Participating in the 10-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program has been an enriching and eye-opening experience for me. Over the past ten weeks, I’ve had the chance to meet some fantastic people, including fellow students, faculty, and staff, each bringing their own unique stories and perspectives. Interacting with them has helped me learn more about different cultures and backgrounds and made me feel more connected and part of a community of aspiring scientists.

One of the program’s highlights was diving into real lab work. Working in the lab was challenging and exciting, as it allowed me to take the concepts I’ve learned in class and see them come to life through hands-on experiments. Whether it was setting up reactions, analyzing results, or troubleshooting issues, each day in the lab was a new adventure. This experience has boosted my confidence in using lab equipment and designing experiments, giving me a deeper understanding of how science works in the real world.

Another aspect of the program that I found incredibly valuable was the opportunity to connect scientific papers with real-life reaction processes. Discussing research papers with my peers and mentors showed me how the theories and ideas we read about translate into actual experiments and discoveries. It was fascinating to see the link between what’s written in journals and what happens in the lab, and this has sparked my curiosity to explore new research areas and think about how I can contribute to scientific progress.

Overall, the REU program has been a transformative part of my academic journey. It has given me new skills, broadened my knowledge, and strengthened my passion for science and research. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be part of this program and am excited to apply everything I’ve learned to my future studies and career.

As we approach the end of this experience, I deeply appreciate the opportunity to participate in this program. The past nine weeks have been filled with invaluable lessons and experiences. I have learned to read scientific articles, connect my chemistry class knowledge with experimental chemical reactions, work independently in the lab, and build connections with other STEM students and faculty members. This week, I had the chance to meet my PI, Dr. Qilin Li, for the second time during our group meeting on Friday. I am immensely grateful to be a student in her lab. After the meeting, some lab group members and students decided to go for a bus ride and lunch. It was an enjoyable experience. We took the bus to the Rice Village apartments and then walked to Torchy’s Tacos for lunch. Afterward, we decided to go for another walk to get some ice cream before returning to the lab. I enjoyed learning more about our lab members before leaving the program. I wish we had done this during the first week of the experience.

Since last week, we discovered that our new MOF synthesis recipe does not work as well as the original one cited in other literature. As a result, my mentor decided to develop new recipes to find the most efficient one. However, since my program is about to end soon, I won’t be working on the new experiments with him in the lab. Instead, I am focusing on finalizing our previous data and preparing for the Symposium. Additionally, my mentor asked me to search for new lab equipment to purchase. I had no idea that purchasing lab equipment could be so confusing and overwhelming. Most websites do not list their prices online, and I have to submit a request form to receive a quote. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and I still don’t understand why they need all that information just to tell me the price of the equipment. Since I had to provide my personal information to get a quote, I couldn’t look around for the best options as thoroughly as I had hoped.

This week was particularly challenging as I did not have power for seven days, but I still tried to help as much as possible in the lab. We encountered a significant issue with our experiment. The X-ray diffraction results revealed a negative pattern in all our synthesized modified MOF material. The results indicated that the porous structure of the molecules was filled with the ligands added during the modification step, highlighting an error in the washing process that reduced the absorption of the REEs from water. Further research showed that the color of our MOF material was supposed to be dark green, but we were getting pale green molecules. As a result, we decided to change our experimental design from the beginning. Instead of washing our MOF material three times with water, DMF, and ethanol at room temperature, we decided to rinse it with only ethanol at 100°C for 20 hours in the autoclave. The increased temperature seems to be the solution to our negative results. The resulting MOF material is darker in color, and although we have not tested it yet, we believe it might yield better results. We will find out next week.

It was a relatively short week in the lab. On Monday, I focused on taking samples from each of our three newly synthesized modified MOF materials for absorption testing. After completing the sampling, there wasn’t much left to do for the rest of the week. This gave me some extra time to review our previous results and plan for the next steps in our experiments.

This week was filled with intensive and productive lab work.

Monday: My mentor and I modified our Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) using a reflux setup to introduce different ligands. We aimed to identify the ligand with the highest efficiency for rare earth element (REE) absorption in water. Given that the reaction required 72 hours to complete, we initiated the process and planned to revisit it on Thursday.

