Week 8 [7/12 - 7/18]

And that's a wrap on the eight weeks in Mississippi! The time just flew by and I can't believe it's already time to go home. This week was mainly spent practicing for the end of summer symposium and sharing the final moments with my research fellows.

The Byram Swinging Bridge

Accomplishments

I finished the REU program! The culminating experience was a presentation at the end of summer research symposium, and I think it went well! I'm quite glad I presented 2nd overall and got to chill out for the remainder of the presentations. I also finished my paper draft and made some minor changes to my maps. Of course, I also maximized the time remaining with my friends from the REU.

Friends forever

Barriers to my best work

My presentation underwent big organizational changes this week so I spent more time practicing staying consistent and under the ten minute time limit. Due to this and the busy schedule, I spent less time concluding my paper draft, which I felt could have been more polished. Consequently, packing and cleaning were also left until the last minute.

Things i learned

I continued learning good presentation habits, including things that I do specifically when I present. For one, I don't like having a speech memorized and prefer to go off of my slides and bullet points. I added a table of contents slide so the audience had a sense of progression, and practiced talking slower and taking time to breathe. Finally, I learned that I will really miss this program, USM, Mississippi, and the wonderful people I've met through this experience.

Next Research steps

I will continue thinking about my project at home and possibly refine my paper or expand my existing work. This project is a great experience for my resume and CV, and can aid me in future classes.

A snippet of the South

For my final outing, I visited the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson with some others! The Civil War Museum was incredibly information-dense and interactive, especially through short videos and narrations. I was moved by a temporary exhibit showing the devastation of Katrina through photographs. After that, we visited the Natural Science Museum, which was quite smaller but had tons of live animals and dioramas! On the way back, we stopped to check out the old Byram Swinging Bridge just outside of Jackson, and were careful not to fall through the huge gaps in the floor!

Bug of the week

Down by the river under the swinging bridge were a few interesting aquatic insects, which I think were toad bugs! This was my first time seeing toad bugs and I wasn't sure what they were at first, or if they were even bugs instead of wind blown sediment.

Toad bug!