Day 4: Ah yes, nonafluorohexyltriethoxysilane

In the morning, we talked to Dr. Kevin Boggs, who works in commercialization at RTI. He talked to us about what his job entails, his education, and his career path. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from the meeting, but Dr. Boggs was very engaging and I found his story fascinating. I realized breakthroughs in research can’t make a difference on their own: they have to be commercialized for the public to benefit. Dr. Boggs talked about how it was gratifying to bring life-saving applications of research to people, even though he wasn’t involved intellectually in the discovery. He discussed how it was beneficial for him in the business to have a PhD in biology – it allows his to understand the concepts he’s selling and also gives him credibility. It was interesting to hear about an application of an advanced science degree that isn’t in research. I also learned about the Copyright Clause in the US Constitution (Article 1 Section 8 Clause 8) that guarantees an inventor the right to their invention!
The afternoon was dedicated to extensive chemical inventory. Madisen and I got through two shelves of chemicals in bottles big and small, some expired, some leaking, some with names that took up two lines on the bottle. A particularly memorable name: (heptadecafluoro-1, 1, 2, 2-tetrahydrodecyl)trimethoxysilane. As Madisen aptly put it, “you know it’s bad when (something like) ‘cystamine dihydrochloride’ seems refreshingly short.” It’s all part of the intern experience.
The many bottles of chemicals we sorted through
Inventory!

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