Data was what I had been wishing for all summer, and well…now I’m drowning in data!  With three stations up and running (more about station #3 in a minute!), and measurements being taken every five minutes, we have DATA!  Now, we just need to work on analyzing it!

On Monday, Dr. Habeeb received word that we were going to be able to install one of our small monitoring units in a campus parking lot, so we decided to select the parking lot behind Luddy Hall.  It is a big enough parking lot to have a significant area of impervious surface to absorb and re-radiate heat to demonstrate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.  It is a bonus that it is less than a 5 minute walk away! So, off I went to select a location!

In Luddy parking lot there are 8 rows of cars, with 4 rows on either side of a small island in the middle of the parking lot.  Trees are planted in the center island and around the perimeter of the parking lot, so we looked for a location that was as far away from the cooling vegetation as possible. There are 6 metal light poles in the middle of the parking lot, so we selected the center pole in the south end of the parking lot

The poles are 6 inches in diameter, so they are plenty strong enough to support the lightweight sensor, data logger, and solar shield.
The MX 2302 data loggers do not measure soil moisture, but there is no soil moisture to measure when you are in the middle of an asphalt parking lot!
Scouting out a possible location for a grassy field sensor.  We need to find a grassy field at least an acre in size that has a place that we can mount a sensor.
This field was recommended as a possible site, but the only place to mount the sensors would be on the light poles, and all of the light poles are next to the sidewalks.  The goal is to measure the air temperature of a grassy field, not the impervious surface of a sidewalk.

While we were waiting to hear back confirmation on the location of additional sensors, and the timeframe that landscaping services could help us install, we got to work on our poster for our poster presentation next week.  We realized that I had lots of “in progress” photos of the sensor stations as they went up, but “final” photos were lacking.So we went back to the garden to grab some final photos.  I’m proud of all of the work that has gone into this project!
And back to the orchard for a “final” photo.

On Wednesday we installed a HOBO MX2302 unit in the Luddy parking lot, which is a self-contained data logger that measures air temperature and relative humidity.  To retrieve the data, we download via a bluetooth signal to HOBOmobile, and once we have a wifi signal, HOBOmobile sends the data to HOBOlink, the same website where we retrieve the data for the Large RX3000 units.

The sensor is installed on a light pole in the middle of the parking lot behind Luddy Hall.
Because these HOBO MX 2303 sensor units do not measure soil moisture, they are much more compact than the large HOBO RX3000 remote monitoring stations.  This makes them easier to install, but they do not  broadcast the data like the large units do, so we have to visit the stations to collect the data.

Wrapping up:  As we get ready to wrap up out REU time next week, we still have a couple of important items on our plate.  The last of the wearable air temperature sensors is due to arrive on Monday.  We will need to deploy all of the wearable sensors and visit each of the environmental sensors and do validity testing for air temperature readings. We also need to finalize and print our poster to prepare for the symposium on Friday and add the data that we’ve been missing to our paper and finalize all of the sections.

Poster:  What changed in our poster since the peer review? Ha! What didn’t? Dr. Habeeb looked at the two drafts that Kiarra and I presented in the peer review session and pretty much had us start from scratch.  However, the poster that is emerging from her suggestions is much better than either of the suggestions that Kiarra and I came up with on our own. Here is a link to our poster.  We are still working on data visualization. Can’t wait to finalize and print it next week!

Video: Here is a link to my video about my research this summer.

5 things you wish you knew going into the ProHealth REU experience

• “Ramp Up Week” is brutal. Don’t expect much sleep that week, there is a lot of homework every night, but that pace will not continue for the entire REU.
• Bradwood Woods is more than just a bonding experience.  It’s where roommates for the summer are decided.
• Do not fret about which research project you will get placed with.  All of the faculty have great things to teach, and you will have a chance to talk with all of them.
• Expect homework. Plan for it.
• It’s a LOT of work, but it’s good!

5 things future ProHealth REU students should consider doing to be successful

• Follow Dr. Siek’s deliverables schedule.  It seems crazy to try to start writing sections of your paper early in the REU, but it makes sure everything gets done!
• Read, read, read! (And then go read another article…)
• Talk to people who do the job you think you might want to do after you graduate.  What do they recommend to be successful? Would they choose the job again if they had a choice? What do they like about their job, what do they not like?
• Network! With fellow REU students, graduate students, and faculty in the program, and those outside of the program as well.
• Take advantage of having a poster ready for poster presentations when you return back to school.  You never know who you might meet at poster presentations, and what doors they may open for your future.