(May 13, 2012)
FINAL BLOG

The science internship this year at Ecovative was such a great experience. I know that at first I was worried about having to go every week, making enough time for it, and them having enough for me to do. I did, however, have plenty to do over the seven month time span. I started out by just observing my mentor, Amanda, and reading from my mushroom book. By the end, though, I was working in the lab, sometimes even without her. I really felt like a part of the Ecovative team. By the end I was so used to bringing up new techniques and ideas with Amanda, and even some of her coworkers, who were also open to hear anything that I was thinking. I loved how encouraged I was to converse with everyone. Though this was challenging to get used to in the beginning (they are so smart there, and I was a little intimidated), I have learned to see myself as an important part of the team. One of my favorite experiments from the internship was actually my last one, when I made a free-form flower pot, which is completely compostable. I will be taking it home this summer and I can not wait to test it out! I think that the whole idea of going off campus to do an internship with a real company is such a unique and exciting experience and privilege. I have learned so much about the inner workings of a company like Ecovative, and how people think and create in an environment like that. A little advice to anyone who wants to do an internship next year, especially at Ecovative is to be totally open to new ideas. Use your creativity to think of new products and be willing to work with others easily. It is ok to be a little intimidated at first because they are so smart, but don’t let that get in the way of your experience there. Converse, innovate, and immerse yourself in everything that is science! Good Luck!

(April 25th, 2012)

       This is my last post because my internship is finished! I can't believe it is already done. Because it was the very last day Amanda and I just looked over some information that I wanted to use in my presentation. I was also able to see some of the last of my products that I had made last week. My ducks and flower pot turned out nicely!

(April 18th, 2012)
     This was definitely a fun internship day! Because we are coming so close to the end of the year and my own internship, Amanda decided that we could do some fun molded pieces. She designed a sort of "dough" material, almost like silly putty, but this has special compostable ingredients. We were really only testing to see how moldable it was and how well it stayed together. To test this we decided to mold the "dough" into different tools. We made Buddhas, mushrooms, ducks, flower pots, and freeform "dough". We played around with our creativity the entire time. Hopefully, when I go back this week I will see the final pieces!

(April 12, 2012)
       Last week I had inoculated some liquid media in order to mix with the substrate, but when I came back this time I found that it had again become contaminated, and we needed to throw it away. Though I was bummed that I couldn't continue with that experiment, Amanda assured me that a contamination like that actually occurs frequently. So instead, we took some of the finished parts and tested them in a machine called an instron. This measures flexibility and strength, by applying pressure, to each piece of our "eco-friendly foam". I tested some of my finished products and was surprised to see that some of them were actually pretty strong. I was even able to bring two pieces of my product back! I will try and show them to everyone at our next meeting!

(April 4, 2012)

      I received some results back from my inoculated liquid media from last week. I was going to mix it in with the substrate this week, but instead it got contaminated! I was bummed because I couldn't go on with that part of the experiment and we had to redo the media. Because what we had originally planned wasn't going to happen, we had some time to explore some more of the lab. I sat in on some other parts of people's experiments (super secret, so I am sorry I can't talk about them!) and they were very interesting. I feel pretty comfortable talking with the others so it was interesting and informative to exchange ideas about that experiment. Hopefully my results with the liquid media will be much better this week.

(March 28, 2012)
      It was definitely a busy day! First, I inoculated some more liquid media, this time with ground up sunflower seeds, so that I can mix it with the substrate for next week. Then, I mixed the inoculated media with sunflower seeds, from last week, with the substrate and filled up some tools. I am hoping to have these results next time. I have still been preparing a lot of my materials by myself, which has been lots of fun.
      Because I have only been in this building for a couple of visits, I am still exploring the lab and trying to familiarize myself with it the best I can before I have to leave again. This has been going well, especially because of how much more organized it is!

(March 21, 2012)
       We are switching up the experiments a little bit. We finished all of our sunflower seeds mixed with dry substrate and millet before spring break. So, we have moved on to sunflower seeds in inoculated liquid media! We will have to wait until next week to mix it with the substrate. To inoculate the liquid media we have to put sunflowers in the jar with the liquid for a little bit. Then, we put that liquid into a blender where we mix it with our mycelia. Inoculation is simply mixing our mycelia with the liquid media, which can have a jell-o like consistency. Though inoculating the dry millet from before was almost the same, inoculating with liquid is so much better!

       The other major news of this week is that we have officially moved to the new building, which is actually just behind the original. So much more space to experiment. How exciting!

(February 29, 2012)
       I didn't go to my internship because of the snow. I will just have to wait until after break!

(February 22, 2012)
       I am still going strong with my sunflower seed experiment. This time we added whole sunflower seeds to the substrate, in order to then mix it in with the mycelia. I am working in the labs and labeling my tools all on my own. What a sense of accomplishment and independence! The most exciting parts of this entire sunflower seed experiment are the results. They are phenomenal! (Referring to the ground up sunflower seeds from last week) Normally, when the substrate starts to colonize (the mushroom grows and the entire tool (plastic container) becomes white, it takes about 7-8 days to just flip it over. Then it grows a little bit longer, then it is dried, and finally taken to the machine to test its strength. The most recent experiment only took 4 days to flip! This is extremely quick and my mentor and I are super proud of these fast results. The mushrooms are also healthy, with hardly any mold. I am excited to keep experimenting with my sunflower seeds and try to get more of these results!

