Fixation and Beyond

Greetings all! I am back -- what an honor! I think about my aquatic ecology family often -  I miss them. Many exciting and empowering things have happened since my last post.

Following graduation from St. Kate's in December 2015, I took a one-way flight to Orlando, Florida to start a Professional Internship at EPCOT (yes, that's one of the parks at Walt Disney World!) in their biotechnology lab. My Fixation on Ice research experience, including the knowledge I gained as well as the inspiration, creativity, and problem-solving skills, has helped me succeed in this position! Responsibility was cultivated very early on in my research at St. Kate's, but also continuously developed and deepened as my work progressed throughout the project. Today, I alone run the Disney sector of the biotechnology lab. I have responsibility for nearly 1,000 plant-tissue cultures. Self-motivation and individuality have also been key attributes that have helped me to achieve record breaking plant-tissue sales and to develop innovative biotechnological procedures in our lab. Self-motivation and the ability to set both individual and group goals, which I derived from my Fixation on Ice experience, have allowed me to advance the efficiency of the laboratory practices here at Disney.

So what is it like to work with the Walt Disney World company? It's epic and dynamic! I spend about 75% of my day-to-day activities in the lab. Our lab is completely visible to guests at Walt Disney World.  In fact, there is a boat ride that runs right outside our lab 12-hours per day, 7 days a week! The remaining 25% of my time is split between weekly meetings, classes, show quality boat rides (yes, it is part of my job to go on a ride!) and Behind the Seeds tours, which are interactive and guided walking tours where we take guests into our laboratories, aquaculture facility, and greenhouses.

What is my favorite part of this position? I love the lab work, which involves tissue-culture propagation of a variety of plants. I work alongside USDA scientists and get to learn about and participate in their plant pathogenesis research, which is very exciting. I think my absolute favorite part of this position is its focus on scientific communication.  I have the opportunity to talk about science and biotechnology with our guests each and every day.  Thousands of visitors take our Living with the Land boat ride through the greenhouses and labs. The tours I guide are so fulfilling. Guests are absolutely amazed and inspired to learn about innovative and sustainable agricultural practices that can help feed families, communities, nations - and feed our world.

What's next? I recently accepted a position in the Professional Program in Biotechnology Master's Degree program at Texas A&M University. I will be beginning this journey in the fall and I can hardly wait! My focus will be in agricultural biotechnology with an emphasis in business.

Aquatic Ecology Lab Video

Hello Readers,
It is hard to believe that the semester is coming to a close. I have a new and exciting video production to share! In addition to a very busy semester of video production, our lab has analyzed hundreds of samples and given five presentations sharing our work.

For me, the time has come - graduation. It has been such a heartfelt honor to be a collaborator within St. Catherine University's Aquatic Ecology Lab. I am so very humbled and grateful to have been an integral part of such important ecological research and outreach efforts. I will dearly miss my colleagues and I wish all of the new members of the lab the absolute best!  Happy 2016.

Delor, Jill, Abbi, Bree, and Paula celebrating a great fall semester! 

Be sure to check out our new video - which represents the culmination of my video production efforts this semester.  Hope you enjoy and learn a little bit too!

Iceland Summer 2015 in 5 minutes

The Fixation on Ice crew has been back in the United States for almost two months now! Time sure flies! Sample analysis in the laboratory is in full swing, and we have been working on some video production to help visually accentuate our experience! Below is a synopsis of our summer in Iceland in just over five minutes. Take a journey to Iceland with us as we collect samples, explore the country, and have the best time of our lives! Stay tuned for further videos that will include audio from team members. 

Birthday Bonanza

Taking in the views of the glacial lagoon on our 20th and 21st birthdays!

The undergraduates participating in Fixation on Ice 2015, Bree and Abbi, share the same birthday - July 24^th! We were born 365 days apart and to celebrate, we chose to take a trip to Jökulsarlon Glacier Lagoon in southern Iceland. The drive was filled with many “oohs and ahhs,” but watching the floating ice in the glacial lagoon was the highlight of the trip.  In addition to the glacial lagoon, we saw puffins for the first time, walked along a black sand beach on the Southernmost tip of Iceland, and made a few extra stops to admire the amazing waterfalls.  It was truly a breathtaking experience - one we will never forget! It was by far the BEST birthday EVER!

Skógafoss waterfall

July has certainly lived up to our every expectation as the best month ever. Filled with lots of memories and stories to share, we couldn’t have asked for a better birthday month! 

Nature’s Fireworks

This glorious photo of the sunset was taken the night of July 4th, near the harbor and downtown Reykjavik. The photo barely captures the beauty we observed with our own eyes. While we are rarely up to see midnight sun set here in Iceland during the summer, we were excited to see that nature provided us with fireworks more extravagant than anything we have ever seen before! It was quite a sight for us to see, especially since our families back in the U.S. were celebrating Independence Day. Iceland - thank you for the spectacular show!