Organization and Productiveness

 I've been thinking about how I can use tools like SMART goals and learning styles to improve my education experience. I don't have any problem setting all kinds of goals, but I often have trouble managing everything that I hope to accomplish. My learning style is primarily visual. I like organizing information in flowcharts and things like that. For the SMART goals part, I have committed to more specific timelines for myself. So instead of throwing myself at school every spare second I get just whenever I have a moment (because burnout is real and when do I ever have a moment), I'm going to try to be more specific and intentional by setting specific study amounts and times throughout the week. Because my learning style is visual, I found an electronic calendar that lets me color code and include drawings or web clips and links. I already use my device for all my notes, so I think that will make me more likely to take advantage of keeping a calendar. I'm also hoping that it will give me a better idea about how often I'm successful and how I can improve when I am less successful. I've tried keeping calendars before, but I always forget them somewhere or I don't have room to carry them. I will not ever forget my device, and since it's electronic, it will be easier to keep it updated with specific details. Wish me luck. 

Adding a GIS Certificate

I've added a Geographic Information Science (GIS) Certificate to my degree. I'm really excited about it. I got to play with some GIS equipment and programs in STEAM Club. One of my favorite Geology instructors at Phoenix College teaches some GIS courses. GIS is such a useful tool. While I was exploring potential research projects, I kept coming across remote imaging studies for monitoring harmful algal blooms. I starting thinking about it, and the majority of the sites that I go to first to explore data related to environmental science use maps and satellite imagery. I've already been interacting with GIS; how much cooler to include that a little more in-depth in my studies? The certificate is an extra 20 credit hours, so I'll have to be vigilant about taking only the classes that I need for my degree and certificate for financial reasons, but it's going to be totally worth it. 

I started the first class (GIS205) a few weeks ago, and it's really interesting and fun so far. I've gotten to play around in Google Earth Pro (which btw is totally free and you can do that on your own if you like), and I've had the chance to learn about some more specific projects and applications. I am increasingly convinced the knowledge is going to be amazing to have. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that ASU also has a Bachelor's and graduate degrees for GIS. There's some links below to the certificate and to the Maps and Geospatial Hub (super interesting stuff here). In the first TEDx video below, Cheryl Hanewicz specifically mentions Maricopa County, and talks about some ways that government is using GIS. In the second TEDx video, Dan Scollon starts talking about some of his projects at about 8:30. He says, "No longer are maps simply held by those in positions of power but rather are a canvas upon which all of us can convey and claim our own future and our own sense of place. They can still be used for resource exploitation, for economic inequality, for the perpetuation of violence, for violations of privacy; but they can also be used to democratize, to organize, to advocate, to design, and to dream." The third TEDx video is fascinating. Monica Stephens talks about representation and some social inequality related to GIS. It's interesting to listen to all three speakers and compare the differences in how they talk about using and sharing GIS data. 

ASU - GIS Certificate

ASU - Map and Geospatial Hub

Made it to ASU

 I wasn't super sure how it was going to turn out when I came back to school this last time. I didn't know what I was doing. When I was younger, I avoided the idea of going to school for any longer than I had to. It's so strange to me to be in college and thinking to myself that it's not time to graduate yet; it's not time to go; I still have to explore these other things, and I want to take these other classes. I spent a lot of my associates degree navigating what I want to do with my degree and how do I accomplish that and what resources do I have access to. Sometimes I wonder if I could have just enjoyed what I was accomplishing more. All those things that I tortured myself about getting done were all the things that made it totally worth it. I loved that stuff. I'm really glad that I got my associates degree before continuing at ASU. I think that I needed that accomplishment for confidence but also to make me more mindful about the real value of my education. I am doing something completely worthwhile and rewarding not just to myself but also to my family and my community. Also, it's really interesting. I don't think that there was anything that happened to me or that I did that I did not learn or take something from, and let me tell you that it was not always rainbows and sunshine (particularly with my inner drama queen freaking out about everything that did or could go wrong). 

