Roller Coaster Ride

Scientists say that research can be extremely cruel and unpredictable at times. Over the past 6 weeks, I have come to learn first-hand that this statement is most certainly true. I have run into some roadblocks that have forced me to rethink my project entirely, but the roadblocks were always manageable, and I could always find a new solution to my problems with Deanna. Unfortunately, I had to learn the true meaning of the statement, “Research can be extremely cruel and unpredictable at times,” the hard way.

As previously mentioned I have been working on constructing ARROW, my portable instrumentation wagon. To summarize, ARROW is a small wagon that can be hauled around by one person with the assistance of another, and it can carry around all the instruments I need to collect air quality data at a couple of parks near Lawrence University. The plan was to finally deploy ARROW and begin collecting data on Friday July the 23rd. I was right on schedule to have ARROW prepared for deployment but then catastrophe struck a couple days before on Wednesday the 21st. On that day, two of my instruments failed to power on at all. These instruments were the NOx monitor and, more importantly, the Ozone monitor. Out of sheer tiredness, I decided to leave soon thereafter in order to compose myself and hope that the instruments would magically fix themselves overnight. My hopes were completely shattered when the following day the two instruments still didn’t want to turn on, and after searching to find the problem for a few hours, Deanna and I officially determined that there was nothing that we could do to fix the issue. It took a few minutes to register that I wouldn’t have the most important instrument in ARROW for the test run. I remember simply sitting down and attempting to internalize the conclusion that we had just come to. Deanna and I started an emergency meeting to begin thinking about new ideas to compensate for the loss of the Nox and Ozone monitor. Our best idea of the meeting included using a cheaper device call the PocketLab Air which allowed us to collect Ozone data at a lower quality. At that point we thought that some kind of ozone data is better than none at all. Devastated, I left for the day still planning to take out ARROW for Friday.

When Friday came around Deanna and I took ARROW out for a stroll at our local parks without the NOx and Ozone monitors instead we attached the PocketLab Air to ARROW to test out its capabilities. This new device recorded a ton of different data and among them was an Ozone reading which we thought may or may not be useful. In the end the first ARROW test run was a success. This run helped iron out some issues with ARROW’s construction and it helped Deanna and I come up with new ideas for what we could do with all the other data we collect using ARROW.

This was a harsh and difficult way to learn that science can be brutal to you from time to time. I am glad I learned this now rather than later because it is an experience that forced me to improvise and think outside the box which is useful for my future endeavors as a researcher.

Small upgrades to ARROW include moving the box tower to the center of the wagon and reinforcing the back poll with U bolts and wood