Friday, April 1, 2016

Week Seven: AzSEF Preparation

Hey everyone!

The madness of college decisions is finally over! But now the madness of choosing a college has overlapped with the final weeks of research at ASU. When will it end?? But I digress...

Last week, I included some of the advantages to using bio-binder. However, I failed to mention some of the disadvantages to replacing asphalt with bioasphalt. One of the disadvantages is that high oxygen and water content makes bio-oil inferior to petroleum-based fuels. Another disadvantage can be derived from the production aspect. Phase-separation and polymerization and corrosiveness make long-term storage difficult. Although there are some very beneficial short-term benefits, researchers do know for certain if there are any detrimental side effects that could harm the environment. There is also a possibility that even though bio-binder is an immediate resource, it could take a long for it to be prepared at a mass-production scale.

So this week, as a part of the SCENE program, all the students must give presentations in front of their fellow classmates, on-site mentors, and other ASU professors. Now, I really don't like the idea of pubic speaking, especially in front of people who know the topic you're discussing better than you.  From the many presentations I gave at BASIS, I thought I had enough experience to give a solid presentations; but again, I was wrong. I'm so glad I had this experience because it really prepared me for how I should give presentations in college. Professor Nathan Newman, the director of the SCENE program, gave a talk on who to give a university-level presentations and gave tips on making the presentation. Some of the tips I really appreciated were to always include less than 20 words on one slide and have less than 10 slides. Throughout high school, I was so used to piling my entire essay into basically one slide so it was much appreciated that I could directly get a professor's opinion.

So once it was time to give my presentation, I became more worried about which pointer had the laser than the actual presentation (because I knew the content like the back of my hand). But then when I actually gave my presentation, I was so nervous that I accidentally skipped over some things and made some people confused. So, yes, good times & I love public speaking.

Anyway, the data is as follows:


We will draw conclusions and discuss the results next week.

Today, I also had the pleasure of hanging some of my artwork at ASU Kerr Cultural Center, where we usually have the Yule Ball dance.


But that's all I got for this week!

Seerat Jajj

4 comments:

  1. Busy, busy!! Another terrific week!

    I am very excited for the insights that you will bring to the upcoming Powerpoint workshop. Dr. Newman was actually Sejal's site mentor last year!

    A question regarding bio-binder: When long term harms remain unknown and longitudinal research is required, what is the standard protocol? Would roads be built in a confined area and monitored for a certain period of time?

    And, a question about your artwork: What are the visitation hours? :)

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  2. I loved the presentation tips! What did your presentation focus on?

    Always a pleasure to see your art! And I'm so happy others will see it as well!

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  3. You are such a great artist! And I recognize the one of the deer from one of the previous weeks.

    It's always good to get a taste of how other people do things, specifically those presentations. It'll give you such a good perspective on education and the workplace.

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  4. It's great that you got to practice your presentation skills with the professors. i have to give a presentation in my lab in a few weeks and I understand that feeling of having to give a presentation to people who know more about the topic than you do.

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