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Team:Wellesley Desyne/Notebook/CatherineNotebook
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| - | '''Monday:''' Today we visited BU to meet the BU iGEM team and learn more about synthetic biology. The team presented a general introduction to synthetic biology and after lunch, we began learning about Eugene, a domain specific language for synthetic biologists. As someone with very little programming background, understanding Eugene was rather difficult. Already I could notice the different ways | + | '''Monday:''' Today we visited BU to meet the BU iGEM team and learn more about synthetic biology. The team presented a general introduction to synthetic biology and after lunch, we began learning about Eugene, a domain specific language for synthetic biologists. As someone with very little programming background, understanding Eugene was rather difficult. Already I could notice the different ways BU and Wellesley students approached solving problems, and it was interesting to work with a group of students who have extensive experience in a wet lab. |
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| + | '''Tuesday:''' Day 2 at BU! Today, we presented our proposed projects to the BU iGEM team, and they provided feedback to us. The presentation could have gone more smoothly, but we learned a lot from hearing what the BU team members had to say. They definitely view our projects in a different light because they come from a strong biology background. I enjoy hearing input from people who come from a variety of backgrounds, which is something I had experienced when I participated in a program that involved students from Babson, Olin, and Wellesley Colleges this past January. Afterwards, we went on a tour of the BU wet lab and saw their high end flow cytometer. Pretty nifty! | ||
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| + | '''Wednesday:''' Today, the Eugene DeSyne team (now with the addition of Sravanti) spent the morning learning more in depth about the previous incarnation of the Eugene DeSyne project, which was in paper prototype stage. Afterwards, we made a list of things we liked and didn't like about this previous incarnation, and started thinking of new designs to improve upon this model. We were thinking of incorporating windows that can be hidden and revealed to free up screen space, rather than leave a clutter of windows all over the screen. At the end of the day, I participated in a user study for another project going on in the HCI lab, Tabula. It was interesting participating in a user study that was very open-ended, but having experienced a user study before, I knew how to verbalize my thought process and make it clear to the experimenter what I was envisioning. Long day of work today, that's for sure. | ||
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| + | '''Thursday:''' | ||
<!--Notebook ends here--> | <!--Notebook ends here--> | ||
Revision as of 17:45, 12 June 2013
Catherine's Notebook
Week 1: May 28 - May 31
Tuesday: First day of work at the HCI lab and I'm already starting to work through background readings. I was assigned to the Eugene DeSyne project, and the background readings address first-order logic, a topic that I know nothing about. I'm struggling to understand the symbols involved in logic, but I'm sure I'll come to understand it in time. There's also readings about visual languages, which is quite intriguing for someone coming from a linguistics background.
Thursday: The Wellesley iGEM team visited MIT for a BioBuilder workshop with Natalie Kuldell. Unfortunately, as a graduating senior, I had other activities to attend to and I was unable to stay for the afternoon wet lab workshops. In any case, the morning lectures were helpful at providing an introduction to synthetic biology, especially the goals that people in the field strive to achieve through experiments and research.
Friday: Graduation at Wellesley! I received my diploma with a B.A. in Linguistics, but I'm not quite leaving Wellesley yet. I'm excited to spend the summer working at the Wellesley HCI lab before moving on to the next chapter of my life.
Week 2: June 3 - June 7
Monday: Today we visited BU to meet the BU iGEM team and learn more about synthetic biology. The team presented a general introduction to synthetic biology and after lunch, we began learning about Eugene, a domain specific language for synthetic biologists. As someone with very little programming background, understanding Eugene was rather difficult. Already I could notice the different ways BU and Wellesley students approached solving problems, and it was interesting to work with a group of students who have extensive experience in a wet lab.
Tuesday: Day 2 at BU! Today, we presented our proposed projects to the BU iGEM team, and they provided feedback to us. The presentation could have gone more smoothly, but we learned a lot from hearing what the BU team members had to say. They definitely view our projects in a different light because they come from a strong biology background. I enjoy hearing input from people who come from a variety of backgrounds, which is something I had experienced when I participated in a program that involved students from Babson, Olin, and Wellesley Colleges this past January. Afterwards, we went on a tour of the BU wet lab and saw their high end flow cytometer. Pretty nifty!
Wednesday: Today, the Eugene DeSyne team (now with the addition of Sravanti) spent the morning learning more in depth about the previous incarnation of the Eugene DeSyne project, which was in paper prototype stage. Afterwards, we made a list of things we liked and didn't like about this previous incarnation, and started thinking of new designs to improve upon this model. We were thinking of incorporating windows that can be hidden and revealed to free up screen space, rather than leave a clutter of windows all over the screen. At the end of the day, I participated in a user study for another project going on in the HCI lab, Tabula. It was interesting participating in a user study that was very open-ended, but having experienced a user study before, I knew how to verbalize my thought process and make it clear to the experimenter what I was envisioning. Long day of work today, that's for sure.
Thursday:
