Time passes so fast, and it’s already my final week in INSET. My best experience in this summer is that I have a chance to work and meet with nice and friendly people from different fields. In a short time, I have learnt a lot of new things. I had a final presentation last week; even though it’s not so good, I am proud that now I can overcome my fear and speak in front of the crowds. My work in lab is pretty simple which I don’t have to deal with any dangerous chemicals and infectious diseases. The most frustrating part is doing analysis when a lot of problems come up although I have no ideas what is going wrong. Anyway, I mean that’s the way we do research, right? Repeating and redoing experiments until we reach the answers. I have never thought of going to grad-school before, but this internship definitely changes my mind. I am not hundred percent for sure now, and I hope that I can apply for another internship next summer. Goodbye INSET and thanks for helping me to have the greatest summer ever.

This summer is the best summer I have ever had. I still hardly believe that I got the offer to INSET program. At first, I was really confused about my project, and when I talked to my mentor on the first day, I was so overwhelmed with all the information. However, my mentor is really awesome; he does make all the concepts become more simpler and easier. My lab is called Interfacial Laboratory, which also belongs to Chemical Engineering Department. My project is about hydrophobic interactions. The final goal of my project is to study about the energy at the hydrophobic interface by doing contact angle measurements. Specifically, I have to prepare a hydrophobic surface on gold-coated-mica to test its interaction with water and liquid. What I am trying to do is to see that how the pH will affect hydrophobicity. My work in the lab is getting better day by day even though I have not yet got the results I want. Besides, all the members in my lab are really nice and friendly. I feel more comfortable with what I am doing now, and I know that I would get more and more great experience throughout eight weeks.