Making Progress

With week two coming to a close, I figured a blog post was appropriate to wrap up the week. Sarah and I have made quite a bit of progress and have checked several things off our list. We set up a computer in the lab and installed software for a balance (seen on the left below) in order to weigh something and have it directly record the weight in excel. This function will help us cut out the human error that is often a part of recording and rewriting data. In addition, this week we installed a ductless fume hood on the 2nd floor of IES in a teaching lab (see below). We didn't do it all ourselves this week, in fact, I've had to make several phone calls for help; I called the company that produces the fume hoods in order to track down the manual (the fume hood was donated to us), ITS at Loyola to obtain access to download software on the computer, and the company that produces the balance because we ran into a "connection lost" error! Here are a couple pictures:

Our computer station and balance all set up!

Fume hood in the second floor teaching lab

Additionally, we've continued to research soil nutrient analysis methods and have contacted William Kent, Chemistry reference specialist, at Loyola University Chicago to help us track down essentially a how-to-guide for the IC pro. Amazing, right, a machine as complicated at the IC pro, doesn't even come with directions on how to perform analysis! We have also set up a meeting with Katrina and we look forward to talking to her next week about methods for using the machine.

Lastly, the MIP is doing great! We replaced one of the corn seeds in placement # 8 that did not survive the transplant. In a few weeks, we will begin to analyze the mycorrhizal colonization of each of the corn plants' roots in order to learn a little more about the presence of fungi in each of our different soils. With this crucial information, we will be able to make a more educated analysis of how the different treatments of soils have progressed throughout our experiment in terms of mycorrhizal fungal growth.

MIP Day 9

Have a great weekend!