HELPING TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

Yo! My name is Wendy Rivero. I'm no super hero, but I want to help make the world a better place.

[wenriop]

Chai latte?

In reparation for the national dairy competition in 2018, my team has been toying with a chai yogurt formulation. We thought it was disruptive, innovative, and fun. My goal was to make it tasty. A big draw back was using greek yogurt and the spices involved. Often the trials would taste either bitter or have a grainy texture. My final formulation included a bit of stevia for sweetness, a bit of honey, dry spices and store bought greek yogurt. I tried mixing the dry spices and making my own syrup, adding corn starch for increased creaminess, changing the spices ratio, adding just honey, adding just stevia, or adding nothing at all. All in all, my greatest reward was the smiling faces of the informal focus group panelists when they tried it, and the excitement when they said that it tasted good enough to make them want to buy it.

[wenriop]

Say Cheese!

Since I can’t visit my family this year, I am staying home and preparing a homemade cheese protocol for SAGSA, the student club I’m most involved with. I tried making queso blanco and mozarella, but I am still struggling to find the perfect acidity to create good curds. I am using grocery store bought milk, which adds the challenge of defeating homogenization, but the results are, well, tasty.

[wenriop]

Introduction to Bioinformatics and NCBI Molecular Searching

I have used the NCBI database previously while working as a Research Assistant for the Legume Genetics lab. There every once in a while my boss would ask me to BLAST a sequence that had too many errors or that he didn’t have time to BLAST himself. Back then I didn’t think much of it, but after this workshop I have deep respect for NCBI. The workshop allowed me to create useful searches for hypertension in the elderly for my nutrition project this semester. I went from 2000 confusing results to 13 focused ones in one workshop. So thank you, for having so much information available and teaching me to use it.

[wenriop]

Creative Coding Learnathon (in Processing)

I was gladly surprised to know that you can code directly for design. Somehow looking back at Pixar animations it should have been intuitive, but at the same time my mind was trapped in a box, thinking that all visualizations were done in drop down software such as Tableu. Only got the very basic of Processing, but I’ll be excited to try its loop functions again and see where I go!

[wenriop]

Intro to Biomaterials for Design Workshop with Annelie Koller

This is my mushroom made pencil holder <3 courtesy of Ms. Koller who guided us through her biomaterials presentation, biometaerials designing workshop and opened a new world for me: where the things we use to decorate our homes can be returned back to nature when their use is over.

[wenriop]

R for Absolute Beginners

Or that’s how I felt while learning that this “<-“ is the assign symbol on R. 

[wenriop]

Making the Work You Want: Personal Projects 101 Workshop with Helena Price

A couple of interesting points she made were:

-Make sure to have something to give back to those who help you

-Make time

-Communicate with those who are the loop of what you want to create

-The things you don’t know how to do, outsource them

-It doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be out by the deadline

-Create a project related to where you want to be in your career

So. Let’s get ready for some R programming!

[wenriop]

Visualize Your Data with Tableau

This Fall I attended an introductory class where we tried to see the patterns of burglaries in Raleigh, NC through a Tableau visualization. 

[wenriop]

Colorizing Digital Media and Visualization: Using Mobile and Online Apps

I went to this workshop with the intent of making better PowerPoint presentations. Because I am color inept, and most of us are. No shame. That’s why using tools such as colorbrewer.org and exporting its palettes to software such as Tableu, Illustrator or PowerPoint is neat. Let the experts do the work. Or so I learned in this workshop.

I also learned that creating data visualizations of immense size, such as that of a hurricane, is slightly unnerving. It takes a lot of resources to check if it worked, and a lot of time to design. All in all, I came out with greater appreciation for designers and how they help us understand data.

[wenriop]

Hypertension in the elderly

For my Advanced Nutrition and Metabolism class project I decided to think of my grandmothers: Ramona and Nora. They are both early elderly women with hypertension, one of them with diabetes. And both of them struggle with weight and healthy eating patterns. I can never forget the story of grandma Nora chewing on a piece of white bread while my auntie yelled at her “mum! You CAN’T eat that! The doctor said you can’t eat that! You HAVE diabetes!”; needless to say my grandma happily finished her bread and went on to watch telenovelas.

