charismaticmicrofauna

This last semester, the start of my second year in graduate school has been extremely challenging. I’ve had a lot of challenge in my life, but navigating new challenges, or a unique array of old ones sometimes can be very exhausting. I took a genomics class, taught two Biology 2 lab sections, and still tried to get some research done. In addition to school work I’ve been navigating some personal revelations in my life and working out how to express those things here. I really want to share my work and experiences honestly. My work is exploratory, technical, dynamic, and wonderful. It’s also cross-disciplinary, tedious, and sometimes extremely daunting. I don’t want to candy coat my experience because the difficult parts are truly trying, but for me they make my outcomes and successes more triumphant. I think that there are plenty of science blogs to read if you’re interested in data, that are technical, non-subjective, and full of jargon. Charismaticmicrofauna is about my love for the little organisms that drive me these days and my desire to share my adventures.

For the first time in my academic career, 5 years of undergrad and 1 year of graduate school I had to drop a course. It was a data analysis and statistics course that was a little over my head. I’ve worked with statistics throughout my research career and know when to apply some basic methods, but admittedly my theory and understanding of statistical analysis is weak. It was a tough decision. I had to swallow my pride and accept a weakness, but I was able to get my mind wrapped around my teaching and my own class assignments. I think it was a good decision.

I also presented at a state conference in October for the American Society of Microbiology. It was my first oral presentation as a speaker to an audience in my field and I was very excited about it. The speaker before me was the keynote speaker for my section of the conference, and she ran several minutes over their time slot. Consequently, I felt rushed because there were people to speak after me. I’m surprised at the lack of communication at these conferences sometimes, especially from professional in the industry who run laboratories, or even manage entire departments in large organizations. There were speakers from NASA at the conference who would have made the moon landing sound as exciting as the description of a paper bag.

Teaching was probably the most challenging and time consuming part of part of these last few months. I had two biology lab classes with about 23 students in each. This biology lab is a requirement for many bioscience related majors. My classes were comprised of roughly 85% pre-med students who are generally very competitive, cut-throat, and will argue over a couple of points on any assignment. This semester we had an overarching lab report using fern spores grown under high and low concentrations of ammonium nitrate and using statistical analysis to track the growth over a few weeks. If it sounds mind-numbing then that’s because it was. I spent hours reading essentially the same research report about ferns and their sporic life cycle. They have a sporophyte and a gametophyte stage, if you didn’t already know. This information was many times used to support the student’s hypotheses that they would or would not grow well under higher amounts of ammonium nitrate. Which made me wonder 46 times, “How did you come to that conclusion based on no mention of any kind of nitrogen compound?!?!??!”

Now that the semester is over, I can focus on my research again. What is it? Oh yes, worms. Well, bacteria inside of worms at the hydrothermal vents, two miles below the surface of the ocean. I received official news that I will be sailing the high seas again in October 2016. I’ll be sampling the same sight that I visited before at 9 degrees north in the east Pacific, 400 miles of the coast of Mexico. With good luck, good weather, and good timing. I will be travelling down to the depths in the HOV Alvin to see my study sights first hand.

In non-science related news, I fought my first Muay Thai kickboxing match on Saturday. It was not a “fight” exactly. It is called a smoker which is an intergym competition. It is a little friendlier than a sanctioned fight, but more challenging than sparring between other fighters. For me, this is a step between sparring and amateur fighting. I have been training hard lately. It’s what keeps me balanced in my life. While I’m working on my technique, my mind is completely clear of the stress of work, family, academics, daily life, et cet… If I didn’t have Muay Thai, I’m not sure how I would be dealing with the pressures of grad school. It keeps me sane. I have always wanted to do martial arts and be involved in athletics, but when I was a kid my mom always wanted me to be pretty instead. I also suspect she didn’t wanted to be bothered with doing anything extracurricular. I was the third of three kids. My brother, the middle child, is 8 years older than I am, plus I am adopted, so I think that by the time it was my turn to do things they just didn’t feel like being bothered anymore. That aside, I’m doing everything I ever wanted to now! (Within reason, of course!) I also wanted to be a cat when I grew up, according to a 2nd grade writing assignment that I wrote, but you can’t have everything.

The good news is that I won my fight. I have been doing personal training as well as taking group classes and I’m improving very much with the help of my trainers. I would like to do a couple of amateur fights in the next year or two. I know that I’ll never be a professional fighter, but it’s another way for me to test my skills and become better physically, mentally, intellectually.

I’m looking forward to things to come! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!