I began this week with my arrival in Boulder on Monday and spent the day getting ready for the weeks to come. After quickly grocery shopping, my dad and I made our way to my housing and got to meet my lovely roommates! I am living with Adriana, another pint ern, and Sierra, a college student. Both were incredibly nice and I am looking forward to spending the next few weeks with them. I did not start my internship until Wednesday, so Tuesday was spent exploring the campus and making sure I knew my way to the Ramaley Biology building.
My first day in the lab began with a tour of each room and a general overview of the work I would be doing. We will be studying the effects of RoundUp (glyphosate) on soil microbes and how the environment will respond. I am looking forward to using the lab and its resources to learn more about these microbes and gain an understanding of the experience that comes with being a researcher at a university. Although the lab was very interesting, the highlight of my day was meeting all of the wonderful people I will be working with. First I met Pacifica, my mentor, and we discussed my goals for this internship. Then I met Adam who is going to be leading this experiment and explaining many of the processes involved in this lab. Lastly, I met Steve and Alison, Steve is the leader of this lab and Alison is a college student I will be working with for the remainder of my time in Boulder. Everyone was super inviting and I am excited to spend more time with them in the next three weeks. For the remainder of the day, I read some background information and observed Adam and Alison working on bioinformatics, a process involving code used to analyze data. It was a perfect introduction to this internship and it left me excited for what was to come.
On Thursday, I began by discussing the background reading on plant and microbe interactions with Steve and Pacifica. Many of the ideas I had seen were made much more clear by this discussion and helped me to better understand the material. Afterward, I read about the previous work done on the lab and another lab involving microbes and high elevations. This reading was added to an annotated bibliography that I worked on for the remainder of the week.
Friday was spent working on the annotated bibliography and discussing my research with Pacifica. We reviewed what would happen next week and I left the lab around 4:30 to start the weekend.
On Saturday I got some rest and began reading a new book. In the evening Adriana and I headed to pearl street and got dinner at an Italian restaurant. I really enjoyed learning more about her and eating good food.
Sunday I slept in and had a lazy morning before heading to a coffee shop and continuing my research on the background for the experiment.
I encourage you to read more about the lab’s research along with their adventures on their website which I have attached below!
Great start to your new adventure, Honey! Very proud of you.
Awesome Em! What a terrific opportunity! Proud of you!
Sounds like you are settling in nicely. Excited to hear about your time on the farm and your findings!
Emery, I love reading about this exciting opportunity and the enthusiastic way you have embraced it. We are very interested in the issue of RoundUp and its effects, for obvious reasons. Andy and his family used it for years but no longer do now that they are organic.
Boulder is such a cool place (I love Pearl Street). I’m so glad you are taking advantage of that too. I can’t wait to read more on your blog!
What an awesome opportunity!
How exciting! Enjoy Boulder!
Emery,
I am so excited that you have this opportunity to learn and explore an area of interest to you. I will be anxious to hear more about your journey and what you learn.
Love,
Judy
First, your internship is in and of itself very impressive.
Second, glyphosate is widely used across the country but little understood as to its impact on people or the environment. It is well known to increase crop yields, to the benefit of humanity, but at what cost? Only to say that the research that you be involved is crucial.
Sounds like a typical summer for a high schooler. Seriously, super proud and looking forward to hearing more. Especially about what you loved the most!
This is valuable research! Can’t wait to hear what the impacts to the soil biome are.
Keep the updates coming!