It’s 6:45pm and I’m sitting in the ThermoLab in the Engineering Science Building writing this blog post while doing Seebeck measurements.

I’ve been asked to reflect on my experiences as the scheduled end to my summer internship approaches. I honestly can’t seen an end to this project any time soon. There’s so much more to learn! At this point, I’m not thinking of things in terms of reflections, but rather in terms of “what’s next?”

Sure, in the past ten weeks I’ve learned way more than I could ever imagine (and I’m grateful for that), but rather than quenching my thirst for knowledge, the things I’ve learned have simply expanded my mind’s capacity and made me want more.

The simple things I’ve come to hate:
-Dirty soldering tips
-Messy work areas
-Bulleted lists (Oh, the irony)

The simple things I’ve come to love:
-The eerily soothing white noise from all the machinery in the labs
-The beauty of liquid indium (seriously, it’s awesome)
-Being a stone’s throw away from the Nano Cafe for 8 hours a day
-Playing music in the ThermoLab when nobody is around
-That euphoric feeling when data comes out as predicted
-Making someone say “whoa…that actually IS pretty cool”

I’ve come to realize that there are two sides to research: there’s the side that we love and that expands our knowledge, the side that we see in posters, papers and presentations. Then there’s the side that throws hurdles at you mid-jump…at face level.

We started having problems with our gallium source in mid-July, and it turns out it had to be replaced. Due to administrative complications (quotes, pricing, etc…who woulda known triethyl gallium isn’t available on Amazon Prime?), it still hasn’t been replaced. My project has taken some twists and turns and finally settled on observing the thermoelectric properties of rare earth doped InAsP (which there is barely any thermoelectric research on, go figure!).

I honestly can’t see this as a disappointment or a failure, though. I see it as a complication that allowed a new, interesting opportunity to arise. On top of being able to study something that might lead to completely new knowledge, I’m actually getting data!

I could go on with the generic “I’ve learned so much and I’m grateful to have had this opportunity” post, but that story’s the same for everyone (albeit very true), and this last Seebeck measurement is going to be done by the end of this song.

So I’ll log off with some acknowledgements
A thank you to Ryan Need for his guidance, patience, and being one of the most amazing mentors I could ever hope for.
A thank you to CSEP for funding this awesome endeavor.
A thank you to the entire Palmstrom group for being supportive and helpful throughout the summer.

However, this is only the beginning.