Day3 – Page 2 – CA Work Experience Program

The CEO Excels at Running Kellogg

Tired of me using the word Excel? Too bad!
Contrary to the original plan, I went to work today, despite the CEO visit.

The day featured a plethora of Excel: I constructed graphs that went directly to department heads, determined the productivity of each line, and began solidifying upcoming fiscal projections. Beyond number-crunching, I aided in exporting SAP database files to Excel, the construction of pivot-tables, and attempted to streamline communication between department chairs. It seems as though all the hard work from the past two days has paid off and SAP is current!

More importantly, the controller tasked me with the constructing the “deck” for the CEO: the list of graphs, PPT slides, etc. that would represent the finance department. Although he already composed a few slides, we constructed numerous other financial reports to show off the plant; we, together, also built the period five scrap-map of the plant. And, we decorated three conference rooms with our new graphs! Quite the impressive day by my standards. (In the infamous words of everyone: Yay! Accounting!).

On a less significant note, I met some of the other interns. They work downstairs while I work upstairs; I doubt I’ll be spending much time with them, but I’m glad to know that I’m not the only minnow in the sea of sharks.

After lunch, instead of taking the 2 o’clock tour around the production floor, I went with Gary, the man that does a bit of just about everything (he constructs the factory’s standards, recipe changes, and manages day-to-day finances). Instead of listening to the daily foreman reports, Gary and I looked for places of potential improvement; he knows that I like Industrial Systems and Engineering, which he majored in, so we discussed the ramifications of the current plant setup and the soon-to-be-open line! He appreciated the remarks I had, and I believe we’ll flesh out some of my ideas of the next few days. Who knows, perhaps I’ll leave a more significant mark on the plant than I intended?

The final half-hour of my day consisted of sorting through file cabinets to find White Cheddar Cheez-IT mix files, and calculating the %seasoning by weight of each cracker (data found on the mix sheets) will be my first task tomorrow!

All-in-all, it was an exciting day; I’m looking forward to tomorrow, where we will tackle remaining issues with the 5+7 plan and Ruckus.

Day 3- Lab Fun

The day started off in the lab with Natalie, which was super cool. We first were in the lab I have been working in where she showed me an instrument used to measure degradation at different temperatures, and measure certain points such as full degradation among others. This machine can go up to 900 degrees Celsius, so it can measure many different temperatures. The machine is connected to a computer and has its own program so you program it to do different things in terms of temperature. So for the project she’s working on now, Natalie set it to increase 10 degrees C every minute until it gets to 800 degrees C. To start Natalie put the little platinum dish in the machine and tared it, and then added about 8 mg of the polymer we were testing. The machine then did its thing and we left it to run, since it takes around 2 hours. While it was running the program on the computer was collecting real time data so we could see the amount of the polymer degrading. Afterwards we went to another building to go into another lab with a different instrument she was going to show me how to use. This machine quantifies the amount of crystalline vs amorphous material that makes up the substance. She also explained to me how different amount of amorphous material can effect if the solid is brittle or soft, and how this affects is first order transition and the amount of energy that is needed/ released from this reaction. We also discussed other types of endo/exothermic reactions, which was interesting since I could see a concept I learned in chemistry this year come into play in the real world. After teaching me how to use this machine and getting to use a really cool massing device (that had 5 sig figs in mg!) we went back the other building and i got some time work on a mini project i got assigned and do some reading. I got settled in my very own office and started working on the project- to make a power point of pictures explaining how the device works, to show to focuses groups of women in Africa to get their opinions and suggestions. During this time I also did some additional reading on the project and looked at some other presentations. Afterwards it was time for lunch, so I went with Alice, Natalie, and Valeria (all on the project), and we talked about the project but also got to know each other better. Then after lunch I got to go in the lab again! This time I was working with Pafio. He taught me how they use a spectrophotometer, the measure the amount of drug in the buffer solutions. I got to pipette some buffers into the dish, put it in the sectrophotometer, analyze the data, and learn how they clean it. Afterwards I helped Pafio make some buffer solutions they would need for tomorrow. So i just put 100 ml of a solution with a pH of 7.4 that was made up of various chemicals with 900 ml of water that is even more pure than DI water!! I made about 8, 1 L bottles of solutions. Afterwards I got a little more time to work on my project. Overall I got to spend lots of time in the lab and learn about new instruments which i loved!! I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Day 3- Exploding Condoms

