Today we spent our morning taking group pictures in our matching Iowa State shirts around campus. Then we sat down with Wesley Lefforts, a cardiovascular exercise physiologist, who spoke with us about his research. He was so fun to listen to. What I found really interesting was his discussion about menopause as it relates to his research on brain health. Put simply, the estrogen that women produce acts as a type of protection for the arteries. When women stop producing estrogen, they lose that barrier, which can then accelerate damage to the brain. This is a contributing factor to why women are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as men. 

Wes also gave us some valuable life advice. The first piece that stuck with me is that no experience is a waste. Bad professor, good professor, bad outcome, good outcome, you can always learn something and grow from any experience. The second piece of advice is to follow your passions and opportunities. Going along these lines, the last piece of advice I loved is to infuse what you love into what you do. As a professor, Wes has found ways to infuse his love for animation and comedy into his career. His animations on the slides looked like they could be in textbooks, and, what seems like his comedic nature, is what got us all fooled during his lecture…basically what happened is that he introduced himself in this strong New Zealand accent, saying that he was from a city near Auckland, and then proceeded to talk for the next hour with that accent. At the end of the lecture, he said, “so, do you all think I’m really from New Zealand?” and we all just look at him like um yeah what do you mean. Then, all of a sudden, he starts speaking English and says that he’s actually from Oregon. 

Later today, my team has a meeting with Aron to go over some things that will prepare us for starting work in the lab next Tuesday. Then, we are going to an art market in downtown Ames.

Last night, a few of us interns decided to head to the rec pool on campus that had a hot tub, diving well, whirlpool (which btw is a hazard to get in and out of when it’s at max speed) I’d be trying to pull myself out of the circle, but then get swept away by the current and have to go around the circle again. Repeat that like 3 or 4 times. We also played some water basketball. Ruby was on my team and definitely carried us. She could shoot, and I could hold onto the ball (or at least put up a good fight to). On the way back from the pool we saw a double rainbow so we had to document it. The sky after a storm is always so pretty. After that, we ended the night with another Game of Thrones episode. The goal is to finish all 8 seasons by the end of the summer, but that seems ambitious, so we’ll see.

The picture on the right is just of the horses I pass on my walk to and from the VRAC.