Week 8

This week has mostly just been iteration on the paper. We’ve been putting a lot of effort into catching back up, since we’ve had to start over on it with only a few weeks to go. We’re about done with a complete draft, and next week is likely to be a ton of iteration on editing. Sleep is seeming less and less likely for the final stretch, but I’ve regained my motivation and am confident that I can push through it so we can have deliverables that we’re happy with by the end.

A big breakthrough on the paper front was brainstorming out a complete list of things that we’ve learned in our experience and in the literature about defining ARC. For some reason early on we were trying to figure out how to write the guide without first listing out everything we wanted in it. We wrote that out, ran it by some mentors, and now are really doing a good job of getting this draft of our paper in good shape.

Julia has been doing most of the work on the poster design, because I have no sense for aesthetics. She’s done a fantastic job, and actually came up with three different versions for people to compare on Wednesday. Since I’m only really useful on this for giving her criticism and discussing what text should be on there, I’ve been trying to put extra effort into the paper to even things out a bit.

Here is the slide I used for my lightning talk. I decided not to post the video because I’m not particularly happy with my work here, and think I could do better. I seized up a bit and didn’t say all that I had meant to when I was actually presenting, so I think really I just need to refine my content and work on my public speaking ability before going at it again. Here is the storyboard for our project video. It should be relatively simple. We just need to set out enough time for us to mess up and laugh a lot, from what we’ve learned from our previous experience making videos together.

I missed girl scouts this week, but I wouldn’t say I didn’t learn anything. Dr. Siek is very talented at inspiring shame in one’s failings, so safe to say this lapse has added to my motivation going forward.

We talked with Patrick a little bit about the current state of our professional online presence. His first question when he saw my website was “are you planning on getting a PhD?” As it turns out, the current state of my website is pretty standard for people going into academia, but a bit dry looking if I want to go into industry. I’m currently thinking of pursuing education beyond my undergrad, so I’ll continue iterating on what I have for now.

Patrick took us to lunch at Mandalay today, and was extraordinarily generous with buying us food. Patrick, Julia, and I are all vegetarians so we got a bunch of dishes to share (Fernando got his own thing). We also talked a little bit about working out the continuation of our projects into the fall semester. Since ARC is a continuous process, Julia and I want to start working hourly immediately after the REU ends. This means that we’re starting to work out getting us set up as hourly employees now.

The remaining two weeks are going to be frantic iteration for our final deliverables. I’m nervous and excited. I expect that after the trip tomorrow it will be nonstop work for us until the REU is done (I’m going to put more work into the paper on Sunday, because we’re cutting it close as it is in terms of time).