Thursday, July 20, 2017

This Week in 375 Words or Less (Spoilers, Obviously)

On Monday, my lab partner Bernice and I had to take a look at our Burst method gold nanoparticles with a man named Chris who helps us in the lab. We did in fact find out that we did not make gold but we made some sort of polymer with gold and another unknown material. It was very difficult for us to measure any of the particles because they had all aggregated together and the pictures came out blurry.
A (suspected) gold-sulfur polymer Bernice and I made.
Tuesday was the proctor group night. I had a lot of fun with my proctor group. We ate Thai food and danced the Cotton Eye Joe near the Parthenon. There was also so many dogs and we joked about plotting to take them all. It was just wonderful to just hang out with the people I’ve been with since day one.
My classmate JJ trying the seal box

Wednesday, we in class we had Doctor Hernandez come in and talk to us about the basics of nanomaterial research that he conducted in his laboratory with his colleagues. The most interesting facts had to be about x-ray diffraction. We also got to try a nitrogen dry glove box. 

Then later in the day, we had an ice cream social with the admissions officers at Vanderbilt and I met my admissions officer, Bryan Nyswaner. He told me all about what I needed to know about how to get a hold of him, which I really appreciated. 

Today was a little bit of a rocky day, however. I woke up a little sick from the cold that has been spreading around like wild fire around the Hank Ingram house. 

We had someone named Doctor Wong come into our class and talk about the medical applications of gold nanoparticles, and frankly I was having a little bit of a hard time getting everything I needed from it because of the brain fog. Luckily I wrote everything down so I can go and understand it later.

 Then in the laboratory we all had to take the gold nanoparticle synthesis from the Turkevich process and change one thing about it. Bernice and I decided to dunk our solutions in ice overnight instead of heating up. We have no idea what’s going to happen until tomorrow.
And now we wait. :)
Overall, this week has been OK, but it’s getting to be a little bit on the rocky side.

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