My First Three Weeks as an INSET Intern
Hi everyone,
I want to take this opportunity to express my most sincere opinion on my experience with the INSET Internship during the past three weeks. When I first applied for INSET, I had little knowledge about the tremendous educational enrichment of the program as well as the future benefits that come with it. So far, I have been just fascinated by all the graduate and undergraduates researchers as well as the PI, Javier Read de Alaniz, at the Read Lab located in the North Physical Sciences Building; everybody is just so passionate and knowledgeable about organic chemistry. They are also very friendly with me and have even gotten out of their way just to help me. Indeed, I have no words to express how fortunate I feel to be part of The Read Lab, having such a patient, kind-hearted, smart mentor, Charles Frazier, and to be working at the nanoscale building carbon-nitrogen bonds!
I would also like to comment that the INSET program, on top of getting hands-on experience at the lab, also offers the incredible opportunity to give power-point presentations to other interns and even PIs from various fields. What a great way to show others what one has learned and done at the lab! Last but not least are the GRIT Talks: a fantastic chance to learn and hear some of the UCSB professors discuss how science is constantly changing the world we live in. I truly hope everybody is having as much fun as I am doing his/her internship. Here are some pictures of that I took while I was at the lab. The first one is a Diels-Alder reaction while the second one is an extraction: