This week has been a special week for me as I was selected as one of the All-Arizonia scholars. So I took the brief moment this week to celebrate all of the people who have helped me on this journey of college so far. While also taking a moment to pat myself on the back! Next week I will have some information on what is going on in the lab!
I haven't been able to start on my project quite yet. I have a meeting with my PI hopefully this week and we will map out what I will try to accomplish this semester and move on from there. It is very exciting to be able to tackle a problem that is such a current event and that can lead to a possible solution!
I have been very excited to get back into the lab this semester! While it was a nice winter break, I couldn't help but think about my project for this upcoming semester. With that and in addition to all the research I did around microplastics and their removal over break; I can say I am happy to apply some of the knowledge to my project. I know that I will be trying to apply electrocoagulation to some real samples from the clarifying stage of the wastewater treatment process! More to come!
I was able to finalize my experimental set up with Josh this week. I was able to figure out a system to keep my anode and cathode at an appropriate distance for the electrocoagulation to take place! Success!
I was also able to create a .05M sodium phosphate electrolyte solution that I will use as a control along with the voltage, 15v, that will help to keep the integrity of my results. These were some major questions I had to answer as these both could have a major impact on the results
My next task is to decide which type of plastics I will be using to start my experimental trials. Once that is decided I will start getting some trials going and get the much coveted data!
Hello all,
This week I met with Josh and the last part needed for my experimental design was ordered! It should be here next week and I can start to figure out my experimental set up. Other than that, I am really waiting for the part before I can continue.
School this semester is a little more intense than I was expecting but it is good to have a challenge, none-the-less. I will be establishing a good working schedule to make sure my TRAIN hours are completed and more importantly so that I can run my experiment with different independent variables to hopefully get a clear picture of how electrocoagulation can be used to remove microplastics.
Hello Everyone! I am excited to be back at it this fall here at Phoenix College. This semester I will be focusing on electrocoagulation of water for the removal of microplastics. While this is a very exciting field of research, it comes with a lot of different question that I hopefully will be able to answer this semester.
Some questions I am looking to find answers to are as follows:
1) Does electrocoagulation work for removing microplastics?
2) What is the optimal volt and current needed for electrocoagulation to work?
3) What impact does differing pH and electrolyte concentrations have on the effectiveness of electrocoagulation?
These are a few of the guiding questions I am excited to look at for this upcoming semester! I will meet with Josh about one more possible part I might need before I begin.
Here we go!
What a great way to end the semester for TRAIN! The presentations today were absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to hear what everyone has been working on this semester. In addition to that I always love an opportunity to share what my experience has been like and feel so energized to continue on with this work after having the opportunity to share. This semester has been one full of learning experiences and will be invaluable moving forward in my scientific career.
I would like to thank everyone for the opportunities and for taking the time to pour into me as a student and scientist. Thank you to Josh, Dr. Chapman, and Dr. Cotter. I'm so excited to continue on with research and have so many ambitions when it comes to TRAIN in the near future!
Crazy, crazy week this week. I was having car issues and was stranded at home until I fixed it while simultaneously having so much on my pl...
