WEEK 3: BIOSPHERE 2 TRIP

 Biosphere 2 researchers  (1991)

       On Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona with the STEM program. Biosphere 2 is a system composed of artificial and manipulated ecosystems, the purpose of Biosphere 2 was to alter the conditions of artificial ecosystems to obtain viable information about Earth and its systems. Biosphere 2 began as a closed experiment in 1991 and again in 1993. It consists of five biome areas: a rainforest, an ocean with coral reef, mangrove wetlands, a fog desert, and a savannah grassland. Before attending Biosphere 2, I watched a few short informational videos about the experiments and the biosphere itself. During the first experiment (1991), it was reported that oxygen began depleting causing animals and plants to die off. I asked our guide about this and she said that animals and plants did not die off but that there was a low oxygen levels near the end of the experiment, I’ll have to look into that more.  One thing I was really excited for was seeing the lung! The engineering is completely unfathomable. It weighs 20 tons and is held up by atmospheric pressure. I really wanted to see it function but unfortunately, we were not able. Regardless, I enjoyed visiting Biosphere 2; it was a great experience!

Week 2: Getting Started

      Hello everyone! So as I mentioned in my last blog post I have been here for almost two weeks now. Today Josh brought to my attention that I had to complete weekly blog posts, which, I completely had no idea about (Yikes! right?). So, many, if not all of you may have noticed that I posted these a day after the deadline, which I apologize for. Throughout these two weeks I have completed a safety training course by watching videos and reading A LOT of modules. I have completed my first nine hours, yay! and am looking forward to what comes after this. I have established my daily hours here in the lab and have gotten accustomed to what it is I need to do around here during my hours. I have spoken to and befriended many of the other S-STEM scholars, they have told me about their research projects and have helped me set up my blog, which was incredibly nice of them! Now that I am done with all the modules and safety videos I anticipate beginning my assigned research in the spring semester.