To begin the day, we met with former Russian cardiologist Dr. Yacobsen and discussed her transition from cardiology to the ECHO department and her work in other countries. From a newspaper ad asking for a new employee well-versed in Russian, she jumped at the opportunity and now works with contraceptives. For further learning in the subject of contraception, we went to the PQC Lab- a laboratory owned by FHI to test anything from cervical caps, mosquito netting, to drugs. At the lab, they filled condoms with water to check for leaks and we even got to watch them explode! All of the testing was fascinating and crucial for the wellbeing of each and every person that FHI helps throughout the world. Back at FHI, we met with Ms. Pirzadeh and Dr. Hubacher, both a part of or have worked with the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Department. Ms. Pirzadeh and Dr. Yacobsen both work under PSTS and work with “Research Utilization” to take data and statistics and transform them into information that is easy to comprehend for a variety of people. Lastly, we spoke to Dr. Hubacher, the “IUD King”. He knows everything there is to know about intrauterine devices- differences between products, prices, and policies in countries. For instance, an IUD in Africa could cost about 50 cents, however here it could cost hundreds of dollars! We also discussed the fascinating trends of IUDs throughout the past few decades, peaking, then plunging, and finally peaking again. The unpopularity was probably caused by a form of IUD that underwent little testing and resulted in an ineffective product with a 6% fail rate and a high infection rate due to the material of the strings.

Condom Testing!

A variety of IUDs available in different countries.

Day 3

Today was a more low-key day. We started at around 8:30am by looking at some crazy x-rays from a patient who had fidgeted with their pacemaker (which lies under the skin underneath the collarbone) and caused the wires, which were attached to the heart in specific locations, to become coiled up and removed from their original positions. This can be very bad, especially if the patient is relying on this device to keep their heart beating. After looking at these x-rays, we watched 4 very quick procedures in the cath lab. The cath lab is where minimally invasive procedures are done with catheters. The first procedure was placing a micra pacemaker in a patient. A picture of this pacemaker can be seen in the post from day 1 (it is the very small device next to the larger one). The second procedure was called a linq. It is a 10 minute procedure in which the patient is awake the entire time. This particular patient was young and had a stroke. The doctors didn’t know why, so they completed this procedure which inserts a small device right under the skin and detects when the heart is having irregular rhythms. It then sends data to the doctor to look at in the morning. The third procedure was replacing the battery in a pacemaker that a patient had. The batteries themselves cannot be replaced, the entire pacemaker has to be replaced for a new battery. In this surgery the leads were unscrewed from the old pacemaker and screwed into a new pacemaker with the new battery. The next procedure was similar to the first procedure we saw on day 1, where a regular pacemaker with wires/leads were placed into a patient. After this 4th surgery, we took a quick lunch break then watched our final surgery of the day which was seeing if a patient needed a stent or bypass surgery. To do this, the patient is lightly sedated and a catheter is brought into the heart through an artery in the arm. Contrast is injected and x-rays are used to see where the blockages are. The picture below is an example of what a blocked artery looks like. This picture is from the internet and not from the actual patient we saw.

After this procedure we called it a day at around 2pm after having two back to back long work days (as high school students).

