First Post
Greetings from Gainesville! I've been here for over a month now and am still pleased to be here. The weather isn't as bad as I expected. It's up into at least the mid 80's everyday. I'm still getting used to having pouring rain sunshine at the same time, but it keeps things interesting.
There are lots of great outdoor opportunities around here. Since Florida is so flat, hiking is much easier than in LA. The local Payne's Prairie state park has wild horses and wild bison. I
was lucky enough to see the horses my first time out, but I haven't seen the bison yet. This week I was hiking in San Felasco state park and saw four armadillos - very close! Last weekend I went do to the ruins of an old sugar plantation and saw a a 400-year-old oak tree (Fairchild Oak). Unfortunately, the mosquitoes there were just awful. Several followed me into my car! There are also plenty of alligators, fish, birds, snakes and turtles right on campus at UF.
Gainesville is very conveniently located near both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. I've taken a small boat tour of the Gulf Coast over at Cedar Key - we saw dolphins and walked around on a shallow sand bank several miles out. And I made it over to the Atlantic after realizing I hadn't been there in 7 years! As you can see, there's tons to do here so everyone please feel free to come visit!
This weekend I start volunteering at the Center for Great Apes (www.prime-apes.org). They specialize in caring for chimpanzees and orangutans who were in showbusiness. Many of them spent their whole life only with people and had never met their own kind prior to coming to the sanctuary. It's a long drive, so I plan to head down there one weekend per month. I went down there to visit/interview last month and was very impressed. I hope I can contribute to their care for these animals.
Work in my new lab is going well so far. My coworkers are all very nice. Every Wednesday the grad students and postdocs in the department have a little cookout for lunch. It's been a good way to get to know people. My new lab specializes in using bacteria to produce ethanol (an alternative fuel) and other commodity products. They have previously isolated several mutant bacteria which are especially good ethanol producers, and my project involves determining what kind of mutations help them make so much ethanol.
I expect to update this page at least once a week. I'm still playing with the layout though, so don't be surprised if you come back and it looks different.
Stay well and please stay in touch.
Laura
There are lots of great outdoor opportunities around here. Since Florida is so flat, hiking is much easier than in LA. The local Payne's Prairie state park has wild horses and wild bison. I
was lucky enough to see the horses my first time out, but I haven't seen the bison yet. This week I was hiking in San Felasco state park and saw four armadillos - very close! Last weekend I went do to the ruins of an old sugar plantation and saw a a 400-year-old oak tree (Fairchild Oak). Unfortunately, the mosquitoes there were just awful. Several followed me into my car! There are also plenty of alligators, fish, birds, snakes and turtles right on campus at UF.Gainesville is very conveniently located near both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. I've taken a small boat tour of the Gulf Coast over at Cedar Key - we saw dolphins and walked around on a shallow sand bank several miles out. And I made it over to the Atlantic after realizing I hadn't been there in 7 years! As you can see, there's tons to do here so everyone please feel free to come visit!
This weekend I start volunteering at the Center for Great Apes (www.prime-apes.org). They specialize in caring for chimpanzees and orangutans who were in showbusiness. Many of them spent their whole life only with people and had never met their own kind prior to coming to the sanctuary. It's a long drive, so I plan to head down there one weekend per month. I went down there to visit/interview last month and was very impressed. I hope I can contribute to their care for these animals.
Work in my new lab is going well so far. My coworkers are all very nice. Every Wednesday the grad students and postdocs in the department have a little cookout for lunch. It's been a good way to get to know people. My new lab specializes in using bacteria to produce ethanol (an alternative fuel) and other commodity products. They have previously isolated several mutant bacteria which are especially good ethanol producers, and my project involves determining what kind of mutations help them make so much ethanol.
I expect to update this page at least once a week. I'm still playing with the layout though, so don't be surprised if you come back and it looks different.
Stay well and please stay in touch.
Laura
posted by Laura at 10:40 PM
