Day 27 - The Countdown

Photo credit: http://libraries.mit.edu/esl/barker/about-barker.html

One more day of the experiment, and the trends I see are tiny. I plotted the data from my fluorometer measurements, and all of the compounds started out at around the same number of fluorescent units, which was a good sign. By the third day, they've all increased at close to the same rate, but the algae in ibuprofen seem to be doing the best. Caffeine appears to be the most harmful to the algae so far, but the differences are limited.

Today I went to the Barker Engineering Library for the first time. When I stepped off the elevator on the 5th floor, I was surprised and almost dismayed by the cramped space and low ceilings. But when I turned a corner cautiously, I found myself inside the great dome of MIT. I stopped and gazed up at the intricate patterns of the dome and the giant, silent hall before me. The room was completely silent, although there were quite a few students inside. The desks were set up as little triangular booths that offered much privacy. Each booth had a personal desk light, a comfortable chair, and a semicircular desk surface that I soon found was an ingenious design for studying. Although the desk occupied very little space, the desk surface felt long and spacious because it almost wrapped around the studier. The environment of Barker really does inspire and promote studious behaviour! I wish I had discovered it earlier.

Day 26 - Fluorometer and report

For the entire weekend, I could not stop worrying about the algae. I could not keep the fan on, so I was afraid that the algae would be overheated. What if a bottle tipped over and knocked down several other bottles with it? I ran in this morning, flung the aluminum foil aside, and...breathed out in relief. The algae were doing fine, and they were much greener than they were last Friday. I had tried installing an air pump and airstones, but half of the airlines did not work. The ones that did produced very inconsistent bubbles. It would only take away from the control of my experiment, so I decided to circulate the algae by shaking the bottles a few times every day. I am also randomizing the bottles by switching their positions so that they would receive equal amounts of UV light.

I worked on my presentation and paper in the library in the afternoon. At around 4:00, I transferred 20 mL of each solution into their corresponding plastic containers and took them all to Parsons with Julie. We again measured the chlorophyll concentrations in the fluorometer. This time they were significantly higher - on the order of 10-17 fluorescent units. However, I am concerned that the results displayed too much variety. Also, all four bottles in the third set of the triplicate exhibited consistently low chlorophyll levels. My theory is that I happened to place all of the bottles of the third set towards the sides of the tank over the weekend, so they may have received less light. I hope that I will see some distinct growth curves by Wednesday.

Days 24 & 25 - Algae developments

On Thursday, two of Sarah's interns at the MEC gave presentations about their work on algae biodiesel. The first intern had helped to create a biodiesel reactor, which combined waste vegetable oil and algae oil in a water heater. Currently, much research is being done on the most efficient method of extracting oil from the algae. The second intern and Sarah have been trying different methods of harvesting algae and extracting oil - centrifugation, filtration, alcohol, etc. All three of them have been working on taking apart the old aquaculture exhibits and replacing them with algae biodiesel exhibits. They are going to build their own photobioreactor for the algae once the materials arrive, and one of the interns is working on a see-through exhibit that shows the step-by-step process for biodiesel production. They are also developing a thick book titled "Home-Brew Biodiesel."

It was especially relevant for me to hear their talk on algae biodiesel. I am only focusing on a tiny slice of research - cultivation and nutrient removal from wastewater. In the future, I hope to venture into the other stages of biodiesel production, such as lipid removal, cell harvest, and perhaps even the economics of biodiesel.

After the presentation, Sarah and the two interns visited my humble algae culture in the back room. Sarah advised me to double the nutrient content and allow the algae 24-hour light cycles. At her suggestion, I also set up a fan to prevent overheating.

On Friday, I saw some improvements in the starter cultures. I was in the library working on my report when Julie informed me that Ms. Frankel at Parsons Lab has a fluorometer that I might be able to use to measure chlorophyll content. This would be a more accurate way of quantifying the algae growth. I hurried excitedly back to Sea Grant, checked in with Julie, and quickly pipetted 10 mL of my starter culture to each of the PPCP solutions (w/ 1 mL of nutrient solution). I was running out of time, because Ms. Frankel had to leave no later than 5:00. Quickly, but as accurately as possible, I poured 10 mL of each solution (with the newly added algae) into labeled plastic tubes and carried them in a brown bag over to Parsons.

Julie and Ms. Frankel were waiting for me there with a huge, antique field instrument -- the fluorometer -- that measures chlorophyll content. With Julie's help, we poured each of the solutions into small glass tubes and inserted them into the fluorometer. The calibrated fluorometer then gave a reading of the chlorophyll content, which I recorded in a data table. To my relief, all of the concentrations came out relatively similar. All of the solutions ranged from around 0.6 to 0.65 fluorescent units. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I will take chlorophyll measurements again and hope to see variations among the PPCPs.

Day 23 - Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

"No phones allowed, no cameras...hard hats and CIA badges must be worn at all times."

