20.109 was 20.10fine

It was more than fine, actually, but I enjoy the pun. Someone had to make it! Also, it's hard to convey vocal delivery through text--imagine saying "twenty-one-oh-fine" where the fine is drawn out (i.e. fiiinnnne) and you're kicked back in a chair with cool shades on as you wait for your experiments to finish (okay, tangent over). What I really want to say is that 20.109, though a lot of work, solidified my appreciation for bioengineering and my certainty that course 20 is for me.

This last module was especially exciting in that I'd not done (or learned of) anything like it before. From looking at crystalline gold and phage with the TEM to rolling out the cathodes to watching JiFa assemble batteries, I was in constant amazement at all the cool science we had the opportunity to do. When our batteries finally lit up LED's, I was internally flipping out:

Of course, we all actually know how the batteries work, but this meme still has emotional relevance.

I promptly showed the battery off to everyone I knew when I was back in my dorm ("You're such a bio nerd," my roommate told me in the middle of my wild gesticulations/rant about M13 bacteriophage). 

One of my favorite things about this module was listening to Prof Belcher talk about her impressive life/vicariously doing middle school projects/experiences in research/amazing accomplishments. One of the lessons about doing your own research that I will take away from this module, and from this class as a whole, is her motto: "I'd rather be crazy than boring." She also emphasized that what we learn and the ideas we have now will be directly relevant to our futures careers in BioE, and that's a difficult thing to remember when the end of the semester feels like an endless parade of deadlines.

The research proposal was another source of endless excitement (and also stress). Though it was a lot of work to research topics and methods my partner and I were unfamiliar with, and though it was difficult to piece together the minute details of why and how we could do specific experiments, it was a lot of fun to talk through the research with my partner. We spent hours and hours brainstorming for the proposal, mainly because it was interesting to think about all the potential projects one could take up in BioE.

20.109 has definitely been one of the coolest classes I've taken here. It gave me a taste for the "real world" of bioengineering, and it's one of those classes that feels like a major stepping stone towards becoming a better scientist and engineer. It has been great getting to know our awesome 20.109 staff and my real chill classmates. Thank you to everyone who helped make this class as awesome as it is--it's been 20.10fiiiiiine!