Day 1 (Friday, 7/14):

Today we had one goal in the lab: test our "dried" biodiesel for any remaining water. Traces of water are difficult to detect, but we managed to accomplish this through a Karl Fischer titration. However, the reaction uses potentially dangerous chemicals, so Berk (one of our Cluster Assistants) ran the reaction for us and told us the results.

Friday night was COSMOlympics, an annual competition between all the clusters featuring games and a skit that each cluster prepared a week for. After a few games such as musical towels and a water balloon toss, the skits began. Our skit featured WII Sports, specifically tennis, bowling, and boxing, and Just Dance. At the end, they revealed that our cluster has made it to the podium, but our position was unknown. The crowd cheered for each cluster in succession and the judges picked a winner based on the loudest cheer. Everyone waited for the decision, and in the end, they said, "I think it is clear who the winner is: Cluster 6!" We cheered and screamed with adrenaline pumping through all of us. Our prize was an Oscar trophy, medal, and sweatshirt that would arrive later. To the right, you can see all of us together holding our awards and making a "1" and "6" (five on one hand, the trophy is the last finger) with our hand.

Day 2 (Saturday, 7/16)

For most of the day, our cluster was at the San Diego Zoo, where we got to view numerous animals from many different places worldwide. It seemed as if there was not enough time to account for the traffic and time distributing ourselves within the buses because we arrived at the zoo over one hour late! Thankfully, the RAs decided that we should have more time so they extended our visit by about an hour. 

We split into multiple groups and set off to see whatever we wanted. Some animals included tigers, elephants, snakes, birds, and many different species of mammals that are rarely found worldwide. After returning from the zoo at 2:30, we finished the day with some outdoor activities.

Day 4 (Monday, 7/18)

Today was a busy working day! Our cluster split with our lab partners to analyze the biofuel samples we created last week. We did various activities, some of which consisted of just sitting around and waiting for machines to do their jobs (the future is now). Some other groups were more "hands-on" as they had to titrate samples and so on. 

After our lunch, we walked back to a lecture Dr. Pomeroy gave. He gave us a fascinating insight into some important chemical foundations. His lectures are very clear and concise, and he asks us many great questions. We all wish Dr. Pomeroy were our school's chemistry teacher— he makes unusual concepts seem familiar. 

Day 6 (Tuesday, 7/19)

In the morning we had a guest lecture by Professor Benjamin Smarr speaking about different life lessons and using his experiments as examples. In the afternoon, we split into our small project groups, which were 5 groups of 4, headed by a Cluster Assistant. The groups include running biodiesel through an actual engine and counting particles, conducting a polyol synthesis, finding the hydroxyl number, finding VOC and seeing the impact oysters can have, and using and producing succinic acid. It was a busy but fun lab day for many! To the right, you can see Ryan, who's part of the polyol synthesis group, staring at the bottle of 30% hydrogen peroxide. Just a side note, that stuff can burn your skin! Thankfully, Ryan is wearing his lab coat, goggles, and gloves, and the cap of the bottle is tightened.