This is what we were told this morning as we entered the gates of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Matt had rented a Zipcar and drove all four of us to Maine for this top-secret tour of the shipyard. Our escorts, Rick and Nancy, picked us up in a black van and drove us to their central office. Both were very friendly and gave us a presentation on engineering careers with the Navy. Portsmouth alone employs over 1400 engineers in nearly all fields of engineering. The Portsmouth Shipyard specializes in submarine maintenance and repair; subs from around the world are shipped to Portsmouth for repairs or even complete overhauls. Portsmouth also sends some squads out to rescue subs. Rick actually worked in rescue for years. He described a special suit that submarine operators would step into, and as they breathed out, they would float up to the surface, avoiding the bends.

The shipyard is like a city in itself. There are barracks, many massive machine shops, a chapel, a day care, a school, a tavern, a post office, fitness center, and more. Rick and Nancy took us on a very efficient tour. Our first stop was the materials testing labs, where they test the resistance of rubbers and metals to see if they meet regulations. We observed a machine stretching a piece of metal, saw the metal thin out gradually in the middle, and jumped as...BANG!...the metal broke in two.

We stopped by the weld shop, which contains massive welders and machines of an unimaginable scale. I had no idea that submarines could be so huge. The building itself probably spanned several acres and is tall enough to fit several heavy-lifting cranes. The weld shop was loud, with bright lights and sparks flying from many of the welders. There was a specially-designed machine to weld batteries and a brace to remove the entire front part of a submarine. I thought the weld shop was daunting, but I never imagined that the parts shop would be even more massive. As we entered, a huge hook crane attached to the ceiling slid past directly above our heads, causing me to duck automatically, though it was hundreds of feet above us. This machine shop was like a factory; it could make pretty much any metal part one might think of. The machinists followed orders and designs from engineers. There were machines that could cut, drill and shape parts weighing thousands of pounds from a simple piece of sheet metal. We touched a raindrop-shaped piece that was responsible for driving the ship underwater or angling it back up again. We witnessed real propeller shafts that spanned nearly across the width of factory and were held and spun by even larger props.

After this, we visited the motor/electric shop, where engineers overhauled submarine motors. First, they would remove a motor from a submarine or ship and wash it. Next, they would bake it in an oven to dry, then test the quality of the motor to determine what repairs are necessary. Sometimes they would replace all the metal bars on the rotating part of the motor, then dip it in a type of glaze for protection. Once glazed, the motors actually looked beautiful, like old lacquer furniture with a striped design.

We passed a submarine docking area that they were renovating. It's size reminded me of a lagoon or a channel. They built a number of platforms several stories high that they would attach to the sides of a docking submarine so that they can easily climb inside and get around without even having to step outside. We were lucky enough to see DSV-4 Sea Cliff, the sister ship to the Alvin and Turtle. Owned by the Navy, the Sea Cliff was retired from service in 1998. It was a 3-person research vessel that could dive up to 20,000 feet. They now keep the DSV-4 it in a storage warehouse, because some of the parts on it are potentially useful in other crafts. I wish I could go for a ride in a submarine someday. The shipyard staff were actually trying to recruit us to work for the Navy as engineers. It's something to think about for the future!

********
Back at Sea Grant in the afternoon, I had to dump out all 15 bottles of tap water that I sterilized and re-sterilize 15 bottles of spring water. The starter cultures that I grew in tap water over the weekend did not fare very well, but the cultures that I grew in spring water on Monday are starting to look faintly green...

Day 22 - MIT museum

After a few wrong turns and rounds of walking in circles, Cole and I made it to the MIT museum. Kurt, the marine curator, gave us a personal tour of the museum. He showed us the first floor, which contains 7 mini exhibits on MIT innovations and research. There are some researchers who are trying to develop batteriess out of viruses! Another exhibit featured a tiny tank of copepods, and we got to turn a wheel to capture photos of slices of the tank. Then, we could zoom in on a certain area and adjust the resolution to oberve the copepods shapes.

Upstairs there were robots and robot parts that were decades old. There was another section of the museum that showed high-tech, moving art. My favorite was a violin with a feather duster sliding tenderly back and forth over it. Another contraption composed of several consecutive wheels apparently takes several billion years to turn a stone block at the end. It is meant to represent infinity.

The holograms were the best part of the museum by far. Holography may best be described as 3-D photography that appears to move as the viewer changes orientation. It reminded me of the animated photographs and portraits in Harry Potter. A hologram is constructed from the light scattered from an object.
Photo credit: http://web.mit.edu/museum/exhibitions/holography.html


Kurt then took us back into their storage rooms. He showed us map prints and lithographs from the 1700s and 1800s. The level of detail achieved by the metal reliefs from hundreds of years ago baffles me. Ship captains were able to study the maps and follow lines drawn over the ocean to navigate to their destinations. Kurt also showed us a reconstructed ROV that could contain the original body of Jason, the ROV that went down to the Titanic (Jason had a twin).


