Week 12 Fall 2018: TRAIN field trip Oak Creek Canyon

On Friday November 16th some of the TRAIN students went on a field trip to Oak creek canyon to survey the areas wildlife. Unfortunately there was large amounts of people out hiking the area. The weather was amazing so it made sense but it was horrible for us since the wildlife was actively hiding. Regardless we had a great time. The hike was easy and the air was fresh. I can not wait for the next cohort field trip!

Week 11 Fall 2018: Finally FTIR

So this past Tuesday we finally went to the FTIR. It was surprisingly easier than using the SEM. The SEM can take almost an hour to process one sample but the FTIR yields almost instant results.  I think I favor it more because it gives us quantitative evidence vs qualitative with the SEM. We had great results. I was surprised to not see alcohol signatures since we sterilize our plastics in alcohol. It was so interesting and honestly an exciting boost to the project. Can't wait to work with it more.

Week 10 Fall 2018: Weight, Alcohol, Club, and ALZ

So this week we weighed out our plastics and alcohol treated them. PVC and PP show no contamination for now which is expected. I want to mention that today my Cohort and former partner is coming in to speak to STEAM Club today at 1230 in the c building room 322, please come and get information on scholarships, internships, and transfering. Ibrahim is full of good tips and tricks so come get some knowledge. I would also like to mention my weekend event, my family and I do the walk to end Alzheimer's and please save the date Nov 2, 2019 for next years walk. Please consider joining! Thanks guys!

Week 9 Fall 2018: The weak handed and Repetition

Well it's been an extremely busy week. I had to help run STEAM clubs activity at the fall festival on Monday. Then Wednesday was the Halloween market and I set up and stayed long enough to sell 3 jars of honey and of course we were out late trick or treating, the boys got so much candy so be ready cause I'm bringing some in guys! I had an exam this morning and honestly I was so foggy I wouldn't be surprised if I bombed it, so it's been busy to say the least. To explain this image and my title you have to know we are basically in the process of replicating our project for better consistency while using the FTIR. Our task this week and next is to punch out uniform peices of plastic with this heavy duty punch plier weigh them out and get statistics on the sample and then decontaminate in preparation for co-incubation. Well my hands are so weak and dainty that I could not get through our PVC, hopefully the workout I got today will help me get samples from our LDPE & PP. Big thanks to Josh, Amber, and Amanda for getting samples! (David got a couple as well) Thanks guys!