Day 35

Well today is the last day of work!!! Our presentation was great and so was everyone else's. After all of them were finished, Nicole and I took our moms over to Building 8 to show them our labs. I will admit that I am excited to be done, primarily because I still have essays to write for school that I have been procrastination all summer. But I did have a lot of fun this summer and got to meet some really amazing people through this internship. Plus, making money was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome. The experience was worth every penny:)

Anyways, I learned a lot of stuff this summer. I was reading over my first blog and I was really nervous and stressed about being in the MRI lab because I haven't had chemistry in school yet. But this was actually the greatest intro to chem I could have experienced and now I know I will be sooooooooo prepared for it this year!

Obviously, I learned a lot about MRI, contrast agents, Omniscan, and Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis. So here is some general stuff I have taken from the internship:

• Wednesday Undergrad Seminar= free lunch
• Free lunch= delicious
• Be on time
• Joe Pow is not as scary as you think
• Carpool
• If you and all the interns behave, you will get a limo bus
• Practice your presentations
• Figure out all the shortcuts to get to places at RIT
• If you got Crossroads, get the spicy chicken sub
• If you go to Java Wallie's, get the Kinky Ragea
• Be nice to the people at the stock room, or else
• Breaking a cuvett is not a big of a deal as you think
• Make your presentation simple so normal people can understand
• Look at the map before you try to find a building
• Realize some of the computers in the Chem department are 10 minutes behind real time
• Listen to Dr. Hornak; the man is a genius
• Eat with other interns after field trips
• Never say you like physics while in the Chemistry department
• Remember to clock back in after lunch
• Get your work done
• Don't put more than one Nanotube in the NMR at once
• Get contacts if you want to participate in visual perception experiments
• Be happy you have a job at RIT and you are making money; its probably better than going back to school

Well I just wrote a lot of random stuff! But that was all I could think of right now...

So i guess I will just stop writing now. Maybe I'll update this later this year let you know how senior year is going! (or where I'm going to college)

Okey dokey then. Ta Ta for Now.

;) Gretchen E. S.

Day 34 Continued

Well I was quite brief on what we did today because I was not in a very "blogy" mood when we got back from U of R. I will expand on the day now:
Laura and I got there first and we decided to get an iced mocha at the little coffee shop in the building. We didn't know what room we had to go to, but I did know that it ended with an 08 so it was either 108, 208, 308, 408, or 508. Therefore, we decided to wait on the first floor. And it was 108 so that was lucky.
When everyone else got there we started the presentations and we alternated UofR and RIT. Dr. Pinto was being very critical of all the RIT presentation, which is a good thing so we knew what to improve. However, he did have to help some of his interns even get through their slides. *sorry for being mean*
When the pizzaa and cookies came, Nicole and I were dissappointed that we didn't get to go before lunch, but we got to go next. I think we did good. There were not many questions, except the "don't say ummm" comment from the girl who said it hereself 22+ times during her's (i counted) So we should be fine tomorrow.
After we went, the day dragged on and on and on; thus the longest day of my life!

We finally finished at 3:30! Erika and Jane followed us back to RIT and Tom almost killed us with his Jeep...and then Erika almost hit us at the 4 way stop!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Well then it was 4 when we got back. And then we went home at 5:15. Oh shoot, I forgot to sign out. I'll have to eamil Joe powwwwwwww now!

:()

Day 34

Well today was the longest day of my life. We went to U of R to practice our presentations and it took form 9am-3:30pm to finish all of them. It got boring really quickly, but I guess it was good to see what the U of R interns are doing. Our presentation went great! YAYAY We feel prepared for tomorrow!

:)

Day 33

LAST DAY OF REAL WORK YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!! :)
Well today we put the finishing touches on the power point notes, and then at 10 we showed the notes to Dr. Hornak. He had some of the wording to change. Then we went lunch for the last time at Crossroads and I bought a M&M cookie.