I plan to revisit the MIT museum next week to go through all of the exhibits that we skipped during the tour!

Day 21 - Grow, algae, grow!

The algae starter cultures aren't growing! The water in the two bottles looks as clear as it did on Friday. Julie hypothesized that it might be because they were grown in tap water. I sterilized some spring water and made two more starter cultures with the double the amount of F/2 nutrient medium. I put the new cultures under the UV lamps, so hopefully they will grow more quickly. Today I also set up the air pumps and cut tubing for 15 airlines. I hope to be able to put the algae into the PPCP solutions soon. I hope to see green tomorrow!

Cole and I lugged around water quality testing tools, a Sea Perch, a massive heavy battery, and a camera to the sailing pavilion (which we found closed) and then to the public access dock. When we got everything set up in the stifling heat, we found that the camera had run out of battery, so had to run back to Sea Grant and switch cameras. We finally managed to film a dramatic scene of the Sea Perch (my Kraken) being lowered into the depths far below and a hero scientist saving the Sea Perch from the hungry Giant Squid. Once I hauled in the Kraken and collected a water sample, we demonstrated use of a refractometer. Tomorrow we will be filming other water quality tests, such as the ammonia and nitrate/nitrite.

Day 20 - Experimental set-up

The algae arrived today! It came in to glass vials filled with agar, and it looked like streaks of green smeared on top. In the morning, I finished sterilizing about 20 L of tap water by boiling it in a kettle. I poured 400 mL into each of the 21 half-liter bottles.

For the experimental set-up, I covered a tank with foil on all sides to provide the algae with ambient lighting. Matt spent much of the day helping me build a stand for the UV lights and wiring the lights. Thanks to Matt, I simply plug in a cord, and the algae will have the bright light they need for optimum growth.

I scraped some algae off from the agar and transferred it to two starter culture bottles with some growth medium in each.

I am also much indebted to Julie, who talked me through every step and walked over to Parsons to grind and weigh out the caffeine and ibuprofen pills. I used pipettes to measure out the needed volumes of DEET and antibacterial soap. All the chemicals were deposited into stock solutions, which will be transferred to the other 15 bottles with the algae once the algae have time to grow over the weekend.

Day 19 - Got it!

For the past three days, I have been puzzling over finding consistent data to use for the concentrations of each PPCP. I've scoured Web of Science, visited sources cited in related papers, and searched for USGS and EPA reports, but I have not managed to find consistent numbers to average for each PPCP.

Today I decided to try emailing the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and their research director to request data on PPCPs if they have it. I did not expect him to respond. To my surprise, no more than two hours after I sent the email, he sent me a whole spreadsheet with concentrations of PPCPs, including the four that I need. I was beyond relieved - I no longer needed to worry about being unable to find concentrations of PPCPs to use. I can now focus my experiment on data from Massachusetts wastewater, thereby making it better controlled.

I tried sterilizing tap water today. The kettle at Sea Grant takes about 20 minutes to boil water. And the water took even longer to cool enough to pour into algae bottles. I poured the water into a beaker first to measure out 400 mL, then transferred the warm water to the algae photobioreactors.

Algae will be here tomorrow!

Day 17 - Lights, camera, action!

We finally finished the new control box for the water sampler video today. It's hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago, I was fascinated by my own first control box, which I had gone through many struggles to set up. This time, the control box took only a day and a half, and the wiring and soldering seemed so much more straight-forward for me.

I stood in front of the camera, showing how to set up the solenoid valve and collecting canister. Under the pressure of the camera, I felt clumsier than usual, especially with little things such as ripping off electrical tape. We filmed mostly in one take, with a couple of pauses in the middle as I tried to attach the zip ties, but the canister kept slipping away! We'll have to do some minor editing to connect the various parts of the video before it is released for the whole world to see.

Thankfully, Matt helped me to clean out a back room for my research project. I have half of a countertop to myself in this cramped space, but I think it will work. Today I took the subway to Central Station and bought ibuprofen and antibacterial soap (triclosan) in as high concentrations as possible for my project. In the evening, I bought more gang valves and an extra air pump at Petco, 98.25% DEET insect repellent, and pure caffeine pills. I will have to figure out the dilutions for the ibuprofen, triclosan, DEET, and caffeine tomorrow.

Day 18 - Math, math, math

This morning we finished filming instructions for how to wire the water sampler. We had to stop in the middle, because the camera battery kept running out, so we waited for it to charge. I felt like I was on a DIY or cooking show, giving instructions on how to make a certain dish or decorate the house in a certain way. The biggest difference is that the Sea Perch Channel is much more useful.

Sarah let me borrow fifteen 500 mL bottles to use as photobioreactors for the algae. I labeled and washed them, then set them up in rows in a large plastic bin. There will be 3 trials for each chemical, as well as for the control.

