Because I have recently focused on preparing for the research symposium this Friday, I have not done much lab work. This week, however, my mentor has begun planning for her next set of experiments as the school year approaches. Right now, she is investigating the kinetic adsorption of granular activated carbon (GAC) and zeolites. To do this, we are shaking our contaminated materials for differing amounts of time and running them through the HPLC or LC-MS to quantify the amount of PFAS adsorption. The purpose of these experiments is to compare the rates of adsorption between GAC and the zeolites. This is a factor that was not included in my experiments.

Before creating about 70 samples to analyze, I was takes to create two viles of contaminated GAC. One would be shaken for one minute and then other would be shaken for five minutes. The GAC samples had positive results, so we went ahead and prepared the viles for the contaminated samples of GAC and modified zeolites.

These experiments are time sensitive and something I have not done before, so it was fun change of pace. I will unfortunately no longer be an intern at Rice University to see the results, but I am glad to be of helpful use until the very end.

I have dedicated the past couple of weeks to preparation for the research symposium. This week has been more about practicing our deliveries. I prepared a one-minute elevator pitch and received feedback on what I could say to improve it. I have also practiced a slightly longer pitch on my own and will share it with my mentor and another graduate student for them to advise me on what I can improve. Furthermore, I have picked up physical poster for Friday, and I am really proud of how it came out. Comparing the poster, I did at my community college to the one I made during this internship truly shows the different ways I have grown as a researcher.

Overall, this week has been very bittersweet for me. I’m very happy to have been able to participate in an REU that closely relates to my interests, but I am a little sad that it is ending. I’ve met new faces throughout my short time here and learned many things about myself as a learner and as a person. As an undergraduate student highly interested in research, I aim to continue to utilize all the knowledge regarding research and graduate school in education for years to come.