After lunch, Bob found us an empty room so we could practice our presentation without anyone else. We ran through it twice and then we decided we were ready to present for Dr. Hornak. He only had a few things for us to change so that was good news. Also good news, Joe Pow likes our poster and presentation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY

So that is all for the day! Tomorrow is U of R 'practice.'
:)

Day 32

We actually did something this morning other than work on the powerpoint. Dr. Hornak had us make a solution and take some measurements at different concentrations. But we were done by 10:30 so then we went back to Building 76 to the computer lab. At 11:45 I had to do another eyetracking experiment, the same one where you have to look for brain lesions. It was really boring this time...Then lunch at Crossroads= buffalo chicken sub!
We the went back to the computer lab and didn't do much. That's all for today I guess.
:)
Ohh yeah I hear laura is trying to write more than me today on her blog... i will let her win...today.

Day 31

Well well well. I am sooooooo glad this is the last week of work!!!! I didn't want to wake up this morning, but luckily Joe Pow didn't need us to change anything on our poster so that was one less thing we have to do today!

We are all done with the powerpoint, but we still don't know who is doing what slides. Since I haven't taken chemistry yet, we figured it would be a good idea if Nicole did the ones with the chem stuff on it and I will cover the background information and instrumentation. So then we started writing the scripts for each slide. I probably won't even use it once I get up on the stage because I will be too nervous to even read it, but I it helpful to have one anyways. I wonder if the U of R people think our practice on Thursday is a big deal, because they asked for our abstracts? I hope we don't have to dress up for that too...

So we had lunch at Crossroads and then went back to the computer lab. I finished the notes that go with my slides. Then we went down to the girl scout thing on the first floor. The first table we went too ironically was dealing with MRI stuff so we told the lady about our Omniscan project. And she actually knew what we were talking about, coooool.

The Xerox people in the fishbowl had a laptop with video of my robotics team when we went to the championship in Atlanta. That was weird. I didn't even know anyone was videotaping us when we were down there.We also got to see the GM Fuel Cell car outside which was really coool!

And that's about all. Yay The last Monday of work this summer! :)

Day 28: Field Trip # 4

Today was funnnnn. We went to Optimax and got to go in a limo bus like one you take to prom or a wedding. That was a lovely surprise.

Well, I'm not allowed to tell you what we actually saw at Optimax, but it was a very laid back place. Most of the workers were wearing tiedied shirts and were playig music. We got a free pop insulator, sunglasses, and a concave lens!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laura, Erika, Matt, and I were all in the same tour group. Splitting us up was a great idea because we could actually see and hear what the workers were saying.

So after we left, we went to Amiels for subs but we brought them back to RIT. We had another enjoyable lunch all together. We discussed Amish people and ficuses ( which is not the generic term for fake tree). Yeah, the food was good too, especially the cookie.

Then we went to see Dr. Hornak and he asked us to do the T1 measurements on the NMR over in Building 8. And so that's what we did for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not working the rest of the week because I have stuff to do with the fam...

:)

Day 27

I think this is the first day we haven't gone over to our lab in building 8. So the whole morning we worked on the poster and powerpoint and then we showed them to Dr. Hornak. He told us that he hates the RIT logo with the tiger so he deleted it from the poster. He showed us the MIT logo and how much more sophisticated it is. Even though he hates it, I really don't mind it a bit. Do I dare say that I love the tiger logo?
So000000000 anyways, once he was done fiddling with the logo and graphs, we went back to the computer lab and put the tiger logo right back on the poster because we have to have it on there. Sorry Dr. Hornak!

For lunch we met Laura and Alex at Crossroads. Tomorrow we are getting a free lunch somewhere because we are going on another field trip. That's exiting, because I'm tired of doing our presentations.

So after lunch we came back to the computer lab and continued our poster and powerpoint. We emailed the poster to JPow and our abstract to Bob.The end.

:)

Day 26

So the dinner party at Dr. Hornak's house on Friday night was interesting. His two girls are soooo cute and smart :) His wife is a really good cook and we had a delicious Italian style dinner!!!! The picture is what the "antipasto" was: prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. YUM!

So today Dr. Hornak came to Building 8 with us and he looked at the measurements we took last Thursday. Then Nicole and I went to the computer lab and worked on the poster and powerpoint. We realized that we have no idea what graphs or data to put in, but we continued to work. We took a break and had lunch at Java Wallies.