I am trying to find more data on concentrations of PPCPs in U.S. wastewater, but I'm not having much luck. I've seen data from Germany, China, Spain, and other countries, but only one or two reports from U.S. wastewater treatment plants. Many articles also show graphs of the removal rates of certain compounds after treatment, but the exact concentrations in micrograms/L are unclear. Julie says I may have to directly contact a few of the authors, asking them for the raw data. My goal is to make the experiment as relevant and true to real life situations as possible, so I need to have data from a variety of wastewater sites across the U.S. Ideally, once I average the concentrations, I can calculate how much of each compound to put in the algae.

Julie helped me to think through how to dilute the compounds I have into the desired concentrations of migrograms/L. It is quite confusing, because we have to make stock solutions to add to the bottles and therefore calculate how much of each compound to add to the stock solutions. Also, we took a long time to research the density of the antibacterial soap so that we could convert a certain volume into mass. Luckily, the density was almost equal to that of water. I hope we have scales precise enough to measure out fractions of milligrams!

The algae is supposed to arrive on Friday. To-do for Thursday:

• Find more data, especially for DEET, so that I can make accurate averages
• Sterilize water
• Set up grow lights
• Make dilutions
  

Day 16 - Videos and Project Work

Over the weekend, I bought supplies for my project: an air pump, gang valves, airstones, and tubing. I will set up photobioreactors (bottles) with algae growing in each, then add amounts of four PPCPs - caffeine, DEET, triclosan, and estrogen (or ibuprofen) - in each bottle. I am using Chlorella vulgaris, a hardy strain of algae commonly used for wastewater nutrient removal. The ultimate long-term goal of the project is to find out the extent to which wastewater needs to be purified before it can be used to grow algae for biodiesel. The short-term goal is to discover the effects of these four PPCPs on algae growth.

Last week I found journal articles with data from all over the world, but I could not find data targeted to the United States. Today Julie helped me to locate relevant data on PPCP levels in the United States, and I will consolidate the data into a database to determine the amount of each chemical I will choose to expose the algae to. By conducting journal searches systematically and patiently, we uncovered much data that I was not able to uncover last week by myself. I've discovered that organization is absolutely key to attaining any results in a scientific procedure, from planning to final conclusions.

Cole and I have already filmed a video on constructing the frame for the Sea Perch to go on the Sea Perch website (the old video was unclear). Jordan wants us to make another set of videos to go along with the online instructions for making a water sampler. This entails constructing a new control box to use in the video and attach to the water sampler. We've begun working on the new control box and will hopefully be finished by tomorrow, in time for filming.

Day 15 - Parsons Tour

Sometimes opportunities don't fall into place to you unless you go looking for them. I told Brandy a couple of days ago that I am interested in environmental engineering, and she immediately tried to arrange a tour of Parsons Lab for me and Cole. I am often astounded by Brandy's efficiency, organization, and persistence. Within a day's notice, Sheila of Parsons Lab agreed to meet us at 11:30 a.m. on Friday.

Sheila was very friendly and eager to acquaint us with the lab. She entered nearly every lab and bothered the researchers and grad students there to give us a brief description of their research. We got to witness cutting-edge research, from hydrodamics on a microscopic scale to extremophiles in a laboratory environment. Environmental engineering is a smaller department; as Sheila says, the environmental engineering department is like a family. The few undergrads therefore get research opportunities and positions that larger departments may not offer.

Several of the labs in Parsons have gas chromatographs, complicated pieces of equipment that I was hoping to use for measuring algae lipid profiles. However, without EHS training and a professor to supervise, I am unable to access the equipment over the summer. I wish I could learn to use all of the machines in Parsons, from the gas chromatographs to the fluorocytometers, which were made by Sheila herself. For now, I will have to conduct a simpler version of the project - measuring cell density and cell count instead of lipid profiles - without forgetting my dream of extending the scope of the project in the future.

Day 14 - Research & Testing Water Samplers

Today I spent the morning in the Hayden Humanities Library doing research for my project, trying to find relevant articles on algae for biodiesel and PPCPs to read. The Hayden Library is one of my favorite spots on campus that I've seen so far. The 2nd floor reading room is unbelievably spacious with windows that stretch from the ground to the ceilings. Sunlight streams in and makes one eager to study or complete homework on one of the long wooden tables.


There have been few studies done on the effects of PPCPs on algae. I was trying to find average national concentrations of the four PPCPs I would like to test - triclosan, DEET, estrogen, and caffeine - in wastewater. I was able to access reports from various countries, but was having trouble finding data targeted towards the U.S.

In the afternoon, we took our Sea Perches over to the OETL and tested the water samplers. The OEX camp was in the process of finishing their wind turbine; the room was filled with the smell of burning styrofoam and the noises of drills and saws. For some reason, Kraken kept spinning in circles, heading helplessly towards the right. I was dreading the inevitable - having to completely redo that motor. Jordan took a look at the problem and immediately advised me to simply re-epoxy the propellor to the propellor shaft. It turns out that the propellor had only come loose; there was no need to worry about completely re-waxing another motor!

