Helen K White Lab

This weekend the lab visited soil kitchen just under a week before it’s opening. Soil kitchen is a public art project addressing the environment and the health of soils in the city. We will be helping out with soil analysis and tmore info will be posted here later. Soil kitchen runs from April 1-6 from 11am-6pm at North 2nd and Girard. Details can be found here and if you want to help out, email me for details.

The last few weeks of a senior thesis in our lab looks like this. The experiments were completed months ago, the last samples were run over the weekend, and all that is left is the data to analyze. Alissa and Ori produced a non-trivial quantity of samples, chromatograms, peaks, fragmentation patterns and numbers. As I write this, they are sifting through this information to gain insight into atmospheric processes (Alissa) and old and persistent oil spills (Ori). New secrets to be revealed soon!

Alissa and Ori and their mountains of data

Alissa Aron ’11 has been awarded a Watson Fellowship to study the interface between science and art in winemaking. She will be adventuring to Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay contemplating chemistry and perhaps even drinking some of her samples. In the lab here at Haverford, Alissa’s samples are comprised of atmospheric particulate matter that are definitely not fit for consumption. I have a feeling she will enjoy the change. Congratulations Alissa!
more info here