HHL WEEKLY
March 2026: Week Two
CATHERINE
🙃 Busy, but ok!
This Week
- lots of check ins with our benthic team, and finished them all. i really love these meetings, getting to know you all more and your science interests. i am so grateful to know you and thank you to alyssa for all the mentorship and support!!
- got to watch my niece from st. catharine's swim at the provincial races here in windsor this week. i love watching young people strive and reach goals, and continue to grow. i also love it when family is in town, even if it for just a moment
- thank you all for supporting international womens day, it was lovely to have so much good vibes and support for the event. it was small and meaningful, and i'm so grateful that we have gathered for the past seven years. i'm grateful for the progress we made, relationships that have been forged spaces that didn't exist before
- congrats to cass and team -- we got funding from friends of the ojibway prairie in support of cass' macrofungi (mushroom) research, woohoo!!!! the research proposal writing begins... hussstllleee
- grant writing is ongoing...
- ended friday with hhl thesis meetings (cass! amélie! dunia!) and final revisions before resubmitting a manuscript (rose!) -- KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!
NEXT WEEK
- keep on keeping on
- aamjiwnaang first nation conference on tuesday
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
LARISSA
🥴 A bit frazzled!
This Week
- finished the second book of Emily Wilde's series (would recommend anyone who needs a feel-good story about academia and frolicking in nature)
- finished my second last midterm for the term
- found out I got NSERC for the summer!!
- being able to compile some analyses for my thesis
NEXT WEEK
- spearhead most of my analyses and start creating a presentation for the UWill Discover conference
- study for my final midterm
- finish the last book of the series!!
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
ALYSSA
🙃 Busy, but ok!
This Week
- met with each benthic student individually this week to reflect on what is working and what we can do together to improve efficiency and enhance skills. I am very happy with how they all went! :)
- Cat and I met with LTVCA and I had asked if we can mix all the reps together for sites to decrease time spent on samples and they agreed! (with a few exceptions). I'll hear back from them soon to receive the next set of priority samples.
- feel like I made 0.5% progress on my thesis manuscript this week.
- I've been helping to plan HHL/GLIER's visit to Aamjiwnaang which is next Tuesday. I've been making lists, gathering materials (thanks Thiranya and Sarika for helping out!) and trying to arrange other little things as well. I'm really excited to go next week! :)
NEXT WEEK
- finish packing CJ and Pilot on Monday, visit Aaamjiwnaang Tuesday, rest of the week is a mix up of reading papers, planning events for the spring/ summer, and spending time at the scope.
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
SARIKA
🐈 Desiring calming solitude
This Week
Consolidated some of my method notes to make them easier to follow. I also went back to read more about the analyses I was doing to ensure it still makes sense :)
Prepared some materials for the Aamjiwnaang trip next week - I'm looking forward to it!
Attended Lauren's practice talk. It was such a great run through!
NEXT WEEK
Finish calculating ROC curves for my models.
Have a great day at Aamjiwnaang :)
Lab meeting!
FishCAST Internship: Finish reviewing bylaws and begin making recommendations.
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
VANESSA
🙃 Busy, but ok!
This Week
The 2nd half of St. Clair samples arrived on late on Friday, so they had to be analyzed this week. At the beginning of the week, I ran analysis for nitrate-nitrite and SRP for the recently received samples and then nitrite for all.
The nitrate concentration for all samples were higher than the detection limit of 2mg/L. Most samples measured around 5mg/L, while the highest were about 9 and 11mg/L. We ran them a second time, making sure they were diluted to get readings within the detection limit.
My work week ended with preparing and running the samples for TDP.
NEXT WEEK
Putting together the data from last week and preparing for the next round of samples.
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
SARIKA
🐈 Desiring calming solitude
This Week
Consolidated some of my method notes to make them easier to follow. I also went back to read more about the analyses I was doing to ensure it still makes sense :)
Prepared some materials for the Aamjiwnaang trip next week - I'm looking forward to it!
Attended Lauren's practice talk. It was such a great run through!
NEXT WEEK
Finish calculating ROC curves for my models.
Have a great day at Aamjiwnaang :)
Lab meeting!
FishCAST Internship: Finish reviewing bylaws and begin making recommendations.
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
JESS
🙃 Busy, but ok!
This Week
This month is just crazy.
Got a date arranged for my committee meeting - March 26th. Prepping slides.
St. Clair River project: I processed sixty DOM samples in one day; for the record, it takes about 6-7 hours.
GA duties this week; proctoring. Working on presentation.
Autoclaving at CoRe for the sterilization trial.
NEXT WEEK
Marking assignments and exams, processing/exploring the DOM data, homework assignment for stats course, wednesday autoclave day, Thursday lab day processing autoclave trial samples. Friday, class in the morning, afternoon for lab work. Expecting JC to contact me to process metals, might have to squeeze that in.
EXTRA EXTRAS
None!
