To add your update, add a comment. Things to put in your update: What you did this week, what you think you are going to do next week, what is going well or isn't going well and, for this first update, what you would like to get from your 10 weeks here at MBARI.
|
This week: I checked/edited/created schematics for the environmental sensor board for FOCE. Next week: I will likely continue checking/editing/creating schematics for the environmental sensor board for FOCE. What is/isn't going well: Much of the work I am doing is within the areas I learned in Undergrad but some is beyond what I have experience in, making the learning curve apparent but manageable. What I want from the internship: I didn't get many opportunities to apply what I learned in school during school so I want practical engineering experience. I would also like to develop skills that I didn't learn in school to advance my knowledge of engineering. 
Posted by smatteson at Jun 16, 2010 12:03
|
|
This week: 1. I make/edit the work plan and time table for TCP/IP PUCK project; 2. I install all the tools necessary for the project ( the compiler for the Luminary micro, repository for the project) 3. Start to develop the C code for TCP/IP PUCK protocol. Next week: 1. Finish the implementation of the PUCK commands; 2. Debug and test the code and functionality of PUCK commands. What is/isn't going well: All it was set-up really quickly, and for the moments I do not have complains. What I want from the internship: I like to get experience in marine instrumentation and advance my knowledge in interoperability and "plug and play" for sensors and systems. I also want to get in contact with scientist and engineers from MBARI for future exchange of information, learn more of the marine investigations that are done in MBARI both technological and scientific. And very important create good contact and relation with interns and coordinators from 2010 MBARI internship.
Posted by dtoma at Jun 16, 2010 14:49
|
|
This week: 1. Discussed ideas about online Deep Sea Guide with mentor, Brian. 2. Made list of likes/ don't likes of similar databases (Encyclopedia of Life) 3. Drew out ideas on Paper 4. Installed Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium, yay! Next week: 1. Complete 1st draft mock-up and show Video Annotation lab getting advice. 2. Create a 2nd draft after advice, and think of color ideas for site What is/isn't going well: Not knowing what exactly is desired information, but should know this by next week hopefully, so this week is me just using my judgment. What I want from the internship: I want to actually have the Deep Sea Guide up somehow by the end of this 10 week period. I know it's shooting high, since 2 other interns didn't finish it last time either. But any person who's done Web work will tell you how horrible it feels not finish the work they started. I'd like this to really help my web designing skills and maybe some web developing skills as well as learn some great science during the 10-week period between my web work!
Posted by hhashim at Jun 16, 2010 16:43
|
|
This week: 1. Prepared for the trip out on Point Lobos for Thursdays cruise. This entailed assembling the laser Raman probe, and becoming familiar with the other equipment that will be used on the cruise to Santa Barbara (vibracore, glass push cores, and also the Raman probe and spectra) 2. The cruise tomorrow will test the equipment to make sure the hardware is working correctly for the Santa Barbara cruise 3. Emptied small cylinders using a vacuum pump to then make gas mixtures of varying amounts of CO2 and a set amount of N2. These will be analyzed next week by the Raman Spectrometer. Next week: 1. Work with the in-lab Raman Spectrometer running samples to familiarize myself with the calibration and spectral analysis that I will use in my summer project 2. Also work with calibrating the Raman probe since I will be using the data gathered from this spectrometer as well What is/isn't going well: Everything seems to be going smoothly. Just trying to familiar myself with the technology employed and the jargon. What I want from the internship: In my undergrad, I didn't get any practical experience in the field of chemistry I'm interested in. I hope to learn a lot in these next 10 weeks and see some real applications of the marine side of chemistry.
