My first sample didn't work so well. Either I didn't mix the cross-linker in well enough with the dilulin/catalyst blend, or it phase-separated in the curing process. Today felt more productive than Friday, so I'm not entirely upset with my work, but I'm afraid my results are more the end-product of inexperience than chemical craziness. Round two tomorrow. I hope it goes better.
In other news, collecting thermal analysis lab quotes is going to be trickier than I thought. I emailed one lab earlier today and got a curt response along the lines of "idiot, you don't ask the competition what they charge!" I don't know how else to handle it, other than to play these people and make them believe I'm a prospective customer. :( I ought to send out my samples for testing just so I won't screw them up. Now there's a thought!
Reflection: today was more productive, but that last email makes me a little sad. Oh, and a photographer is coming in on Thursday. My 14 week stint gets me a place in the group photo (I think)! So much going on right now. *sigh*
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Break-through!
I had very little to do today at work because the oven I needed in order to cure a sample was otherwise occupied with a grad student's sample. In a late afternoon attempt at productivity, I observed Wonje as he attached and calibrated a clamp onto the DMA for tension testing. He had to call in Xia because it wasn't working (Xia is better at it, I guess). It was all business for a long time, and then Wonje (Korean) asked me (in his understandable, yet broken English) where in town I live. I explained how I'm from out of town, and he replied he'd heard of it. Wonje thought for a moment and then his face lit up. "Do you know Ankeny?" he asked. "Yeah, do you go there often?" I replied. With big eyes and a grin, he exclaimed "Super Wal-Mart!" My heart started smiling right then. I've heard this guy make different pitched grunts, hums, and whines when some instrument is acting up, I saw him run-skipping down the hall from the lab, and then this. I hope this would be the initiator (polymer-talk) for further conversations. Xia, also with Wonje on the Super Wal-Mart, asked me if I knew some store name that was unintelligible to my Western ears. He proceeded right there to pick up a dry-erase marker and write "Marble Slab" and draw me a map. Marble Slab is an Ankeny ice cream shop. I later left that room with a light heart.
The ironic thing is, I'm trying to get in touch with a sales rep with the company that sold us the instruments in the thermal analysis lab to discuss purchasing marble slabs to reduce vibrational noise that is showing up in the data. "Marble Slab" was written pretty darn close to the prime offender (the DMA).
I'm flying solo making a sample tomorrow. I finally worked out some dissolving issues I was having with the dilulin and catalyst today. I'm nervous, and I don't exactly know what to do with myself for the rest of the day. I mean...what else is there after making a sample???? I hope it takes a long time! Things are a little more comfortable, but I still have my panicky moments. Not having a computer at my desk means I do a lot of walking back and forth...and I basically have to pass my PI's open office door each trip I make...unless I walk out of the way (which I'm not going to deny having done a few times already). I would suppose I don't look very busy, though Wonje commented that I did just before I left today.
Reflection: Everyone is still really nice. Will, whom I've never worked under, always asks me (using my name) how I'm doing. He's about 2 weeks away from his thesis due date and a month from his defense. But he took the time to learn the peon undergraduate's name and treat me like a person. This lab is unreal...I've never seen an office so seemingly friendly with each other! Oh wait...that's right...I'm the only girl. Mystery solved. ;)
The ironic thing is, I'm trying to get in touch with a sales rep with the company that sold us the instruments in the thermal analysis lab to discuss purchasing marble slabs to reduce vibrational noise that is showing up in the data. "Marble Slab" was written pretty darn close to the prime offender (the DMA).
I'm flying solo making a sample tomorrow. I finally worked out some dissolving issues I was having with the dilulin and catalyst today. I'm nervous, and I don't exactly know what to do with myself for the rest of the day. I mean...what else is there after making a sample???? I hope it takes a long time! Things are a little more comfortable, but I still have my panicky moments. Not having a computer at my desk means I do a lot of walking back and forth...and I basically have to pass my PI's open office door each trip I make...unless I walk out of the way (which I'm not going to deny having done a few times already). I would suppose I don't look very busy, though Wonje commented that I did just before I left today.
