S-STEM Scholar Kassandra Barrera's Blog

Earlier in the week, Maria discovered that we had some contamination with one type of our plastic and with TSB broth. So we have tested the media and we want to figure out what could have caused such contamination. It could be many different factors we must look into. Also today we met with professor Dr. Wang and we were able to go over the FTIR graphs that we collected from our project. She was very knowledgeable and she was able to explain a lot of doubts that my team and I had. By using the IR graphs we were able to determine that the bacteria were indeed able to colonize our plastic disks, which is just another confirmation that we can add to the list to prove that these microplastics are able to colonize. Also something interesting that we were able to come to some conclusion is the functional group C-Cl that we found in some of our graphs, Dana was able to analyze and see a difference in that bond. But because where that functional group is located on the spectra, on some of

I have taken both Organic Chemistry one and two at PC already, and it so happens to be that Dr. Wang, the professor we are working with, is assisting us with using the FTIR machine for our project. In her classes, we would use the IR machine for a lot of labs, so I have some experience interpreting these graphs under my sleeve. They are still very tricky because in the lab we only analyzed above the 1500 wavelength. We never went below that, which is considered the "fingerprint region." So my main accomplish this week was to do some research on that and see if I can identify any functional groups that I am not really familiar with. Right now, I am just trying to do the best I can to analyze the graphs to the best of my abilities, and tomorrow the team and I will be meeting with Dr. Wang and see what she thinks about the information we have collected. I am glad we have someone like her to show us how to look at the quantitative data and show team and me this new process to

This was my first time working with middle school girls and being a part of the Hermanas event. It was an enjoyable experience for me just seeing how many young girls are very interested in building things from their creativity. I saw some creative ideas, and most of them worked. It was cool to see the perspective of a young mind and see what they were able to build because if it were me, I would have done something completely different to what they were able to pull off. I can say I am proud that these girls are being encouraged to go into science careers and they are encouraged to be who they want to be. I sometimes really wish this was something that was offered when I was their age.

This semester our primary focus is to analyze our samples using the FTIR machine. This machine will give us information on what is happening on the quantitative data. What we are merely doing is looking at the different functional groups on the spectra and according on what wavelength that is, we can interpret what different kind of functional group that is. So this week we were able to get our first set of samples, and it is really exciting because we could analyze what is happening to the chemical composition. We have a total of  18 IR graphs to analyze and it will really take some time to organize and analyze each one individually but in the end, it will be worth it.