Day 13 - Aquarium Behind the Scenes

Today we viewed the aquarium...from the other side of the tanks. Brandy took me and Cole by subway to the New England Aquarium, where we were met by a friendly tour guide named Jo. She led us through a set of doors labeled with the warning "Staff Only." Inside the doors was a long hallway lined on both sides by fish tanks - not nearly as glamorous as they appear from the outside. Water covered the floor and pipes ran across the ceiling and the walkway. Diving gear hung at intervals along the hall. Jo told us that here they kept newly captured animals in quarantine, bred fishes until they were large enough to go on exhibit, and fed and cleaned tanks. Whereas aquarium visitors usually see the front of a tank, at this level, we looked upon the surface of the water.

Jo led us first to the jellyfish tanks, where they stowed extra jellyfish not on exhibit. We were allowed to touch a species of jellyfish whose sting was harmless. We passed the seadragon tanks, where newly captured seadragon are kept until they grow accustomed to their surroundings enough to go on exhibit. Seadragons are elaborate creatures resembling seahorses, except with leaf-like or branch-like structures emerging from their bodies. They swim with a delicate, transparent dorsal fin on their backs, as if they were hovering or floating around the tank. Shipped directly from Australia, seadragons are incredibly sensitive to changes in their environment. They require a certain amount of light and are easily disturbed when transported. The workers in the aquarium constantly monitor the conditions in the three back-room seadragon tanks. Each seadragon costs several thousand dollars.

Another tank housed massive groupers that weighed 120 lbs and several huge spiny lobsters. A diver had just gotten out of the water, likely to clean or feed. We also saw an Asian bonytongue, which is considered good feng shui in southeast Asia. A man had brought the fish to the U.S. illegally several years ago, and when he was caught, the fish was sent over to the aquarium for keeping.

Jo opened the back doors to two mini-ecosystems, and the visitors on the other side were able to see us. One exhibit was a salt marsh filled with grass, while the other was filled with branches and leaves. Two turtles kept crawling up and trying to escape from the open door.

We spent a couple of hours in the visitor area of the aquarium, enjoying the view from the front. I examined African penguins, weedy and leafy seadragons on exhibit, schooling fish, all sorts of jellies, a Pacific octopus, sea turtles, scorpionfish, electric eels, and more. The electric eels from South America were several feet long and could produce electricity up to 600 volts. When catching prey, the voltage is especially high. The tank has a sensor that would make tapping noises whenever it detects electric currents from the eels. As I gazed at the tank, I could hear a wild, continuous tapping noise - clearly the eels were hungry and looking for prey. When they are resting, no noise is produced.

At 40 ft wide and 23 feet deep, the Big Ocean Tank was the center of attention in the aquarium. It is structured as a large column going up and down the middle of the building. At each level, visitors could stop and look through the windows to see sharks, sea turtles, fish, sting rays, and occasionally divers swim by. I once waited at a window for a giant green sea turtle at least 5 ft long to swim by mere inches from my face. I could see every detail on the turtle, from the patterns on its shell to the wrinkles on its neck. On the top level of the Giant Ocean Tank, one could look down on the surface of the water and see everything going on below.

At 5:30, we joined the eight OEX students and headed to dinner at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. We all ate at Cheers, and I got to know several of the campers. I think the best part about the OEX camp is that it unites students from all over the country who are interested in the same field - ocean engineering.

Day 12 - Water Samplers

Today Jordan and Matt were working with the summer camp in the OETL, so we were pretty much on our own. I tried to figure out how to install the water samplers using the instructions online and managed to get pretty far. But Cole and I were both puzzled by the step that says, "solder another black(-) and red(+) to the wire junctions you connected to the battery wires." There doesn't seem to be any free wire junctions in the control box... Hopefully we can figure it out or get some help tomorrow.

In the afternoon, I did some planning for my research project. I will research the effects of PPCPs (Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Products) on the lipid production of algae. I chose this topic because I am interested in algae biodiesel as an alternative energy source and a way to clean up wastewater. Algae is hardy enough to grow in municipal wastewater, but I am curious about how PPCPs might affect them. Towards the end of the day, I met Brandy and discussed the project with her. We hope to find some lab space for my project and order algae and reagents by the end of the week! I will update information on the research once I figure out some more of the logistics.

Tomorrow we'll be off to the aquarium!

Day 11 - A Day at the Beach

What can be better than a research trip that combines sun, ocean breeze, waves, and kayaking at the beach? Today Jesse, a rising MIT senior, took Cole and me on a deployment of the ROV Rex II at Nahant Beach. One of Jesse's friends from mechanical engineering came along to help as well. The purpose of the trip was to take videos of eel grass off the coast.

We loaded Rex II, a laptop, wires, and other supplies onto a pickup truck and drove for about half an hour to Nahant. The weather was perfect with a refreshing breeze as we set up a tent on a private stretch of rocky beach. The waves rolled in and out, covering and uncovering a variety of beautiful rocks and purple shells along the coastline. I could spend hours just picking up rocks and shells to admire or keep as souvenirs.

