Hello World,

Another week is upon us. Last week, I got through some of the polymers that needed testing so I’m hoping that by this week, I will be able to get through all of the polymers. It is a short week since we have Thursday and Friday off, so we’ll be in week 7 in the blink of an eye. Time is moving so fast and I feel so behind. Also, Happy New Month.

 

Monday (07/01): Today was a very busy and productive day for me. To start it off, I had the rheometer scheduled from 10:30 to 12pm. I was planning on getting data for shear rheology but the APS system which is used to control the temperature wasn’t working due to a low tank level so I had to adapt and change my plan to focusing on viscoelasticity instead. I did one polymer today and the results were pretty good. At 1pm, I had another session with the optical tweezer. It was more hands-on as I got to prepare a chamber and fill it up with samples. The Optical Tweezer is still a bit intimidating to me but today’s session helped me become more familiar with how it works. The distinction between the Optical Tweezer and the Rheometer is that the rheometer tests the overall sample whereas the optical tweezer can test selected areas of a given sample.

 

Tuesday (07/02): Day 2 of being occupied with the rheometer. The tank was filled so it’s all good and ready to go. To start off the day, we had the group meeting with Mr Cushing and our guest speaker Dr Lynn Frostman who had a degree in Chemical Engineering and serves as the VP of a startup company known as Syzygy. The presentation was very informational and it provided a lot insights on what startups are and the qualities they require. After that, I went to my cubicle to continue my rheology project. My mentor was around so I touched base with him on what to do with the data I had gotten from the rheometer. Today, I spent some more time with the rheometer, approximately 3 hrs. which is the most yet. I was able to do the shear rheology of three other polymers which is pretty good. To round it off, I exported the data to excel where I plotted the data onto a graph.

 

Wednesday (07/03): Sadly I didnt have a chance to use the rheometer today but I was productive in other means. I finished transferring the data that I had received into plots that I plan on using for my poster. I spent some time working on college stuff as well as I am still trying to decide where I would like to transfer to. I also began working on my abstract which is due very soon. After all of that, I took a break and went for a cubicle as I had been sitting for quite a while. When I came back, I went over the plots with my mentor and so far it’s all good news. I do have a bit of tweaking to do in one of the plot but it’s all part of the process. Next week, I plan to complete all the data I need for my Polymer. I have five more polymers left so I should be able to get it done. Until then.

 

Cheers,

Samuel Ogunsola