Keeping an Eye on Things

When did it get to be the middle of July!? I remember back in May thinking, "Wow! I have so much time to relax and do nothing!" Well I can safely say that with work and summer school, I have been kept very busy. And that's just the way I like it :)

I have been fortunate enough to be put on a very interesting project at work. As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs I am working with in Dr. Heather Sheardown's chemical engineering lab this summer, and we deal with creating novel ways to treat ocular diseases. My project is dealing with delivery of drugs to the retina, the back portion of the eye, using fibrin gels. If you have taken grade 11 or 12 biology you may recall that fibrin is a protein found in our blood that forms clots when we are wounded to stop bleeding. We are borrowing the principles of fibrin clot formation and are using these fibrin clots to form gels that can could potentially deliver medication to the eye. The picture below shows a fibrin clot I made in the lab. As you can see it's fairly opaque and not ideal for use in the eye, but that's the beauty of experimentation! Now I get to figure out why it looks like this and how to fix it.

Fibrin gel made in the lab combining fibrin and thrombin protein molecules.

When I'm not hard at work, I love to spend my time outside and enjoy the weather! Hamilton is known as the "City of Waterfalls", and with more than 120 waterfalls in the area there's nothing more enjoyable than hiking up the trails to the top of the falls for a picnic and some fresh air. If heights aren't your thing you can always wander through the Royal Botanical Gardens, or even see some exotic birds in the Aviary located near McMaster campus. Or if you just want to beat the heat, Port Dover is only an hour away and the beach there is awesome! For those of you who are adventurous like me, you could always join the McMaster Outdoors Club and go on camping trips around Ontario. A few weeks ago I went on a hiking trip to the Bruce Peninsula, and it was incredible! Such amazing sights and experiences with great people.

All of the trippers posing for a photo atop a cliff along the Bruce Peninsula.

So, whatever you're doing this summer, I hope you're all making the most of it!

~Genna

It Feels like a Fireball Outside

“You’re hotter than a bunsen burner!”

I got that note from the McMaster Engineering Society (MES) representative on Valentine’s Day in my first year of engineering. All the Eng I students in my calculus class got similar notes from the MES, and I remember laughing while everyone compared them. I have to say though, with the heat wave this summer, sometimes I really do feel like I might spontaneously combust.

Relaxing after May@Mac
Open House this year

Luckily, for the past two years I have held Work-Study positions at McMaster. The Work-Study program offers part-time and full-time jobs on campus to help students financially pay for school and alleviate their loans. Tons of positions are available from office assistants to research assistants with profs (like Genna!). Not only do I meet other students and staff members, they keep the buildings wonderfully cool! I’m in the Engineering I Outreach office this summer (I was a Teaching Assistant for L.E.A.P. last summer), and I’ve been starting my mornings with lemonade on my bus ride to the campus to beat the heat. In the school year it is nice taking the bus, because we have the HSR bus pass with our student card; I just have to flash my student ID to board. Stepping off the bus onto campus is one of my favourite parts of the day. McMaster’s campus really is beautiful this time of year!

The flower arrangements on the walkway
 to Burke Science Building (BSB)

As much as I’m enjoying the summer, I can’t help but be excited for fall! It’s a little cooler then, and as a Welcome Week representative (aka ‘Redsuit’), I’ll get to join all the incoming first years for bonding activities like pulling a city bus through the Hamilton streets and cheering Mac on at the football game. Then, if it gets too hot, we can always go for a swim at Gulliver’s Lake for the engineering retreat. It’s a great week: be sure not to miss it!

I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Take some time to have fun in the sun!

~Helen
Software Engineering & Co-op III

Memories of my First Year!

Coming to University could look very scary.

You have no idea what to expect, you have heard all these different stories and have talked to every student or alumni you could reach but yet, facing it yourself is a whole different story.

For some it could be a little more challenging; living away from family for the first time, having English as a second language or being a newcomer in Canada are some of the challenges many students face in their freshman year.

I had all of the above! I came to Canada in 2008 and had only 2 years of high school to learn English. I was pretty terrified of the idea of coming to a new city on my own and entering an unfamiliar community. Even though I was only a 2 hour bus ride away from my family, somehow it felt like they were at the other end of the world.

But don’t let that scare you! Here comes my most important point:  Being a newcomer is not as hard as it looks. The rest of the incoming first year students know as much as you do about the university!  Also, the community is so tight and welcoming that it doesn’t take long before you will fit right in! From the very first day of the frosh week I felt right at home [Did I mention how awesome Welcome Week is? Find out more here: http://studentsuccess.mcmaster.ca/orientation/welcome-week.html]

Mac engineering students have an especially exciting student life.  There are plenty of fun events and lots of clubs to join to help you bond with people who share same interests as you.

Basically, Mac community members know the difficulty of adjusting to a new life style, and they all support making your experience the best it can be, both socially and academically.

After two years as a ‘Mac Eng’ student, I am still as in love with campus as I was the first year. I’m confident that I made the right choice as I pursue my chemical engineering degree. ~ Mehrdokht ('Mary')

Summer's Almost Here!

Hello world!

