This week has been extremely amazing, though it’s bittersweet as it’s my last one. I’ve formed wonderful friendships with my mentor and the other graduate students, making it hard to say goodbye. Since it was my final week, my workload was lighter, mainly scanning some samples and spending time chatting with my mentor about the future and my plans.

I decided to bake cookies on Tuesday night and brought them in on Wednesday. They were a hit, especially with my mentor, who said they were the best snickerdoodles he’s ever had. On Thursday, my mentor and some of the graduate students I’m close with treated me to lunch at Local Foods. Their kindness in paying for my meal, combined with the delicious food, made it a memorable farewell.

I’m incredibly grateful for this program and will miss everyone I’ve worked with. For those starting this journey, I’d like to offer some advice: take it slow and enjoy every moment. There will be times when you feel incompetent or wish you had done better. Criticism can be tough, but don’t take it personally—use it as an opportunity to grow.

I had a rough beginning and briefly questioned if the program was worth it. However, I learned that a challenging start doesn’t define the entire experience. I’m fortunate to have faced my hurdles early on and am glad I persevered. I’ve grown significantly, especially in my research skills and communication.

I wish the best of luck to everyone I had the pleasure of meeting during this REU and extend my best wishes to my mentor and the graduate students in the Halas lab.

This week was pretty simple. I spent most of it finalizing my poster, practicing my presentation, and creating my elevator pitch. On Monday, I scanned the samples for attempt 2 and 3 of reproducing the PFOA gradient and then created graphs. They all looked extremely similar, indicating the data was accurate and the material reproducible.

On Tuesday, we had a group meeting where we reviewed each other’s posters and received feedback. It was very insightful and helped me sort out some things. One thing I’ve learned through this experience is that criticism isn’t personal—it’s aimed at making me a better student and researcher.

Wednesday was dedicated to working on my poster. I also helped my mentor by scanning samples for his project, freeing him up to focus on other tasks.

On Thursday, I visited Baylor College of Medicine to meet a PI who works with the Halas lab. They planned to let me watch procedures involving placenta cell extraction, but the placenta arrived late, pushing the procedure to Friday. Instead, I spent the day discussing my ambitions and future options with the PI, gaining valuable insights about programs to consider for next summer.

Friday, I returned to Baylor College of Medicine with a compound requested by my lab. I met a graduate student who would perform the procedure. She was incredibly kind, and we chatted about various topics, including hobbies, the lab, and PhD programs. I’ve been struggling with deciding between an MD/PhD, a normal MD, or possibly an MPH/MD, which the graduate student also mentioned. The options are exciting yet daunting, as I want to make the best choice for myself, considering financial feasibility as a first-gen student navigating this on my own.

Seeing a placenta for the first time was incredible, especially since I’m interested in obstetrics and gynecology. The graduate student walked me through the process, and while I only watched, it was mesmerizing. I thanked both the graduate student and the PI for the experience.

It’s crazy to think I have only one week left. This program has been amazing, providing invaluable connections and experiences. I am deeply appreciative of everything it has offered me.

This week started with a marathon session of scanning my samples, which took a solid 4 hours. It felt like forever, but the good news is that creating the graph wasn’t as daunting as I initially thought. Thanks to my mentor, who provided an easy-to-use script, the process was smooth. I ended the day on a high note, having successfully created the gradient with only pDT and PFOA. The results were exactly as I had hoped, which made me incredibly happy.

Tuesday was my regular REU meeting day. I had to give a presentation, and although I was nervous at first, the nerves quickly dissipated. Presenting my research felt like chatting with friends, which was a pleasant surprise. After the meeting, I showed my mentor the gradient I had worked on, and he was overjoyed. His reaction boosted my confidence immensely. I then returned to the lab to start on the gradient without pDT. I had to scan the samples since they were dry and then dropcast the PFOA on top. These took two days to dry, so I planned to scan them on Thursday.

Knowing I needed to reproduce the gradients, I spent Wednesday preparing more particles. I wanted to ensure I had enough to recreate the experiments accurately. This foresight was crucial for the reproducibility of my results.

On Thursday, I scanned the dried samples and created another gradient graph. One sample looked a bit off, but overall, the results were promising. It was evident that using the ligand increased the lower limit of detection for PFAS. However, I realized I hadn’t made enough particles for the higher concentrations. It wasn’t a major issue; I decided to omit the higher concentrations for now and plan to do them next week. I dropcasted the nanoparticles onto the chips and waited for them to dry.

By Friday, I scanned all the samples and dropcasted varying concentrations of PFAS. I expect these to take at least three days to dry, so they should be perfectly ready to scan by Monday.

