This week was very busy because of all of the networking. My professor Dr. Leu (at the head of the table in the picture below) invited environmental engineering professor Sumate Chaiprapat from Prince of Songkla University in Thailand to give a talk on altering water concentrations in organic waste treatment to reduce effluent water pollution. After the talk, the whole team went out for a nice seafood dinner where we mingled and ate for a few hours. It was a great way to meet new people, both professors and grad students. Also, I attended a seminar at Hong Kong University put on by environmental engineering professor Bruce Rittman of Arizona State University. He gave a presentation on Membrane Biofilm Reactors and how they can be used to treat water polluted with oxidized contaminants. I got the opportunity to meet Dr. Rittman after the talk and converse with him about his reactors.
The week is being cut short due to my upcoming trip to Thailand. I am leaving Thursday, June 28th and returning Monday, July 2nd. Even though the week has been shortened, it has been one packed with new opportunities and new people.
0 Comments
This week tested me on one very important skill: attention to detail. I was tasked with preparing over 100 samples collected from one of our experiments for analysis. This is done by carefully centrifuging, diluting, and filtering each sample one by one. Needless to say, this was an extremely tedious task and one that if not done carefully, could be easy to mess up. These samples were taken from our lignocellulosic biomass fermentation experiment. The purpose of this experiment was to find the best conditions to ferment waste and produce the most amount of ethanol to be used for biofuels. The samples will be analyzed via High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPCL) and the results will be left for our interpretation, just like any other experiment. Once the results are analyzed, I will help to write the report too.
to Week 5 was my busiest week since I have been in Hong Kong. My current experiment is becoming more and more time intensive, requiring samples to be taken every two hours on the hour. This has lead to a few long evenings in the lab, as sampling must go on until 6pm. This is a high maintenance process, but will hopefully yield some pretty good results in the end. Also this week, I learned a few things about Hong Kong business culture. 1) Hong Kong people are very forgiving, even when you make a mistake in the lab. 2) It is okay to poke your nose in other people's business, because it could lead to fun side projects like the one shown below. 3) People in Hong Kong do not take very well to blunt or straightforward advice. In order for it to not be offensive, you must compliment and appreciate their work before offering suggestions or constructive criticism. Observations like this are important for me to traverse my way through the rest of the summer. It is small things like this that will help me learn bigger lessons in the long run. This week I was finally able to fall into an established work routine. My day starts with a nice morning walk or workout in the hotel gym. After my shower, it is time for my daily coffee and breakfast in the lobby. From there it is off to the MTR station to catch the train from Quarry Bay to Admiralty. Then I transfer from the Island Line to the Tsuen Wan Line and travel under Victoria Harbor via the cross-harbor tunnel. After one more train ride and a 15 minute walk, I arrive at the beautiful campus of Hong Kong PolyU. I usually start my day in the lab where I check on my experiments and finish any business from the previous day. Next is a few hours of office work and literature review. After lunch and tea (and sometimes a few games of ping pong), it is back to the lab again and then back to the desk. Around 5 or 6pm, it is finally time to go home for a nice shower and dinner.
I find my days becoming easier and easier as I continue to adapt to work life in Hong Kong. I am able to be more productive now that I have a daily routine in place. I believe it is important to create a routine for myself to follow so that I can become more integrated into the city. Besides, if I can overcome this obstacle in Hong Kong, I think I can overcome it in any big city in the world. This is a picture of PolyU's Yip Kit Chuen Building. This building is a good example of the campus' iconic rustic and modern style of architecture. |