Mingda leaves the lab for married life
Welcome to Roxanne and Josh!!
Roxanne is smart, talkative and very sweet! I think she will be a great addition. We've had a lot of fun discussions about classes, science and immunology. Josh is about as enthusiastic as it gets - overflowingly so - and will make a great Kevin replacement when he has to graduate soon. Josh says he gets high off of presentations and speeches, is very fun-loving and loves talking science to anyone he can. We've had some great and really fun discussions so far both about science and other things. I've really been hoping we'd get a Kevin replacement, and therefore, I cannot be more excited that Josh is joining us!! I am also really interested to see how he develops the super-resolution microscopy as well. I think it is an extremely fascinating and ground-breaking technique.
Both Josh and Roxanne, due to being in BME, have to take far more classes than we do. I cannot decide whether to envy or be sorry for them. Their classes sound really cool, like "cellular engineering."
Other news: ethics class and elevator pitch talks
On Th, everyone from the Salaita lab gave an "elevator pitch" to the new graduate students summarizing their work and latest results in 3 min, 3 slides max. I thought it would be simple, but it turned out to be murder. I finished the slides on Wednesday, after getting extra advice from Khalid, Kevin and Weiwei. It took all day Wed and a few hours on Th to practice before I was half-way decent. I clocked myself about 10 sec under three minutes.
I had no idea that would be so hard. I got so incredibly frustrated and mad at myself on Wed that I burst into tears, gave up and went to Starbucks and bought myself coffee and a comfort brownie. It turns out, I can't talk. It takes me forever to practice for presentations. The pitch ended up going relatively well, though it was three minutes of terror. You can bet I will be practicing my second year report presentation all day every day for at least a month.
Lastly, I have been working on my second year report, due Sept. 15th. It's definitely a work in progress. Right now, it sounds like crap. Next week I will be editing in AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I don't think I will doing much research after the report, so that I can practice the heck out of it. But we shall see.
Next week: Insanity begins - classes and welcome to new students
Be in prayer for all us new and second year students giving our 2nd year reports! These reports are critical and will decide our future in the Ph.D. program. I am looking forward to the end of October, when all my deadlines, including the NSF fellowship, will be over.