10-3-2007
It seems that New College has prepared me fairly well for courses here. While my homeworks havent been stellar I haven't been doing too poorly in my classes, and I feel that I'm no further behind than anyone else.
On the research front, the new microscope arrived about two weeks ago, and our group is in the process of reconfiguring the layout of the optical table to incorporate the microscope. Looks like the micro-Raman setup will not be fully operational (like the death star) until the end of this semester. With any luck Dr. Kieffer will in fact be gearing up on a new project to study carbon fiber composites. The plan is to use Raman and Bruillion spectroscopy to probe the interface between the carbon fibers and the polymer matrix between them, in order to determine the elastic properties of the composite.