(February 15, 2012)
 Experiment # 3. We have added ground sunflower seeds (instead of the other experiments with whole sunflower seeds in one, and no sunflower seeds in the other) to the substrate. I mixed everything just the same as I have been doing for the past two weeks. I was still alone in the labs and responsible for everything I was doing. I am also gaining more tasks, like making my labels, adding my experiment to the    data charts, and putting my experiment on the white board with all the other employee's experiments.

I am becoming a lot more independent when I go into my internship. In terms of the big picture, I am learning to complete my experiments from start to finish, and now I am learning to do this all on my own. This is giving me a great preview on how to work in real labs with other real employees. I have to keep track of everything, clean up after myself, precisely record my data, and efficiently observe all of my data. This has been such a great hands-on learning experience.

(February 11, 2012)
        My very own experiment is still going strong. I started off in the lab all by myself! Amanda had a lot of other things to finish up so she let me do my experiment in the other lab. I did the exact same measuring and mixing as last week, except this time we added sunflower seeds to the millet (to then mix in with the substrate). I cleaned up the hood, and then we labeled and organized the tools. We also were able to observe last week's experiment. It is beautiful - so strong, white, and bacteria free! We flipped them and they should be ready in a couple of days to dry out and get tested.

       It was so interesting and exciting to work all by myself in the lab. Of course, I could go and ask Amanda anything if I had questions, but I was comfortable with the procedure and knew what to do. Other workers came in and out of the lab, too. I definitely feel like part of the team now.

(January 31, 2012)

I was finally able to start my own experiment! Everything I have been doing up until now has been preparing me to be on my own. My experiment deals with sunflower seeds and hemp with micronutrients/without micronutrients. (Time will also tell if I am able to use the entire sunflower seed shells and ground up shells).  I began to incorporate my hemp substrate and the micronutrient mixture that Amanda had previously mixed for me. While I was working under the hood Amanda was off to the side working on something else. She totally left the project entirely up to me! Although I had minor issues that I had to ask her about I felt really confident in what she had taught me so far and was able to complete the mixing. I can’t wait to keep mixing next week.

Also, Ecovative just expanded to the building behind them, which is absolutely gorgeous and new! I might even be researching and testing there in a week or two. So excited!

(January 25, 2012)
Today was moving day! Ecovative is expanding to the building right next door and everyone was super busy moving equipment. Since it had been so hectic, there weren't any new experiment that we tested. We did, however, observe others' experiments. We even got to dump all the experiments that had too much mold growing on them! It was actually pretty fun going through them and deciphering which ones had too much mold, bad mold, or were not likely to be clean enough in the end. Because of our interaction with all this mold, we were not able to go back into the labs.

Amanda and I also went over a rough draft of my very own experiment! I will be starting that next week and it will continue for awhile. Let's just say I will be getting to know sunflower seeds really well during this experiment! I also received an Ecovative shirt as a Christmas present the other week, and now I really feel apart of the team. I am so excited!

(January 18, 2012) I ended up canceling my internship because we were afraid that the service day would run longer than expected.
       I usually get a new reading from Amanda every week. Sometimes it may consist of procedures for growing the mushrooms, or other important steps that I should be aware of. The book she gave me at the beginning has a lot of different pictures, diagrams, and explanations about certain procedures and topics. This prepares me for whatever we are doing that day. Recently she has given me various packets about specific experiments that are similar to ours. This is always interesting because it consists of real information and results. One packet I received almost seemed right out of a high school science book. It was much easier to read and understand, and it defined the hyphae and other materials that were used. The most recent one I read was all about a patent that another employee was reviewing. It was difficult, yet interesting to read. No matter what is going on, there is always something informational and resourceful for me to read.

(January 11, 2012)

       I normally blog exactly what I am doing every internship day, but because this day was pretty normal and I completed some of the normal experiments, I want to talk about how my days actually fit into the whole of the internship. I either have segments from my book, or a specific science article, or just a really informative packet that I read every single week. I am able to discuss them with Amanda, along with asking questions, and raising new ideas. Sometimes we even search topics right on the spot and try to get a better sense of different ideas out there.
       Next, I usually go finish up a project that Amanda has already started, or we observe what other people have been experimenting. This is also a good time for tying up loose ends from different projects. Then, we start whatever experiment she has planned for me. I usually do about 1-2 steps each week, just because it takes a couple of days for everything to grow/be prepared for my next visit. I love the way this works because we go in order, and I am able to learn the steps quicker. She usually starts the steps and then lets me take over. It really has been a great learning environment where I can be involved in other employee's projects and understand how it really feels to work in an eco-friendly company!

        My day was super chill in the labs. Amanda was experimenting with a couple of factors (shh! It's a secret!), thinking that there would be a specific result. It didn't turn out as she planned at all, but I realized that anyone there can just make a short experiment whenever they want. If someone reads a specific segment from a book or if she finds something interesting from a journal article she can start the experiment. There is a lot of leeway for new experiments, which really got me thinking about what kind of experiment I am able to do. I will be creating one soon for me to test!
       I was also learning about the microscope with another employee. We were just looking at different hyphae, which can be broken down into generative, skeletal, and binding, which make up the structure of sporophores. I just received a reading over the hyphae so I will try and tell you about them next week!
       Then, she just showed me some of the new experiments that other people are testing. I can't wait to start testing my own soon!