ASU Tempe Symposium

I’m not gonna lie. I totally forgot to make this post. We’ve been working on putting together the poster for the ASU Tempe Symposium. Everyone of us made it to the conference! Go us. I think it was a good conference. The key speaker had a lot of specialized knowledge about FTIR, so that was super exciting. She’s actually been part of working on 3D FTIR! We talked to her a bit about it, and it turns out that while FTIR is really exciting, it’s much more complicated than we are probably capable of interpreting really well especially given that our samples are biological and there are so many ingredients that might be contributing to the different peaking. She suggested GCMS or gas chromatography mass spectrometry, so maybe that’s something that we’ll consider as we begin the experiment again over the summer with the longer time frame. If we do, then we’ll just have to make sure to co incubated a larger number of plastic disks as the samples are destroyed in GCMS. I would be excited to have some addition quantitative data. We also saw some former PC science students! They told us about the LEAP program which sounds like a great program for students interested in conducting research that don’t qualify for S-STEM or TRAIN. I’ll definitely keep it in mind. MNT was really neat this week. We looked at the membrane inside an egg which Totally didn’t look how I expected, and we got to see our nanoparticle silver solutions. The larger particles formed an almost iridescent looking film on the glass tube. Rho Pi won a ton of awards for their activities this last year. I’m excited about participating in our future activities. We have quite a few super interesting things on the calendar related to financial wellness.

Roller Coaster

I had a really wonderful and entirely unproductive spring break. We took one of the grandkids (Jacoby) and Liam to Castles N Coasters for Jacoby’s birthday. He’d never been before, so that made it extra wonderful. I guess I did get some things done around the house. I got to relax too, so I suppose that you could say that I worked on my biochemical health which I’m sure is completely screwy thanks to my constant worry combined with my amazing skill in procrastination. Which brings me roundly to the state of this week, where I have put upon one of my very favorite instructors by asking for not one but two extensions in the same week. I have to write a scientific paper for a lab. My chem instructor has begun to talk about scheduling the next test. I’m not doing nearly as well in chemistry as I’d like. I haven’t managed to finish any more of 5 star. That’s totally on my to do list. Oh! Over break I did get the opportunity to meet with my research group, so I was feeling much better about that. I do worry that we’ll continue to struggle to find time to get together, but we’ll figure it out. I’m really feeling like at this point, I’ve just got to put my head down and get it done.

Liam’s first roller coaster. Totally worth it. :-D

Ask me about PTK

This week has been insanely momentous. There was a position open in PTK for regional officer for development and recruitment, so I ran for it. I don’t think that I really had an appreciation for what I was doing. I decided to run for it a couple of days before the convention. I was woefully underprepared especially in the context of how hard the people running for the other positions appeared to have worked on their campaigns. Really, I just thought, “This is a good thing. I’m going to do it.” At this point, I’m pretty sure that’s how I’m am approaching life anymore. Anyway, I ran unopposed, so I did win. Everyone was super nice about the lack of my campaign materials. My head is still spinning from figuring out the potential importance of winning the position, but I really want to do a good job. I’m not even sure what a good job is. What do I consider a good job of my position? I’m going to start by completing Competive Edge because it sounds like an amazing program, and I want to encourage all our members to do that. Then, I’m going to Catalyst because I should be able to talk about some of the opportunities to our members better after that. I feel like this should be bulleted. Maybe I’ll make this list somewhere that I can mark it up and adjust it as necessary, but you get the idea. It’s important. I’ve got work to do. I’m also freaking out about going to conferences and presenting our stuff. I’m so discouraged at how little time my research team is spending together. Our schedules are crazy, but because each of us is doing some part of the experiment very nearly completely by themselves, it’s really problematic. There’s got to be a way to divide the experiment better so that each of us has an idea of what’s going on with every part of the experiment. Instead none of us really knows what to do with each others’ stuff. There’s a lot of “I don’t know. So-and-so is doing that.” I hate it. On top of that, I do not know how to interpret IR spectra. I’m not getting any more comfortable with it, and I most definitely do not feel comfortable presenting it at conference. I’m committed to the project, so I’m going to just have to work around this stuff. I’ve just got to figure it out. Also, I’ve got two new papers to write. Yay me!
Oh man, I didn’t even say anything about the regional conference other than about me! It was good. I learned a ton about PTK! Really, I had no idea. The break out sessions were really helpful, and there are so many amazing and different kinds people in PTK. This is getting lengthy though, so ask me in person!

