Day 5

Day 5: PowerPoint

Research has finally come to an end! Today, after a quick check in meeting with Mr. Self, we began working on our presentation. After meeting with Mr. Self, we met with each other to discuss an outline. I’m glad to be done with research because even though I was finding some interesting stuff, all that research was kind of exhausting. In terms of making the presentation, I think the hardest thing for me will be sifting through all of my research and determining what is necessary and what isn’t. Also, we made plans to meet up in person to practice our presentation and I’m excited about that because this will be the first time we will be together as a group since our WEP began. Things have been going smoothly these past five days, and I’m excited (and nervous) to present all our hard work to Mr. Self.

Day 5- Working with Data For Good

Today I got to learn a lot more about the coding that goes behind SAS data. I created my free SAS on demand for academics account which is similar to Java or Python, but it is intended for analyzing data sets and forming graphs, so it is also like Excel. A SAS programmer presented to us for the first half of the day teaching basic lines of code that will create bar charts and such that represent fake data that is realistic to sales. We analyzed fake data from 3000 customers, three different groups of 1000 people were presented with the same product at different three different prices and we were to analyze lots of data to figure out what would maximize our profit. There were many factors that we had to take into account.

After lunch, we learned how to use SAS Visual Analytics which had many options to turn numbers into graphics. This was very helpful for me because I was able to understand all the data better when it was combined all into one visual graph and the data was easy to compare and contrast. We eventually got to make our own visuals about data from the prices of different foods in developing countries and it was really interesting to see how other SAS interns interpreted and presented their data. In the picture below I am asking Matthew Schaeffer a question about his data presentation.

Day 5 – More Image Creation

Today, I worked more on creating images that would assist doctors in reading on their patients’ CBC and BMP values. In doing so, I learned how to create images that can be saved to the computer using python. My code scaled the text to the space that was available to be used. I still did not manage to finish programming the image creator because at this point, my code began to ‘hang’ at areas with missing values, preventing the rest of the code from executing.

I do not feel comfortable posting any images as I have been working with confidential information and am not able to disclose said information to the public.

Day 5: Analyzing the Blueprints

Today at good ol’ SEPI, I worked with a contractor and an engineer from a group called “IDIAS.” I learned later on that this name came about by taking the maiden name, Saidi, of the company owner, Sepi, and spelling it backwards. Pretty cool. It also sounds like “ideas,” which is also pretty cool. Basically, one of their main jobs is to secure construction project permits that the government bids out to different civil engineering or construction firms, so that they can work on more projects and in turn make more money for the company. Because SEPI is a relatively small and new firm, competition is everywhere, so IDIAS is very important. I was given some blueprints to look at for a government warehouse used for military training exercises, and boy were they detailed! My head hurt from trying to read all of the tiny print and small symbols that filled every page. There were hundreds of pages detailing the tiniest aspects of the building, from top to bottom. My head still hurts from thinking about the tiny print, so I’ll end this one here.

Day 5- SAS Studio (and More)

On our first day back we met up with Elliot Inman, a specialist in Data Science at SAS. Basically, his job is to analyze and present a lot of the data that clients give SAS. He led an intro into programming with SAS code, where we wrote some scripts designed to retrieve certain information from a given data set.

After lunch, we looked at some of the data in the GatherIQ app, specifically the food exports of developing markets (a stand-in term for nations due to conflicts over what countries are actually considered countries). After a brief tutorial into how SAS presents data in charts and other visual aids, we were given the task of assembling something of our own. I chose to compare the exports of Colombia with my least favorite country listed: Algeria.

~Me presenting my research (notice Cino far left)

day 5 – Looking into computer science

With many students being off campus, Monday was slow as always. With this extra time I had, I took it to talk to some members of the IS department about computers and computer-related fields. By talking with members of the IS department including Mrs.Mckenzie and Mr.Rokuskie I got some advice and some help when it comes to thinking about my plans for the future specifically about what facet of computer science I might like the best. In talking I learned some valuable knowledge about computer science including some jobs that are contained within computer science. I was also lucky to have spoken to Mrs.McKenzie who has had many different jobs in the field and was able to relay some knowledge about the ones that interested me. I asked her about being a technology/business liaison and what its like and she also told me about networking and its importance in the growth of cyber security.

