Weekend
On Saturday, I went with a group of REU students to the Farmers Market and purchased a basket of peaches! Then we went to Vintage Vogue, a high end thrift store, that was 50% off because it was the first Saturday of the month. We also went to Kroger’s for our weekly grocery store trip. Sunday was more relaxed, we went to go get bubble tea and for dinner we went to Mother Bears.

Monday
Today I searched for more parts for the tool kit on Adafruit and watched some of the online youtube videos. I’m currently thinking that getting a Flora with snaps is the way to go because it would allow for versatility with projects and multiple projects. I also read two more papers on Maker technology by Leah Buechley, the one on Quilt Snaps was really interesting because it integrated technology into crafting, but the platform was limiting, as our ideal toolkit would allow users to integrate technology into their existing craft projects, and have other applications. I also wrote a good portion of the draft of the introduction section for our paper. I’m struggling a bit differentiating between the introduction section and the related works section and I want to make sure I don’t overlap too much with what I discuss in each.

Tuesday
This morning I ran into Dr. Siek just as I arrived at work and we discussed some parts for the toolkit briefly. I mentioned my idea for making all the parts in the toolkit snappable, so that they could be reused in other projects and the bases could be color coded and larger. She liked the idea and suggested that a laser cut base with electrically connected holes could make it more usable as it would be easier to sew than a snap. Then Mina, Ben, and I went to Twin Lakes, a local community center, to observe a quilting group. The group was very passionate about quilting and talked about all the quilting and fabric stores they had been to in the area. They were all very nice and were good friends with one another.

After observing the quilting group, I finalized my wish list. Then Mina, Ben and I met. We discussed our progress on writing the paper. It’s been going pretty smoothly so far and last week was just pretty tedious with a lot of literature review. Mina and I discussed the our timeline for writing the drafts so we will be able to finish this week. We also talked about other activities we could be working on, and decided to meet tomorrow to get more practice laser cutting and 3D printing. Then, I decided to start writing my draft of the related work section, and wrote about the health benefits of engaging in creative activities and I created files for laser cutting and 3D printing.

Wednesday
This morning Mina and I went with Ben to get more practice laser cutting and 3D printing. I’m hoping to make a prototype in the future but am not quite sure what I want to make.After I mainly worked on drafting my related work section, it was more difficult than I expected because it isn’t just a summary of each paper but rather how they relate to our research and how our research is different. We had a meeting this afternoon about writing academic papers and writing the introduction for academic papers and it was helpful to hear the perspective from some people who are way more experienced. After the meeting, I went back to my introduction and the section of the related work I had drafted and started editing it.

Example 3D print

Thursday
On Thursday Mina and I met to talk about our progress on the draft and make sure that we had a continuous document.  We gave each other feedback on sections and revised our work. We spent the majority of Thursday rewriting the related works and methods sections. We met a couple of times just to make sure we were on the same page and everything was flowing smoothly. Unfortunately, we realized that a few parts didn’t have enough material so we had to go back and read some more papers. We were able to finish all of the drafts and meet the timeline that was presented to us in the first week.

Friday
On Friday we met with Dr. Siek to discuss the progress on our drafts and the toolkits. We are probably going to go back through and edit and rewrite and little more. We also discussed our joint wish lists and are sending in the order. Then I went to the ProHealth Design Lab Meeting to hear a little more about what others in the program were up to this week. The theme of the meeting was spirit animals. After the meeting I downloaded Fritzing, a software to help with circuitry and uploaded some Flora files. Later Mina and I met with Ben to discuss the progress on writing and developing a toolkit. Then I used Adobe Illustrator to draft the schematics for a potential prototype.  I am thinking about creating a box to hold a medication wheel that will have a light reminder. Later we had a prohealth tea and heard from the graduate students about their experience choosing which grad school to apply to and what degree to study. Then Dr. Siek taught me how to sew an LED into fabric with a sewing machine. After work all the REU students and SROC students got together to bake cookies and watch a movie.

Song of the Week