Day 3 – Meetings, Deliverables, and Networking

I started off my day bright and early per usual with an 8am meeting with Crystal and Rachele, who focus on roadmapping. I viewed their past quarterly roadmap, learned a little about the process, usage, and plans to digitize into an interactive online format. Later in the morning I also met with Shelly, our marketing consultant. She shared with me a little bit about her job organizing and planning trade shows and conferences. My third meeting of the day was with Mary Edwards, the Senior Vice President, who shared with me a bit about her background, as well as offered me excellent advice for designing and facilitating development in my career. Tina (VP Manager of group) and Liz (Manager of product) also treated Adam (my fellow intern) and myself to lunch today, where we got to discuss a bit about my time here, future aspirations, summer plans, etc.

Upon my return from lunch I met with Beth (Senior Copywriter), who explained her writing, editing, and proofing responsibilities, as well as gave me some advice for writing in a business style. I also met again with Liz to debrief on my visit to HM Document Solutions (the print shop) tomorrow, where the conversation morphed into narrowing down my interests, and consequently making a rough career plan for me. I am very excited for my future plans! In my free time between meetings throughout the day, I worked on updating the HMHS website content from its 2.0 to 3.0 version. I also ended up staying 45 minutes late after work today, where I went up into the tower and got the chance to do some networking with some company leaders!

Day 3- First Client Meeting

Today we had a client meeting in Durham for a Biochemical businesswoman looking to buy an investment property. We discussed how she originally was looking at realtor.com or Zillow for homes, something that makes the exclusive MLS obsolete. Tiffany explained that those websites are selling your information to real estate agents who can then see what homes and areas you’re looking at to eventually try and become your agent. The woman was scared her information would be sold and was frustrated that every time she liked a property it turned out that the information on those websites were 1-2 months outdated and she, therefore, contacted Tiffany Alexy who she met a couple months ago at a networking event. We also discussed the Chatham Park Project, a place in Pittsboro, NC that will be developed in the next 20-30 years to become another town modeled after Cary. Because it is not yet developed, the properties there will give you more “bang for your buck”, but you will have to live through construction and requires a long drive into the city. I also learned that Tiffany Alexy’s ultimate goal is to become the next Barbra C. (form shark tank) who sold a successful real estate company to eventually invest in other companies.

Day 3: Perinatal Incarceration Summit

I arrived at the ACLU office at 7:45 a.m. sharp, an early start to an important day. I remained in the parking lot for a few moments until I witnessed Susanna’s car round the curb. Together, we headed the Durham Convention Center’s Perinatal Incarceration Summit, discussing topics ranging from her three daughters to my role as an ACLU volunteer and advocate.

When we arrived, we grabbed our nametags and entered the grand ballroom, which was segmented off to accompany approximately seventy-five people. Tables were clustered throughout the room, and college-aged to middle-aged women sat in each of the chairs. It was a diverse gathering of people, I pleasantly noticed–at least fifty percent of attendants were women of color. As the conference started, I unearthed my notebook from my backpack and began to take notes.

The conference encompassed everything from cash bail to prison to jail to pregnancy to reproductive justice. It was radical in nature, but in the best, most forward-thinking-radical way possible. It was formatted as a series of panelists–some of whom had given birth while incarcerated themselves. The information and subject matter is heavy and at times overwhelming, so I’ll do my best to present a general overview of the knowledge I gained (plus some of my own opinions derived from this knowledge).

Incarceration, in the broadest definition, includes imprisonment, probation, and parole. In America, over 7 million citizens are under surveillance by the criminal justice system, although they are not physically in jail or prison. In essence, America uses a system designed to criminalize individuals by methods of dominance, supremacy, and control. Pregnant incarcerated women, I learned, in many instances are not able to receive pre- and post-partum individualized care or attention, even if they are serving a sentence for a nonviolent or minor crime. In fact, pregnant women are often confined to a lifestyle of eating, sleeping, watching some TV, and walking while under strict surveillance. After childbirth, they’re handcuffed and expected to return to their normal, imprisoned lives in under two weeks. This treatment is degrading and demoralizing.

