This blog post is a summary and reflection of some things I’m working on this week.
What I Did This Week
- Talked to a woman accepted into MSRI-UP 2021 to give her my perspective on the MSRI-UP 2020 experience. I hope she chooses to attend!
- Had a phone call with a professor about possibilities for a grant for OURFA2M2
- Met my new mentor as part of the BUILTBYGIRLS program
- Figured out a timeline for long term class projects I have due at the end of the semester
What I Read
- How to reduce the environmental impact of your next virtual meeting
According to this article:
“New research shows that if you turn your camera off during a videoconference, you can reduce your environmental footprint in that meeting by 96 percent.”
I emailed this article to my Earth Systems Science professor and she replied “I plan to share and discuss with the class as well as implement a strategy to reduce our footprint.”
- Our Daily Planet newsletter for International Women’s Day
This newsletter included bios of women fighting for the environmental justice and climate change movement. My Earth Systems Science professor sent us this for International Women’s Day and we discussed it in class.
What I Failed at
I did Earth Science homework with some of my Earth Science classmates this week. We got stumped on a question, and as a math student, I was a bit frustrated that I could not figure out all the elements necessary to solve it. The exercise was:
Assume following information:
a. Assume that the clay layer with iridium was uniformly distributed around Earth by the impact.
b. On average, the layer had a concentration of iridum of 10 parts per billion (ppb) by weight.
c. On average, the layer was 4cm thick.
d. The density of the layer was 2.5 g/cm3
e. Assume the meteor was spherical, with a density of 6.0g/cm3, and an iridium content of 0.5 parts per million (ppm) by weight.
f. The radius of Earth is 6378 km.
What is the diameter of the meteorite? The answer isn’t exactly 10 km, as stated. By how much would you have to change the assumed thickness of the iridium layer to arrive at an asteroid diameter of exactly 10km.
I still haven’t figured it out yet.
What I Succeeded at
- I got some code to work for a project I’m working on
What I’m Grateful For
- I attended the Math for All in NOLA conference last week and I had such a good time! A particular highlight were the events I volunteered for, which were the undergraduate game night and for the plenary talk by Dr. Pamela E. Harris. For the plenary talk, I introduced the speaker and moderated the Q&A portion. I thought it was fun and interesting, and I was happy to take part in it.
What I’m Hopeful For
- Getting a grant for the OURFA2M2 organization