7/15/24-7/19/24

This is my last official week as a REU intern since my REU is only 8 weeks. For this week, me and my PI were just planning what day was best to go to the site to do fieldwork. We also planned out what to bring. I mostly worked on my abstract and my poster. We were able to go on Friday as it was not raining that day either. It was a long drive but it was so fun and a learning adventure. We went to Huntsville and it was a private land specifically for research. It was a type of forest that you would see on the side of the freeways and at first, I never paid attention to those trees. Learning about how there is a lot of forest in Texas that is used for research was very interesting. My PI also told me the process of getting a permit and everything. When we got to the site, the first thing I saw were three deer running. I also saw a lot of trees marked with either a rope or a flag. This helps researchers identify which tree they are studying and what the species and gender of the tree/plant is. For our lab, we use flags to identify the plants we were studying which was the Ilex vomitoria. It was a pink flag for the male species and a yellow flag for the female. My PI also mentioned that we have tags on the tree specifically to help with double checking the plants. It was difficult to see the tags due to the plants that fell down because of the rain. After a while of checking, we got to find the plants that we were going to sample. At the end of the day, we got the soil samples that we needed. We headed back to the lab to put them under the Berlese Funnel. This was an overall great experience that has helped me gain skills as a researcher as well as helped me with deciding about my future career goals.

7/8/24-7/13/24

This week was cut off short due to the Hurricane. I was glad that I was safe during that time. When we got back to the lab, I just worked on my abstract. I also worked on visualizing my data using RStudio as well. My PI helped me with working on a script with my preliminary data. It was very interesting since we got to see how significant the data was, which is something I did not expect to know before. It was also interesting to learn how to code in a way. Once I was able to learn how to do it with my PI, it became easier to understand my data and how it followed my hypothesis differently from what we thought in the beginning. It was a short week and I hope for everyone to stay safe during these times.

7/1/24-7/3/24

It is officially July! This week is one of our shortest week due to the 4th of July. Rice also gave us the Friday off as well, making it a long weekend. For this week, I just finished up working on identifying the arthropods on my samples. I finished all of them this Wednesday. It only took me a while to finish since I am not skilled at finding them and the microscope is also in a height that is not comfortable to use sitting down. Even with the small inconvenience, like this, I still had fun trying to identify the arthropods. I also added the results of my process in a spreadsheet. This will allow me to visualize my data on Rstudio, which I still need a bit of practice using. Overall, it was a nice, short, and hot week. Have a great long weekend!

6/24/2024-6/28/2024

This week was busy overall, which I liked. The week started off with removing my samples from the Berlese funnel. We also had a meeting within our lab. One of the lab personnel taught us meta-analysis from research papers. It was very different from just reading and understanding the paper. We have to dissect graphs and data on a research paper. It can be really confusing especially as the papers we had to analyze are very technical in their language. I also had a meeting with one of the grad students to teach me how to use R with the script that we have. I also asked her to teach me how to do the meta-analysis. It is nice to know that there are people who will help and teach me when I am struggling. Afterwards, another lab personnel taught me how to process my samples. This means that I need to identify and  count the arthropods in my sample. I will be using a microscope to be able to see and identify them. It takes a while since they are very tiny and sometimes can also be transparent, making them hard to distinguish. Overall, it is nice to be able to make progress with my project. I hope to finish strong with my REU!

6/17/24 – 6/21/24

This week started off being uneventful. It wasn’t until Thursday when it got busy. On Thursday, I met with my PI to talk about the group project as well as my independent project. There has been setbacks with the group project at the moment. We have to switch the protocol again as it is not yielding the results we are aiming for. Because of this, it has been quite inactive in the lab. However, on the bright side, Me and my PI talked further on my independent project. We have talked on the details as well as the action we are going to take. Friday was the day it finally got busy again. I started the day by going on a field trip to a water treatment plant in Sugar Land, TX. It was really an interesting place to visit. It made me think about how the water I drink is being cleaned. After the field trip, we all went back to our labs. I met up with my PI and another grad student to get the soil we need. We used a small soil coring tool to get soil samples from the Yaupon holly tree, which is the first step to my project. After getting 5 female and 5 male plant soil sample, my PI showed me how to do all the step to put it in the Berlese Funnels. I did all of the other sample after he showed me how to do it. After finishing, I have to wait for 72 hours before taking them out and moving onto the next step. Overall, it is nice to be able to work on my project for this week.

6/10/2024

It was very chill in the lab today. We finished extracting the DNA samples from last week. Right now, we are just waiting for it to get sequenced. It takes a while for this part to finish. I did a zoom meeting with my PI since he is out of the country at the moment for field work. We talked about the project and what I can do for my independent project as well. After talking with him, I just went back to the lab to finish my readings and assignments.

6/11/2024

Tuesday is a very busy day for me. We had an OURI workshop and our weekly meeting with the rest of the Climate and Sustainability REU students on this day each week. Afterwards, I met with one of the people from the lab to get stuff for field work. We went to academy and we bought all the things I needed for field work. It was mostly clothes and cover up so that I do not get sunburnt and bitten by insects when we go do the fieldwork this week. I am excited to go and do research outside in the field. After we were done, I went back to the lab and did the same thing from yesterday since the DNA sequence data are still not out.