Posted by mluna at Jun 16, 2010 17:17
|
|
This week I found two different ways to get to my desk, realized that Macs aren't terrible (even if it did take me 13 minutes to figure out how to send and email... thank you Google), and realized you can drive a 12 passenger van without rolling it over. Much more importantly however, I reviewed the goals of the EITS dissemination project, outlined what would be some possible outcomes and have been researching sites that perform similar functions (allowing video to be annotated and shared without encouraging inappropriate comments). I met with Danelle Cline and Erika Raymond today to touch base and discuss the pros and cons. Next week, I will continue to research to find programs that provide the service we want as well as try to come up with a mock student product that could be presented at the July EARTH teacher workshop in Oregon. There will be/have already been the normal glitches that are a part of any project... times when I lose my concrete sense of direction in what I want to accomplish (not in a navigating mbari sense), times when I am not sure how to proceed and times when the learning curve is like the Monterey Canyon, but these are normal. All the other interns have been wonderful about sharing their areas of expertise (as well as everyone at mbari) which smoothes the rough spots I hope that by the end of the internship, we have developed a lesson or project that will hook not only the next generation of ocean scientists but also will excite teachers (even those who have been in the classroom in the days before technology). I also want to continue meeting interesting people and soak in as much of the research atmosphere as possible. I hope to learn more skills, continue to experience natural world of California as possible and build contacts.
Posted by klodes at Jun 16, 2010 17:34
|
|
THIS WEEK stared with preparations for the ESP instrument "Moe" deployment in Monterey Bay at station M0. An ESP instrument is designed for in situ data collection and can remain in the field for approx. 3-4 weeks at a time. On Tuesday, Moe was deployed and Neo was brought back to MBARI. Our lab has several individual instruments and my mentor, Julie Robidart from UCSC, has been showing me the different capabilities endowed to ESP. In addition, she has been teaching me relevant micro-biology I will need for this summer. Tomorrow we will begin to identify iron primers which will play an important role in this summer's project.
NEXT WEEK will begin with the continuation of primer identification and mini-lectures on the specific mechanics of ESP.
WHAT IS/ISN"T GOING WELL: Everything has been going great! I could not ask for a better mentor, project, or lab to be a part of. I enjoy the challenge of exploring new instrumentation and a new field of oceanography I have not had the chance to explore prior to MBARI.
WHAT I WANT: I am hoping this summer will provide me with an idea for a research focus in graduate school. I have been affiliated with C-MORE since 2008 and this is the first time I have had the chance to dive into the research branch specific to the center's mission. I hope after this summer I can remain on that side of C-MORE, since I ultimately would like to do oceanographic research. I also want to establish life-long connections with fellow colleague and a new passion for ocean sciences.
Posted by sthomas at Jun 16, 2010 17:50
|
|
This week: mainly focused on paperwork, settling down and reading background information on the project. I have got a 10-week plan from my mentor Seb and it looks very interesting. He also showed me the lab and the two cultures which will become two of my favour bugs in the near future. Today I am planning to go to the sea before I dive in all the wet lab work. Next week: I will start characterizing the unknown algae in lab using microscopy. What is/isn't going well: everything is going well for the first week (except getting lost in the countryside at night)! What I want from the internship: learn to work with marine environmental samples and develop a good understanding of ocean ecosystem in general.
Posted by hyu at Jun 17, 2010 05:53
|
|
Week 1. Wow, it is taking a lot of time to get adjusted. The programming language that I am working with is so different than what I have worked with before. This week I have been working on a program to check the syntax of directories that we will be using for the main project that I have been assigned to. Today I will sit in on a review meeting to check the progress of the Sedimentation Event Sensor , and hopefully get some insight as to the overall scope of what is expected of me. Week 2. Continue to become familiar with RUBY. My assignment is to program the bahaviors of the Sedimentation event Sensor. Hopefully by next week I will be able to dive into the code and make contributions to the progress of this project/ What is/isn't going well. Wow I am so impressed by everything that I have experienced. My fellow interns seem to be really great people and I am looking forward to building relationships with them. The staff is friendly and my mentor is patient, whew! I feel really under-qualified but i guess that is to be expected when doing something new. But overall things are great.... Except the part where i get lost every day while driving... I ended up in Salinas last night trying to take a "short-cut" What I want from this internship. I want to witness engineers in action. After being fed classroom material for so long, I want to see what it is that I have been preparing for. I also want to become very knowledgable in the new programming language that I am working with.
Posted by jvirrey at Jun 17, 2010 08:31
|
|
This week: - Organised the autumn 2009 Rover images into a separate directory and began to spreadsheet all the corresponding data; - Had an introduction into VARS annotation of videos and images; - Started a blog to tell the world about the intern program.
