This week was mostly orientation and getting myself accustomed to my work area. Tuesday was very informative on what research is and how I need to conduct myself while during this time. They also talked about the challenges that I might face while researching and how there isn’t one way to do things. I learned what my peers will be researching as well, which definitely peaked my interest. On Wednesday there was an orientation for general lab safety and biosafety which was interesting  because  biosafety training isn’t as emphasized or taught. I feel like I was more engaged with that training because the risk can be greater with biohazards or at least there is a proportional response to a chemical hazard in comparison with a biohazard. A lot of the information I learned involved topics I learned in Biology II. While this was important to know, I found out that the training might not apply to me as all of the testing I will be doing are simulated on the computer.  I’m started learning some of the basic commands need to use unix which is an operating system that linux is based on. It reminds me of learning any programing language but I don’t have to go too much in depth.Instead of working in a lab I will be running simulations on the computer to study the electronic structure of an atom and molecules. I will specifically be studying pollutants PFAs also know as forever chemicals and how to absorb them from the water as well as degrade them using heterogeneous catalysis. I just know that it is a lot of chemistry involved, but I should be able to adapt. This week I was also able to watch my mentor do a trial run of presenting his thesis, which was exciting because I see my future in that and I can use that I as en example when I present my poster in August. All in all this week was pretty cool and I’m excited for what I’m going to learn this summer.