Going the Extra Mile

Winter quarter is nearly over and I never thought I would learn all the amazing things I did in lab. But right from the start, I quickly realized that I had holes in my physics education. I realized that most of the physics courses I have taken were not as relevant to my project in Professor Chabinyc’s lab at first. There were also not a lot of similarities between the physics lab courses and this lab. Of course, there is no denying that these physics courses did set a solid foundation for me. But there was so much more to know. In some discussions that I had with my mentor, I was utterly confused because I have never taken an introduction to polymers class or even a chemical engineering class. I felt like I had to catch up real fast.

It was extremely difficult this quarter to balance twenty-two units and work with extra reading on semiconducting polymers and thermal annealing. After reading a considerable amount of papers, I began to make connections to what I was doing in lab to the material presented in the classes I have taken, filling those holes in my education. I never thought that concepts like free energy were related to changing the morphology of polymers through thermal annealing. (I included an image of a thermally annealed sample obtained through AFM for your enjoyment.) I spent most of my weekends in the library, ten hours at a time secluded in a room, connecting these dots and working on homework sets.When I got home from the library, I would eat dinner quickly and continue working. There were some weekends where I slept less than I did during the week.

Image from atomic force microscopy (AFM). Thermally annealed sample.

I know that I totally sounded like a shut-in from the previous paragraph. You just have to make some sacrifices. You just have to go the extra mile when you want to succeed. You have to put in the extra time to achieve what you want. Plus it’s not like I regret anything. It has been very rewarding. I didn’t want to simply go to lab and do what my mentor tells me to do. I want to understand what was going on; I want to have my synapses firing and creating new connections in my brain. I am very fascinated with organic solar cells and I am committed to the research effort. I would say that this has been the most demanding quarter I have ever hard and it was worth losing sleep. Going the extra mile doesn’t stop here for me; I will be doing more research and reading over spring break. And on a side note, I wish you all good luck on finals! Feel free to approach me if you need a pep talk!

Click this link for 50 ways to take a break! Might be helpful for finals!

CEEM  Posted by 07 Mar 2014 / 1 comments

My Fear: Talking to a Professor

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

Jack Canfield

Since I was in elementary school, I knew I wanted to work in a lab. I wanted to be wearing that dazzling white lab coat, designing experiments and discovering things that could change the world. I soon found out that this required all the motivation and dedication that I have in my body to search for a lab that was doing the type of research I wanted to do. But then of course, this meant talking to the professor of said lab…

Is this anyone else’s fear? I get so intimidated. Talking to professors is probably one of my biggest fears, right up there next to scary clowns and giant spiders. The whole palms-sweating-and-heart-racing deal. Anyway, I must have gone to office hours more times than I can count and I still feel anxious after four years of experience. Yet when I walk out of their office, I feel that it was worth it. In addition to getting help on homework, office hours is just great practice for talking about research. It also gives the professor the opportunity to get to know you, the student, and your interests. This can come in handy in case they hear of available positions in their colleagues’ labs. I also tend to read up on my professors’ research before the start of each quarter so I have something to talk to them in office hours besides topics from lecture. So I get to know the creative mind behind the research and published papers.

If you want to do research, you know that the first step is to talk to a professor. If you’re hesitant, just go to office hours. Email them for an appointment. (But please read their papers beforehand if you want to talk about research. This is a must.) I could go on and on about how going to office hours is beneficial to you. Plus you are paying a large amount of money to be at such a great institution with fantastic professors (who each have an immeasurable amount of knowledge in the grey matter that is their brain). All this practice and determination eventually led me to a position in a lab (plus networking but that is a topic for another time). I can only leave you with this simple advice: GO TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS! You’ll be glad you did.

CEEM  Posted by 06 Feb 2014 / 3 comments