With this, I researched the literature for recommendations that can aid elderly patients in managing hypertension. Quickly I learned that elderly in the US have the majority of hypertension cases, are difficult to recruit and maintain during random studies, and in general are difficult to classify for treatment. Nevertheless, following a diet high in protein but still within the AMDR recommended by the USDA during the 2015-2020 dietary guidelines may help with managing or reducing hypertension. As well, reducing sugar along with salt consumption, increasing sodium consumption, and avoiding the vice of liquor and smoking may help.

I am looking forward to cooking my next meal with my grandmothers, armed with a bit more nutrition knowledge this time. Cheers!

[wenriop]

The consumer is always right: studying public opinion on a processed soy protein additive

For my class project for “chemistry of food and bioprocess materials” I prepared a case study on processed soy protein. This is a crafty additive that can fluff meats or recreate them, it is used in the Impossible Burger or in sausages found in the supermarket. The common principle is that of making morcilla, the Spanish pig blood sausage, where the plant proteins give stability to a highly liquid and fat containing food. My case study explored the underground panic about it, the angelic properties supported, and came to the conclusion that right now there is not enough information available. This is a double edge sword: for one, yay! It is a good topic to further research, and in the other it is not easy to counsel consumer worry.

As for my graduate school perspective, it showed that it is necessary to step beyond evidence, but also consider the weight of evidence. It is necessary to figure out ways to engage audiences, and it is critical to stay on schedule. furthermore, having a associates in your field that can read your work could be of great help.

(I am still looking forward to trying the impossible burger)

[wenriop]

I am currently looking for a laboratory position and decided to give Adobe Illustrator a shot both for my resume design and to enhance my skills. Above are my most interesting sketches during the trial period and while following a LinkedIn Learning course on it.

The experience brought me back to my usual state of: “I am sure the computer would do what I want if only I knew how to explain it to it” (aka what commands to use and in what order), but I had fun drawing my favorite element!

[wenriop]

Six months of work in one pic. 23 batches, 118 samples per batch, average of 3 batches per month, 5 common quality errors, 70 quality reports later. It was a short contract, but I'm glad I was here.

[wenriop]

Piroshki, filled with meat and potatoes. Traditional Russian recipe would include cabbage, which I am starting to suspect is a pretty "Russian" ingredient to use, but I used spinach instead. Improvising to get good results is a must in the kitchen (and life). My friends gave it a five star, and one that never asks for leftovers grabbed two to take home. The vegetarian twist went with sweet potatoes and mushrooms, full of flavor and love. Try it out, you'll regret not to!

[wenriop]

Clothing recycling is one of those things that I can’t find a service for. The options available for like single users require that the stuff is in great condition so it can be re-sold in third world countries or something like that. Which is like… whaaaaaat? Or is it that I am the only one that wears their clothing until it’s useful life is over?

It turns out that big thrift store services such as Salvation Army do have clothing recycling services. So I donate there and hope that my jeans will become cement.

On the other hand, I also buy most of my clothes there. It serves a good purpose since most or all of my purchase helps local organizations, and it has the environmental advantage of avoiding ditching clothes/wasting resources in making more.

I can say with pride: I’m thrifted for the environment.

[wenriop]

This is my receipt for donating my books to my local library. I've been trying to stop buying books because I haven't been able to find resources to recycle books. The book I donated was not in the library (reason why I bought it) and I thought i'd rather make sure someone else didn't have to go through the same terrible situation. Sarcasm aside, public libraries know how to circulate books. I'd rather donate mine than ditching them. It's a three minutes solution to try to make the world a better place.

[wenriop]

Katsudon. Or pork cutlet bowl. I've been cooking Japanese food for the last two years or so, and a repeting theme is to use leftovers. Fried rice: use left over white rice, tempura vegetables (deep fried vegetables): use left over veggies, okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake): use leftover tempura bits, and so on. I've been living in America for four years. Americans waste about 1 out of 4 bags of groceries, while food plentifulness is a key element in the culture. It makes me wonder: if meals had the "use leftovers" attitude of Japanese recipes, at least at the consumer level could food waste be reduced? I can only speak for myself. I waste less food now that I use leftovers and ugly produce. I've also gotten more creative in the kitchen. Try it out, you might like it!