Cosmological History of Hydrogen

At 8 pm last Friday (July 26), a friend and I attended a free lecture on the Cosmological History of Hydrogen given by Professor Rachel Webster. I thought that she was a good speaker, but I was a little bored because I knew most of the background that she covered during the lecture (mostly things about stars, the origin of the universe, emission/absorption spectra). 

I was originally an astrophysics major and did my first research at Caltech with an astrophysics professor. My research revolved around determining the properties of young protostars that were the sources of Herbig Haro objects. I was working with absorption and emission spectra to determine the star type and then wrote code to extract different properties of the star (like rotational velocity...etc.).

The coolest thing about the lecture was at the very end when she began talking more about what she was doing.  It would have been more interesting had she talked more specifically about her research to begin with because it sounded interesting! Recently she helped design and build a low frequency radio telescope, called the Widefield Array, in Mileura, Western Australia, that is currently being used to “detect the first sources in the universe” aka. neutral atomic hydrogen emission. The system in W Australia is really unique looking and is comprised of elements that she referred to as "bowties" on grids spread throughout the region. See the image below from Wikipedia for an example of one of the 4x4 grids.

Who to choose?!

The end of the week was really busy!

Thursday  was the Student Services Fair, which had lots of information about services offered by the school and the student union. I got free bags, water bottles, a 4 GB usb, a bottle opener, iced tea, etc… The end of O-week finished on Friday! There was a club/society fair and I also met with some chemistry professors!

Club Fair

There were a lot of societies that came out; it was actually a little overwhelming. Unlike back home, I actually had to purchase memberships, so it was very hard to decide what to join. The first club I joined was the Physics Society, since membership was only $2. Unfortunately there is no chemistry club and I couldn’t find the chemical engineering society there (not that it’s the same as chemistry anyway).  I also joined WISE, Women In Science and Engineering, for $3. Finally, I joined the Australasian Association for $7. This last one is purely a social club and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun.  I also got a lot of cool freebies from them, including a usb membership card, portable chopsticks, and a drink card for a place I think I’ll check out now (Golden Monkey).

Chemistry!

Before going to the club fair, I stopped at the chemistry building. I selected my modules for CHEM30014: inorganic, photomolecular, and computational chemistry. I also thought I would try to speak to Professors Boskovic and Abrahams (CHEM30013 Research Project). Luckily, both were in their office when I stopped by to discuss their projects and their groups.

Professor Abrahams was really friendly and easy going. It was really easy to talk to him about his research and ask him questions. I thought it was interesting that the systems his group works on have such HUGE ligands. Seriously…HUGE. His group is very interested in using x-ray crystallography. I would be very interested in actually solving my own crystal structure if I were to work for him! My overall impression was that he would be a really nice adviser and would be able to help me learn more about a super useful characterization technique.

I got the impression that Professor Boskovic’s group was a bit larger and that she ran a very tight ship. What intrigued me about her group was that she used more physical methods to characterize complexes. I think it would be great for me to be exposed to those techniques! Her group also has more group meetings; there is one every week and individual meetings every Thursday. I think she also warmed up to me a bit more after she found out who I worked for and where I attend uni back home. Overall, it seemed like she had a lot of good work going on in her group.

Based on my discussions with both I think I’ve decided to list my preference as follows

1.  Abrahams (inorganic)
2. Boskovic (inorganic, physical chemsitry)
3. Mulvaney (quantum dots)
4. Wille (organic)

I think there is only one place in the Abrahams lab, so hopefully I’ll get it! Professor Abrahams did mention that he wanted someone enthusiastic about inorganic and I was definitely excited when I talked to him (I mean who wouldn’t be excited about inorganic chemistry?!).

Enrollment Day! Part II

After going to all the morning sessions, there was a free bbq hosted by MUSEX, the on campus society for study abroad and exchange students. However, my session ended early and I was able to make it to a chemistry lecture I had looked up earlier. It was really refreshing to walk into the chemistry building, almost like I was back home (almost)! The Melbourne chemistry department actually has a lot of guest lectures scheduled, which I plan on attending. It reminds me alot of IOS (Inorganic Seminars) on Fridays at my home institution, where grad students and postdocs give 1 hour presentations on their research.

The lecture was given by Professor Kenneth S. Suslick on his research in sonochemistry and sonoluminescence. The passing of high intensity ultrasound in a liquid leads to the formation of bubbles that grow and collapse. This process causes chemical reactions to occur within the bubbles, called sonochemistry. These bubbles also release light during their collapse; the emission is called sonoluminescence.  I really enjoyed the lecture because Professor Suslick was a great lecturer and I wasn't very familiar with what he had been doing recently. I had talked with him before this because his son is actually in my year and major at Caltech! It was was nice to hear how his research was going.

Chemistry building!

I’ve been practicing my German almost every night — I’m trying to learn German because I want to go on a Fulbright to Germany! — and now I know how to introduce myself! It’s all really basic stuff, but it’s really exciting to hear myself speak it! I’ve thought about enrolling in German at Melbourne, but it’s a year long class and I don’t meet the prereqs to get in for the second semester.