Next week: - Taking a group of high school kids out kayaking on Monday and hopefully installing some of my passion for marine biology; - Going out on the Lobos on Tuesday; - Learning more about the different software I will be comparing for image analysis and starting to familiarise myself with the fauna in the area; - Will hopefully roll the blog out to people in the area, schools and institutes back home; - Most likely reading a lot of papers, drinking a stupid amount of coffee and hopefully getting lost less frequently than the past few days.
What is/ isn't going well: - I'm itching to get properly stuck into my project next week, but everything here is wonderful and I couldn't be happier.
What I hope to get from the internship: - I want to make the most out of the dataset I have for my project, time is a constraint but I don't want to leave knowing the job isn't finished; - Learn more about the technical side to marine biology, understanding the instruments that collect the data is not something university courses tend to focus on; - The chance to go to sea again; - Learn as much about the different projects going on at MBARI as possible, get to know the area and the people who live here.
Posted by rhunter at Jun 17, 2010 08:44
|
|
THIS WEEK: We had the orientation day on monday, and went for a social security number and bank account on tuesday, so no much time was left to work on the project these 2 days. NEXT WEEK: I will meet my mentor (he was out this week) and we will problably discuss about the details of the project and draw a work plan for the next weeks. WHAT IS/IS NOT GOING WELL: The MBARI staff has been very helpful in setting up everything we might need, and we all appreciate that. WHAT I WANT: I want to learn as much as possible about the interdisciplinarity at MBARI.
Posted by bgarau at Jun 17, 2010 08:52
|
|
This Week. Spent the first two days collecting and organizing all available information on the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). I have started to expand the CANON section and as well as the AUV section of the websites on CS3 dreamweaver, but they will not show up on the actual website until the latter stages of the internship. I have also collected images and videos that are relevant to my dual project of updating and improving the AUV and CANON website sections.
Next week: I expect to coordinate with the respective science/engineering teams to gather the necessary information from the CANON initiative, as well as collect more information regarding Long-Range AUVs (LRAUVs), the Tethys vehicle, MBARI's AUV Gulper system, the benthic imaging AUV, as well as the role of artificial intelligence in LRAUVs. On Wednesday, I will go on the R/V Zephyr to observe and take photographs/videos of the Dorado class AUV and hopefully the Gulper sample. What is/isn't going well. There is a great atmosphere here at MBARI, the staff is very helpful and friendly. It is very nice working and interacting with other interns who are also starting out on their projects. Everything is going fairly smoothly for now. What I want from this internship. I wish to further develop my web-developing skills, specifically when working with Dreamweaver. I also wish to be able to effectively coordinate with staff in a multidisciplinary environment.
Posted by cmatthews at Jun 17, 2010 08:53
|
|
Week ending 17th June 2010 This week: Most of Tuesday was taken up applying for a social security number and opening my bank account. As the Flyer is out of action at the moment the data I was going to be working on hasn't been collected yet. As such I am now going to be working on data sets from different areas (North Gorda Ridge and CoAxial). Therefore one of my main task this week has been reviewing the literature. Currently my project plan isn't fully defined so I've discussed a number of ideas with Dave and need to have a sit down and think about what I'm actually going to do over the weekend. On Wednesday Jenny gave me an overview of the datasets (where they are, what data we have, etc) and set me up with a laptop to do the data processing. She also gave me a brief overview of what programs I will be using to do data renavigation and what I'll actually be doing (she also gave me a bike - HERO).
Next Week: Next week I'm hoping to fully define my research plan with Dave and get stuck into the data renavigation. This is something I've never done before so will probably take me at least the whole week but I'm looking forward to learning how to do it. I'm also hoping to consolidate my vast quantities of reading into something more usable like a short literature review.
What is/isn't going well: Currently everything seems to be going pretty well. I'm looking forward to learning a new skill with the data processing and once I've put together a proper research plan I'll be set from week 3 onwards as well.
What I hope to get from the internship: One of my main reasons for coming was the opportunity to work with other people. For the past two years I've been working with the same research group so this was a great way to see how research is done elsewhere. I'm also very excited about having the opportunity to define my own research project (obviously with Dave). There are lots of unanswered questions in the area and I hope I can solve some of them. I'm hoping to produce a complete study that ties in well with my PhD work in the UK and which will hopefully form a chapter of my thesis. If I can get a paper from this experience that will be a bonus too! I'm also looking forward to some of the other opportunities offered by MBARI. I'm really excited to go to sea on a different ship with a different ROV and see how things are done. I'm also looking forward to the outreach opportunities. Geology is often considered a 'boring' subject by kids and I'm hoping to get the opportunity to show a few of them at least that this isn't the case.
