It's a Busy Life

Life is staying busy! My job is still going well. I did break my first piece of equipment (a pH meter probe) but other than that there have been no other mishaps. My project is going well, and Stephen and I are learning a lot about the product/process we’re investigating. As I mentioned before I’m working on a green project. I can’t talk about specifics (I feel like I’m in the CIA!) but in general terms I’m helping to develop a method of producing one of Shepherd’s products in a more “green” way that reduces waste and uses a cheap, green raw material. Right now Stephen and I are working on small-scale batches in the lab, but the next goal once we confirm the most efficient method is to trial the process in the pilot plant. We have a process that looks like it is giving us the correct specifications, but when we discussed how we’d scale up the process to the pilot plant (where we’ll immensely increase the amount of product being produced) we realized that we might not be able to control the reaction as finely as we can in the lab. Going from the lab to the plant is such an interesting thing to be a part of.

I’m also keeping busy by getting involved in community activities. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been training at the Cincinnati Zoo to be a Volunteer Educator. I have finished my training, so I’ll be starting to man the Educator carts on weekends in April. Each cart is located near an exhibit/zone, such as the Night Hunters exhibit or Jungle Trails. As a Volunteer Educator I will lead educational activities related to the zone at the cart to help teach the visitors about the animals in the exhibits. That will be very fun! I’m also going to start volunteering with the domestic cat colony in the CREW (Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife) department at the zoo. I was really excited to help out with lab research at CREW, but unfortunately they only work Monday-Friday during work hours, and I work a full-time job. They will keep me on the volunteer list for when they occasionally need weekend help, but in the meantime I’ll help with the domestic cat colony, which houses cats that are used to develop conservation techniques, such as in vitro fertilization, for wild cat species. I will be helping with cleaning the rooms, litter boxes, food bowls, etc. as well as socializing the cats. I look forward to getting started!

I’ve also joined the Cincinnati Ohio Wesleyan Young Alumni group and will be helping to plan Young Alumni events in the area. I’m excited to meet other OWU alumni in the area. The final thing I’m getting involved in is a local gym. I joined FitWorks three weeks ago, and have been going after work three to four times a week. I’m determined to stick with it. I go to the group classes, like Zumba and kickboxing, and also small group training sessions with a personal trainer. It’s intense but that’s what I want! Here comes a new and improved me!

Several weekends ago I made the drive up to Cleveland to visit my college friend, Meredith, who was back in the States from Guam for a week for grad school interviews. Before I go any further, congratulations are in order for Meredith: she got into her top choice of University of Minnesota! Awesome job Meredith! I hadn’t seen her in almost two years, so I was beyond excited. While I could only see her for one night (I went up Friday after work and she was flying back to Guam on Saturday morning) it was of course well worth the drive. While we are two years older, nothing really had changed. We were still the good college friends we’ve always been, except with different stories and problems than back at school. I can’t even express how great it was to catch up. I took Meredith to the airport Saturday morning, which was a hard thing to do. I was fine until I was watching her walk away through security. I then realized I wouldn’t see her for probably another six months or more. I just have to remember that there’s always Skype! On my way home from Cleveland I stopped in Delaware to visit my OWU advisor, Jed Burtt, and a good friend, Joe. I also took time to walk around campus and I admit I had a yearning to be back in college. While some things had changed (there’s a new fountain on the JayWalk, one of the dorms has been completely remodeled, etc.) it still smelled and felt the same. The Science Center stairwell still had that odd musty(?) smell that reminded me of so many Vertebrate Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, and Ornithology labs; I could still imagine myself getting lunch in Ham-Wil; and I could envision myself walking back from class in the Science Center to my dorm to take a mid-day nap. I really do miss college life. I miss the environment in which you’re constantly surrounded by people your own age. I think that’s the thing I miss most, besides the academic/learning environment. It makes me realize just how much I look forward to starting grad school next fall...

 

 The new fountain on the JayWalk.

 

A bat decal in the Science Center stairwell! 

 Saying goodbye to Meredith at the airport. :( 

My other exciting news is that I’m planning to attend the 16^th International Bat Research Conference/43^rd North American Symposium on Bat Research in Costa Rica in August, which will be the largest bat conference since the last joint meeting. I haven’t registered yet, but I’m saving up to go. It will be a perfect opportunity for me to present my Australia Fulbright research and also meet potential grad school supervisors, and of course have fun catching some tropical bat species! I also need a new laptop, but I’m putting that off to save up for the conference. A girl’s gotta have her priorities!

My first hockey game ever! And we (the Cyclones) won. Yay! (Yes, the ice is pink to honor breast cancer survivors).

Growing Up

I’m settling well into my new job at The Shepherd Chemical Company in Cincinnati. Despite the fact that it’s chemistry, I’m enjoying it remarkably well! I think that’s because it’s a very stimulating job where I’m never bored. The two aspects of my job are chemical inventory of the R&D lab and working to improve a “green” process for making an ingredient in a personal care product on the market. Last week (my third week) I felt SO overwhelmed with everything. There was so much new information to learn, like the chemistry I’d be doing, the instruments we have (some of which I have used before in chemistry lab several years ago, such as the FTIR and NMR, and some of which I have never used or heard of, such as XRD, TGA, and PSD, just to name a few), lab procedures, locations of things in the lab, etc. I also watched my supervisor, Stephen, do some really cool computer tricks/shortcuts that I probably should know but don’t. He said not to worry and that he learned all those things after years of grad school. I guess there’s hope for me yet! Stephen and I also sat down and discussed my project in more detail, and at one point he asked me what we want to know about the products were would be making and how we could figure these things out. I was like a deer in headlights. I felt I didn’t have a good enough grasp on the basics to be able to be “creative” and ask good and informed questions. By the end of last week I felt a bit more settled but I still had a lot to digest and synthesize. 

