Conducting research as an undergraduate during the semester can be challenging but is ultimately manageable with discipline and time-management. As a junior chemical engineering student, I am working on my independent project, “Photocatalytic Conversion of Methane over Gold Modified Heteropoly Acids,” in the UNH catalysis laboratory. Unlike my fulltime summer research funded by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), conducting in-semester research means I must effectively juggle my classes with my research project.
The key to in-semester research is understanding that your classes are your priority. Success in your coursework must be prioritized before you can focus on research. Let’s focus on what my life currently looks like as a researcher.
Because I knew I would be conducting research this semester, I constructed my schedule so that I would have two coursework intensive days, and three “lighter” days. These busy days are Monday and Tuesday, and the remainder of my week allows for more lab time. Therefore, I do not go to the lab Monday and Tuesday and instead use these days to focus on my courses and homework. I don’t usually get all my work done in these two days, but it is a productive start to the week.
After I finish classes on Wednesday morning, I make my way to the lab to start an afternoon of research. Currently, my project focuses on the conversion of methane to ethane using light as the driving energy for the reaction. To do this I had to first synthesize an effective catalyst for this reaction, which was the focus of my research over the summer. To assess the effectiveness of my catalyst I must perform an activity test, which is usually what I do on Wednesday. I weigh out 0.04 g of my catalyst and load it into our homemade flow reactor. I must ensure that I use the same amount of catalyst for each reaction to confirm that any variation in the concentration and amount of gas produced during the activity test is due to catalyst design.
The flow reactor has an inlet and outlet where methane gas flows through and a glass lid that allows light to enter. After the sample has been loaded, I open the gas tank to allow methane to flow though at a constant rate. This allows for any excess air to be purged from the system. During the purging step, which lasts about 30 minutes, I set up the gas chromatograph. I use this instrument to separate the gas components, namely methane and ethane, produced during the reaction.
I take a baseline measurement with the gas chromatograph before running the activity test. The baseline gives data on the composition of the product stream before the reaction occurs, so that we can ensure our catalyst requires light to function. I then turn on the light that irradiates our sample and let the system run for about 3.5 hours. I’m then free to go about my day—usually this means doing homework—and set a timer to return to the flow reactor at the end of the activity test to shut down the system. Because the gas chromograph automatically runs every 15 minutes, it gives me an accurate picture of what occurred over the past 3.5 hours.
On Thursday, my day is similar as I aim for two activity tests a week. I enter the lab after class, which on Thursday means early afternoon instead of morning. I go about the same steps but often must clean out the reactor first because I didn’t do so when the reaction finished the day before. After the reactor is set up and running, if my most of my coursework is complete, I read a research paper relevant to my project. This helps build a foundational knowledge of catalysis and make possible improvements based on other work.
My research week concludes with Friday. Here, my goal is to analyze data from the two previous activity tests. I don’t usually do an activity test on Friday because they are a significant time commitment, and I want to relax after the week. I believe that it is important to have days, or portions of days, where you focus on something other than work. To do data analysis, I open the saved gas chromatography data from the previous tests and import it into an Excel sheet. Here, I can observe trends in ethane production and make comparisons between previous tests. I make graphs of the ethane production and methane conversion over the test period and submit it in a weekly report to my research advisor. This concludes my weekly schedule of research activities.
Of course, not every week is this linear and formulaic. For example, about once a month I run out of my test catalyst and must perform a new synthesis of catalyst for testing. This may happen sooner if I decide to vary some composition aspect of my catalyst. In addition to syntheses, I often need to calcine a sample before an activity test. Calcination is the step of heating a sample at high temperature to remove impurities that may arise during synthesis. Calcination can also alter the sample’s structure leading to an increase in catalyst activity. To do this, I weigh out a specified amount of catalyst and place it in the kiln at a set time and temperature. Because this is a quick and easy task, I do the calcination step at my convenience the day before an activity test.
Ultimately, research is a time-commitment, but well worth it. It takes motivation to go the lab and perform experiments as well as an ability to make the time to do so. Unlike in the summer, one must effectively navigate the intense workload while continuing to make progress in the lab during the semester. My advice—start early, and these skills will come.
