Beatrice Casey, Weeks 1+2: Chipotle, Cards and Code.

My Lab

Starting work was terrifying yet exhilarating. I moved in the Sunday before I started and my dad walked with me to my building where I was going to meet my professor. That evening, after I settled in, my sister took me to Baby Blues, which is an AMAZING barbecue place not too far from my (well, technically my sister’s) house. We sat and caught up on some things, as sisters do after not seeing each other for about a week. She calmed me down about starting work and told me that I shouldn’t be scared because it will be a great experience. Boy, was she right.

Dr. Taylor's notes from his explanation of Census Transforms
 and where I worked before I had access to the lab space

               My meeting with my PI was at 10am in his office, so I woke up at 7:30, left my house at about 8:30, and I got to the building at 8:45. Thankfully, there is a Starbucks across the street so I just sat there for about an hour sipping on an iced latte, trying to calm my nerves. I decided to head towards the building at about 9:45, and with great fear and anticipation I walked up the steps towards the door, ready to start my work. I pulled the handle and… it was locked. Great. I had absolutely no idea what to do and I almost started panicking until a nice man with a bike came and opened the door for me. Thank goodness he came because if he didn’t I don’t know when I would have gotten into the building. I asked him where Dr. Taylor’s (my PI’s) office is and he told me it was somewhere on the fourth floor. So, I got in the elevator, ventured to the fourth floor and started searching for his office. Eventually I found it and I walked in to meet Dr. Taylor. The second I started speaking with Dr. Taylor, my fears vanished. He is an extremely kind and understanding man. We sat down and started discussing what I would be doing that summer. He explained that he wanted me to write some code for a new area he was studying in Stereo Vision. This is a little bit different then what I initially thought I would be doing… Actually it’s quite a bit different. For about half an hour he explained what he wanted me to do and the general concept of what I would be working on, and sent me to do some more research so I could begin to understand my task.

               My job is to write code that will perform a census transform on an image, and then return data on how often patterns occur in the image. When he first said ‘census transform,’ I was more than a little bit confused. However, the concept is rather simple. A census transform is when you convert a black and white image to a binary image. How is this possible? Well, first you have to take a 9x9 square of pixels and compare the surrounding pixels to the center pixel. If the pixel value is less than the center pixel value, then the number changes to a 1 and if the pixel value is greater than the center value, the number changes to 0. It looks something like this:

221	225	228
229	227	234
221	232	224

1	1	0
0	C	0
1	0	1

 

A completed Census Transform

          These 9x9 square transforms occur across the entire image until it is completely transformed into a binary image. Thus far I have figured out how to code the census transform (woohoo!), but now I have to figure out how to analyze the patterns. When I say this, I mean that I have to figure out how many times a certain pattern of the 9x9 occurs across the entire image. In this case a pattern is the 0s and 1s in the 9x9 example above. I need to figure out how to read the image and have it compare all of the patterns in the 9x9 and return the data of how often these patterns occur.

Week 1 and most of Week 2 consisted of me trying to get my Penn Card, and then trying to get it to work so I could actually get in the building. On my first day my PI introduced me to the lady (Gaby) who has helped me with getting my Penn Card. She sent an email and then sent me to a man who gave me forms that my parents and I needed to sign. The only issue with this is that since I am living in Philly without my parents, I couldn’t get the forms to them until the weekend and in order to be in the lab, I needed to have these forms signed. So, the man told me that it was fine and until I could get the forms signed, we would just pretend I don’t exist (what a nice thought!). Fortunately, I was able to scan the files and send them to my dad so he could sign what he needed to sign and fill out any information needed, so I was able to get the forms back to the man the next day. For the rest of the week, I still did not have my Penn Card and I had to awkwardly stand outside of the building until someone else unlocked the door for me (and thankfully no one asked any questions). Eventually the man got back to me and took me to another office, where they gave me a form and instructions to get my Penn Card. I went to the bookstore, I got my picture taken and my card printed and I could finally be a legitimate person in the lab! How exciting! The only problem was is that while I had access to the lab space I was working in, I still couldn’t get into the building for some reason. I tried to find Gaby, but she wasn’t in the building for practically the entire week until I found her on Friday and told her about my dilemma. She sent an email and eventually my card started working! So now I have full access to my building and the lab space.

My work space/ the lab

Thus far, my experience is most likely VERY different from other people. Other than my PI and myself, I work with no one. There is no graduate students, no postdoc, no anyone. There are people working on different projects and some students taking summer classes, but I am working with no one except my PI. However, I don’t mind this. If I have questions I go to my PI and ask, but for the most part I sit at my desk and I try to figure out my code. At first, it was a little bit tricky to figure out when I could go to lunch, when I could leave and general stuff like that, but my PI probably sensed my uncertainty and told me that there really was no scheduled time for me to come and go, I just needed to do work while I was in the lab. So the general schedule I gave myself is I come in at 10am, I have lunch at any time between 12 and 2 for about half an hour, and then I’ll work again until about 4:30 or 5. Sometimes my PI is not in his office because he has meetings or other obligations, and he has told me that in July he will be traveling a lot, but I know my task and I can email him with questions. Overall, my life in the lab is fantastic and I am very happy and comfortable.

Outside of the lab, life is also very good. My room in my house is cozy and it’s very comforting to have my sister around. Usually when I get home, my sister and I will go to the gym and then when we get home I shower and lay in my bed either reading, watching Netflix or YouTube, or writing a blogpost. I’ll go to the grocery store for food and sometimes I’ll get Chipotle (and I must admit, I’ve had far too much Chipotle during my time here) for dinner, but for the most part I just relax alone in my room. Sometimes I will FaceTime friends (robotics friends, really) and talk to them about off season events, reminisce about the past season, and we even try to schedule times to meet up and hang out. My sister and her roommates are all concerned that I am lonely, which is pretty funny, and I appreciate their concern but I truly am very happy being alone just watching Netflix (okay, now that I have put that into words I sound like a total loner but I promise I really am fine and I am really enjoying my time!). Sometimes I can even hear some drama outside my room because it is a pretty old building and the sound travels pretty well. Thus far I have heard two couples have some pretty intense fights, I have heard children playing and I even got a free music concert (there is some sort of music hall right next to the house AND a movie theatre). So far, I have to say I am REALLY enjoying my time in Philadelphia and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me during my stay. Until next time!