A couple of months ago, my linear algebra professor, Dr. Volpe posted a link to apply for NEWT with a little text blurb encouraging people to apply. I decided to give it a shot, and everything since then has been a whirlwind of new experiences, new ideas, and new people. For this amazing opportunity at NEWT and to her for sharing the information about this program, I can never be grateful enough. If I can impart any sort of lesson on the reader of this blog post, it would be to always communicate with your professors, even when remote learning makes it difficult.
For this program we started out strong with a flight to Houston to meet all the other interns at Rice. Everyone was exceedingly friendly and we were able to make some great connections, ask lots of questions, and even explore parts of the city all in the short time we were there. The campus was absolutely beautiful, and while the weather was hot and humid, it still felt like an Arizona spring day so it still felt comfortable to just walk around.
Back at ASU I got to meet my mentors and the other grad students at the lab. Everyone here has also been extremely friendly and more than happy to help me with my questions both big and small. The lab itself is bustling with activity, with machines whirring and countless boxes and bottles lining every shelf, it would be easy to get overwhelmed if not for the kindness of everyone in the lab.
After discussing with my mentors, Mohammed Bashammakh and Prof. Mohamed Ali we decided to extend the scope of my project of brine management using membrane distillation to include using micro-bubbling to reduce scaling of the membrane. We have already started some of the early tests, and will in the future use the bubbler at different time intervals to test its effects on scaling. I will go into further detail in next week’s blog post.
While we still have months to go, I can already tell that this program is going to make the time just fly by. I intend to absorb as much information as I possibly can before my time is up.
Thank you for sharing, Aislinn! Good to hear you read what your professors share 😉 I look forward to seeing your microbubble setup at ASU in a few weeks!
Can’t wait to show it to you! Prof. Ali made it himself, which was really impressive.
That’s so cool! It’s always great to see the things people build in labs vs buying them. I assume they did not have the option to buy a microbubble assembly?
I guess they didn’t? I’m not really sure, but ours is working well!
Can you actually see the bubbles?
It turns out we did buy the micro-bubbler, but not the aeration chamber that it’s housed in! Still an impressive feat that he built it though! Yes, the microbubbles are visible, some are bigger than others though.