Tuesday to Wednesday: We conducted a series of absorption tests on our previously synthesized and modified MOF materials during the waiting period for our newly modified MOF. We prepared solutions of rare earth elements in water and introduced our MOF samples into these solutions. To monitor the absorption process, we collected samples at various time intervals: initially, after 15 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 6 hours, and 24 hours. Each sample was then centrifuged to separate the MOF precipitate containing REEs from the water. Subsequently, my mentor performed an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analysis to measure the ion concentration in each sample. This analysis is crucial as it enables us to determine which modified MOF exhibits the most effective absorption of REEs from the water.

Thursday: We filtered our newly modified MOF material from Monday using vacuum filtration, allowing it to dry overnight in preparation for further processing.

Friday: The day was dedicated to the meticulous washing of the new MOF material. We performed three washes using dimethylformamide (DMF), ethanol, and hexane, respectively. Each wash was followed by centrifugation to separate the MOF precipitate from the solvents. This careful washing process ensures the purity of our final solid MOF products. After the washing process, the samples were left to dry overnight, after which they will be placed in a vacuum oven to obtain the final solid MOF products.

This week, I did not perform lab work since my mentor needed to use the clean room equipment, and I needed a permit to use them. However, his updates on the results were invaluable. He performed two tests on the MOF material: FTIR Spectroscopy to ensure that the needed ligands have formed and X-ray Fraction to ensure the correct crystallization. I was mainly in the office studying different characterization techniques for the next step of our experiment. For example:

• FTIR Spectroscopy: I delved into this technique, which utilizes infrared light to identify chemical bonds in a molecule, essentially providing a molecular fingerprint. It’s akin to using a detective’s magnifying glass to uncover hidden clues about the material’s structure. This technique has direct applications in our research, making it a valuable addition to my knowledge.
• X-ray Diffraction (XRD) is crucial for understanding the crystalline structure of materials. Imagine being able to see the arrangement of atoms within a crystal lattice.
• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM): These techniques offer incredibly detailed images of a material’s surface and internal structure.
• Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and BET Surface Area Analysis: These methods help us understand the thermal stability and surface area of materials, which are critical factors for evaluating the efficiency of our MOFs.

On Friday, we visited the City of Sugar Land Surface Water Plant. This was my first time visiting a water treatment facility, and it was a truly enlightening experience. I was fascinated to learn about the process and their specific technologies and equipment.

Monday: This was exciting as my mentor introduced me to the centrifuge machine. I had the opportunity to use it for the first time, which was thrilling and educational.

Tuesday: Our weekly meeting was a great chance to catch up and share experiences. While I missed having kolaches, the donuts were a sweet substitute. These meetings always highlight the week, offering valuable insights and connections.

Wednesday: We embarked on a new experiment by preparing two samples of MOF material, utilizing both acidic and basic modulators. The reaction takes two days, followed by an overnight cooling period in the autoclave. The anticipation of results makes the wait worthwhile.

Thursday: Shadowing my mentor during the characterization step of MOF synthesis was a particularly educational experience. The detailed chemistry involved in each step allowed me to apply my academic knowledge to real-world experiments, significantly deepening my understanding of acid-base reactions.

Friday: I spent the day independently in the lab, focused on our MOF samples from Wednesday. The process involved carefully rinsing the material with DI water, DMF, and ethanol. It was a busy day, but it was very rewarding to see the progress.

Tuesday: Our Orientation day was a blast! I met all the other REU students, and we quickly bonded over shared interests and excitement for the program. The highlight was definitely lunch at the dining hall—it was so good, I wish we could eat there every day!

Wednesday: The morning started with a safety training session, but finding the assigned room was an adventure in itself! After wandering with fellow students, we found a friendly person on campus who pointed us in the right direction. Lunch with our mentors was fantastic; we introduced ourselves and discussed our research projects.

Thursday: My mentor launched a new recipe for his MOF material, and I shadowed him through the entire process. Even better, I had the chance to try all the steps myself! For the first time, I performed lab work solo, and I ended up creating a novel material—such a rewarding experience!

Friday: Our weekly lab meeting in Dr. Li’s lab was fascinating. I met everyone in the lab and listened to a captivating presentation about his progress from one of the researchers. It was inspiring to see the innovative work happening around me!