Summer has been over for quite a while now and gone are the days when an undergrad could do research without having to worry about classes. Around the end of the summer, our chemical beam epitaxy chamber started to have some problems and every fix that the lab tried gave rise to more problems.

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s a pretty common occurrence to have malfunctions in a research lab that take a long time to fix. So in the meantime, what can one do to pass the time during which the mind used to be constantly stimulated?

Well, this quarter has been quite the journey to find out! Here’s a list of things I did to pass the time when I wasn’t doing research. I think they can serve as some good suggestions.

Go to a conference!

The 2013 SACNAS National Conference was an amazing experience filled with mind-boggling research presentations, fun, networking, and of course, FOOD! Dilpreet and Chris did a pretty awesome job of describing the conference, so I’ll spare you the repetition and sum up the experience in a picture of me as a decked out “Sacnista”

Get involved in your professional organization!

As you may or may not know, I’m in the process of switching majors from chemical to electrical engineering (yeah, getting into research can really change your perspective on things). Part of this switch involved getting into a new professional organization. Once an officer of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, I made the jump to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). I didn’t expect a professional organization to be “fun”, but IEEE definitely proved me wrong! I thought it would be a really serious organization, but it turns out it’s just a group of fun-loving nerds who like to build things. I couldn’t ask for anything better! In October I participated in IEEEXtreme, a 24-hour programming challenge where teams of three people sit in a room and solve various challenges. I was pretty delirious by the end of it, but it was completely worth the food, learning, fun, and new friends!

Check out the rest of CSEP!

So what do you do with that block of time you had set out for research but during which you didn’t end up going to the lab? I decided to kill two birds with one stone and was able to alleviate my financial burden along with my boredom by getting a job with the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP)! I didn’t realize until I started working for them how much they actually do. Because of the new job, I was able to stay informed about outreach events like Family Ultimate Science Exploration (FUSE) nights, which take place at middle schools where students like us get to run science demonstrations for junior high students and their families.

Here’s a picture of a little girl letting me play with a speaker she built out of a paper fry tray and some magnets!

It’s been a fun and busy (REALLY busy) quarter, but I’m dying to get back into the lab!

Here’s to a research-filled year! Happy holidays!