Arizona Wet Water Education

I’m so tired! Today I went to the Rio Salado Restoration Area. It was wonderful to see an area that used to be nothing but a place to dump trash being restored. I saw rabbits and all kinds of birds, of course, lizards and turtles, and water fowls. I thought that I saw what might be a finch. It was the brightest, prettiest yellow. I think that I have this picture in my head of Phoenix as just desert that really excludes wetland habitats, but with the rivers, types of those habitats must be here. I mean not hours out of the city but right here. I can hardly wait to explore stuff like that once I transfer to university to take the classes specific for my major. Anyway, I was really there to volunteer for project Wet. We had groups of 4-5 sixth graders that performed science tasks related to difference fields in science (Botany, Soil Science, Entymology, Water Chemistry, etc.). My group used kits to test for the quantity of different nutrients in the water. Since it’s science, our kits were expired and didn’t actually turn the appropriate colors, but we did get some results. It was fun to talk about the science and why it’s important. And it was just so pretty out there. It just feels good to be outside sometimes.

Summer opportunities

I’m starting to get caught up. I think that I’m feeling much more capable this semester, so I am still freaking out a little bit about doing everything and doing it well, but I am much more confident that I am perfectly capable. I just need to block out the time and place which sounds much easier than it really is. As far as our experiment, I’m hoping to really zero in on the FTIR. I really like the idea of having quantitative results, and I’m hoping that not a lot of undergraduate researchers will have FTIR results and that maybe it will set us apart. That’s not super important to me, but it would be really nice. I’m really excited about potentially finding some kind of fellowship or internship this semester. I’ve applied for a few. Shout out to Nicole Spencer and Robin Cotter for helping me fill them out. Nicole helps a lot with the STEAM club, but I totally didn’t know that she helped with things like that too. She’s helped multiple students apply for science stuff over the summer though. You should go see her. :-) I’m currently working on completing the application for the program in the attached picture. I’m including a picture, so you can apply too. Your welcome.

The craziness begins

So this is what happened. On Wednesday, my grandmother was taken in an ambulance to the hospital for a suspected stroke. (She has recovered!) On Thursday evening, I began to have symptoms of step throat. On Saturday, I went to the doctor. I was okay by Monday, but I wasn't good for a thing over the weekend. My son was suspended from Kindergarten on Monday. (I'm convinced that my child's school just enjoys suspending children since they are suspending Kindergartners for pushing. That is just what 5 year olds do. I'm pretty sure it's in the job description.) I got the lab that I had due on Tuesday mixed up because a scheduling issue put us on a different lab than the next one in the book, so my pre-lab wasn't good for much not to mention that I spaced the calculations for the previous lab. On Wednesday, my beautiful son was suspended again. They figured two days this time, but they assure me that he's not the only Kindergartner that is having these very same issues. I have received an extension for a paper for Logic. I am now beginning to understand just how illogical I really am. Hell, I'm starting to feel downright batty. If I was an earlier version of me, I think that I would start capitulating right about now. I don't know that I'm not doing that, but I don't feel as though I am. I just want to push through this mess.
On the upside, I have finished applying for a fellowship this summer. Wish me luck. And MNT was sooo much fun today. It was just the break that I needed. In addition to the protocol and small experiment, we looked through some career facts on the bureau of labor statistics website. One of my classmates was telling me that GCU is about to have their very first class of graduating engineers! I'm really excited to have a nonprofit school with an engineering program right in the middle of Phoenix! I'm going to keep an eye on them. They seem to be moving in a good direction.
It's been raining a lot. I kinda like it.

Volcano

This semester is starting so odd. I feel super off kilter. It is too soon for that, but on the up side, maybe I can get that out of the way early and really get into a flow. I'm really excited about the subjects that I'm taking this semester. I got into the MNT class, and I get to do an independent project for that. I'm taking geology! I've never had any kind of geology. I'm excited, and my son Loves rocks, so that just makes me more interested because I get to go home and tell him all the stuff. It's awesome. We made a volcano this weekend, and we're working on some crystals right now. They take about 10 days. Oh, and I found a place in my schedule for Logic! I think it will be extremely useful, and the instructor is amazing. Eddie Genna. If you can take a class with him, you should; you will be nothing but better for it. Aww, I'm feeling better already just thinking about how much I like all my classes. Our project face planted this week. The FTIR machine was down, so we didn't get to analyze any samples. Such is science.