Reflection: Everyone is still really nice. Will, whom I've never worked under, always asks me (using my name) how I'm doing. He's about 2 weeks away from his thesis due date and a month from his defense. But he took the time to learn the peon undergraduate's name and treat me like a person. This lab is unreal...I've never seen an office so seemingly friendly with each other! Oh wait...that's right...I'm the only girl. Mystery solved. ;)
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
So that's how you hold a pipette!
In a month (or perhaps a few days), I'm going to think myself pretty crazy. Yesterday I met Xia, and when I got to try to prepare a sample, I discovered that you shouldn't hold a glass pipette by the detachable bulb. No tragedies occurred, but I had zero control! That'll get better.
I found out a lot more about what it is we're looking for yesterday, and I hope it sticks. I had the opportunity to remember some important stuff, and I promptly forgot it. I believe I also caused one of the machines to "blip" when it was running. There were two small disturbances on the graph, and since I have nowhere else to go during an experiment at this point, I believe they were my fault. Boo.
Speaking of instruments, I did some looking after I finished up the tutorials yesterday. I will probably work with 4 machines (though two are exactly the same). They are:
Reflection: On a more personal note, I fulfilled a lifelong dream yesterday. I got a labcoat. :) Work already seems pretty independent, so I hope I understand enough to start trying some of these things on my own soon. Otherwise I sit around wondering who I can bother. (Not cool).
Starting at 9 in the morning stinks. I'm no longer tired at that point, but if I eat lunch, I have to stay after 5 to get in 8 hours. Yesterday I got home at 6, finished cleaning up dinner at 7, and ended up falling asleep at 10:30. There wasn't a lot of time in there for "fun." Oh well. Another day starts in 2 hours, so I'd better get ready for it.
I found out a lot more about what it is we're looking for yesterday, and I hope it sticks. I had the opportunity to remember some important stuff, and I promptly forgot it. I believe I also caused one of the machines to "blip" when it was running. There were two small disturbances on the graph, and since I have nowhere else to go during an experiment at this point, I believe they were my fault. Boo.
Speaking of instruments, I did some looking after I finished up the tutorials yesterday. I will probably work with 4 machines (though two are exactly the same). They are:
- Dynamic Mechanic Analyzer (DMA): super sensitive - this is the one I caused to "blip"
- Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC): There are two of these, and one is much fancier than the other
- Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA): supposedly I must find the thermal decomposition of the polymer before I heat and stress it.
Reflection: On a more personal note, I fulfilled a lifelong dream yesterday. I got a labcoat. :) Work already seems pretty independent, so I hope I understand enough to start trying some of these things on my own soon. Otherwise I sit around wondering who I can bother. (Not cool).
Starting at 9 in the morning stinks. I'm no longer tired at that point, but if I eat lunch, I have to stay after 5 to get in 8 hours. Yesterday I got home at 6, finished cleaning up dinner at 7, and ended up falling asleep at 10:30. There wasn't a lot of time in there for "fun." Oh well. Another day starts in 2 hours, so I'd better get ready for it.
Monday, May 21, 2007
First Day
I kicked off my summer research experience today, arriving at Gilman Hall just before 9 a.m. After a short initial tour with my PI, we left the lab to obtain computer access and lab keys from other buildings on campus. My PI explained in greater detail what I'll be up to this summer, and it looks like my responsibilities fit into two roles: I'm to act as a 'lab manager' of sorts for the brand new (as in 6 months old) lab and develop my own research on some polymers formed from bio-renewable (vegetable) oils, cross-linkers, and dicyclopentadiene.
As the "lab manager", I'm expected to become proficient in the operation of 6 brand-new thermal analysis instruments (names to follow in later posts). I will then train outside companies/researchers to use the equipment or take on their material analysis myself. I'm supposed to become the "go-to" for this kind of thing, and I'm afraid it means I've got a rough couple of weeks of learning ahead of me. I will also be expected to design some sort of worksheet to standardize monthly usage reports (versus 6 unique reporting styles from 6 unique graduate students) and develop some charging scheme to bring in profit for the lab (this in addition to the brochure(s) I'll be developing to advertise to outside interests). This part of the job is both scary and exciting. Responsibility!