So much has been going on this summer, I don’t even know where to begin! For the past month and a half I have been working with Dr. Heather Sheardown, one of my chemical engineering professors, in her lab on campus. I have the opportunity to work with graduate students learning from them and working alongside them on their experiments. It has been an incredibly educational experience. Our lab deals primarily with biomaterials and drug delivery to the eye. I have been making various contact lens materials infused with drug, and tested their ability to release drug directly to the eye to treat disease. We do this to increase the effectiveness of the drug in treating disease. It’s really cool!

Here I am volunteering to greet
future students at May@Mac Open House!

I hope you all are excited for summer to arrive! To all you grade 12 students, I hope you didn’t have too hard of a time deciding what school you will attend. If any of you attended our May@Mac Open House last month I hope you enjoyed exploring around campus! Hopefully we were able to convince you to all to come at Mac.  And to all you who did choose McMaster, I can’t wait to meet you in September! I’m an orientation leader for the faculty of engineering this year, so you’ll find me hooting and hollering in my red jumpsuit all Welcome Week long!

If you have any questions, or want to know what to do next in preparing for Mac, visit http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/future/accepted.html for the answers!

Have an amazing summer guys! ~Genna

Almost there...(Paula)

Aloha!

So, officially 4 out of 5 exams done. Let's see...mechanics, then stats, heat transfer, and biomechanics. Like I said before though, spread out over a reasonable period of 11 days. And my last one isn't until Wednesday! So a nice 8 day break, during which time I regrettably am having my wisdom teeth out - have you had yours out? How was it? I am so not looking forward to it. :S

Between my last exam and the start of work, I have a little over a week off so I'm heading to Cuba! Woohoo! Have any of you been? I'm going to Varadero because the beaches are supposed to be b-e-a-utiful :) I can't wait! Writing that last exam, I'll surely only be dreaming of this:



As for work, I'm going on a 16 month internship through the McMaster Co-op program at L3-Wescam, in a manufacturing engineering position. Internships/co-op are really good experiences to get in your undergrad so that when you graduate you'll be really marketable. Also, the co-op program is great because you can join at any time up until the second last year of your degree...so if you're unsure about signing up, you can always wait and see if co-op becomes of interest to you. That's what happened to me!

Anyways, everyone, enjoy the beautiful weather today - 21 and sunny! Too bad I have to get my teeth out this afternoon or I'd go play at the nearby waterfalls in Dundas.

Cheers,
Paula

Last minute fun before exams. (Genna)

Hello world!

Looks like it’s been a few weeks since I shared the goings on of my life! School has gotten a little hectic this time of year, what with term projects wrapping up and last minute assignments the profs just love throwing our way. The bright side is that in less than a month summer begins! I’m quite fortunate this year to only have 4 exams, and they’re all spread out over 3 weeks! It gives me lots of time to study, and not stress out :P

With the end of the term also comes the last minute get together before we all settle down for exams. The Eng Musical ended 2 weeks ago, so the cast, crew, and band of the show decided to have a little get together and go out for sushi:). We had an amazing run, and got lots of positive reviews. Can't wait for next year, it's going to be even better! Check out some shots from behind the scenes below:

The final shot of the show. Isn't it impressive?

The absolutely amazing cast, band, and crew of the 2012 McMaster Engineering Musical!

Some last minute dance rehearsing in the dressing room. Check out those jazz hands!

We even had a giraffe!

Well, I guess I better hit the books. Those biochemistrynotes won’t review themselves!

Cheers!

-Genna

Kipling! (Paula)

Hey guys!

How's it hanging? Hope you're all amped for the expected sunshine this week! Good weather makes everything so much better don't you think? :)

Speaking of, I don't know about where you live, but in Hamilton on Friday at about 6pm we had a freak snowstorm!!! I was so upset! The snow actually ... wait for it ... stayed on the ground! This, when only a week before it was 26 and sunny. I hope this inspires you to think about the effects of global warming, and how you can change your habits to create less waste and pollution 8-).

Anyway, that snow fell at the worst time possible - right before all of the graduates were heading to campus to get transportation to the Kipling Formal (i.e. the engineering graduation formal). As a (non-graduating, but lucky) guest, I was pretty concerned about getting soaked and freezing before even getting to the formal! Thankfully my roomate saved the day and offered to drive myself, my date, and all his housemates and their dates. So, alas, no one's hair or outfit was ruined :)


Above: The mechanical engineers' rocket!


Above: The civil engineers' rope bridge, and the materials engineers' playpen.

Did you notice the mention of the word GRADUATES above, by the way? That's right - all the graduating students of the class of 2012 left their "kipling gifts" for us overnight last Thursday (including a McTerials play pen, a huge model rocket in the side of one of the arts building, and some "Mecheroni and Cheese" for grabs in the eng building lobby) before getting their coveted iron rings at the kipling ceremony Friday afternoon. How exciting! Still 3 more years until I get my ring though...siiigh! Luckily, school is a pretty fun place to be so I'm ok with taking the long way to get to "my precious" :P

Anyway, I'm out everyone - first exam is in 4 days eek!! Happy Tuesday!

-Paula