Transferring and Calculating

-
I have a lot going on this week, as I'm sure many do approaching the end of the semester. 

First, I found out some information that put me in a bind. Due to switching majors and some ill-advise from an advisor, I thought I wasn't supposed to graduate and transfer until Fall of 2022. However, it came to my attention that I am finished with my Associates of Arts and can technically graduate now. I don't have all the courses done on my MAPP but, I have enough done that it will waste my financial aid to stay at PC just for the 2 chemistry courses I need. Graduating now doesn't give me enough time to get my things in order. Therefore, this week has primarily consisted of talking to advisors to try to figure out what to do. I am not prepared to transfer, so I will most likely graduate this spring from PC and transfer to ASU in the fall. I'm still talking to advisors and transfer reps. Unfortunately, because it was unexpected and I thought I would have time, I will be one honors class shy of graduating with honors, which is disappointing because I put a lot of time and work into the program. 

Anyways, does anyone have any advice? Is it normal to be nervous to leave PC? 

Second, this week my chemistry professor also gave us a 2nd midterm, which I think I did well on. It's been a busy week.

On to my research project: 

I've been trying to put what I have into a final paper. I don't think it will be complete this semester. The fact that it isn't done bothers me but I've been told it's normal with an extensive project. The easiest part has been gathering temperature data. I got a little too loose in my writing and was using the word "climate" not realizing that entailed temperature, wind, precipitation, humidity, pressure, geography, freezes, etc. Condensing all of the data and comparing it would be really impractical. Besides that, my research question is focused on temperature. I'm glad I made that note when reviewing my writing. I took out the word, "climate" many times. To double-check myself, I did a little reading to make sure I was using the appropriate terms and the chart below was a simplified explanation. 


Chart derived from http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-climate-and-temperature/


The data of reported cases initially was intimidating to handle. However, once you start to clean the data up, the temperatures are the most time consuming numbers. Why? Well, I can't put the temperature for every single day of the year on a graph. So, I whipped out the TI-84 and started to do averages per month. Then, I tried to decide if I should keep the years separate or average the months together. 

Thanks to climate change, it wouldn't be a great representation to group all months of each year together, average or not. 

It is coming together, which feels great. I'm not sure how to do a final paper without being finished. 

Separate note: does anyone know anything about the accelerated degree programs at ASU? I'm doing environmental science and noticed they offer and accelerated program for bachelors and masters degree in three years. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Search for Research: The Top Two

-
Image
My first step for this semester’s research project was simply to search for topics in my interest areas. Unfortunately, since I am a new STEM scholar, I have numerous interest areas. I’m hoping that this is a normal occurrence for beginners. In order to narrow my scope, I chose to stick in the relative area of ecology. I started by looking at different ecological issues and moved on to wildlife epidemiology. Once, I compiled a list of important and relevant problems, I gathered more information about each and created a compilation of summaries or overviews. Although I started with 10+ topics, these are the top two that made the cut: The monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) population has drastically reduced in size over the last two decades. Research suggests a need for increased milkweed habitats. More research is necessary to understand the effects of climate change on migratory patterns. This video from National Geographic is twelve years old. It mentions the monarch butterfly p...
Read more

The Where's and Why's of Disease

-
Image
 As I approach developing questions about Yersinia pestis , I found a necessity to gather as much background information about the microbe as possible. This past week has consisted of numerous articles, journals, and videos that address various aspects of the bacteria. For the sake of organization, I would like to present some of the information I found on a scale of small to large; in relativity to observable material.  1.    Microbiological and genetic composition: As you can see from the picture below it is rod-shaped. There are no visible extensions that make it motile. I found a great paper that further explains its virulence, specific plasmids, and structurally gram-negative cell well encoded by chromosomal genes (Butler M.D., 1). It is an anaerobic organism. I have reached out to a professor to help me better understand the role of phagocytes and antigens. Hopefully from there, I can develop questions pertaining to structural or chromosomal composition and th...
Read more

Trying to Learn Statistics

-
Image
It is almost turkey times, friends! I cannot wait for some stuffing (it's my favorite). First, I'd like to say I am having issues commenting on my own blog. I have seen your comments and appreciate the support, encouragement, and advice. Hopefully, I will have these technical issues resolved soon so that I can respond and send my warm regards.  I have done a little statistics in some of my science classes, but have not taken the class, yet. I believe it's on my schedule for one of the upcoming semesters. Therefore, I don't fully know about the types of statistical comparisons.  My week has been organizing my data into neat little tables that make sense. Also, I have had to collect some more climate data for one of my regions. I need to have a meeting with a mentor to help me understand statistically and graphically. I love math, but my least favorite part is making the graphs. Well, just complicated ones are challenging. Really my goal is to have the data really clearly...
Read more