Hello Discussion list readers!
As you should have noticed by now the elected Synhak Secretary hasn't
been to a meeting since early June. Xander and Chris have graciously and,
from the new members I have seen in the minutes, effectively taken over the
offices responsibilities. This is due to me being accepted into an
Internship program in California.
I can't wait to get back to Akron to share with everyone some of the new
skills I have picked up, and to meet our new members.Back in the spring I
applied to an internship opportunity at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute (MBARI) to assist in their research mission. MBARI is tasked by
its founder, David Packard, to:
* ... achieve and maintain a position as a world center for advanced
research and education in ocean science and technology, and to do so
through the development of better instruments, systems, and methods for
scientific research in the deep waters of the ocean. MBARI emphasizes the
peer relationship between engineers and scientists as a basic principle of
its operation. All of the activities of MBARI must be characterized by
excellence, innovation, and vision.*
These goals are accomplished by combining engineering and scientific
expertise under one roof.
My role in all of this is as a summer intern. As many of you know I am
studying Geochemistry at the University of Akron. This summer has me
validating methods of ammonia/ammonium determination. These methods are
based around a fluorescence reaction between ammonia and another reagent.
After a period of time to react at elevated temperatures the two are
illuminated by violet light, the fluorescence gives off green light which
is proportional to the amount of ammonia in a given sample. Aside from the
chemistry my work has me using a fluorometer, an instrument that can select
different colors of light to emit and detect, an arduino to communicate
instrument output to a laptop; and custom python scripts to process the
data. I am still working on the scripts and laboratory methods but this
summer has been a series of great experiences for me.
I have been taking a lot of pictures of my adventures this summer, some
of which are located here: http://imgur.com/a/38oCA#0 . I've gone rock
climbing above San Francisco, watched the Pride parade, gotten behind the
scenes tour's of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, gone whale watching, aided in 2
research cruises, gone kayaking, listened to many visiting lecturers from
MIT, the Smithsonian, and other leading research institutes, tried
surfing, talked to the public about my research, and explored California as
much as I could. I hope to bring some of my experiences back to Synhak and
continue in everyone's work to be excellent to each other.
I will be returning to Akron in mid August. Upon my return I plan on
resuming the duties of Secretary that Xander and Chris have been preforming
in my absence. I also would like to have a brew day and hear about all of
your summer adventures along with the things that didn't get recorded in
the meeting minutes.
Once again I would like to thank Xander, Chris , and anyone else who
has helped in the Secretary's duties in my absence. Synhak doesn't exist
without the hours of input from its members. I look forward to the events
this fall and hope to see everyone at the meetings!
Thank you for your time,
Andrew Leitholf
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