Posted by iyeo at Jun 17, 2010 09:10
|
|
What has happened this week? Filled out and submitted more paperwork Met a lot of great, very dedicated people Would like to thank:
Admired the serenity of this location (Probably spent too much time looking out the window) Background reading
Difficulties Adjusting to the time difference and the long week day working hours Recovering from the flight End of this week/ next week Looking forward to meeting my supervisor/ mentor Will learn more about my project
From this internship, I would like to: 1. Expand on my current field of knowledge by exploring slightly different areas of research 2. Further develop skills in unfamiliar and uncomfortable areas. 3. Work on and develop a professional network.
Posted by mrussell at Jun 17, 2010 10:05
|
|
This week: I have been doing a literature review of articles relevant to my project. These articles describe methods of tracking nitrate and oxygen to gain a better understanding of plankton productivity through the use of autonomous underwater vehicles. I am also reading articles about vertical nitrate fluxes due to turbulent mixing in an upwelling system. I have been familiarizing myself with a 1d model from Josh Plant that is a modified version of the PWP model. The Price-Weller-Pink (PWP) vertical mixing model describes the surface mixed layer depth, heat fluxes, wind, and precipitation. It models temperature and salinity based on these forcing parameters. Next week: Once I have a thorough understanding of the PWP model, I hope to get started on a similar 1d turbulence model to study episodic mixing events in Monterey Bay. I also plan to begin analyzing AUV data sets so I can start doing some basic calculations of vertical fluxes of nutrients. I look forward to meeting my primary mentor to discuss these things with him (he wasn't here this week). What is/isn't going well: Everything is going well so far. I am becoming increasingly familiar with the subject and I am excited to start analyzing data. What I hope to get from the internship: I am really excited about working with AUVs and developing my programming and data analysis skills. Currently my masters thesis is focused on bottom boundary layer dynamics and mixing in the Monterey Canyon. I look forward to delving into additional research about this environment and learning more about turbulence and vertical mixing as I think it will help me gain a better understanding of the system as a whole. I am amazed by all of the interesting research being conducted at MBARI, and I look forward to being a part of this community.
Posted by kmorrice at Jun 17, 2010 10:08
|
|
Update: June 17, 2010 As the first week comes to an end it looks like everyone has successfully taken care of most of the busy work. Everything is up and running (or at least will be by Monday) now the real work can begin. As far as my project is concerned there is more than enough work to fill the remaining nine weeks. I will be running tests for the power buoy project and designing /fabricating parts for temperature sensing inside a pneumatic spring. This week: The week was spent getting a set of specific tasks together for me to complete over the length of the program. There was also some time spent gathering the tools, parts and materials that I will require so I will be able to complete the fabricating without having to wait. I have parts and materials on order due in next week. I was able to put some time in designing the test equipment that I will be using here. Next week: I will be formalizing the pressure test design and coordinating with the other project engineers to come up with a final drawing (hopefully) by the middle of next week. The parts I will need to build the test rig will be coming in next week as well. With any luck I should be able to construct the test apparatus by the end of next week and begin testing as soon as the following Monday. Overall the first week has been a success. It is wonderful to be back doing what I love and working with great people. The new interns are a solid group and I am looking forward to getting to know more about all of you. Interaction between the interns outside of work is something that I am really going to work on this year. Everyone has something unique to bring to the table and I'll do my best to get some good quality networking in the line-up.
Posted by rmarin at Jun 17, 2010 10:16
|
|
This Week Next week What is/isn't going well What I hope to get from the internship
Posted by skumar at Jun 17, 2010 10:24
|
|
What has happened this week? Met a lot of people that work behind the scenes Would like to thank:
Difficulties Adjusting to waking up early and the long week day working hours End of this week/ next week Working on my prototype Shackle Testing possibly next week From this internship, I would like to: 1. Work more on the Solidworks program 2. Get solidworks running on my computer. 3. Meet more people from different divisions
Posted by aschnittger at Jun 17, 2010 11:32
|
