Hey Guys, just checking in to tell you what's up with the fungi group. The last two weeks have been full of fungal activity! We have started another round of soil experiments and have finished up another RBBR and half way through with a sawdust. It's very interesting to see how some strains act in different experiments! Some of the ones that were really good the first time around are not so good the second.
What we are working on now is a master list of all the strains we are in charge of and what experiments they have been in. It's a lot of work and I am not super fond of Excel. That being said it's interesting to look at the data we have collected over the year and see trends, or see just how little the data helps with one strain or another. I can tell that data management along the way is very helpful, now we have to set up smaller scale experiments to replace some of the missing data with. Or Thom will have to without us. Either way much more work has to be put into what work we have already done to make our data useful. Anyways, it's busy around here and the weather hasn't been helpful! Have fun in the sun!
-C
Friday, July 31, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
July Update
Happy Summer!
Yay; now that the weather is finally good our work has really picked up its pace and Joey and I have completed our presentation requirements for the program! We presented to a couple of sections of the Upward bound Program, a program to encourage education for youth at risk, usually these kids are very bright but have bad family lives or no post high school experience in their family. The two groups we presented to were great kids full of good questions and interesting insight into what we are doing in the lab. The learning curve is always really steep when we present because most people don't know anything about fungi but by the end of our session these kids had all sorts of ideas for experiments and some pretty hard questions to tackle. Regardless we have a lot of fun with them and are really happy to be done with our presentations.
In the lab, things are going well, our new sawdust experiment is going good and we just set up a new soil trial(After some minor water content difficulties,) I should be ready to transfer my plugs to soil tomorrow. So between the three experiments we're running right now and the ever so fun worksheets that go along with them, we are keeping ourselves pretty busy.
Well that's about it, I'll catch you later!
-C
Yay; now that the weather is finally good our work has really picked up its pace and Joey and I have completed our presentation requirements for the program! We presented to a couple of sections of the Upward bound Program, a program to encourage education for youth at risk, usually these kids are very bright but have bad family lives or no post high school experience in their family. The two groups we presented to were great kids full of good questions and interesting insight into what we are doing in the lab. The learning curve is always really steep when we present because most people don't know anything about fungi but by the end of our session these kids had all sorts of ideas for experiments and some pretty hard questions to tackle. Regardless we have a lot of fun with them and are really happy to be done with our presentations.
In the lab, things are going well, our new sawdust experiment is going good and we just set up a new soil trial(After some minor water content difficulties,) I should be ready to transfer my plugs to soil tomorrow. So between the three experiments we're running right now and the ever so fun worksheets that go along with them, we are keeping ourselves pretty busy.
Well that's about it, I'll catch you later!
-C
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wrapping Up June
Well it has been an exciting few weeks for the fungi group!
We have been working on a few different experiments and presenting to some classes. We presented to a science business class which was very fun and pretty easy.
This last week we continued our soil experiment, started our RBBR trial, and have set up a new sawdust experiment. Although the students going to Costa Rica this summer are in the lab almost 24/7, which makes transferring plugs very tricky. So setting that up is very important but it may have to sit over the weekend because I am going to Canada for my birthday this weekend.
I am very excited to have fun and relax finally since the last few weeks have been very stressful. This next month should be very exciting with all the new experiments we are planning on setting up.
Well we are about to meet with Tom so I will blog later!
-C
We have been working on a few different experiments and presenting to some classes. We presented to a science business class which was very fun and pretty easy.
This last week we continued our soil experiment, started our RBBR trial, and have set up a new sawdust experiment. Although the students going to Costa Rica this summer are in the lab almost 24/7, which makes transferring plugs very tricky. So setting that up is very important but it may have to sit over the weekend because I am going to Canada for my birthday this weekend.
I am very excited to have fun and relax finally since the last few weeks have been very stressful. This next month should be very exciting with all the new experiments we are planning on setting up.
Well we are about to meet with Tom so I will blog later!
-C
Friday, June 12, 2009
End of the Quarter
Well, finally we have reached the end of a very long and stressful quarter. I am very excited to really focus on our fungi projects. Our soil project is going really well, I have to measure today but it's normally fun and easy to do.
I presented to one of Brian's classes on Wednesday night, it was pretty fun and really easy. The other three presentations I am required to do will probably for the Upward bound Program, Joey's friend is an instructor and wants his classes to see all sorts of exciting and interesting guest speakers. I know his first thought was "FUNGI!" :)
Anyways, I know those kids will be fun and I hope that I can teach them something.
Sometime this next week we will probably start a new master collection on toothpicks, an idea that Janet and I came up with. ;) And then continue the soil experiment. I think we have a fungi team meeting on Monday to figure more out about our goals for this summer.
Other than that I don't have much to tell you about, oh My number 140 is kicking butt on the soil experiment which makes me really happy!