I know that this semester has some things that are really disappointing, but I'm just so in awe that I am here and that I get to be here and that I get to do what I am doing. I would rather be doing in person classes. I miss campus events where I get to meet people and explore the campus. I miss the clubs that I used to participate in. I went to a couple of my classes in person, and I was so much more focused. I'm learning from this too though. It's a new way for me to learn, and I know that I will be better for having the experience. The online classes that I'm taking this semester are almost like going to class. The all have live zoom classes where I get to ask questions. The dynamic is different, but all my instructors are doing a great job with it. I can hardly wait to get back on campus and have the full experience, but I'm totally okay with this for now. I'm learning how to make it work.

Week 15

This is week 15, right? I am so confused about this semester. My class schedules have changed more than once (for which I am mostly grateful). I end up finishing things on weird days, at weird times. I'm pretty sure that my child is suffering for my attempt at being his teacher for hours everyday. He spends a great deal of time grounded from YouTube. (Meanwhile, I've been watching it more than ever.) I am prreetttty sure that the semester is almost over. I have no idea if that's in one week or two. I don't think that it's officially over for at least a couple, but I feel like I have different things ending on different weeks. I am more concerned with finishing the work that I have right in front of me than eyeing the finishing line. My classes are simultaneously easier online while being less understandable.
I am not at all doing a good job at separating the time to work on my research paper. I'm so glad that I'm not starting from scratch. In the future, I hope to get better about documenting my activities every time that I come into lab. I wanted to add a section to my paper detailing all the fine tuning and improvements that we have made and hoped to make to our protocols. I know what they are, but I didn't do a very good job of documenting all of them. I was focused on the results that we were specifically examining, but I learned so many valuable things that seemed tangential at the time. I'm conflicted about making statements in my paper without backing it up. I'd rather show them the results than to tell them. Definitely something that must be improved on.

Oh yeah! Happy forth! Did you get to see the last Star Wars movie on Disney+?

By the way, I made this blog post for my internship program that apparently ended last week. This was not actually due. *face palm*

Week 14

This week we are continuing to work on our papers. It's difficult because we are still working to contact employees that might be on campus in order to get data that we have collected but to which we do not have remote access. It's slow going. I should have already had a number of things turned in related to the paper, but I really wanted to rewrite and redo things for my last semester with at Phoenix College with TRAIN. We'll see. I have applied to a science conference that is in an online format, so we'll see how that goes. Specifically, I applied for an oral presentation which in and of itself feels like one huge experiment. I'd be happy for the opportunity though.
A lot of things seem to be beginning again or expanding lately. My son has more learning materials and classes available every week, and STEAM Club begins meetings again this week. I'm really excited about everything adjusting and continuing. The STEAM Club meeting sounds amazing (see picture below). I am still very unsure what testing for one of my classes will look like. I'm also wondering what my fall semester will look like after transfer. I already wasn't sure even before quarantine, but now I'm even less sure if that was possible. I'm excited for some ASU TRAIN meetings coming up. I hope that they will be able to give us some idea of what will be happening.

Mostly, I am grateful that my family is healthy and that we are all still working and able to support ourselves.

Week 13

This week I've been rereading through some of my research papers from previous semesters and sorting through our data from this semester. I'm disappointed that we were not able to collect all the the 180 days of data for our paper. Since this is the very longest that our experiment has run, I was very excited to see the results.
I've been having some issues with my computer. I'm not sure exactly what is causing them. There are a few things that help, so I am doing those periodically. I'm a little worried about it since this is a Very bad time to be having issues with a computer.
I went to an online LinkedIn seminar that was very helpful. I started LinkedIn a while ago, but I wasn't really confident about the content. The seminar really gave me some great ideas for what I want to do there. I'm not sure when I will be able to get to that.
You would think that being home so much that I would have tons of time, but that is just not the case. Instead, I am constantly distracted and have much more family things to do. I am so happy to be doing more with my family. I feel closer and more comfortable with them than ever before. I find that I am having difficultly being productive and staying motivated though. I do think that I am getting better about it.