Overall, it has been an amazing week filled with progress and new discoveries. I only have two weeks left in the lab, and the thought of leaving makes me extremely sad. I’ve built strong bonds with my mentor and the other graduate students, and the research itself has been incredibly rewarding. I’m determined to make the most of the time I have left and continue pushing forward with my experiments.

This week was short again due to Hurricane Beryl passing through. We lost power almost immediately, and unfortunately, a tree split in half and fell on our fence. Compared to others, my family is lucky given that I’ve seen houses completely destroyed by falling trees. While my family still has no power, we do have a small generator hooked up to the fridges so on Tuesday, we decided to grill a food and cut fruit to hand it out to our neighbors who also have no power. My family spent Wednesday cleaning up and chopping down the tree to ensure it wouldn’t pose a danger to any of our neighbors.

Regarding work, my primary method of transportation is the metro rail, and I learned that it was suspended due to the storm and temporarily replaced with shuttles which stressed me out. I got lost for a little while, but by asking questions, I found out where I needed to be and made it safely to my lab.

Once I arrived on Thursday, happy to be back and ready to scan samples, I saw that my lab had run out of liquid nitrogen, which is vital for scanning my samples. I asked one of the graduate students in the lab if he had any, so we went to check another lab that had three whole containers empty. We then decided to take a trip to the stockroom, only to find a note stating they were also out of liquid nitrogen, but to check another building. After checking the other building, we still couldn’t find any, so I spent the rest of the day making a plan for next week. I wanted to ensure that I would be able to scan all my samples, dropcast any extras if needed, and get the graphs necessary for my poster.

On Friday, we were still out of liquid nitrogen, but I wanted to make the best of it. I began working on my poster, which has been a learning curve since I’ve never made one before. Thankfully, my mentor has been extremely helpful whenever I ask questions despite being out of state. In addition to finishing my gradient project next week, I will also be creating all the plots and schematics, which hopefully shouldn’t be too difficult.

Lastly, my thoughts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Beryl. I hope you are all doing well and that recovery comes quickly and smoothly. Stay safe and take care.

This week was short with only three days, which didn’t leave much time to work. As I mentioned last week, I started the PFOA gradient project. Last Friday, I dropcasted the particles mixed with ligands, and they were dry by Monday. I scanned them without the PFOA and then dropcasted the PFOA solution. I hoped they would be dry by Tuesday, but they were still wet, which meant I couldn’t scan them.

I also decided it would be important to have a control spectrum of just bare particles (not mixed with ligands) dropcasted with PFOA. This way, we can determine if the ligands (pDT) enhance the ability to detect PFOA at lower concentrations using SEIRA. In total, I had about 20 samples that needed time to dry, and by Wednesday, only six were dry.

With not much to do in the lab, I spent some time reading about PFAS, particularly the 3M scandal where the company convinced a scientist to keep quiet about finding PFAS in blood and their negative effects when they accumulate. This reading piqued my scientific curiosity because, while we can detect PFAS and there are methods to remove them from water, these methods often involve using materials like activated carbon that attract and capture PFAS. However, once these materials are saturated, the question arises: how do we dispose of them?

I asked my mentor about this, and I learned that we don’t have a good way to dispose of PFAS. The C-F bond is incredibly hard to break, and while there are some methods available, they require a lot of energy and pose a risk of releasing PFAS back into the environment. This highlights the importance of our research and the need for more sustainable solutions.

This week in the lab has been quite the rollercoaster. Although it’s been an okay week overall, I’ve encountered a series of challenges and made numerous mistakes that have taught me valuable lessons.

Last week, I crafted a new set of particles, dropcasted them onto chips, and then scanned them. Unfortunately, I discovered that they were contaminated, rendering all that data unusable. I set out to remake the particles on Wednesday, only to run into a host of problems. My initial calculations indicated that I needed more seeds than I had on hand. This meant I needed to determine the ratio for the seeds I already had. However, the machine I needed was occupied, forcing me to wait until the next day.

On Thursday, I discovered that my initial math was incorrect—I actually had enough seeds and didn’t need to make more. Despite this setback, I went ahead and scanned the newer seeds to obtain their ratio for future use. Today, I created the particles using the seeds and dropcasted them again. I hope to scan them next week and avoid contamination this time around.

In addition to my main project, I started a side project that will support my overall research. This involves determining the PFOA gradient to establish how little PFOA can be present for us to still detect it using the nanoshells. I was excited to dive into this new project but halfway through dropcasting the PFOA solution, I realized I needed to dropcast the particles first. This mistake led to the disposal of a few chips.

Despite the challenges, there was a highlight this week—most of the lab went to Torchy’s Tacos for the first time. The food was fantastic, and it was a great bonding experience. We had lots of fun talking and getting to know each other better.

