Mentor Visit #2

Mentor: Dr. Tim Barckholtz 

Profession: Senior Scientific Advisor at ExxonMobil

Location: Zoom Meeting

Date: 1/28/21

Time: 3:00pm - 3:50 pm

 

Assessment:

        The majority of this week I have focused on making progress on my program for data analysis, and while I have not made the progress I originally hoped, I was able to share some of this progress with my mentor and troubleshoot some areas. At the moment, my program focuses on connecting the sources to the ends of the pipelines. After discussing my current progress with my mentor we noticed a shortcoming in the program in the sense that it did not account for a situation where the shortest distance to the pipeline may not be to the end. This is definitely something that I did not consider when first planning my program and I am very glad that my mentor brought this particular portion up. My plan of action, after consulting with my mentor, is to finish the first part of the program and then focus on this next portion that is a bit more complicated. 
        Since this project is focused around the infrastructure of carbon capture technology, I thought it was important to make sure I understood at least the basics of this process. My mentor explained that the carbon dioxide is captured from the factories, transported through pipelines that go across the southern U.S., and delivered to oil wells. The gaseous CO2 is converted to liquid CO2 due to high pressure and pushed underground into current oil wells. This not only stores the harmful carbon dioxide underground but it pushes the oil to the surface of the well. I found this process to be extremely fascinating as it shows a way to reuse materials that are considered so harmful to our environment. After explaining this process, my mentor went on to explain why this can be done in certain regions such as the Gulf Coast but not in others like California. I know that my mentor is an expert on the subject but to listen to him explain something this in depth was truly eye opening. I am very excited to continue learning from him about this subject and explore more of his expertise. 
        One of the things that I have struggled with in beginning this project has been where to start. Before this meeting, I had hundreds of data points from all over the country and I was struggling immensely with where exactly to start with these data points. I decided that this was something I needed to discuss with my mentor before my overwhelmed state turned into procrastination. As soon as I aired my concerns about the amount of data I was trying to sort through, my mentor immediately helped me pair it down. By taking out extraneous information, completing analysis by region, and narrowing down my search parameters, we were able to come up with a much more succinct set of data that was not as overwhelming. I am glad that I decided to reach out to my mentor for help on this instead of trying to persevere and end up doing work that was not necessary. 
        Overall, I consider this meeting to be a huge success as we discussed my progress on my product, I learned considerable amounts of information about my topic, and I was able to find ways to utilize my mentor’s expertise. I find myself looking forward to the upcoming week of work and our next mentor visit where I can share more of what I have accomplished and learn how to proceed.