This week was all about making the poster. I joined the honors college at my community College last semester so I have a previous experience at making posters, but this still felt fairly new. This week was a time when all that I have learnt about my project throughout the 9 weeks culminated, and I enjoyed the process. This week plus the previous one was hectic in the sense that there were three assignments to turn in that really required some paying attention to.

In addition to the poster, I was required to present to my lab group. Actually the meeting this week was dedicated to all the interns in the lab, so I was also nervous for that. All the meetings I have attended in the past have been by grad students, and their works have all been thorough and lengthy. While my PI didn’t require that level of work from us, I still knew that my presentation had to have some semblance of a grad student’s; and I think I did well… there were questions my PI asked that I wasn’t able to answer, but that is alright because I know I do not fully understand everything about the work I performed in the lab.

Overall, I am satisfied with the work I made. Even though it could be better, I created them to the best of my ability and that is what matters.

This week, I had to wrap up my lab experiments so I could plot my data and organize it for my poster presentation. The project’s approach kept evolving, even up to this week, which was challenging. Eventually, we pinpointed the concentrations to measure, allowing me to establish a control group for comparison.

I spent most of my time at my desk, plotting data and writing my abstract. I preferred doing this work at Fondren Library or a nearby coffee shop. Writing the abstract was quite enjoyable due to the strict character limit, which helped me reflect on the past eight weeks. This week, everything finally came together. Connecting the repetitive tasks from the past weeks to my results and conclusions was tricky, and while I don’t fully grasp how to interpret all my results, I’m satisfied with the progress and conclusions I’ve reached.

The focus of my project changed this week because of the time that was lost due to the storm, and I think this is okay because I seem to understand this new focus better than what was supposed to be. My new project focuses on characterizing a material, rather than characterizing devices, and I spent this week running the measurements I need to wrap up my project. As usual, there are always hitches in research as some of my solutions did not mix at higher concentrations. So my plan for today (Friday) is to re-run my measurements at lower concentrations with smaller increments.

This week was quite unexpected to say the least. I was not expecting to have lost a week’s worth of time towards my project but that is what happened. I am glad and thankful to have survived the storm without significant damages. I chose to stay home for the entirety of the week because I live an hour away from the campus and it didn’t seem safe to make the trip when many parts of town still were without electricity and water, especially when my mentor was affected as such.

This hurricane really made me question the fast-paced society we live in, and how, everything will be back to normal a month from now even though it will feel like we are behind of where we should be.

Because I have just three weeks left in this internship, my goal is to streamline my focus in the lab so that I can obtain useful data for comparison. I knew going into this that the work I would do would not be robust because of the time constraint, but now it really feels like there is a rush to the finish line. Regardless, there has been much learned, and there is still more to learn, so I will be looking forward to that.

My time in the lab this week was spent fine-tuning my data because it was a half-week. The plan was to begin the second half of my project because I am performing a comparison, but, due to there still being a lot of details to work out, I ended up finalizing the first half of my experiments to make sure I had enough data for the second part. There happened to be a mishap on Wednesday as half of my data plots got deleted by accident while sharing my file. This meant I spent extra time re-doing work that had already been done. So therefore, my focus moving forward is to make the best use of the data I already have by tailoring the second part to the first, as best I can.

This week, I had a meeting with my PI. I usually have these meetings every week but for the past three weeks I haven’t had to because of holidays or his busy schedule. But this week he was available, so I was moderately nervous for it. My PI is very approachable, and this time around compared to the first week, I had something substantial to update him on. For the past few weeks, I have been running numerous measurements in a hanging cell setup using Carbon Nanotube (CNT) threads. My project focuses on the capacity of polymer-coated CNT, specifically PEDOT:PSS polymer, and because there are various adjustments that can be made depending on the desired outcome, I have had to run tens of these measurements. My mentor has been very helpful in steering me on which changes to make because I have limited time.

I first began by testing the capacity of different materials as electrodes, then when I settled on that, I began tweaking the settings on the voltameter to determine the best range to run the measurements at, one that won’t degrade my materials from repeated attempts. Once I got that data, my mentor then suggested I reduce the volume of my beaker to increase the sensitivity of my reading; this is because the surface-area to volume ratio is very critical. The goal of this change is to measure the materials ability to sense changes in the electrolyte, once a redox-active material has been introduced. I will be adding in different concentrations, starting at 2uM and going to 0.2M. This process itself has been very fun for me as I have had to make use of my gen-chem knowledge. I remember the first time I was asked to calculate molarity form percentage, I froze and had to text my chemistry professor in a panic! (LOL).

This experience so far has given me a head-start on course I have not yet taken, but it has also given me opportunities to make use of the ones that I have, and I am very grateful for that.

This week I was given the task of performing three cyclic voltammetry measurements using three different CNT threads; the purpose of repetition is to obtain consistent results. What I thought was going to be a smooth process actually presented with a lot of challenges. While the basic measurements went well, the process of trying to achieve a redox peak in my reading proved difficult. I suppose I will have to do some research on the results I obtained to understand why they are occurring and how I can achieve my desired results. Today, I got so far as collecting results on the first sample; my plan for tomorrow is to test out the polymer coated CNT to determine if I can obtain a redox peak in my measurement.

After performing the reading with PEDOT:PSS coated CNT, I have come to the conclusion that carbon nanotubes are not the most efficient materials for electrodes. While their synthesis offers many incentives, their inability to perform redox reactions limits their application. Regardless, the process of learning about electrochemistry has been fascinating, and it has prepared me for the classes I am yet to take.

While I have not finished collecting data on my Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) readings, I am to move onto learning how to collect data from OECTs, which is one of my second mentor’s projects.

This week was more eventful for me. I received my SEA training which allows me access to the cleanroom. Cleanrooms are universal to research universities, and they are very well kept to improve the longevity of the equipment, and to avoid tainting the researcher’s results. While attending the orientation, I found myself thinking of how cool it would be to have the knowledge to operate and/or build all the equipments in the cleanroom. During my time at this internship, I have found myself more interested in the technology industry, as the scientific industry is saturated, and perhaps this may lead me towards a career in mechanical engineering than the biomedical route I was considering.

Asides from my fascination with the machines, I learned a lot more about my project, and the machines used in the process this week: I made some OECT devices, and I learned about Cyclic Voltammetry (CV). CV is an electrochemical technique used to observe redox reactions; because I will be determining the efficiency of polymer-coated CNT threads, CV will enable me to qualify the data received. Apart from learning how to properly hook up the machine, learning to operate the software required for the task is a skill I didn’t think I would develop during this process.

I had a progressively better week than the last. On Monday I had a meeting with my mentors to recount the contents of what I had read the previous week. While asked to explain, I realized I did not know as much as I thought I did while reading. Since then, the majority of my time was spent trying to understand the process of electrolysis. This, I can say has been a challenge, but one which has been fulfilling so far.
I learned the stages of fabrication for Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) this week. It is a relatively simple process, but the cells have been designed by my mentor with the aim of better efficiency. These transistors are designed to be biocompatible, and their benefits are due to their ability to sense minute changes in their environment, through the redox reaction process. Looking ahead to next week after I get my SEA trainings done, I hope to move onto the next step in the process where I learn the importance of the changes my mentor has made to his cell designs.
The process so far has been one of learn-as-you-go, and I only now realize what my learning style is. Getting to understand the process of graduate schooling and the challenges that come with it has also been very informational, as it is a career path I have considered.