Additionally, besides being separated from their child, these women are often prohibited from keeping pictures of their children while imprisoned because these pictures might be a “disruption”. The true insidious nature of our criminal justice system is that it dehumanizes individuals while also generating copious amounts of profit. Even DUI programs are designed to amass revenue. Traffic laws are created in such a way that they will be broken, once again bringing in wealth. These women, these people, these humans, who are in some cases shackled during labor, are simultaneously constantly surveilled and invisible. That’s the irony of our so-called justice system. Persuading individuals to believe that they are nothing, but that their nothingness deserves to be monitored every single second. As if they weren’t transparent enough already.

Yes, these women have made mistakes–perhaps a misstep or a wrong turn somewhere—but they are people. Wonderful people, too. I had the privilege of listening to the stories of two women, both of whom had given birth while in prison. One woman began crying while telling her story, as this event was the first instance in which she had “come out of the closet” or shared the experiences of her incarceration. She described the degradation of bleeding while shackled and handcuffed and nine months pregnant, begging for treatment and receiving the most minimal amount. The second woman mentioned her three suicide attempts after her baby was ripped from her arms. It’s important to mention that both of these women were serving sentences for nonviolent, minor crimes, and that the only reason they were in jail was due to the fact that they were women of color. Needless to say, I shed many, many tears.

I left the summit with a profound sense of empathy for these incarcerated women. Those of us who have never been to prison, never will go to prison, and never will experience the subtle and deceitful effect of mass incarceration on our day-to-day lives are so incredibly lucky. For others, it isn’t quite as easy. For others, it’s a different narrative–one of poverty and racism and drug addiction and financial incentive. We must remember their stories, too. As I hopped back into the passenger’s seat of Susanna’s car, I knew that I must never stop being an advocate.

Day 3 – Integrated Pain Solutions: Data, Cleaning, Cake, and Urine!!

Alas, Liya and I drive another long ways out to our destination of hemp and cannabinoids. Things picked up when we entered IPS today and met up with Sean in the morning to analyze the data from yesterday. Studying the linear regression models, we used the data to compile a report on the levels of CBD, CBDA, THC, and THCA in the oven-baked flowers and hemp oil. Afterwards, we returned to the lab area to clean the mass spectrometer. Sean removed the pressurizer can cleaned the surfaces with alcohol. Additionally, he used a sonicator to remove the ions and other impurities from small metal pieces. Liya and I had some free time afterwards as we waited for lunch. During the time, we read stories and watched videos of people who advocate for the benefits of CBD. It was pretty awesome seeing how many people improved their sleep, anxiety, opioid addictions, etc. from these products.

As lunch rolls around, the lab team decided to get food from a nice Thai eatery which we brought back to IPS, but the restaurant forgot to give us our fried bananas for dessert! This ended up working out because I brought a dark chocolate pound cake as a thank you gift for the lab group. Since Krystle wouldn’t be there on Friday, Liya and I thought a dessert would hopefully be a way we could show our appreciation. As we ate our Thai food and chocolate cake (strange combo honestly), we also got to talk about the history and background of Integrated Lab Solutions (ILS), a subset of Integrated Solutions. It turned into an extended lunch break but was time well spent. Not only did I learn more about the laboratories, I also learned more about the individual scientists and employees! They are all really nice, smart individuals!

After we finished our share of spicy chicken and crab rangoons, Krystle showed us their urine test operations. Fun fact: don’t try to dilute your pee when you go to the doctor’s office for a test. Apparently, a lot of people try to do that! We learned that the HPLC machines can easily detect the purposeful dilution and whatever the person may try to hide, so be honest haha! For confidentiality reasons, we were unable to analyze or study the urine testing in detail, but the general info was still quite interesting! Can’t wait for our final day tomorrow!

Day 3 – Learning Lots of New Things!

Today I was able to experience a lot of different positions within the department. I first sat with Ms. Laura Nozedar in her office, where she showed me the techniques she uses to audit media activity in relation to public safety. For example, Ms. Nozedar uses a program called Cision that allows her to track certain keywords (such as employee names) across the internet to keep an eye on issues that pertain to the department and to keep everyone updated on different media mentions.

