Last Blog of 2019

Hello, and welcome back to my blog.


This will be my final blog of the Spring 2019 semester. Barring the blissful repeat strike of a meteor in the Yucatán, and absent a global pandemic which will bring on the zombie apocalypse and wipe clean the slate of humankind, I shall be graduating from ASU in a few short weeks.


I wish I could say that I was feeling nostalgic or wistful and any of a myriad of other adjectives about that, but TBH, I feel FREE.


FREE to write beautiful things because I want to, not because I am on a deadline to complete an assignment. FREE to explore books simply for the beauty of their words and ideas, instead of as a precursor to receiving an academic credit. FREE to sleep more than 5 hours a night, which really is often more like two hours a night because of homework and working two or three jobs. FREE to stop working said multiple jobs to make ends meet. FREE to smile more because I am not always worried about how I am going to succeed at all of the things I always have going on at any given moment.


In short, I can't wait. To graduate. To slow down, a little.


Don't get me wrong- I am grateful for the love and support I have received on the way here. There were many times when that love was the only thing which fed the fire inside me and kept me going. I do appreciate all that was given to me by my friends, my family, and academia.


But, for now, my bones are tired. I need to rest for a while. And rest I shall, in a few short weeks.


In the meantime, I was assigned this final blog on the topic of using the "SMART" plan of setting goals for oneself. You know the old trope:

I hit myself in the head with this for awhile, trying to figure out what personal or professional goal I should apply this to for the purpose of this assignment. I am already an efficient over-achiever, so pickings for improvement are currently slim-to-none.


Finally, I decided that I shall plan out my rest.


SO,
To be Specific: I am going to reward myself with a month-long rest shortly after graduation. During that rest, I am going to read books, watch sci-fi and zombie apocalypse movies daily, and write hatemail to Netflix for canceling "One Day at a Time".
To be Measureable: I am going to work only one job for the month of June. I will only work that job Monday through Friday. I am also going to sleep a minimum of 6 hours per night. I will read a book or watch a movie for 2 hours minimum per weekday, more on weekends. I may also decide to skip my normal methods of adornment on weekends, and instead shall possibly lay around in an astonishing state of undress as I recuperate. This will save me 15 minutes per day that I can better allocate to my REST.
To be Achievable: Without school and a second job getting in the way, it is easily done.
To be Realistic: I say it is, so it is.
To be Timely: It couldn't come at a better or more needed time.


That's it for this blog. Thank you kindly for stopping by.


And, as always- Live Long, and Prosper.

Talk at SMCC

Hello! And welcome back to my blog.


This week, we TRAIN students at ASU have been asked to give a little talk over at South Mountain Community College.


Each of us who are attending will be giving brief, 3-minute rundowns about our experiences at ASU West or highlighting things about the campus that we think incoming scholars should know.


I personally will be talking about some campus resources that are available to students.


I am looking forward to meeting new and continuing scholars and being available to answer questions about the west campus.


See you there! The event is Friday, April 12th, from 10-11 AM in TC Building Room 226.

Changing Your Mindset

Hello! This semester in the TRAIN-STEM Scholar class here at West campus, we are reading and discussing the text Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. The book, based on decades of research conducted by the author, basically boils down to the following credo: YOU can determine your own success by choosing the right attitude and sticking with it. Now, I know that sounds over-simplified, and it IS. But I’ve only got limited space here to talk about 288 pages of pretty great techniques that you can use to change your life, so bear with me. The book is actually a whole lot better than my meme-ready phrase indicates. I have actually used it to help me gain a better perspective on life, improve my grades, and generally just feel better this about everything this year.

One of the central messages of the book is about how we can fall into the trap of having a fixed mindset. This is when we form opinions, attitudes, and patterns of behavior about something and refuse to change our mind about it, despite evidence to the contrary and despite a fixed mindset (or opinion) being detrimental to our well-being and personal growth (sounds a lot like the nasty political climate right now, doesn’t it?).

The book recommends that we choose a growth mindset instead. All this means is that we have to be open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new evidence that challenges our pre-conceived notions and habits. Instead of just falling into a rut, getting comfortable, and refusing to try/think about new things, we’ve got to let ourselves get uncomfortable and be open to learning, in every day, in every situation.

I’d like to tell you about a time that I demonstrated a growth mindset, before even I knew there was such a thing, and how it helped me.

I had a serious problem a while back with a class that I absolutely hated. Organic Chemistry. I LOATHED this class, folks- it was at 8 AM (already way too early for me), chemistry is historically my worst subject, I was crammed in lecture hall with 120 kids (I really, really, really don’t like crowds), and keeping track of reactions and nomenclature was making me nuts. Every day I had to go to this class, I just wanted to shoot myself (figuratively, not literally).

About mid-semester, I felt I was literally DROWNING in in aldehydes, ketones, amines, and hydroxyls. I had a “D” grade and was headed for an “F”. I felt like a total failure and thought I might have to quit.

Before I did that, I decided to give myself some space from all the stress for a minute. I put all the homework away, got into my pj’s, and binge-watched Netflix for two days just to clear my head. When I had calmed down and had forgotten for a minute how ticked off I was about almost failing the class, I felt a thousand times better. At that moment, I decided I should sit down, write down everything I was feeling & thinking about O-Chem (including my hopes, emotions, and fears), and see if I could recognize any patterns or connect any dots that would maybe help me see a way out of the problem.

After writing down my thoughts and reviewing the paper, I recognized again that, yeah, I HATED O-Chem. But why? None of the reasons I already mentioned seemed to make sense-in fact, they seemed kind of petty. But when I got to the emotions and, specifically, fears, I had written down, it occurred to me that I was actually afraid. Afraid of O-Chem. Afraid of failing it. Afraid that I was just too stupid to “get” it. Afraid to ask for help, because then people would know that I was lost.

It was really tough to admit that I was afraid of tiny little functional groups-heck, it was embarrassing. But once I got honest with myself, figuring a way out of my problem got easier. I realized that I was going to have to ask for help (something I never did). I realized that I was going to have to put in extra hours studying (something I wasn’t used to doing a lot of). And I realized that I might have to accept that I wasn’t going to get an “A” in the class, but if I worked hard enough I could probably at least pass it. In this situation, my absolute best effort might only produce a “C”. These were ALL hard pills to swallow for me, but I wanted my degree more than I wanted to give up. So, I swallowed them.  And in doing so, I stepped out of a fixed mindset that was holding me back from succeeding and stepped into my future.

I wish I could say that this story has a fairy-tale ending. I wish I could say that I turned it around and got an “A”. But I didn’t. I scored a “C” in O-Chem. But I fought harder for that “C” than I had ever fought for any other grade, so I was pretty proud of it. I am still proud of it. I learned a lot from that experience, and for that I will always be grateful. Plus, in the end that one “C’” didn’t really do much damage to my GPA, lol.

It’s tough stepping outside of yourself and taking an objective look at your actions, behaviors, and attitudes. Being honest about your mindset and your approach to life can be scary. It can even be embarrassing to admit when you need help. But if we want to grow as humans, sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones, face our fears, and change our attitudes.

I did- and I changed for the better as a result.

Thank you for reading my blog. Have a great semester!

 

If I could go back to my first semester...

Hello all! Last blog of the semester here and then it's on to a MUCH needed winter break.


For this blog, I was asked what I would say to myself if I could go back to my first semester at ASU. My answer is really two-fold.


First, I would tell myself not to take any loans. "Stick to grants and find more scholarships, Paul, because you'll eventually have to pay that money back", is the gist of it. I am getting close to graduating, and the thought of having to start payments on my student loan debt is NOT a pleasant one. I might be eating ramen soup and mac & cheese for a few years. SMH.


More importantly, I would tell myself to enjoy college life more! The whole college experience only happens once for most people, so slow down a little and have fun with it. Make time for building relationships with students and faculty. Focus more on making friends! Sure, getting those A's is important to getting ahead and achieving your goals, but 10 years from now that paper and all the stress that went into making it will be forgotten. But the friends you worked hard alongside, who helped you de-stress, who supported you through it all- in 10 years those friends will likely still be there, enriching your life, loving you and making your world better. Don't give up on your academic goals- just make room next to them for other important things. You won't regret it.


