Blog Archives

Rose's Summer Abroad

8/29/2019

This summer, I had the opportunity to go to Germany to work in a research lab, with funding from the DAAD RISE Germany program (https://www.daad.de/rise/en/rise-germany/).

One day after my last final, I flew to Germany. It was pretty rough going from thermo, to moving out of my apartment in Albuquerque, driving to Cruces, then to Germany, but it was all worth it.

First, I lived two weeks with a host family in Cologne learning the German language with other interns, which was so much fun. I remember stepping out of the central station, seeing the Cologne Cathedral for the very first time, and just being so amazed by its grandeur. I would see it almost every day as I went out with my friends, took walks by the river, and explored the area on my own.

Cologne Cathedral

Me, my flatmate (another intern), and my host family at breakfast

After my two weeks in Cologne, I moved to my internship location of Bochum, which is a smaller city in Germany near the Netherlands. I worked in Kristina Tschulik's group at the ZEMOS lab in Ruhr Universität and researched the topic of the electrochemistry of individual metallic nanoparticles. I conducted electrochemical experiments, analyzed the data I collected, prepared presentations- the normal lab stuff.

I was fortunate to work in a very diverse lab group, and had a wonderful female PI and female supervisor. I had a lot of opportunities to get to know them- every Monday we had group seminars where two people would update everyone on their project, every day we would all eat lunch together where I would get to socialize and learn about the other cultures, and we regularly had socials after work where we would drink and play Smash Ultimate. My lab group comprised of 20 total people, and I was literally the only undergrad amongst the sea of brilliant German and international PhD's.

Check 'em out: https://nanoec.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/en/

<-- Me chillin with my double Faraday cage three-electrode microelectrode set up

Aside from work, I traveled every single weekend. In total, I visited 10 different countries in addition to 14 cities around Germany. I even got to meet up with Isabella in Bavaria! It was a good reminder that the world is still a beautiful and diverse place. However, I was extremely exhausted at the end of the summer from the constant work and travel cycle, so more than anything in the world, I looked forward to just sleeping in.

Frankfurt plaza

Isabella and I in Valhalla near Regensburg!

Cinque Terre

Me and some interns at the DAAD conference in Heidelberg

Overall, I had a wonderful cultural and academic adventure this summer, and if there's one important thing I got out of it, it's that there is still so much that I don't know. It was such a humbling experience to be around all these PhD's and hear all these high-level scientific discussions that I could barely understand, so I feel motivated to make the most out of this school year!

Interested in how I got to Germany and how you could too? Email me at roselee3@unm.edu

1 Comment

My Summer at UCLA

8/28/2019

0 Comments

I spent my summer listening to “California Gurls” by Katy Perry on repeat. Why, you may ask? Because I found myself in a very fortunate situation - one where I got to spend my summer in Los Angeles, California, working at a UCLA inorganic chemistry laboratory (and also playing lots and lots of beach volleyball).

I am a Junior in chemical engineering. Chemical engineers and chemists, it turns out, are actually very different. So, working in a basic chemistry lab, I gained an entirely new set of skills. I learned about reaction mechanisms, nuclear magnetic spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and how to use Chem-Draw. I found it to be fascinating!

I worked with the Spokoyny research group, which strives toward “establishing new synthetic avenues, structural understanding, and applications for inorganic and organomimetic clusters and assemblies” (https://www.organomimetic.com/). Specifically, I worked on functionalizing polyhedral boranes. Working around such talented chemists inspired me to take more chemistry electives in my undergrad; there is so much about chemistry that I do not know!

Besides developing a knowledge of chemistry, I learned two important things this summer. First, I improved greatly at lab work by accepting that I will fail and that I will learn from it. It was really hard for me to adjust to the lab environment, at first; there was so much to track with the reactions and their work-ups, and getting it all right on the first try was impossible. Ultimately, I learned that that there are inevitable degrees of uncertainty when it comes to lab work, and that failure is not always bad. Second, I developed a better understanding of what it would be like to work in academia. I got to talk with graduate students, post-docs, and professors about their experiences. I found a path in academia to be more appealing than expected, and the conversations I had this summer will be very helpful as I decide in the coming year whether or not I want to apply to graduate school.

Overall, I had an awesome summer in LA! Besides working, I was also able to go sight-seeing with my boyfriend (pictured below, at LACMA), play lots of beach volleyball, and take a bus up to Sacramento to visit my extended family’s vineyard!

If you want to hear more about anything I mentioned here - about how you can find an internship in Academia, about what it was like to work in a synthetic chemistry lab vs a chemical engineering lab, etc., please reach out! My email is ganleye@unm.edu.

0 Comments

SWE News

Rose's Summer Abroad

My Summer at UCLA

SWE UNM Chapter

Archives

Categories