A big hello to anyone reading this, my name is Victoria Cardenas, I am a 24 year old student currently attending Humboldt State University (now known as Cal Poly Humboldt). While I lived in a few different places growing up, California is the place I have called home for the longest. I have been tasked to write a short introduction describing who I am. While it is easy to share facts about my life and the things that I like or dislike, it doesn’t really give anyone a feel for who I truly am. So I’ll do my best to share things about myself that aren’t just likes or dislikes. I am very quiet and tend to be shy. But once I get comfortable I can talk for hours. Food is something I use to get close to others; I call myself a “social snacker”, which really just means I love to share snacks I have or food I make with others. It makes me happy to see others enjoy their food while we all eat together. Oh, and one last thing I truly believe that pineapple does not belong on pizza (or any cooked food for that matter), BUT it definitely belongs in some good Al pastor tacos. I am working in Richard Emlet’s lab this summer, and I am so grateful to be a part of this REU program. I have no doubt that it will give me the chance to explore what being a scientist entails, from coming up with a project, trial and errors in setting up the project, and seeing the project through until the end by giving a presentation. This is what I hope to take away from this program, and I’m sure along the way I’ll learn things that I was not expecting to. In just this first week I have had a great learning experience, I have learned how to view and identify larvae under a microscope (specifically barnacle larvae). In addition, I have had a wonderful time talking with everyone involved in this REU experience. I have a project in mind already, but science doesn’t always like to stick with plan A, in my case that’s what happened. I had planned to see how low oxygen levels affect swimming in larvae of Dendraster excentricus (or as it is commonly known: Eccentric sand dollar). But this week, I have been unable to collect eggs to fertilize from Dendraster excentricus. My mentor suggested trying again with another animal, and try I did, with Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (common name: Purple Sea Urchin) but I was also unsuccessful. Because of this I have to make another attempt to get eggs from urchins or sand dollars that we will collect from the field next week. Sand dollars or sea urchins, either will work out in the end. So in the mean time I am thinking about my experiment design and set up, as well as learning about the equipment I’ll need to use for my studies. That’s where I stand at the finish of this first week here at OIMB, and I’m hopeful that everything is going to work out in the end. -Microscope image of sand dollar larvae
0 Comments
|
AuthorMy name is Victoria I am from Palmdale, CA but over my life I have moved around a lot and lived different places. I love to travel and explore, especially along the coast. I am a Zoology major studying at Cal Poly Humboldt and like to spend time reading about animal behavior. Archives
August 2022
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly