by My name is Anaiya Reliford, a rising junior chemical engineering major, computer science minor at Howard University, originally from San Leandro, California (near Oakland, CA). I am interested in failure analysis and sustainability. Without a set career path, I was very blessed to be one of the trailblazers for this STEMSEAS program. As a primary participant, the one word I used to describe my feelings about this trip before we set sail was exultant, which encompasses my expression of gratitude and ambition for limitless exploration options in the STEM field that I never expected to appeal to me and application of knowledge from the classroom to real, hands-on scientific investigations.
Currently, we are aiming to identify some unknown information regarding microplastics and coring. In relation to microplastics, there has been a recent convergence of debris convening in the largest continuous ecosystem on Earth, the North Pacific Sub-tropic Gyre, spanning approximately 20 million kilometers (Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Jennifer Brandon). With variables including but not limited to ocean circulation, wind speeds and other weather conditions, distance, and year, adjustments to observation can estimate relationships between these variables and their effects on abundance and distribution. Microplastic accumulation is a phenomena suggesting that plastic never fully degrades and in turn affects ecology, density in the upper water habitat, toxins by absorbing chemical and organic waste and more. Due to more recent discovery and limited data, scientists use interpolation formulas regarding different ocean circulation models to estimate accumulation and mass of microplastics, defined as plastic debris less than 5mm in size. We are aiming to provide more data to these studies and validate and/or formulate new theories.
Coring is a technique using applied force of gravity to penetrate the ocean floor with the expectation of retrieving sediment layers that will provide information on past ocean life. An echo sounder uses acoustic sound waves to determine the locations of layering in the sea floor versus solid, impenetrable rock and if any interruptions will disrupt data collection. With this, age, fossils, and other discoveries can be made.
One of the main reasons I decided to become a chemical engineering major was due to the versatility factor of choosing and/or switching career paths, whether traditional or non-traditional. This is only day two at sea and I have already seen the implementation of both chemical engineering and computer science on the ship. Between combustion chambers, refrigeration and air controls, the energy supplied using pistons, pressure, siphoning in coring, chemistry in microplastic and sediment identification, navigation instruments, servers and internet connection networks, ship Wi-Fi, understanding units of conversion and other principles involved in the function of the ship have demonstrated the importance of the information I learned in class. Being able to conceptualize the information from class and seeing the application encourages me to continue my path as an engineer and inspires me to go back next semester wanting to work harder to understand new engineering concepts. It is the most extraordinary feeling to be able to have conversations with professionals and to get validation that I did in fact learn and understand concepts in class. Also, conducting true experiments with students of all different backgrounds and majors opens my eyes to new thought processes and encourages my appreciation for teamwork and diversity as it is a necessity in the STEM field, and in life in general. Not only have I received a once in a lifetime opportunity, it reinforces my decision to become an engineer, broadens my horizons as to what I can do as an engineer, and gives me more substance for encouraging other students to switch into the STEM field.
