Switching thesis lab is a daunting, but sometimes necessary, decision. I switched this year during my 2nd year of grad school after realizing that the research, the lab, and the mentor were all wrong for me. In making this decision, I consulted the Internet, my undergrad mentor, my friends, and my graduate program director. I’m…
May Reflection
Lots of good news in the month of May: I officially joined a lab, my boyfriend got his Master’s, we finally closed our 2 years of long distance when he moved back in with me, and my family came to visit! This is all on top of some successes (and failures) in lab. For the…
April Reflections
It didn’t snow at all in the whole month of April, and Highland Park has been blooming like crazy! It’s been so beautiful around here for the past couple of weeks. For the month of April, I wanted to be a better scientist and be more rounded as an individual. And here’s my progress:…
March Reflection
Since it snowed every other day in March, here are some of the snowy pictures I took around my neighborhood. I had a lot good intentions going into March, but with spring break right in the middle, things didn’t really pick up until after spring break. I started going to the gym and reading more. During…
February Reflections
Considering my lab-less situation, these three photos described my February most accurately. The first half of February was another step towards me being a more centered, productive person, but I backpedaled in the second part (starting with my birthday celebration that dragged on for way too long). However, I want March to be the month…
January Reflection
I know I’m about a week late with my January reflection, but here goes… Productive habits that I got into for January: Read during breakfast (how I got through 2 books!) Almond milk with breakfast Meal prepped Fruits with every meal Exercise at least 3x a week through a combination of yoga, ballet, and barre…
New Year Resolutions: 2018
STAY UNDER BUDGET Eat out only once a week Record spending daily Balance budget biweekly Don’t buy things full priced STAY HEALTHY Eat 3 full meals a day Eat fruits and/or veggies everyday Cook more: meal prep for the week Exercise at least once a week BE MORE PRESENT Read books during breakfast Stay off…
1st Year Reflection
A bit more than a year ago, I posted my goals for my first year of grad school. Here’s an update on those goals: Accomplished: Improve public speaking skills: This involves zero effort on my part. My fall semester consisted of a technique class that required groups to present different figures in the paper every week….
Qualifying exams
I PASSED MY QUALIFYING EXAMS!!! So I figured I might as well reflect upon my experience, and hopefully this will help other biosciences grad students as well. For those not familiar with 1st year quals, it’s an additional stepping stone before we take our more commonly known 2nd year quals, which all program should have. For…
Sunday, 05.14.17
I spent this whole week planning out my experiments. This portion involves the monitoring of algal growth and lipid production, which is stuff I’m familiar with. I’ve been running practice readings this week and going over my old protocols for these procedures. The part after this is going to be very photosystem II-oriented, which is…
A Study in PhD 