That's my blog. Until next time...


Live Long, and Prosper.

ASU West Blog #2- Interview with Faculty, Dr. Becky Ball

Hello all! Our STEM-TRAIN mentors have asked each of us to submit interview questions to a (beloved) faculty member for insight on the West campus experience. I chose to interview Dr. Becky Ball. She is a soil and senior sustainability scientist whose work focuses on soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology.

I have had the great pleasure and luck to work with Dr. Ball, first as a research assistant and then as an NCUIRE Scholar in her laboratory. You can check out more about her and her research here: BallASUBio and on her official blog at BallPolarSoilsBlog. You can also check out some of my previous Blogspots for info on the research projects I did in her lab.

When you come to West, you will undoubtedly have some classes with Dr. Ball. My advice to you? Don't miss any of her classes. They are chock full of important information that WILL be on the exams! But not to worry...as long as you go to class and do the homework, you WILL be successful in her courses. Plus, Dr. Ball is always available to give extra help via e-mail & office hours, and she often stays after class to answer questions. (Also plus, as you'll see below, she has a great sense of humor.)

I know I've mentioned it before, but I will mention it again: One of the best things about West is how accessible and committed to student success the instructors are. Great instructors are the rule, not the exception, here.

Without further blabbering, here's my short interview. Please enjoy.

Paul- What do you like best/worst about being a professor?

Becky Ball- Best: Variety in my days. I decide what I do when I come in to work, and I rarely do the same thing every day. I have a lot of independence (as long as I make sure I meet my responsibilities). I also get to travel a lot and interact with a lot of different types of people. I also like that I get a balance between teaching and research. I like working with students, but I also like going out into the field to explore and ask questions.

Worst: Grading papers and exams. Soooooo monotonous. Unfortunately I can’t assign grades in a class without it.

Why did you decide to enter your field?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian. (Because little girls who like animals grow up to be vets… it’s the only job I knew you could do with critters.) (Ed. note: Dr. Ball is often sardonic. This is an example.) In high school I read a book written by a field biologist who studied tigers in the wild. I decided that I much preferred the idea of studying animals in the wild than sick animals in a clinic with pesky human owners. So I went to college for field biology. I realized that to lead research programs, you need a PhD, so I looked at graduate programs. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to do, because I liked everything (mammals, insects, geology, chemistry, botany… I liked it all!). I ended up learning about biogeochemistry, which really does use all of those different fields of science. I liked it because I didn’t have to choose just one, but instead get to study the big picture. I learned in grad school that I liked working with students, so I became a professor in biogeochemistry.

What is the most surprising thing about your field to you?

Most people don’t realize the great diversity of science jobs that exist. If you ask kids what you can do with science as a career, they’ll probably tell you “science teacher” or “scientist”. Probably they’re thinking of Beaker from the Muppet Show: a guy with a lab coat, a pocket protector, and no social skills. But there are so many different types of scientists, and way more diversity in jobs than just working in a lab with colored liquid in flasks. If you had told 10-year-old me that one day I’d be studying soil ecology in Antarctica, I would’ve probably peed my pants. I had no clue you could do things like that for a job.

Image credit: The Muppets Facebook. Retrieved:  October 27, 2018.

TRAIN-STEM Blog, ASU West

Greetings, fellow STEM Scholars!


I transferred to ASU in Fall 2016 from Phoenix College. At the time, I had been in S-STEM for several semesters, but the current TRAIN-STEM partnership had not been developed yet. So, I took a hiatus from the program to work and study with Dr. Becky Ball @ ASU West, first as a research assistant, and then as an NCUIRE Scholar. Later on, Dr. Chapman forged a new partnership with the good folks at ASU West, including Drs. Marshall, Ferry, and Sandrin, and I rejoined the scholarship program, now called TRAIN-STEM.