Then we emailed the poster and powerpoint to Dr. Hornak and we walked over to visit him in Building 76. He changed a lot of the stuff we did; however, we didn't mind because we understand it a lot better now and now both presentations are almost done!!!!!! yayayay

Tomorrow we plan on finishing the poster, and possibly the powerpoint as well because we have nothing else to do.

:)

Day 25

Wow, I can't believe I've been here for 25 days!!!!!!! Anyways, this morning instead of our meeting we headed over to building 78 to catch the end of the undergrad poster presentations and continental breakfast. There was a lot of people there and I felt underdressed.
So after that ended, we walked back in the rain to building 8 and a huge bolt of lightning scared all of us. Dr. Hornak emailed us Jenn and Britt's powerpoint so we went to the computer lab to check it out. Nicole then continued working on the poster and I started our powerpoint. .
Then we hustled back over to building 78 to see Jenn and Britt present at 11:00. Good thing there was a map in the hallway or else we would have never found the room!They did really well and it helped me understand "the big picture" of why we researched the stuff we did so far. One of the judges grilled them with a few questions, but they handled it like pros. I hope there aren't too many questions when we present...
So after that we went to lunch at crossroads and I bought a buffalo chicken sub. Deliciouso! Then we went back to the computer lab and continued working on the powerpoint. Right now we I have about 9 slides finished!
Wow, I am soooooo tired right now. Dr. Hornak is having me, Nicole, Jenn , and Britt over to his homestead to celebrate the undergrad's last day at about 4 so we get to leave a little early today. I'll let you know how that goes on Monday.

TGIF :)

Day 24

Today = really busy. The data we collected yesterday contradicted some of the stuff on Jenn and Britt's powerpoint for the symposioum tomorrow, so Dr. Hornak had us do a lot of more tests to see if he can come up with a way to explain what's happening before they present. Thats about all we did all day; therefore, my blog is the smallest it has ever been.

:)

Day 23

Happy hump day :) Well today smelled a lot better than yesterday. We used acetic acid today with the copper, which is a very concentrated vinegar... and that's exactly what it smelled like. Nicole and I both consider salt and vinegar our favorite type of chips in the entire world, so therefore, the acetic acid smelled great and made our mouths water. To bad the vending machine does not carry that variety of chips...


So anyways, we did that kinetic test and sent the results to Dr. Hornak whose reply was via email was 'drats.' He was expecting different results; therefore, he had us do the same test with a powdered solution that dissolved in the copper.



Our morning staff meeting inspired Nicole and I to start our poster. We fooled around with powerpoint and found the RIT and CIS logos on google images. Nicole added the title... and that's how far we got today. Luckily, Jenn and Britt are basically presenting all the stuff we have been working with on Friday, so their powerpoint will be helpful for our presentation and poster. When we get a copy of that, making our version should be fairly easy!!!!!!



The COS end of summer picnic was today and we had free hamburgers, pop, and cookies. I still would like to think of it as the middle of summer, considering all the homework that I have not finished for school yet. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I will now tell about all of the mandatory (yes, its not optional) homework that I have to do for school, even though it has nothing to do with RIT. Feel free to stop reading at any time:

AP Calc: Read the first chapter in the text book, and do a list of assigned questions from each section. Show all work on good paper to be graded. Expect a test during the first week of school. Now, there are only 43 questions. That won't be hard, right? WRONG. Just about every question has a part a,b,c,d,e, and sometimes even an f and g. Also, some of the parts have parts (ie part c has parts i,ii,iii,iv,v) Luckily, I have already finished most of this homework with one of my best friends. It only took us from 11 am to 8 pm.

AP Gov: Read The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Write two assigned essays after you have read the 412 page book. Then, read chapter 1 in the text book and 'craft' responses to 12 questions. Now this is the assignment that I have been procrastinating for. Basically, the book is about the secrets to winning the 2008 election, and focuses on what Hillary can do to win the race. There are only two problems with this: 1) I don't plan or ever plan on running in a presidential election 2) Hillary is out of the race; therefore, half of the book is redundant. Ohhhh yeah, and the book is so new, it cost me 30$ on amazon and there are no sparknotes. I personally like to call it "The Way to Ruin Summer." Enough said.