I’m still trying to figure out the last class in my schedule. Hopefully everything will work itself out soon! I’ll leave you with this link to a video of somoluminescence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJolILUbdNw!

Best,

Stephanie

Enrollment Day! Part I

Yesterday was the official start to university activities!

Classes

There was an introduction and briefing to the day given by the university staff, followed by a session on how to enroll in classes. I have registered so far for three classes (I'm still figuring out the fourth class because it conflicts with one of my chemistry classes), including:

1. MULT20013 Australia Now
2. CHEM30013 Chemical Research Project
3. CHEM30014 Topics in Chemistry B
4. Unknown as of yet

My Australia Now class is very popular among international students because it is an introduction to Australian culture and politics. I'm especially interested in this class because Australia is having an election soon!

The topics class looks very interesting as well! The class offers six modules from which I choose three to take. I've decided to take 1) Supramolecular and Structural Inorganic Chemistry, 2) Photomolecular Science, and 3) Computational Chemistry. I think I'm looking forward the most to the photomolecular science module. The notes outline I was able to access described the module as covering: fluorescence emission and excitation spectra, quantum yield, radiationless processes, phosphorescence, quenching, excimers and exciplexes, acid base properties of excited states, and applications (solar energy storage, laser action/induced reactions). 

For the chemical research project, I have to rank a list of advisors/projects provided by the course coordinator. There are several projects in which I am interested. In fourth is a project supervised by Professor Paul Mulvaney, entitled "Trion Photochemistry - charged quantum dots." The goal of this project is to create particles in the "trion" state by injecting them with electrons using powerful reductants and to determine whether the electrons can be stored on quantom dots/affect the luminescence of quantum dots. Although my expertise is not in this kind of chemistry, I think it would be interesting to try something different. The project also has applications in designing quantum dots for solar cells (that's cool!).

My third preference is a project with Associate Professor Uta Wille, entitled "Exploring the Oxidative Damage in Peptides by Environmental Free Radical Pollutants." In this project I would be synthesizing peptides and studying their reaction with nitrate radicals. These radicals are important oxidants in the troposphere at night. I would gain experience in organic synthesis, photochemical methods, and chromatography. This project is also not exactly my expertise, but it sounds interesting. 

I haven't decided yet what my first preference is, but it is between projects with Senior Lecturer, Dr. Paul Donnelly or Professor Colette Boskovic. There was no project listing for Dr. Donnelly, but he is interested in inorganic (coordination) chemistry, crystal engineering, and structural chemistry (x-ray crystallography). I emailed him to find out more about a possible project, so hopefully I'll hear back soon!

Finally, Professor Boskovic has listed two possible projects, both of which sound interesting to me. The first is "Cobalt Complexes with Redox-Active Ligands for Valence Tautomerism" and the second is "Lanthanoid-Polyoxometalate Single-Molecule Magnets." For both projects, I would be synthesizing metal complexes and characterizing them by the standard methods (X-ray crystallography, cyclic voltammetry, IR, NMR, EPR, electronic spectroscopy). At my home institution, I have learned a little bit about EPR, so I would be interested to get to actually do it here!

This is turning out to be a long post, so I'll add a part II in a bit. Again, I want to thank the OSA Foundation for their support in my study abroad experience and for anyone taking the time to read it!

Best,

Stephanie

Made it to Melbourne!

Greetings from Australia!

I am Stephanie, a senior who will be studying chemistry at the University of Melbourne for Semester 2 (my fall quarter). I was interested in coming to Melbourne not only because it seemed like a beautiful, vibrant city, but also because the program at UniMelb was extremely flexible for my graduation requirements. In the future, I'll be able to tell you more about the research I am doing at the university and some of the classes I take. However, classes don't begin until the 29th of July!

Since arriving in Melbourne on July 13th, I've spent some time trying to become acquainted with the city. In my first two days at RMIT Village (where I'm living for the semester), I explored a bit of the city on my own. My favorite place after exploring was definitely the State Library of Victoria. It has several small art galleries and multiple reading rooms, all of which are gorgeous. I'm definitely planning on coming back to study in the La Trobe Reading Room (pictured below).

I also had a great time at Queen Victoria Market. The market is spread over almost two city blocks and houses vendors that sell everything from fruit and vegetables to fresh fish and kangaroo meat. I purchased a few items while I was there, including some olive bread, swiss cheese, celery, salami, and dips (hummus, olive tapenade, garlic/pinenut spinach).

On the third day, the Melbourne Welcome Program began, so that's where I have been for the past two days. It's been really great getting to meet so many other students from other countries, especially fellow scientists and engineers. So far we have gone on a scavenger hunt in Melbourne city central, traveled to the Yarra Valley for an Australian wine tasting, and visited the Healesville Sanctuary, which houses the native wildlife of Australia.

Thanks for checking out this blog and another thanks to the OSA Foundation for their support in my study abroad experience!

Until next time,
Stephanie