6/12/2024

Today, the grad student in my lab showed me how to install R and R studio. It is a programming app they use in the app to help them analyze data they collect. The grad student showed me a brief intro to it last week which helped me understand why they use it. It is a very cool app that I am excited to use in lab soon.

6/13/2024

It was not busy today at the lab. I just did some readings and my other assignments for the research project we are doing. I also did the same thing for my independent research project.

6/14/2024

Today is just the same as yesterday. We are just waiting to start working on the actual DNA extraction. One of the grad students asked me to water the seeds she is growing at the greenhouse for the rest of my time here since she has to leave. It is a very simple task but I have to add it to my routine since I have to water the seeds every afternoon. I also have to check the temperature in the greenhouse so that it is not too hot inside of there. Overall, this week is calm and I look forward to a busier week.

6/3/2024

It is officially June! I feel very accomplished to start this new month learning a new skill at the lab. One of the grad student in my lab taught me how to use the sewing machine. It was something that they needed to use so that they could make mesh bags they will fill up with litter to be put in the field. It was a great craft skill to learn. It was kind of different since the fabric we were sewing is not actually fabric, rather it was a slippery kind of material. Overall, we have to sew around 200 bags for this size.

6/4/2024

Today we had the first OURI workshop and first weekly meetings. For the OURI workshop, we learned the different roles and relationship in the lab. Afterwards, I headed back to the lab to finish the bags. For today, we just needed to cut them into squares since we finished sewing all of them yesterday. I finished cutting all of them in one day. Overall, it was an eventful but relaxing day.

6/5/2024

This day started of with lots of rain. I started of with looking for articles to read to write my research proposal. My PI assigned me to write a research proposal for an independent project I can conduct along the ongoing project we are working on this summer. One of the grad students showed me some insects they had in their office. We continued with learning how to identify the different arthropods, specifically insects this time. We were suppose to start with our trials today, however due to the bad weather one of the lab person who was going to teach me was not able to come to Rice. Even with the delay, I just found myself working on reading articles and drafting my research proposal. Overall it is a very calm day in the lab compared to the weather.

6/6/2024

It was very busy in the lab today. We started working on DNA extractions for the arthropods. Right now, the lab people were teaching me using the backup samples that they had. We got to use the biosafety cabinet today. It was a really easy process but it takes time since we have to be very delicate not to contaminate the samples. We had to remove the arthropods from the ethanol so that we can extract the DNA later. Once we removed the arthropods from the ethanol, we let it dry for 24 hours before we move on with the process. Afterwards, I helped one of the grad students with finishing her litter bags. She is sewing a different size of litter bags. The fabric for the litter bags we are sewing this time was harder than the previous one. Overall, one of the busiest day I had so far in the lab.

6/7/24

Today, the sample that we extracted yesterday has dried off enough to continue the process of the DNA extraction. There was a protocol that we had to follow which was easy enough for me to understand. Right now, we are still working on a way to make sure that we get enough DNA from the arthropods so that they are good to be used. The samples that we practiced on yesterday sat on a water bath for 4 hours. It takes a lot of patience in order to work on this process, which I will learn as I work on this REU.

5/28/24

This was the start of our Climate and Sustainability REU program since Monday was a holiday. Traffic was also not to underestimate.  Even then, I was still excited to meet the rest of the REU student. It was a long day full of new information. It felt like I had an overload of information in my brain at that moment. Overall, It was nice to be able to get to know the other REU student before the official start of my REU.

5/29/24

This day was about our general lab safety training, biosafety training, and meeting with our mentors. It was another day of getting loads of new information. I was also excited to meet my mentor for the first time. After the trainings that we had to attend, the REU students met up with their mentors. It was nice to spend time getting to know my mentor before he showed me the lab that I will be working at this 8 weeks. I was excited to be working at the McCary lab during this summer. I also met another lab researcher currently working on her lab experiment for this summer. It was very nice to know that I would be able to work with other people along the research project. All in all, I believe that this going to be one of my summer that is full of learning and research experience.

5/30/24

I am now getting the hang of driving in downtown. This day is mostly about getting paperworks done and arranging my planner so that I am keeping up with all the new things I have to do. Me and my PI also talked what are goals are for the research project we were going to be working on. I was also tasked to complete a research proposal for the research project we were doing.

5/31/24

Today was a rainy day so I had to drive and walk to lab slower than usual. I did some readings for my research proposal. Afterwards, one of the people in my lab showed me how to identify different types of arthropods we have in the lab. It was really cool to look at since we had this crazy microscope which also had a camera built in. As we were looking at it, I was guessing what was the taxonomy and what their specific species was. One of them was really cool that even my PI had too look at it to understand what it was. It was a mite, specifically a oribatid. It had parasites either coming out of it or trying to get in on the chest part. All in all it was a great first week for my REU. I am so excited to start working on our lab experiment and my independent project that we wanted to have along with it.

image inserted was the oribatid that we found interesting.