Today was packed with new information. Though I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around all of it, I feel like I’ve learned a ton since this time yesterday.

We started off the day talking with Andrew Neel about ethically handling research involving human subjects. I am glad that there are safeguards in place to protect vulnerable populations when research is being conducted. Since I will probably be doing research involving personal data at some point, I would like to get a better look at what the Human Review Board process looks like. In addition to attending the lecture, I have to complete CITI training for ethical research as part of my REU requirements. I am going to try to get started on that pretty soon since I’ve heard that it takes a while.

After the lecture, we were introduced to GitHub, a site that allows users to easily collaborate through sharing and merging files. Honestly, this was the most confusing part of the day; I had never used this technology before and it was a lot to take in. Also, I didn’t have a command-line interface downloaded to work with, so I had to fumble through using other methods. Most of the time I spent on homework tonight was just trying to understand enough of GitHub to submit my assignments. I will do my best to quickly learn the ins and outs of GitHub so that I can collaborate on research this summer without messing everyone up.

The GitHub session ran over a little bit, so we had to do the paper circuits session rather quickly. A circuit is a system through which electricity flows from the positive side of a battery to the negative side of a battery. Simple circuits also usually include a resistor and an electronically powered item such as a LED bulb.

Since we will be teaching Girl Scouts how to build paper circuits, we had to try out the process ourselves. It was a pretty fun and simple project, though I could see how someone could make a very intricate circuit design. Drawing the diagram and putting down the copper tape was simple enough; however, the soldering process was a bit daunting the first time. I felt like I was bound to burn myself or the paper, but it ended up turning out fine. I was proud of the final product, which turned an LED light on when a corner of the paper was turned down. The only thing we didn’t have the chance to attach was the battery, but we read how to create a battery holder here (which is a great resource for paper circuits in general). I thought  the battery pouch idea was particularly interesting.

The other electronics session we had today was setting up Arduino. Ben Jelen lent each of us a LilyPad, which is particularly handy for integrating sensors into crafts since it is flat and lightweight. Sadly, I was not able to connect the LilyPad with my computer even after a long period of trouble shooting. Tomorrow when we actually use the technology I will  team up with someone else.

Once time ran out for that session, we began learning how to write in ShareLaTeX.  I absolutely love this method of creating professional documents. Once I got used to the commands, adding and referencing articles, tables, and pictures was a breeze. To practice creating documents this way, we created two biographies. The first was a professional biography, whereas the second was aimed at K-12 students.

To wrap up the day, we listened to two more potential REU projects for this summer. Anna’s work dealt with helping people overcome the loss of a loved one using technology. Tom’s research focused on the lives of people dealing with 3 chronic diseases simultaneously: Type 2 diabetes, mental illness, and a restrictive physical ailment. Both of these research topics seemed interesting. However, since these projects are in their initial phases, REU students would mostly be dealing with qualitative analysis of interview materials. Since I would like to get more computer science work under my belt, I’m not sure these would be the best projects for me. However, I am going to keep an open mind going forward; this summer is all about discovering what I like and dislike researching, after all.

Unknown Animal of the Day: Red-Lipped Batfish

The Red-Lipped Batfish is a type of angler fish with – you guessed it- bright red lips. This peculiar creature is a very poor swimmer; to compensate, it has highly developed pectoral fins to help it walk around the ocean floor.