Blog Challenge #3- Melissa Fowkes

For this blog challenge, we were told to take pictures of the other SEED student in action in their labs and then interview one other student about their project.

Katie is separating her ligand using a separation funnel.

Rob is labeling his samples.

Steven is checking step 5 of his process. 

Cheyeanne is examining recombinant DNA that is being iced.

Amber is washing out the mortar and pestle with aqua regina solution.

Shakasia is examining her oxidized fuel using the ROTOVAP

Jisca is measuring out NaOH using a beaker. 

The SEED student I chose to interview is Shakasia Pierce. Shakasia is a 17 year old soon-to-be senior at West Mifflin Area High School. At school, she loves math and considers herself to be a math geek. Shakasia doesn't only focus on academics, though. Volleyball is a passion of hers, and she is currently the captain of her volleyball team. SEED isn't a program that she had heard of before or even want to apply to at first. One of her teachers pushed her to apply because she thought Shakasia would fit in here. College applications were also taken into consideration when she applied; she thought it would look good on them.
This summer at Duquesne University, Shakasia is studying diesel fuel and how it oxidizes. This project is significant because updated engine systems can't handle diesel fuel. The fuel causes problems in the engine when it reaches a certain temperature and was giving off admissions that are harmful to the environment. She is developing a new method that would lessen the amount of fuel oxidation. By using the SMORS methodology she is examining how much the fuel has oxidized and using dodecane to lessen the fuel oxidation.