Archive by category | Materials Girl

Materials Girl: ACS gives theobroma (food of the gods)

[Posted on behalf of Materials Girl] On Sunday, I mentioned via Twitter that the longest lines exist for free food. (I could start a blog on how to feed yourself at conferences without spending a dime, give or take a lack of proper nutrition.) In second place are the booths dishing out non-academic freebies, as if oversized t-shirts and logo-covered canvas bags are the key to happiness. On a similar note, the most crowded talk seems to be here, at the Everything You Want to Know About Chocolate program. The organizers knew what they were doing – aside from the  … Read more

Materials Girl: At the ACS

[Posted on behalf of Materials Girl] According to the flight attendant on intercom, we arrived in “the beautiful tropical paradise” of San Francisco. Hah! Compared to the freezing weather elsewhere, 50-60 °F [10-15.55555 °C – NW] probably is a true paradise, but the joke also felt like a jab towards those of us not running wild on spring break (I never was one of those undergrads). Really, though, this is another sort of paradise – or at least a nice vacation. Winter finals are over, traveling is a rare luxury for me, and, most importantly, I have a valid excuse  … Read more

Materials Girl: Applications + blogging = decreased rate of labwork

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl Fellowship applications are almost done! To quote a confident labmate, in regards to his proposed research, “If [the NSF] doesn’t accept me, they’re jerks*!” (He probably meant to say “sorely misguided”, but was carried away with the emotion.) Ah, if only the government had enough money to fund all of our worthy causes… Academic bailout, anyone? Despite attempts to avoid the computer, I’ve recently discovered the joy/timesink of other chemistry blogs – of which there are many great ones to choose from. Another grad student stated that he’s the most interested in “crazy, blow  … Read more

Materials Girl: Buried under a mountain of digital paperwork

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl I have been in grad school for two weeks. Already, my original plans to jump into research – and sleep 9 hours a day – are currently thwarted by a flurry of newly discovered fellowship applications. Also, my nemesis has returned: physics class! I now have the pleasure of competing against graduate students who majored in applied physics, instead of the previous motley crew of undergraduate science and engineering majors. Serves me right for going into matsci instead of inorganic chemistry. This sounds like grounds for a discussion on the merits of GPAs in  … Read more

Materials Girl: Upwards and onwards

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl The day has arrived: fall quarter has begun and I am officially a grad student! I have long since left the comfort of teeming undergraduate dormitories and dining halls, in lieu of bare graduate apartments and my own kitchen. (Next step: avoiding frozen food and making time to cook up edible chemistry.) In the shiny new engineering building, there is a desk waiting for me alongside the other first years. Soon I shall take my research from the realm of theories & literature into that of wet-synthesis & laboratories! With my departmental transition from  … Read more

Materials Girl: Catching up

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl Previously, summer class and the flurry of conference posts have been an excuse for my lack of posting. But, like Neil, I need to get back to it. So much has happened in my academic world since my last post! Does a personal Twitter feed with periodic chemistry references count as updates? In May, we were drowning in midterms and the doom of upcoming finals. Merely weeks later, I discovered that my last chemistry exam was over and I was running off to multiple commencements, amidst moving out of a surprisingly stuffed little dorm  … Read more

Materials Girl: Expectations

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl In discussions with various professors, I’ve noticed that researchers seek out an interesting range of qualities for their minions – aka: grad students. One absolutely required creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. The next expected independence and strategizing, while insisting that he himself was not the greatest of researchers (he’s amazing and brilliant). Another said that inherent intelligence and academic background were irrelevant – he just wanted his students to work hard. (This was not too concerning. That is, until I was told that the HR lady received complaints from a different prof who was displeased  … Read more

Materials Girl: Readjusting

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl It occurred to me that all this time I’ve had a mistaken notion/approach about my undergraduate education… First year was newly discovered distress in the form of higher standards, 10+ page papers, and relatively detailed lab experiments that didn’t go as well as planned. (98% yield on the first time doing a distillation? Why doesn’t my unknown ether smell like roses?! Hah!) I swore that after surviving such troubles from o-chem, nothing else would be difficult – even if I loved the subject. The next fall, I realized that organic actually isn’t that difficult  … Read more

Materials Girl: Say, what?

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl I am trying something new this quarter – skipping class! But, not skipping class because I want to sleep in; even if I did do something so atrocious, it hardly would be beneficial to advertise on this blog. Instead, I am leaving the classroom to attend a conference for the first time! A friend has secured a [tiny] bit of funding to aid any undergrads attending the MRS spring meeting. Speaking of which, is it really necessary to charge students $160 to merely get through the door? It probably explains why only four of  … Read more

Materials Girl: How time flies

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl So… it has sadly been ages since I wrote a post for TSC. Finals for winter quarter are rapidly approaching, and unlike Stu, I don’t have the legitimate reason of starting up Nature Chemistry. It’s just been long hours in class/lab and late nights spent writing lab reports or essays – nevermind battling senioritis. (The latter is especially difficult these days as my peers on the semester system are preparing for graduation, while the rest of us will be in school through June). At the beginning of my undergraduate studies, the difference in academic  … Read more