Ms. Nozedar showing me how she uses Cision.

Next, I sat in with Mr. Wilbert Darcus. Mr. Darcus is in charge of the offender family hotline, which means that he answers calls from the families of offenders (either in prison or on parole) and answers any inquiries they may have. I was able to listen into several of his calls, which was very educational because I got to see how he handled a variety of situations. For example, one of the calls was from a woman who was inquiring about her boyfriend’s probation regulations. Mr. Darcus also had several resources that he used to help offender families, such as the offender database. When someone would call asking about a specific offender, they would give Mr. Darcus that offender’s seven digit number and he was able to look them up in the offender database. I also learned that Mr. Darcus has a diverse background, ranging from service in the US Navy to work in the US Postal Service. Because of his multifarious experiences, Mr. Darcus had many interesting stories to tell, as well as a plethora of varied paraphernalia decorating his office.

Mr. Darcus’ large patch collection on his office wall.

Then, I visited Mrs. Claire Rice, who explained the interworkings of the department’s various publications. The specific publication that I watched her work on was their bi-weekly digest, which is a collection of information and reports on significant events that are sent out to all the employees every other week. Mrs. Rice walked me through the process of how she designs and creates the bi-weekly digest using different software such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Abode Illustrator.

Mrs. Rice demonstrating how she assembles the bi-weekly digest in Adobe InDesign.

It was very interesting to learn about Mrs. Rice’s creative process, as well as observe the amount of collaboration that goes into the publications. One of the most striking things to me thus far in the program is the diversity of employee skill sets within the department. There are many different people within one department, and- despite their different backgrounds- they’re all constantly working together and bouncing ideas off of each other. Observing these interactions throughout my first three days at the NCDPS has taught me a very important lesson: collaboration and teamwork is vital to success.

Day 3- Hooray for X-Rays!

The office was busy and full of all kinds of cases today! Today there was one sort of extreme case and several routine cleanings. My favorite two subjects that I learned about today included implants and X-rays.
A specialist places implants in a patient’s bone with a protein coating around the implant to allow the bone to grow around it to secure its placement within the mouth. Then before placing the denture in the patients mouth, the implants are given around three months to heal. However, it is possible (while rare) for the implant to not heal properly, and a gap to remain present between the implant and bone. Ultimately, this causes extreme pain when the denture is placed into the mouth as the metal implant wiggles when it is not supposed to. And here comes the importance of essays. Unfortunately, this did happen today at the office and it was through an X-ray that Dr. Sims was able to identify that the implant did not heal properly. An X-ray showed a gap in between the implant and the bone, which was likely caused by a weak bone and had nothing to do with the healing process at all. With this x-ray, Dr. Sims was able to communicate with the specialist doctor to identify a solution for this patient moving forward.
This case was not the only one which I was able to learn about through x-rays. There were several pediatric patients today, who all came in for routine cleanings, and lucky for me all of them were due for x-rays. Through the x-rays Dr. Sims explained to me how to identify if teeth were developing at a normal place and also how to identify any reasons as to why baby teeth may not be developing at a normal pace. While it is sometimes genetics, as was the case twice today, it is also common that the placement of baby teeth can prohibit permanent teeth from coming into place in the mouth. I was able to see this in different views today through x-rays.
It was interesting today to see the differences in developing teeth and permanent teeth, and witness first hand what can happen if permanent teeth are not properly cared for. I also loved watching the kids proudly walk out of the office today, as they had no cavities after their check-ups. Their smiling faces along with all the satisfied adults that were treated today really warmed my heart. It was especially interesting to watch a young child endure a dental problem that I also experienced as a child. For me to tell him how everything worked out for me, and see the hopeful look on his face, this connection honestly made my day. I loved seeing first hand how dentistry had such a positive impact on these peoples lives, and I can’t wait for more tomorrow!