When I transferred to the west campus from Phoenix College, I was immediately surprised by how available the faculty and school resources were to me. I was expecting a big, busy campus, with huge class sizes and aloof instructors, where I would just get lost in a sea of anonymous faces and possibly have a hard time with getting good grades. What I found was exactly the opposite. The west campus is an intimate, friendly, thriving community of faculty and students, where class sizes tend to be small, instructors greet you by name, and in-person help from the teachers is always available.


This sense of community, and the individual attention from staff, has really helped me thrive academically. And the smaller student body has given me the chance to network more broadly and find opportunities that may not have been available to me at a giant, anonymous campus.


In fact, being on west campus and getting such great support led directly to my current job, which is as a Soil Scientist-Trainee, with the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service. This is a non-competitive internship, which gives me on-the-job training, a paycheck while I am in school, and a guaranteed full-time job when I graduate. It is a great opportunity that I am extremely grateful for, and one which I would never have found had I not chosen to go to ASU West.


If you are currently in TRAIN-STEM and are wondering what it's like here at ASU West, feel free to reach out to me @ PCatteli@asu.edu. I'll be glad to answer any of your questions and connect you with resources on campus.


Until next time... Live Long, and Prosper.

Image source: quotesgram.com 09/28/2018

ASU internship-2016

Hello! Welcome back to my blog.

Since this blog went on hiatus least December, I completed my time at PC and was offered (and accepted!) a research internship working for Dr. Becky Ball @the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, ASU West. Dr. Ball is a sustainability scientist and biogeochemist whose research is focused on the relationship and role of microbial and invertebrate organisms to carbon and nutrient dynamics in soils. Pretty exciting stuff!

I have included a link here to Dr. Ball's bio, lab info, and publications: http://www.public.asu.edu/~rball5/ .

As I am a research assistant, I will be working on part of an ongoing project of Dr. Ball's that is studying the changes in chemistry during the decomposition of plant detritus. This project aims to identify how changes in chemistry during decomposition affect the overall process; more specifically, myself and Miranda, the other assistant assigned to this project, will be measuring hemi-cellulose, cellulose, lignin, and phosphorous levels in leaf-litter samples obtained from various locations around North and Central America. Analysis of the samples will be conducted using a number of methods, including a thermal reduction method as well as sequential acid digestion. Details on the processes and how the data obtained relates to the project to follow on a later blog, as that portion of the study is set to begin later this week.

My first week in the lab was comprised of various activities. Miranda and I prepped litter samples for both distribution to other labs, as Dr. Ball's study is a cooperative one, and thermal reduction for our own later analysis. I also assisted on two other projects working out of the lab. The first, a leaf-litter decomposition project, is being conducted by PC's Dr. Elena Ortiz and Matt Haberkorn. We constructed a number of leaf-litter bags of various mesh sizes, packed them with sycamore tree leaf detritus, and installed them in a compost bin at PC; Elena and Matt will be extracting and analyzing the microbial and invertebrate organisms from the samples as the project progresses.

Nikita, another research student, is doing a project that studies how nitrogen and phosphorous deposition affects microbial communities in soil. To that end, I was invited to join Nikita and Dr. Ball for some field work around the Phoenix area. We spent a full day taking soil core samples from two desert research sites that have plots that have been treated with a nitrogen additive. We also took samples from adjacent control plots that have been left untreated. Nikita will later compare these samples in the lab for their N, P, and microbial content.

The work this first week was, simply put, fun. I love doing field work. Being outdoors and getting down in the dirt in pursuit of knowledge is my idea of heaven. The work done off-site was productive and was also notable for how many times I was able to get a cholla burr embedded in my skin (including my achilles tendon-ouch!), so it looks like I will be investing in a pair of hiking boots rather quickly.

By the way, thanks to Dr. Ball for having the foresight to bring a pair of pliers. They came in handy for doing cholla spine extractions from various parts of my body.

Thanks for checking in with me. Talk to you soon!

All photos: Usery Mountain Park. Credit: Paul Cattelino