21 Jun Maria Camacho, University of Houston, Week 3

Hello, everyone. Welcome to my weekly update! This week has been an eye-opener for me. I was challenged in so many ways; however, the challenges I faced helped me understand an important lesson. Not everything runs smoothly in life; there will always be bumps along the road, but all you can do is persevere, learn, and improve. Building upon the knowledge that you have aquired allows you to become successful much easier in the long run. Let me tell you about the awesome things I did this week.

LAB/RESEARCH 

This week started off strong with the progression of my setup going amazingly. I was able to complete calibration and optimization of my setup and started testing out new samples. However, out of nowhere I was swept off my feet (not romantically); all of the progress I had made last week was lost after my laser died on me. Tragically, I had to recalibrate and optimize my setup all over again because I was no longer using my 488nm laser; I was using a 532nm laser that, because of the difference in wavelength, has a different color, which requires a new filter. One setback led to an abundance of other setbacks. However, no hard feeling. I learned many lessons along the way, and for that I am grateful. By the end of the week, I fixed my setup and started retrieving spectrums for water and cyanide! I also learned how to solder! I can’t wait to get started again next week!

FRIENDS/ACTIVITIES

This week the group went to the fine arts museum! It was such an amazing place with so many things to see. The museum was huge; it had 3 separate buildings to explore! My favorite thing from today was the coffee that I had in the museum’s cafe. I could never say no to a nice cup of coffee. I definitely will never forget the amazing art that I saw there. I can’t wait to see what we do next week!

Thanks for joining me on my weekly update. See you next week! Fun fact did you know that laser actually stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.