With all the connections set up and the computer terminals opened, Rex II was ready to enter the water. We helped Jesse carry Rex to the water and push him in. I controlled the computer commands for Rex under the tent. I also had the opportunity to drive Rex with a video game remote controller. However, the robot was not very responsive to my directions on the remote controller. It turned out that we had lost connection. Jesse intially tied a flag to the antennae, but we guessed that the flag weighed down the antennae too much, causing us to lose signal. Jesse jumped into the water, swam out to Rex, and cut off the flag.

Much to our dismay, we still had no connection. In the end, Jesse and his friend took a kayak out to the robot to examine what might have gone wrong with the connection. When efforts to fix it from the surface were fruitless, Jesse had to dive to rescue Rex - without proper diving gear, in the water that was surprisingly cold for July. The two of them struggled to pull Rex back to shore, the friend in the kayak, Jesse in the water with the robot. It took them an hour before they finally reached shore, and by that time, Jesse had hypothermia. He could not stop shivering, and it took him about 45 minutes to warm up while we waited anxiously.

After Jesse recovered, he troubleshooted the ROV and discovered that one of the major cable joints, due to wear and tear, was no longer water-tight, causing us to lose connection. Dismayed, we loaded Rex back into the pickup truck to take back to Sea Grant for repair.

Before leaving the beach, I was able to climb up to a low rocky cliff for a better view of the ocean. Privately owned sailboats bobbed up and down not far from shore, and beyond them, one could see the Boston skyline in the distance. I scanned the sand for unique rocks and observed snails and hermit crabs in tiny tidal pools surrounded by rockweed. I found out that if you accidentally squish or burst open rockweed, a jelly-like goo will ooze out.

Not all deployments turn out the way they are supposed to. I hope today's trip, despite it's rough patches, will pave the way for many more research trips in the future that will hopefully be just as fun, regardless of the success.

Days 9 & 10 - Sea Perch Mass-Production Factory

On Thursday and Friday, I experienced the life of an assembly line worker in a factory turning out...Sea Perches. Cole and I helped to construct 6 Sea Perches for a Boy Scout's event in the near future. Jake and Beth set up the frames, then Cole and I soldered and waxed the motors. With 18 motors to manage, rather than 3 when we built our own during week 1, the work became messy, our hands covered in wax and epoxy by the end of each day. We worked as efficiently as we could. On Friday, I lined up a pile of propellors and brass nuts to attach onto the 18 motor shafts with epoxy. I can barely believe that only one week earlier I was clueless and fascinated by my one Sea Perch, the Kraken, and needed instructions at every step. Now I can build Sea Perches mindlessly and quickly.

On Friday, the four of us watched a Rube Goldberg Competition in Lobby 13, part of a summer camp for girls. Five teams of four each created their own complex machines during the camp, which they ran for an excited audience on the last day. One particularly memorable contraption started out with butter melting, which pushed forward a ball, which rolled through a series of steps and eventually activated a spoon that stirred lemonade mix in a pan with water. Another machine ended in a blow drier turning on and blowing aside confetti covering a surprise snowman figure in a cardboard box. Though only one of the 5 machines worked flawlessly, each was impressively creative and showcased long hours of effort and teamwork. The audience and other campers were very supportive of each project, even when a certain step failed to work or needed a little push from a team member to move something forward.

Day 8 - More SolidWorks!

Back in the OETL, we continued familiarizing ourselves with SolidWorks through the tutorials. Next week, there will be a summer camp for high school students, whose task will be to reconstruct a metal part in SolidWorks for a project they are building. Matt sent me and Cole a copy of the drawing he made so we could test out the assignment for the camp. We were given very little direction and had to figure out for ourselves how to create the part. At first I thought, "How do I even begin?" Sometimes getting started is the most difficult part. Though it appeared complicated, once I created a foundation for the model by drawing 3 center lines and building from there, the task became far more manageable.

We planned out how best to teach a camp of students new to SolidWorks. First, they would benefit from a 30-minute tutorial help available when needed. This should be followed by a brief presentation by Matt on topics not covered by the tutorial, such as relations between figures and how to get started on the drawing. Cole and I created a sheet of problem-solution scenarios for troubleshooting SolidWorks. We would have saved a lot of time and frustration if we had known these solutions when we first started in SolidWorks, so we hope that they will be helpful to the campers next week. For example:

What do I do if…

Problem: When you try to extrude, a message pops up that says you must decrease the depth of the extrusion.

Solution: Zoom in on corners and make sure that there are NO OPEN corners. Close up any open corners or ends.