Later
-C
I presented to one of Brian's classes on Wednesday night, it was pretty fun and really easy. The other three presentations I am required to do will probably for the Upward bound Program, Joey's friend is an instructor and wants his classes to see all sorts of exciting and interesting guest speakers. I know his first thought was "FUNGI!" :)
Anyways, I know those kids will be fun and I hope that I can teach them something.
Sometime this next week we will probably start a new master collection on toothpicks, an idea that Janet and I came up with. ;) And then continue the soil experiment. I think we have a fungi team meeting on Monday to figure more out about our goals for this summer.
Other than that I don't have much to tell you about, oh My number 140 is kicking butt on the soil experiment which makes me really happy!
Later
-C
Thursday, May 28, 2009
May Madness
Hey all, sorry it's been so long! We have been so busy in the lab setting up the new soil experiment that I haven't blogged in quite awhile.
The experiment is something Janet Joey and I got to set up on our own without Tom's advice. It was fun to see exactly what needs to be determined before you set up an experiment and just how hard it is to find a suitable form of measurement.
We picked 20 strains each out of 25-28 strains and then placed colonized sticks of the 20 strains in test tubes and large petri dishes to measure the lateral and radial growth of each fungi.
Let's just say it sounds easier to set up than it really was. Stuffing test tubes is no fun but we got everything running and I will get to take my first set of measurements tomorrow. :)
Other than that, our diesel experiment is wrapping up and we're planning on starting some new sticks for our master collection but this time we're going to use toothpicks instead of cut up Popsicle sticks.
Well, thats about it for now, I will blog again soon and I promise I won't forget to add some pictures!!
-C
The experiment is something Janet Joey and I got to set up on our own without Tom's advice. It was fun to see exactly what needs to be determined before you set up an experiment and just how hard it is to find a suitable form of measurement.
We picked 20 strains each out of 25-28 strains and then placed colonized sticks of the 20 strains in test tubes and large petri dishes to measure the lateral and radial growth of each fungi.
Let's just say it sounds easier to set up than it really was. Stuffing test tubes is no fun but we got everything running and I will get to take my first set of measurements tomorrow. :)
Other than that, our diesel experiment is wrapping up and we're planning on starting some new sticks for our master collection but this time we're going to use toothpicks instead of cut up Popsicle sticks.
Well, thats about it for now, I will blog again soon and I promise I won't forget to add some pictures!!
-C
Thursday, April 30, 2009
End of April
Well here it is the end of the month and with it comes the close of the fastptich season and the beginning of some awesome weather. I am really excited for the weather to warm up but I am totally bummed that softball is ending. It will be a good break though because I can refocus on on our fungi experiments and REU presentations. :S
They should be fairly easy substance wise but any presentation requires a whole lot of preparation and planning to come out well done.
Our diesel plates are growing rapidly and we will probably start another experiment sometime soon.
My one new stick plate is growing contamination free so it should be ready for transfer in a few weeks.
Other than that there isn't a whole lot going on. We requested keys for the lab but I haven't been able to pick mine up yet. I keep missing the person I need to see to sign for the key. :P Anyways, enjoy the sun!!
-C
They should be fairly easy substance wise but any presentation requires a whole lot of preparation and planning to come out well done.
Our diesel plates are growing rapidly and we will probably start another experiment sometime soon.
My one new stick plate is growing contamination free so it should be ready for transfer in a few weeks.
Other than that there isn't a whole lot going on. We requested keys for the lab but I haven't been able to pick mine up yet. I keep missing the person I need to see to sign for the key. :P Anyways, enjoy the sun!!
-C
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Diesel Round Two
Well our diesel experiment is up and running! The new building is really nice to work in it's just been a small challenge to find time when classes are not using all the labs. So I am actually waiting for a class to get out of the lab right now to do measurements.
Hopefully none of the plates will have contamination and I can just measure twice a week.
In other exciting news, the PC softball team is doing good, we beat Skagit yesterdays and are travelling to Edmonds on Friday and Everrett Saturday, as long as the weather stays nice it should be a lot of fun! It also means I have to cram all my lab work for this week and make up a math test before we leave Friday morning.
I have also been working hard on a few scholarship applications, I have one more to finish before the end of next week and then I am done with those too! :D
Well That's about it, oh I guess Jacob and I have to fine tune our power point presentation and present it on Monday so we have to get together and work on that too. Anyways, I got to get stiff done!
Later!
-C
Hopefully none of the plates will have contamination and I can just measure twice a week.
In other exciting news, the PC softball team is doing good, we beat Skagit yesterdays and are travelling to Edmonds on Friday and Everrett Saturday, as long as the weather stays nice it should be a lot of fun! It also means I have to cram all my lab work for this week and make up a math test before we leave Friday morning.
I have also been working hard on a few scholarship applications, I have one more to finish before the end of next week and then I am done with those too! :D
Well That's about it, oh I guess Jacob and I have to fine tune our power point presentation and present it on Monday so we have to get together and work on that too. Anyways, I got to get stiff done!
Later!
-C
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