This week has been a bit smoother and less nerve-wracking. I’ve made six batches of the product we’re investigating, and now we’re waiting to get all the test results back (we send each sample off to another lab in the building next door to do some of the tests we can’t do in our lab) and then we’ll collate all the information and determine where to go from here. Our ultimate goal is to optimize the production process and then upscale it to make the compound in mass quantities in the plant and then sell it to the customer. It will be pretty neat to see how the whole process works!

Overall I’m having a remarkably enjoyable time. It’s definitely an adjustment to my normal schedule (I now sometimes go to bed before my parents!) but I look forward to going to work every day and the days go by quickly. I think I like it because it’s stimulating and never boring. I’m learning skills that may be useful in my career, plus I’m finally getting a “big-girl” paycheck! 

Two weekends ago I chaperoned at the annual Girl Scout Cadette Senior Ambassador Association Leadership Conference. CSA is a girl-run association for older girls. I used to be a member when I was a girl and at one point was President. Now that I’m an adult I was able to chaperone for the first time! It had been six years since I’d last been, and I had a wonderful time. I, along with another chaperone, was in charge of a group of 19 girls. Boy was it a totally different experience than it was when I was a girl participant! I was responsible for the girls, not just myself, and I had to serve as a good role model. On the last night of the conference I chaperoned the dance, and at times I had to remind myself that I was there as an adult and role model and I had to let the girls bust out all their moves and keep mine in! 

At the conference I also presented a bat workshop. I had originally only had five girls signed up, but another workshop at that time was cancelled and the girls in it were moved to my workshop, giving me a total of 15 girls. I was pretty nervous that the girls wouldn’t be interested and that I’d run out of things to do (the workshop was 1 1/2 hours), but I was pleasantly surprised. The girls asked SO many great questions and were so enthusiastic that the time was easily filled. When the girls left at the end several told me that they had a really good time. I did too, and I must say it was probably the best group I’ve ever presented to! 

Lots of bat cookies for my bat workshop at the Girl Scout conference.

 Presenting “The World of Bats” to the girls at the Girl Scout Cadette Senior Ambassador Association Leadership Conference.

I’ve also started zoo volunteer training at the Cincinnati Zoo to become a Volunteer Educator. I have been attending training sessions every Saturday morning for the past several weeks, and in the spring will volunteer at the Educator carts located throughout the zoo. I also hope to start volunteering with CREW (the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife), the research branch of the Cincinnati Zoo. I’d love to be able to continue doing some sort of biological/conservation research while waiting to start graduate school. I’ll keep you posted on what I end up doing and how it all goes!  

Rosie and me lying in my first big snow since my return from Australia (the day AFTER Christmas)! 

  Snow surfing. Weee!

 A snowy sunrise in my front yard (photo courtesy of my mom, as I was still sleeping at the time (this was before I started my new job)).

 

A fabulous sunset over my front yard.

 

Ringing in the New Year with friends old and new!

 

Our cat, Bonnie, caught in the act...

From Night Shift to Day Shift

I have completed my first week at my new “real”, full-time job! I can no longer follow my natural bat-like schedule, and I now rise with (actually before) the sun and go to bed by 10:00pm. I feel like an old person!

I am now working as a lab “intern” in the R&D lab of a local chemical company, the Shepherd Chemical Company. I will be working with inorganic and carboxylate metal chemicals. I’ll be learning more about my responsibilities next week, but I do know that I’ll be running experiments and taking chemical inventory of the lab. The first three days I went through general training with two new chemical engineering co-op students who are in college. There are several other engineering co-ops working near my lab, so hopefully I’ll be able to get to know them a bit better, although it might be a bit hard since my desk is in my lab and not in their “cubicle” area. They are the closest people to my age who I’ve met so far, so I do hope I’ll be able to talk with them more!

I’m definitely the “odd one out” at work. Everyone has been quite intrigued when they learn that I am a Zoology major and study bats. One of the ladies who came in to speak with us during training said (after I introduced myself), “Word has gotten around that we have a zoologist with us now!” I’m not used to being in an environment where I stand out due to my background!

During training we watched several safety DVDs, learned about the history of the company and the products it makes, walked around the chemical plant, got fit tested for respirators (both half and full face), and learned how to access the computer system. We received binders full of information, which I asked if I was allowed to take home to read. The trainer looked at me in a kind of surprised way and said I could read it at work and get paid to read it if I wanted, but that I could take it home if I wanted. I realized then just how unaccustomed I am to a regular 9-to-5 type job. It’s such a foreign concept to me to NOT work at home. I’ve always worked at home, whether it was during high school, college, or on my Fulbright in Australia. I’d rather read the binder at home and go into work next week prepared than spend time at work to read it. To not do that seems “wrong”. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to that way of doing things...

Despite the fact that chemistry is not my area of expertise, I am looking forward to starting my lab work next week and meeting the other R&D folks. It should be interesting!

I have also begun training to volunteer at the Cincinnati Zoo as a Volunteer Educator and with the CREW (Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife) department. Every Saturday for the next month I’ll be attending training sessions, and will eventually be interacting with zoo visitors to educate them about the animals. I also hope to get involved with CREW. I’m really excited to get involved with the zoo again. I volunteered and then worked there through high school, so it will be great to get back. That way I’ll be able to continue my work with animals and conservation while working as a chemist!