Week 3: The First Sample!

Though I was hoping to start deep water sampling this week, UPS seems to have different plans for me. Currently, I am still waiting on the Van Dorn water sampler to arrive. However, rather than pause data collection entirely, I decided to begin with a site I am already familiar with in Alexandria, where I conducted sampling over the summer.

I collected and sent out my first water sample from that same location to establish a point of comparison. My goal is to determine whether PFAS concentrations have changed significantly since my last measurements. This was because I came across a presentation by AlexRenew from February of this year during my research, which talked about additional measures they planned to implement to reduce PFAS contamination. By comparing current data to my previous results, I hope to get a sense of whether those efforts have had any measurable impact.

In addition to fieldwork, I have also started focusing on the data analysis component of my project. Because my research involves comparing PFAS concentrations across multiple variables such as time, depth, and environmental conditions, choosing an appropriate analytical model is very important. I have not yet finalized which statistical approach I will use, but I am currently exploring different methods and beginning to learn more about how artificial intelligence can support data analysis. Moving forward, I will continue refining both my sampling strategy and my analytical approach as more data becomes available.