You are here
Week 3 - The Rumors Are True...
Submitted by Ashley Anhalt on June 24, 2011 - 2:12pm
My third week here began with a presentation for my mentors. Although I was simply presenting my work over the past couple weeks, I was concerned as to how the meeting would go. It was obvious that I could have articulated myself much better; however, it was important to get into a group discussion regarding my project and this did occur. Thus, I would say that my presentation was a success and allowed me to learn firsthand the CMOP style for future presentations. I was given constructive feedback and further instruction for the rest of the week.
There was (and is) still a lot to figure out, but my main focus this week has been on perfecting my PCA MATLAB code so that it displays the specific composition and corresponding weights of the principal components. Additionally, I have recently begun looking at other data that has been used in previous experiments in the hopes that knowing what kind of results we want will aid in determining how to look at the PCA.
We actually had a second meeting for my project on Wednesday because it has been quite difficult to decide upon the most appropriate method(s) of further analysis. We are still looking to my analysis for a more obvious way to compare across samples. Moreover, a proposal of this project is due in the upcoming weeks, so we must establish more of the specifics very shortly, including from where we want our samples. I would say that our biggest struggle at the moment is looking for the practical and scientific meanings behind the images and analyzed data.
Besides CMOP, this week has been quite interesting; I experienced a lot more of Oregon. I witnessed Oregon's Annual Naked Bike Ride and the Portland Pride Parade. I didn’t participate in either, but I am learning that I need to experience Oregon to its fullest. Over just the first three weeks I've seen so much; I can't even imagine what else is to come. But it is clear that Portland is weird … the rumors are true.