Day 7 - Gloucester, MA

Glouster is a pleasant, quiet island with the sound of gulls and the smell of fish and saltwater. We took the 10:20 train to Gloucester, about an hour from North Station, and walked several minutes past old houses worn out from the air by the sea. Sarah met us at the Maritime Heritage Center, which houses a lab, an education center, aquariums, a diving shop, and a museum. The lab is hidden behind a huge wooden sliding door with a circular ship window in the middle. Huge tanks, pipes, and boxes clutter the lab, and the sound of running water comes non-stop from the tanks' filtration systems.

Sarah took us out to a dock, where we measured the water's salinity, turbidity, and temperature. Salinity was 32%, as opposed to 1% in the Charles. The water was far clearer than that of the Charles as well. Sarah handed each of us a plankton net, consisting of a long piece of netting with the closed top of a water bottle attached to the bottom. We simply threw the plankton nets in the water, reeled them in, and dumped the collected water into two buckets - one for surface water and the other for deeper water.

Back in the education center, we placed the tiny plankton we caught on slides and observed them under microscopes attached to computers with video-capturing abilities. In my slide, I had a number of isopods and possibly a type of annelid. It was difficult to take high-resolution photos of the plankon under the microscope, because they skittered restlessly around. Here are two examples that I managed to take:

Isopods under 10x magnification

After lunch, Sarah talked to us about our research project topics and took us on a tour of her lab. In the past she has done research on aquacultures, but now the lab is shifting its focus to educational programs on algae biofuels. She hopes to bring algae biofuel into school curriculums. We visited a small aquarium behind the lab and saw blue lobsters, skates, eels, various fishes, crabs, and more. In the touch tanks, we experienced the thrill of holding starfish and hermit crabs in our own hands.

Shortly before leaving Gloucester, we visited a dive shop museum with an assortment of antique gear, some pieces well over 100 lbs. It seemed like no human could possibly stay afloat in any of those impossibly heavy outfits and metal headpieces, but remarkably, the museum curator said that he has dived every single piece in the museum...except for the heaviest one that sits like boulder in the middle of one table. One headpiece hangs from the ceiling so that visitors can try to stick their heads in and stand up to feel the weight. I could barely lift the headpiece with my hands, let alone my head!

Day 6 - Attaching the video camera

I attached a video camera to the Kraken today using zip ties along the length of the tether cable. The camera is connected to an LCD monitor, which will hopefully give me a clear view underwater once we take the Sea Perches to the Charles.

In the OETL, we learned how to use Solidworks by going through different tutorials that the program offered. A couple of the tutorials were unclear, especially at the step to specify the depth of an extrusion. I learned to always click EXTRUDE before searching the Property Manager for a tab to modify the depth of an extrusion. Clearly, there needs to be an extrusion before one can specify a depth! I gradually familiarized myself with the tools in Solidworks and, though I am far from mastering the program, I am looking forward to experimenting with it more and learning to create my own designs.

Day 5 - Completing the Sea Perch

I finished my Sea Perch ROV today! In the morning, I embedded my motors in hot wax that I poured into film canisters and waited for them to cool. The most difficult part of the waxing was getting the end of the motor to poke through the hole I drilled at the bottom of the film canister. The plastic softened in contact with hot wax, so it was easy to poke through the plastic itself. Sealing the motors in wax

Once the motors cooled, I mixed epoxy to glue the propellors to the ends of the motors. After waiting for the epoxy to set for an hour, I screwed the thrusters/motor complex onto the Sea Perch frame. This step was the most fun; screwing the nails on securely and watching my Sea Perch come together was a relief after several days of tedious soldering and wiring.

The wiring on the control box looked messy and disorganized, but once I installed the buttons and screwed the control box shut, all of the complex wiring was hidden inside. Now, I never underestimate what looks on the outside like a simple box - a modem or calculator, for example. I can fully appreciate the handfuls of wires that each conceals and the hours of thought once put into figuring out how to connect each of the wires to get the desired effects.

Glued-on propellors & epoxy

Then it was time for me to test the buttons on the control. There was a scary moment when I pressed the toggle switches and...nothing happened. But it turned out that I was only unfamiliar with the correct way of using those switches. They are to be pushed back and forth at the precise angle, not pressed up and down. It was rewarding when I pressed the buttons and the motors actually spun, making a quiet, celebratory whirring noise.

"I think I'm done with the Sea Perch," I announced triumphantly. But then Matt tried stripping down the tether cable to give it some more room and accidently nicked the blue wire so much that it split completely in two!

I thought for a moment that I had to start completely over with the motor attached and resolder everthing associated with that blue wire. Luckily, I only had to solder the split ends of the wire together, then cover them with monkey dung and electrical tape.

Eventually, Cole and I tested our completed Sea Perches in the OETL testing tank. I named mine "Kraken I" and drew the eyes of sea monster onto the front. I felt a thrill as I placed the Kraken in the water and directed it forwards and backwards, up and down with the buttons on my control box. It felt like a video game that I had complete control over, and I could not believe that I made it myself.

The Mighty Kraken...

