Adventures in Bio science

It's pretty crazy that this year is already coming to an end. Last week we presented our semester projects. It was nice to finally done with the project and realize how much I had learned over the past few months. I´m super glad we did a semester project because it gave me the opportunity to research landscape architecture and get some exposure. I enjoyed the challenge of building the model. I learned that putting my ideas into a real model was really beneficial and helped stimulate even more ideas. I also really liked looking up other landscape architect projects and seeing a bunch of designs. They were all so cool and made me excited that one day I could create projects like those.

Last class we went turtle tracking in Forest Park. Even though it was a little damp it was cool to see Sam´s passion and a part of her semester project. We first learned about the teleometer and how to use it. It was a much bigger device than I thought it would be. We started by looking for Dana, a turtle. There was a meter between 1-10 and a red lined light would appear when you got closer to Dana (pick up the wave). We were first doing really good, a loud wave was coming in but the closer we got to what we thought was the right location then the wave went way back down. We knew something was up because the telemotor was going wacky and Dana was nowhere to be seen. So, we took a whim and crossed the street to look for Dana. To our surprise we found her! This little confusion was a little tricky at first but also was a good representation of all science projects. They can be hard and confusing at first but there is always a solution you may just have to look harder.

So far I have been working on my project presentation and gaining more information about landscape architecture and connections to sustainable practices. I want to add a few more landscape architecture projects as well as a green building to show real world examples. In addition to the presentation I have started to make drafts of designs. One is of a co living apartment space and the other one is a rooftop garden. All of my sketches are preliminary, but it is good to get my ideas out on paper. I'm hoping to make these sketches into possible models, but we will see how far the sketches go. At the end of the project I want to have a complete presentation that covers the topics of landscape architecture and sustainable practices and some sort of sketches or model to present.

Last class we finished our lab worked on a centrifugation lab. We centrigued milk and vinegar toegther and did a centrifuge process with heated and nonheated samples. The lab took two days to copmlete becasue the 15 minute centirfugations took longer than expected. We then measured the pellet that was left at the bottom of each epenidofr tube after centrifugation. This is one of the many labs we have done in class this semeser. Between working on our individaul projects and working in the lab we have been pretty busy.

Last week I visited Dtls, a landscape architect office. I met with one of their principal designers Rick and learned a lot about the career and the joy of being a landscape architect. I was able to ask Rick questions about his career and the process it takes to become an landscape architect. It was super cool because I was able to meet his colleagues and see each of their work, and how each of them has their own specialties and all their work gets put teogther to make the finsihed product. I was really happy to go visit their office and unsersand the enviornement of a firm office. To my surprise it was super relaxed, which was perfect for the working envionrment I hope to be in one day. Visiting their office made me excited about possibly pursuing a career in landscape architecture.

Prior to today we had only done dilutions with water and food coloring but today we did a serial dilution with bacteria. We will then take that bacteria and put it on to plates and see if we can grow and single colonies and finding the CFU (colony forming units). When we add our serial dilution bacteria to the petri dishes we will use our skills of a bacteria streak and bacteria spread to get the best bacteria growth we are looking for. Overall, this semester has been much more work in the lab making agar plates and learning new techniques. However, all of these skills are very valuable and can help all of us in the future if we have to work in labs.