About my miniproject

by Asel on July 2011

I am a student in Multimedia University. Last semester I took a miniproject which is called “Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles by co-precipitation method”. In this note I wish to share with my story and also my experience.

My miniproject for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles has reached its end. Many days spent in nanolab and many hours spent on doing my research will stay in my mind for the rest of my life.

Here, i just want to go back and remember all over again how it started. I still remember my first week, when i just came back from my homecountry. As i just arrived my two friends (my group for miniproject) ran to my house and began to explain how they lived without me for the whole week. They looked so worried and nervous trying to give me the understanding how that miniproject was going to be hard. In the first week, we already submitted our first report. That report was about the basic understanding of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles: its structure, shape and properties.  My friends said i should have seen our lecturer for miniproject as he was wondering why i missed first study week. Having come to his office and talked to him, i realized that our lecturer was cared about us and wanted us to learn more from him. There was one  more thing that i realized-i should forget about rest that semester and concentrate purely on my project.

Every time we went to minip* class, we felt stress. We could not know what to expect to come  out during the class. However, everytime something really challenging came. I remember how Dr. Ong** asked us to prepare slides within 45 minutes and prepare the presentation about different synthesises methods of Fe3O4. From here we learnt how we should be organized and how we should be fast in resolving problems. I should say that every challenge that our supervisor gave us was aimed to make us learn something from it. And every time after the class i was going home and thinking that i should have  performed in a better way as i did. Maybe, i  reproached myself.

I have to confess, some guys in our nano team i saw first time. Looking at them every time in class, i thought:”Oh, they are so smart”. That was really great to know them more. All of them have something unique and they have a lot of different interests. Some of them even surprised me with their talents.

Almost every single week, we  had a presentation to  prepare. It was very interesting to observe other teams, how they made their slides, what they said and how they replied to Dr. Ong`s hard questions.

When i stepped into nano lab, i was so happy to wear that white coat, gloves and goggles sometimes. I felt as i was a real nanotechnologist. Looking at those equipments surrounded us, i was amazed.

My groupmates (30 of us) were so friendly to me all the time. They were really free to talk whenever i asked them something. This is how we all began to be good friends and not just groupmates.

Our very first experiment was the most memorable. We came to nano lab early morning, neatly prepared all apparatus, stuck papers on fume hood. We returned to lab, began to measure chemicals. My hand was trembling, i was so nervous. Henry was standing next to me and saying to calm down. We really supported each other that day. Luckily, we got black precipitate, our first magnetic nanoparticles! That time we came home very tired but with a good mood.

I found that many my groupmates are so much creative. I will never forget Theng Yee`s (groupmate) specially made holder for camera…

We finished our first part of project and went to mid-break. However, we did not have any rest, because we still had a lot of work to do. Being jealous and looking how my other friends (not nano majoring) had their rest, we continued to struggle in finding any improvements.

In part 2, there were no longer three of us in a team. We combined with other teams. I should say that, we chose the right team to work together. (i hope they also think the same). I very liked those guys. From here, our lives became a bit easier but just for the short period. We varied some influent parameters and got our nanoparticles. That time, we believe we obtained a better quality of samples.

Coming to the end of the sem, suddenly our lecturer made an interview. We were so worried about the questions that Dr. Ong could ask. Waiting  our turn for some hours, we entered his room. He did not ask us about the theory or any our knowledge in nano field. But what he said was very impressive and what no other lecturers told us before. He gave us some tips for our future.  To set our priorities, to avoid mistakes, to be decisive and to negotiate. These just some of them that i can come out with now. He asked us one good question showing very green and big apple, “How would we divide this apple between two persons fairly”. After i came home, i began to ask my housemates the same question. Noone of them could come out with the right answer. What Dr. Ong said is that first of all, we should ask our friend, does he actually want this apple, how much does she/he want and so on…

There are four conditions that can take place: win win, win lose, lose win, lose lose. To make it win win and avoid lose lose, we should communicate, this is how we can achieve a fair decision.

So, i guess, we should ask ourselves first, what we need, how we can avoid mistake and set our priorities and of course negotiate.

We reached our final presentation. I was amazed how my all  nanogroupmates presented. All of them was so good at talking, their speeches were so organized and informative. Some of the group impressed me with the way how they made their slides. It s a lot of things that i can learn from my groupmates. Looking at them and thinking how they are good, i also want to grow.

One of my good friend said that his life was like a straight line with no spikes down or up before that miniproject. And now, he has a big spike up. It means that  before our university life was kind of boring, just attending classes, completing assignments and no classes where we can really show up our knowledge  and do something really worth and breathtaking.

Minip made us alive again.

This is the end of miniproject. Great experience, great people and great work, all of it we made during this 12 weeks. 12 weeks of pressure and 12 weeks of amazing time.

Thank you to my all groupmates and our supervisor! Keep it up….

minip*= short form of miniproject word

Dr. Ong**= our lecturer and supervisor for miniproject