Day 4 - Sea Perch control box

Today I finished my Sea Perch control box and prepared the motors. Wiring the control box was complicated, because there are many different colored wires to keep track of, along with theirpolarities. I carefully followed the directions to attach the correct wires to the correct sides of the push-button or toggle swiches, then soldered the connections. Today, soldering was much easier for me; I noticed an improvement in the neatness of my soldering!

Getting ready to solder on push-button switch

Soldering iron approaching...

Afterwards, I connected the other end of the tether wire to the three motors. When we tested the connections by hooking the motors up to a battery, it was rewarding to see that they actually spun! Towards the end of the day, I began embedding my motors in wax in film canisters, which will serve as motor-holders. Cole and I took several videos of the process to supplement the videos on the Sea Perch instructional website. Tomorrow we will be finishing the Sea Perches and testing them in the tank.

Completed toggle switches (left) & push-button switches (right)

Sea Perch Photos (as of Day 3)

Sea Perch frame


Control box wires - in progress!

Day 3 - Water Sampling & Lab Day

We started off the day with ecologist Julie Simpson, who taught us about the components of water and effects of urbanization on watershed areas. Components of water that automatically came to mind included: minerals, dissolved gases, ions and salts, metals, bacteria, and algae. But Julie told us about another category of materials found in water that has only recently gained much attention from researchers: PPCPs - pharmaceutical personal care products (such as lotions, sunscreen, medicine, hormones, etc.). PPCP levels are difficult to measure, and as a result, their effects on wildlife are also difficult to size.

Later, Julie took us out to the Charles River (Sailing Pavilion) to test the water for salinity, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen content, and nitrogen content. I learned to use a Sechi disc (for turbidity), a DO meter, and other tools for water testing. Surprisingly, Charles River water, though murky, was quite fresh and contained almost no nitrogen.

In the afternoon, Cole and I helped sort Ohm resistors in the ocean engineering lab (OETL). We had to first figure out how the color coding on the resistors works, and we both had a EUREKA moment we finally figured it out. Basically, you match the color of each band with the number in a color chart, then multiply by the 'multiplier' indicated by the final band. Sorting Ohm resistors seems like a rudimentary job, but it was far more difficult than it seemed!

Day 2 - Building the Sea Perch

This will be a summer of many firsts. Today, for the first time in my life, I: used a drill, cut pipes, stripped wire, and tried to solder.

We built the frame and the control box of the Sea Perch today. Once Matt showed me how to use the pipe cutter and drill, I caught on quickly and found the instructions surprisingly comprehendable (Instructions can be found on http://seaperch.mit.edu/). The hand-held pipe cutters were fun to use and rewarding when the desired pipe length finally detached itself after long moments of strenuous pressing. I had trouble securing the drill bit on the surface to be drilled at first, but I soon figured out with Cole's help that it is easier to press the tip of the bit slightly into the surface before drilling.

I tried soldering for the first time to wire the control box for the ROV. It is difficult to keep wire ends together while soldering and to get the solder to penentrate through all of the wires. I wish I could observe in slow motion the magical moment the solder transforms into a bead of shimmering liquid. The state change always happens suddenly, and I had to practice quickly moving the soldering wire so that it would not cool and stick onto the target wires. I learned the hard way not to touch the insulated wire anywhere near the soldering region, because it really burns! Also, I learned to beware of the hot solder spontaneously splashing upwards.

After struggling with the soldering iron for some time, I checked all the electrical connections of the control box, and...the positive (+) side did not respond. I guess I'll have to take it apart tomorrow to see what went wrong!

Photos of the project to be posted soon!

Miscellaneous Happenings of the Day

• Received a MIT student ID
• Picked up useful computer facts from conversations with Jake!
• Managed to not get lost walking from Suffolk Bldg. to the Student Center :)

Ocean Engineering Internship - Day 1

Today was the first day of the MIT Sea Grant internship in Ocean Engineering. I met the three other interns in the Sea Grant office: Jake & Beth, who are from California, and Cole, from Newton. Cole and I have both competed in Blue Lobster Bowl (Ocean Bowl) in past years.

Upon entering the office, I first noticed the huge variety of engineering materials and machines, some of which I have never seen before. This blog will hopefully successfully document the development of my knowledge of ocean engineering throughout the 6 weeks of this internship at MIT.

Today we took a tour of various labs and viewed an AUV under construction. We visited the ocean engineering lab, which contains a large tank for testing vehicles, as well as machines for cutting, sanding, etc. In another lab, a graduate student was taking videos of hydrophobic balls dropped into a tank of water. We entered a large, garage-like workroom in which mechanical engineering students converted gas-powered cars into electric-powered cars and constructed their own small vehicles for competitions. Before the day was through, we took an official admissions office tour of the campus to see aspects of student life outside of ocean engineering.

Just from this glimpse of MIT, I could tell that the students here combine their extraordinary ambition with an eagerness to share their knowledge with others. I hope to get to know many more students and scientists in the weeks to come. Tomorrow we begin building the Sea Perch, a remotely operated underwater vehicle.