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Cluster 6: Biodiesel from Renewable Sources

Week 3

Day 1 (Friday, 7/21):

This morning we continued to analyze our biodiesel with everybody continuing their lab rotations (bomb calorimetry, viscosity and cloud point, GC/MS, metals by IC, and FTIR) and working with very expensive fancy machines! In the afternoon, we were lucky to hear from guest speaker Alexia Moore talking to us about marine aerosols and VOC (volatile organic compounds).

Towards the end of the day, we all went on a mandatory field trip to the Sun God statue to watch the sunset! The lighting was beautiful and our entire cluster bonded together well. On the very right, you can see photos of our wonderful Cluster RA's Alishia and Matthew! Photos of our entire cluster are at the bottom in the gallery.

Day 2 (Saturday, 7/22)

Every good show has an obligatory beach episode. So of course we had to have a good time at the beach where we can put our minds off chemistry.

Throughout the morning and much of the afternoon, we spent much of our time at La Jolla Beach. The weather was terrific, and it was fun being in the water (if you didn't forget your swim waiver but not many people went in the water anyways). The beach town had a lot of shops and fancy restaurants which may or may not try to rip you off all your money. We all split off into our friend groups and we all ate something exciting. The options were: Japanese food, Italian food, Steakhouse, Ice Cream, Cafes, Mexican Food, and so much more!

Our beach day ended at 2:30 (too little time if you ask me) and we all had to gather to go back to campus.

Day 3 (Sunday, 7/23):

On Sunday, COSMOS hosted its very own Casino Night. Each student started out with $200 (fake money) and gambled to try and buy raffle tickets that they could enter to win various prizes. To add to the theme, the RAs served "cocktails" and other drinks while we were testing our luck. Students were able to play Black Jack, Poker, and Roulette with real chips provided by COSMOS and our amazing teacher-fellow, Tim Towler (right image)!

COSMOS is excellent for learning science, lab experience, and gambling!

Day 4 (Monday, 7/24):

On Monday, we started our day off with lab rotations: bomb calorimetry, GC/MS, IC, FTIR, and viscosity analysis (shown on the right).

Later, after lunch, we were lectured by Dr. Skip about how chromatography is used to separate substances based on differences in their boiling points, intermolecular forces, density, and other physical characteristics.

Day 5 (Tuesday, 7/25):

The day started with guest speaker Henrik Christensen lecturing about robots and autonomous vehicles, which was very interesting to hear about even if it doesn't directly correlate with our cluster.

In the afternoon, we split off into our project groups (making biodiesel and using a particle counter, polyol synthesis, hydroxyl number / compost decomposition, VOC/oysters, and succinic acid) to further learn about the benefits of biodiesel, gain exposure to professions, and see the upsides of a closed loop production system. To the right, you can see the roughly $300,000 mass spectrometer that Dr. Su specializes in with countless years of experience.

Day 6 (Wednesday, 7/26):

Chemistry is just as much as learning patience as much as it is learning science. Our lab rotations consist of us sitting around waiting for something to happen--- Berk calls it "watching paint dry"--- and trying to figure out why something doesn't work. In truth, the actual procedure init of itself is not difficult; being good at it is. Luckily for us, our groups can congregate the last of our monkey brain cells, and we can always make things work. Smooth sailing in our labs thus far.