Week 4

This week was a little crazy. Because of the holiday, we weren't on campus on Monday, so I missed a day of SEM. I'm getting a little worried about it because I had initially planned to do mostly sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) treated plastics, but I think that the washing process could be simplified. Also, I'm rethinking the value of images of the biofilms at our time points. I don't want to stop taking the data and miss something. That makes the amount of images that I need to get twice as many, and I'm sure that the closer that I take them to the collection the more accurate the pictures will be. We've also started preparing for research presentations. We have a few on the calendar. Tuesday, I had a mandatory meeting about a scholarship that lasted until nearly 6, so I lost some time to work. On Wednesday, I did SEM, and I met with an adviser to complete my applications for graduation. (I'm starting to get excited about graduation!) I also made it the bank to establish an account for the scholarship that I had a meeting about the day before. On Thursday, I went to Grad Trax. That lasted until late as well. On Friday morning, I got to make a "thank you" video that they might show at graduation!!! I hope that I did alright. It could only be a minute long, so I spent the rest of the day torturing myself about who I didn't have time to thank. We spent most of our research meeting that day preparing materials for the research presentations. After lunch, we went to Dr Bi's lab! It was so nice to visit! Amber was there too, so we got to see her as well! It was a great meeting. I got to meet the student that's continuing the project that I started, she was super nice and very active on campus. We invited her to come to the STEAM Club to talk about some of the opportunities that she's had on her campus. I hope she'll come. She's studying to be a chemical engineer. Some pictures of the Earth and Space Exploration Building (also know as ISTB4) are below. It's one of my favorite buildings on the campus, and it's also where Dr Bi's lab is. There are just so many interesting and wonderful displays in this building. These are just a few.

Week 3

This week was difficult for SEM. I’m a bit backed up, and SEM is time consuming. Also, I realize after this week that it’s very important to get the SEM done as quickly as possible in order to get the best results. The pictures after storage just aren’t the same. We also coordinated with forensics on the imaging of our Nile red stained plastics (see my personal picture below). They are sharing a camera for a trinocular dissecting scope. We hope to be able to image the filters with plastics and then estimate plastic contamination. It’s the first time that we’ve really branched into doing any of this kind of quantitative analysis of the contamination ourselves. It’s really interesting. We’re also working on preparations for a couple of research presentations.

Week 2

This week I tried to really get back into the swing of things with SEM. It seems like I’m moving slowly with it to me which I’m concerned about because I want to get through all the back samples. This is especially important to me since the samples that have been in storage don’t have bacillus structures within their biofilms. I really feel like it’s related to the amount of time in between collection and analysis.
I talked to some professors about our protocols for FTIR, and they suggested that I go back to my resources and double check protocols in the literature. I’ve started doing that and already had a bit of luck! Also exciting, we found and shared an article with our Chem PI, and we’ve made a breakthrough on discovering what some of our peaks might be.
I hope that we can get some good conclusions before posters and abstracts need to be done. I’m really proud of the progress that we continue to make.

Dr Ong happened to drop in while I was in SEM, and he showed me a new addition to his microscopy lab. The image above is a penny. The color was a bit more green in person. I was thinking about painting some of our home this color. Dr Ong looked a little shocked about it when I told him so. Anyway, it was interesting that you can totally see Abraham Lincoln inside the monument. I guess that he was always inside on older pennies. I love that a little.

Week 1

It’s week 1 all over again. I’m so excited about our experiment! We’ve finally gotten over 100 days!!! We made some decisions about the best way to process our FTIR samples going forward. I’m taking organic chemistry this semester, and I’m hoping to get a better handle on what exactly I’m looking at on our FTIR. The bacterial films have really been interfering with us getting a good idea of anything that might be happening to only the plastic. Now that we are more confident about removing them, we can get some preliminary FTIR data on the plastic without the films in the way. We’re going to be examining nutrient depletion a bit more going forward. To that end, we are waiting to see the results of a peptone dilution on the growth of the bacteria without any addition media. Lots of interesting things happening. :-)