A Research Rotation in the Field

What better (and more exciting) way to begin a graduate career in analytical chemistry than to participate in a summer field campaign in Northern Michigan? Luckily, that's exactly what I (Megan, an incoming chemistry graduate student at the U of M) had the opportunity to do.  

  This is me on my first field campaign (and first research rotation)!

All first-year U of M graduate students are given the opportunity to rotate among research labs before choosing the lab in which they will conduct their graduate research. I was awarded a summer internship from the Department of Chemistry to rotate in Prof. Kerri Pratt's lab this summer,  and by doing so I was able to operate the lab's Ambient Ion Monitor- Ion Chromatography System (AIM-IC) throughout the PROPHET-AMOS 2016 field campaign. This campaign took place in the forests of the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) during the month of July, and I am very grateful to have been awarded a Marian P. and David M. Gates UMBS graduate student fellowship that covered my lodging and research fees! During this time, atmospheric research groups from across the country parked their mobile research trailers around the PROPHET research tower (depicted below) and collected atmospheric measurements relating to photochemistry, emissions, and transport of oxidants. 

The PROPHET research tower. I'm standing at
the top of the tower in the previous picture. It was
a very scary (but beautiful) climb!

The sampling inlet of the AIM-IC.  The AIM-IC
collects ambient air and provides hourly measurements
of inorganic, water-soluble fine particulate
 matter and associated precursor gases.

When I wasn't admiring the natural beauty of the University of Michigan Biological Station (depicted below), I was busy using the AIM-IC to collect inorganic particulate and gas measurements (also depicted below). Thank you to Nate May (Pratt Lab), Milos Markovic, and Greg Wentworth (Univ. of Toronto) for all of your advice for successfully deploying the new AIM-IC inlet box for the first time! The data that I collected during the month of July will hopefully contribute to the understanding of the nitrogen budget below the forest canopy in Northern Michigan.  

 Douglas Lake from the shore of the University of Michigan Biological Station. 

 Me again, collecting AIM-IC data inside the U of M research trailer. 

I recently moved to Michigan from North Carolina, so this research rotation was the perfect way to enjoy the beauty of my new home while also participating in exciting analytical work. I look forward to my future research rotations, but I doubt they will be able to top this! 

One final view of Lake Michigan before heading back to Ann Arbor!