Work Experience Day 5- Banking Basics

Today was another great day at the Polanco law firm! I spent today doing many of the same things I had spent my time doing the rest of the week. I filed papers, made copies, and entered data. It was a lot of fun because I was really getting the hang of it, I knew better strategies to find files and began to be able to do all of these things faster! However, today was a little bit different than most days. I learned that every once in a while the firm has a representative from BB&T come to their office and talk to them about financing tips. I got to sit in on one of her classes while she taught us all about credit and how to use it responsibly. She told us about the benefits of using a bank, how to save effectively, and what types of credit accounts are available for individuals to use. The class focused equally on how businesses should manage their finances and on tips for individuals. It also came with a work book that me and all members of the firm filled out. Overall, it was extremely interesting and I enjoyed learning a little bit more about money management. It reminded me that law firm’s are a type of corporation and have to manage money effectively on top of all their other duties. The rest of the day I continued data entry and I talked more to some of the interns about law school. They told me about how there were opportunities to study abroad in law school, I found this extremely interesting. One of them is planning on going to study abroad in England this summer! Overall, it was another extremely productive and interesting day at the firm.

Day 5: New Horizons

Yesterday at FHI 360, I met with some of the leaders in contraceptive technology innovation. First we met with Dr. Kopf, who is the director of research and development at the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Department. He talked a lot about his circuitous journey to FHI 360. He went from the lab to teaching to the pharmaceutical industry to FHI 360. “Very often, I am told by students that they want to do ‘A’, which will lead to ‘B’, which will lead to ‘C’, and ‘D’. How often does that happen?” he questioned. He told us that as life throws us different curveballs, we shouldn’t be scared. It’s all part of the process.

On a sidenote, I may have taken Dr. Kopf’s advice too seriously yesterday, and explored a little bit too far. The sushi restaurant we ate at offered their plain wasabi as almost all sushi places do, but they also offered a “Real Wasabi” option. I left the restaurant with teary eyes and a stinging nose.

Today I got some one on one time working with Dr. Hsu in the lab. We spent a few hours making organoids in the tissue culture lab to be transferred to the mouse laboratory to be injected into the mice and developed into complete cancer cell lines to observe their growth. Tomorrow, we have to work on plating the organoids to make sure they’re ready to be injected into the mice. What happens after they are injected is that upon observing the natural growth, different drugs are tested, and our job is to observe whether the mice respond to the drug or not. And a response to the drug isn’t necessarily positive as the mice can respond poorly to the drug causing other medical symptoms, or the cancer cells could continue to duplicate. But, how did we make the organoids? What we did was take a piece of tumor delivered from the OR and we soaked it in a solution at room temperature over the weekend. This allowed parts of the tumor to dissociate into the solution. What we had to do then was remove the surrounding liquid without removing any of the floating cancer tissue. After this process was completed multiple times (a cycle of pipetting), the organoids were left in the tube and ready to be distributed to petri dishes to be observed under the microscope. Upon observing the organoids, you could see that they looked like a group of clumped cells.

Day 5 – The Orchestra Librarian

As a part of my integration into the symphony society, my supervisor had me meet with the orchestra librarian to get a better understanding of how everything works. At Meymandi Hall, in the depths of the basement, through seemingly a million doors and small corridors, Deb (the orchestra librarian) sits amongst thousands of scores that the symphony has collected over the years.

The Orchestra Librarian, I have learned, has one of the most important jobs of the NC Symphony. Deb not only delivers and sets up the musician’s music, but also deals with a plethora of copyrighting laws, the composers wants and 14 series of music to prepare for the upcoming season. She explained that the process of buying and/or renting pieces of music starts almost a year in advance to the time it is actually played. She deals with all of the companies selling the music and HAND WRITES all of the conductor’s and other musician’s markings into all of the other sets of music.

We talked about the history of written music and why some pieces can or cannot be purchased, as well as how the history of the U.S. has affected the music, the composers, and the direction of classical music itself. We talked about our mutual love of Duke Ellington and how she became the NC Symphony’s principal orchestra librarian. We talked about how she never thought she would be in the position she’s at today, that she always planned on playing percussion in an orchestra, but how ultimately she feels that everyone ends up where they are supposed to be in life. (<my favorite takeaway)