English: Read Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and A Room with a View. Then write three assigned essays. A test will be given on the FIRST day of school. Yep, what a way to put a damper on the excitement of a fresh new school year. Seriously, being tested on the first day of school totally ruins everything... and I've had to endure this pain since freshman year. Please note that this is NOT an AP class... you don't even what to know what the girls who are taking AP Lit have to do. So anyways, I only have one more essay to go for this subject; but then again, I will be studying my butt off on September 2.

Now luckily, my Chem, Physics, and Theology teachers aren't into giving homework over vacation. That is because they know the definition of vacation.

So, anyways that wayyyyy off topic. But I needed to vent. If you are still reading, I am terribly sorry for boring you...

:)

Day 22

Well today wasn't especially exciting or boring. But it was smelly. Dr. Hornak asked Nicole and I to do another time series on the UV-Vis spectrometer with copper and one drop of diethylamine. Now the compound diethylamine does not sound or look threatening in any way, shape, or form; however, once you crack the top off the vial, 'your nostrils begin to burn', as Nicole put it. Personally, I think is smells like really, really mad skunk that just sprayed everywhere. If we brought a vial of this stuff to our morning meeting, all of the interns would be cleared out of the reading room in 30 seconds flat, I guarantee. So the point of this story is that diethylamine smells really bad.

So onto what we actually did today. When Nicole and I mixed the copper and diethylamine in the cuvett the solution turned blue; however after an hour of doing the test brown particular matter had precipitated to the bottom of the cuevett. No more blue to be found. As a result our absorbance data was weird, but Dr. Hornak said it was fine. So then we moved on to a more diluted concentration to see what happened... nothing exciting, but overall normal. So we spent the rest of the day finding the peaks in the data and making the absorbance vs time graphs. Yep, how exciting!!!!

:) Sorry no pic todayyyy

Day 21:Field Trip #3

Sooooo today we went to ITT for our 3rd field trip. When we got there, we were forced to give up our camera-phones and prove our citizenship to the USA because they do some secret stuff there...

A guy that knew Dr. Easton gave us a powerpoint about the work they do with taking pictures from space and how the mirrors they make at ITT are better than anyone elses. He showed us lots of pictures of early attempts (cameras strapped onto homing pigeons ha ha) of taking aerial pictures and the more modern pics that come from satellites orbiting the earth.(Hubble) So from what I understand, ITT makes the cameras and mirrors that fly in space, but they do not manufacture the actual satellites. Unfortunately, the 47 slides never told us what ITT stood for so I googled it: International Telephone and Telegraph, which really has nothing to do with ITT's current work. But the slide show was actually very interesting... there are soooooooooooooo many factors that go into making a good image of the earth.

So after the powerpoint, we put on some safety goggles and we given a tour of the plant where they start the process of making the mirrors "optically perfect." There was this machine that used thousands of pounds of water pressure to cut out honeycomb shapes into glass to support the mirrors. There were holes in the concrete floor from mishaps with this machine...

We then moved onto the part of our tour where we got to wear white lab coats, gloves, hairnets, and booties. That was fun, especially when some random guy called Basma Casper the Friendly Ghost because her coat was so big on her. Ohhh yes, the one and only rule in this room was don't touch anything!But anyways, once we were inside the room, the guy showed us a plastic model of the mirror and then we got to see the actual mirror. The piece we saw was one of 18 that is used to make one big mirror.

So at about 12:30 we left ITT and got subs at Dibellas which was crazy crowded! We brought out food back to RIT and all of the interns had a great bonding experience/lunchtime together. Then of course, we had to get to work. So Nicole and I went to Dr. Hornak's office and watched him fix some graphs on Jenn and Britt's powerpoint for Friday. Then we went over to Building 8 to do another time series test for about 45 minutes with Gadodiamide and a higher concentration of Copper. We'll be doing more tests like this tomorrow... yay.

:)