The second part of my job is the 'get your hands dirty' research I've been hoping to get for a long time. The polymers metathesized from Dilulin (a modified linseed oil) and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) aren't yet optimal - there are reasons I'm not remembering - and the group is looking to add cross-linkers to improve the kinetics and possibly the strength. I'll be testing different compositions of the Dilulin, DCPD, and a cross-linker (CL-2) as well as different procedures to see if the cross-linker improves anything. Not only will I be preparing samples (with trips to the chem store for supplies and my very own lab notebook!), but I'll be analyzing them on the equipment that I'm now scrambling to understand. It's good for me, and I hear this equipment is prevalent in the chemical engineering field.
For the remainder of my time today, I completed several long tutorials about the instruments and met a chemistry grad student, Phil, who prepared a couple of polymer samples and recrystalized the Grubbs catalyst for my viewing benefit. My PI, a student from another research group using this equipment, and I tried to run some corn protein through an instrument called a DSC (I promise I'll learn what all of the acronyms stand for and make a note of it!) in the afternoon. Something went awry, however, because the heating element never kicked on, and the LN2 that was supposed to cool the 40oC sample to 25oC ended up going all the way to -40oC before we aborted the run.
------
Reflection: A good first day. I was super nervous going in, but everybody I met was really nice. I'll meet another grad student tomorrow who I'll be working more closely with (but still unlike my previous non-stop shadowing). I have a desk (no computer) that I'll need to wash off...it's covered in old, old spilled coffee. I don't know if I can have formal lunch breaks (I ate while working today, and only a peanut butter sandwich at that!), and I don't know how I'm supposed to cut it off and leave. I didn't check my email until just before I left for home today. I'm excited and nervous both. I think this is going to be a cool summer!
As the "lab manager", I'm expected to become proficient in the operation of 6 brand-new thermal analysis instruments (names to follow in later posts). I will then train outside companies/researchers to use the equipment or take on their material analysis myself. I'm supposed to become the "go-to" for this kind of thing, and I'm afraid it means I've got a rough couple of weeks of learning ahead of me. I will also be expected to design some sort of worksheet to standardize monthly usage reports (versus 6 unique reporting styles from 6 unique graduate students) and develop some charging scheme to bring in profit for the lab (this in addition to the brochure(s) I'll be developing to advertise to outside interests). This part of the job is both scary and exciting. Responsibility!
The second part of my job is the 'get your hands dirty' research I've been hoping to get for a long time. The polymers metathesized from Dilulin (a modified linseed oil) and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) aren't yet optimal - there are reasons I'm not remembering - and the group is looking to add cross-linkers to improve the kinetics and possibly the strength. I'll be testing different compositions of the Dilulin, DCPD, and a cross-linker (CL-2) as well as different procedures to see if the cross-linker improves anything. Not only will I be preparing samples (with trips to the chem store for supplies and my very own lab notebook!), but I'll be analyzing them on the equipment that I'm now scrambling to understand. It's good for me, and I hear this equipment is prevalent in the chemical engineering field.
For the remainder of my time today, I completed several long tutorials about the instruments and met a chemistry grad student, Phil, who prepared a couple of polymer samples and recrystalized the Grubbs catalyst for my viewing benefit. My PI, a student from another research group using this equipment, and I tried to run some corn protein through an instrument called a DSC (I promise I'll learn what all of the acronyms stand for and make a note of it!) in the afternoon. Something went awry, however, because the heating element never kicked on, and the LN2 that was supposed to cool the 40oC sample to 25oC ended up going all the way to -40oC before we aborted the run.
------
Reflection: A good first day. I was super nervous going in, but everybody I met was really nice. I'll meet another grad student tomorrow who I'll be working more closely with (but still unlike my previous non-stop shadowing). I have a desk (no computer) that I'll need to wash off...it's covered in old, old spilled coffee. I don't know if I can have formal lunch breaks (I ate while working today, and only a peanut butter sandwich at that!), and I don't know how I'm supposed to cut it off and leave. I didn't check my email until just before I left for home today. I'm excited and nervous both. I think this is going to be a cool summer!
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