Straightening or setting in order: My pens and scissors are in an area where I can easily access them and put them away when I'm done using them.

3. Sweeping/shining/cleanliness: The surface of my desk was wiped clean.

4. Standardizing: I like my desk uncluttered. I think anyone could sit down at my desk and be able to do their homework/work because I don't have it cluttered with anything.

5. Sustaining the discipline or self-discipline: See step 4.

6. Safety: I believe my desk is a safe area.

7. Security: See step 6.

8. Satisfaction: I am satisfied with how I tidied up my desk.

Quality Management

Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry.

Promega first certified to international standards for quality management systems in 1998, and its commitment continues with the current ISO 13485 certification. The ISO 13485 certification is required for the development, manufacture, and testing and delivery of medical devices around the world.

The ISO series of quality management  system standards are developed and maintained by the International Organization for Standardization.

http://www.promega.com/aboutus/corporate/iso-certification/

Specific Ethical Question

I am a biotechnology major, and I am planning on attending graduate school for forensic science/criminology.  The ethical question that I am focusing on is this: Should "familial searching" of DNA databases, such as the CODIS (combined DNA index system) of the US, be utilized in DNA profiling by law enforcement and our criminal justice system?

Background information
Familial searching of DNA databases is "the process whereby a DNA profile obtained from a crime scene fails to match an existing profile...and a decision is then made to search the [national DNA database] to see if there is instead a close match with the crime scene profile." [1]

Arguments for the affirmative
Familial searching of the DNA database:

• Allows forensic analysts of law enforcement to identify suspects who are not in the DNA database. [1-3]
• May decrease the need to use DNA dragnet techniques (collecting DNA from a large group of individuals to search for the perpetrator of a crime), which have had only limited success in helping to solve crimes in the US. [2]
• Has the potential to increase greatly the number of criminal investigative leads produced by existing DNA databases. [4]

Arguments for the negative
Familial searching of the DNA database:

• Violates the privacy of the person in the national database
• Violates the privacy of possible relatives revealed by the search who would otherwise not be involved in police investigations
• Reinforces views about the alleged prevalence of criminality within certain families
• Reveals to relatives the presence of a family member in the national database
• Reveals a previously unknown genetic link between individuals
• Reveals an absence of a genetic link which individuals had thought existed [1]
• Would disproportionately incorporate minorities into the database [4]

My position on the issue

I believe that familial searching of DNA databases should only be utilized if all other investigatory techniques have been exhausted. As stated above, familial searching can be very valuable in identifying possible suspects when the suspect him/herself is not already in the system. However, it is a major violation of privacy to be incriminating the relatives of the possible suspect, essentially, by using familial searching. 

References

(1) Haimes, Erica. "Social and Ethical Issues in the Use of Familial Searching in Forensic Investigations: Insights from Family and Kinship Studies." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 263-276. Print.

(2) Rothstein, Mark A. and Meghan K. Talbott. "The Expanding Use of DNA in Law Enforcement: What Role for Privacy?" Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 153-164. Print.

(3) Greely, Henry T., Riordan, Daniel P., Garrison, Nanibaa' A., and Joanna L. Mountain. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 248-262. Print.

(4) Lazer, David. "Searching the Family Tree for Suspects: Ethical and Implementation Issues in the Familial Searching of DNA Databases. Taubman Center Policy Briefs. March 2008. 

Wood Project: Action Plan