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!
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.
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