Although this week has been filled with errors and frustrations, I’ve learned a lot and am hopeful for better results next week. Lab work can be tough, but these experiences are crucial for growth and success in research. Here’s to a more successful week ahead!

Monday was rough! We had hoped changing the pH would give us the desired results, but it seemed to have little to no effect. We went back to the drawing board and determined that we would further change the pH, both higher and lower, to see what it would do to the samples. We created these pH solutions on Friday and drop-casted it on some of the samples. On Monday, I will independently scan the samples! On Tuesday there were multiple meetings which I found enjoyable and incredibly informational. I was thankful to get a day off so I could sleep in. As for Thursday, I attended my first group meeting in my lab. It was really interesting to watch others present and learn more about their projects. My mentor didn’t need to present since he had talked with the PI earlier in the week and presented our findings and new information. Friday was very exciting because we took a field trip to the Sugar Land Surface Water Plant! It was incredibly hot, but the overall experience taught me a lot making it worth it.

I look forward to the coming weeks!

Week 3 has been very fun, and I am becoming more confident in my abilities in the lab.

This week, we focused on collecting a lot of data using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA). I had several tasks to complete on my own. Although I was initially a bit nervous, I successfully completed each one and now feel confident in my ability to use the Raman Microscope independently. Early in the week, I got to do my favorite task: cutting and cleaning silicon squares. Because I arrive at the lab so early in the morning, I was able to finish cleaning and immerse them in the polymer, which requires a 90-minute soak. This allowed us to do multiple drop castings later in the day, saving us so much time.

Unfortunately, an issue with the data arose halfway through the week, forcing us to pivot and find a new approach to achieve the desired results. We decided that altering the pH might produce the effects we wanted, so on Friday, we focused on this. We spent several hours calibrating the pH meter and determining the ideal pH for our solution. Once we determined the right pH, we drop-casted the solution onto the samples. We will measure the data using SERS and SEIRA next Monday. I am very nervous about the results, as they are a big deal, but I am hopeful and ready to pivot again if needed.

I’ve continued to build bonds with my mentor and other graduate students, and I appreciate their time and knowledge. Many of them have shared their wisdom with me and answered all my questions about science, graduate school, or life in general. I hope to stay in touch with them and look forward to my upcoming weeks!

My second, but really first in-person week as a student intern has been intense, but also very rewarding.

On Monday, I was very nervous and felt unsure about my capabilities. because at first, all the terminology and procedures didn’t make too much sense, but I was simply appreciative to be in the lab working under a graduate student. Thankfully, the graduate student I’m working under is super nice and most importantly, patient.

On Tuesday, a few meetings were held and one of them had donuts which were delicious. After that, I went to my lab and had a conversation with a different graduate student who gave me a lot of great advice. I was explaining how nervous I was and she told me to just be a sponge this entire week and soak up all the information I possibly can. In time, I’ll actually begin to understand the information and connect it to concepts I already know, and she even told me about her experience as an REU student years ago which really opened up my eyes.

On Wednesday, I learned a few new processes, and I have come to really like one of them — cutting silicon wafers. It’s a very tedious process because it has to be a specific length and they are very fragile, but I genuinely enjoyed it. If I could put some earbuds in, play some music, and spend all day cutting them into squares, I would jump on that opportunity.

On Thursday, I was told to do something entirely by myself and while I was extremely nervous at first, I followed through with the process and directions given and did it successfully. Funnily enough, my graduate student and I ran into some issues later on in the day but quickly found solutions. We actually almost ended the day on a bad note because we ran a sample through the machine and it looked completely wrong, but I figured out the issue and we reran it which resulted in a successful measurement.

On Friday, I learned how to use a Scanning Electron Microscope which was very exciting because it’s something I never thought I’d have the opportunity to work with and instead just see pictures in textbooks. My graduate student took me to a little coffee shop on campus and gave me a little tour of the buildings around, so I now have a better layout of where I am.

Overall, this week started off nerve-wracking, but quickly I settled in and found some procedures I enjoyed. I’m grateful to be surrounded with such funny and kind graduate students. I cannot wait for my upcoming weeks spent in the Halas Lab.

This image is of a distinguished squirrel eating on a chair. (I felt the need to share it)

This week was a little nerve-wracking at the beginning since this is my first “job” or internship. Fortunately, I felt super comfortable with all of the other REU students and found some common interests which was very exciting! Unfortunately, I came down with an intense cold very early on this week and had to rest for a few days, so I didn’t get any experience in the lab, but I am super excited to start next Monday! In the mean time I’ve been reading papers to get a better grasp on what I’ll be doing and I look forward to my upcoming weeks.