Mauricio M.
WISRD Member
Fall poster session 2025: Mauricio's Fall Poster 2025
Journal:
3/17/26: I received my lab review results. I appreciated the feedback that I received that was applicable and important to acknowledge.
3/10/26: I worked on removing all the mold on the leaves. I assessed the plants, and I’ve decided that the sunflower that survived will go on the deck next week. I cleaned up all the suture kits and tested the pH for all the outdoor plants. They are all very strong but slow growers, I’ll still have to set back the date that my plants will be moved into the deck
3/3/26: I replaced the cardboard pots with ceramic ones so the mold will slow down growth significantly. The sunflowers are almost ready to leave the greenhouse and move up onto the deck. The plants on the deck have been growing slowly. I’m giving small amounts of water to them because I want to see if harsher environments will change the amount of oil they can absorb and see if they will survive the amount of energy they need to continue the process of phytoremediation. I re-applied to WISRD so I could continue my project. Mold is still growing around and outside of the ceramic pots, so I’ll talk to Megan about how I can work around that. We could reduce the amount of mushrooms in the greenhouse so the mold won’t be growing constantly, or we could remove them altogether.
2/24/26: I watered all my plants, and I noticed that my plants on the deck are growing. I continue to wait for my plants, but I'm working on developing a secondary project. I removed the mold on the plants; they had it because they were growing above mushrooms, which signifies that they're in a good enviornment so I wouldn’t have to worry about them. I still had to remove the mold.
2/19/26: I only have WISRD 2 days this week. I continued planting my plants indoors because the ones on the deck died. My sunflowers have sprouted, and I’ve replanted the ones that died. I’m still waiting on growth. My plants have been growing significantly inside, so as soon as it gets warmer outside in the spring.
2/24/26: I watered all my plants, and I noticed that my plants on the deck are growing. I continue to wait for my plants, but I'm working on developing a secondary project. I removed the mold on the plants; they had it because they were growing above mushrooms, which signifies that they're in a good enviornment so I wouldn’t have to worry about them. I still had to remove the mold.
2/19/26: I only have WISRD 2 days this week. I continued planting my plants indoors because the ones on the deck died. My sunflowers have sprouted, and I’ve replanted the ones that died. I’m still waiting on growth. My plants have been growing significantly inside, so as soon as it gets warmer outside in the spring.
2/10/26: I’m waiting for plant growth, so I’ve been reviewing pitches. I’ve also been focusing more on research as my own plants grow. I planted the sunflower seeds in the greenhouse, so the main part of my project is now growing.
2/3/26: The pots I ordered have finally arrived, so I brought them up to the deck. One of my white sage plants has started budding, so I might need to start planting my sunflower bush. I had some issues with some research, but it won’t affect my project. I might need to move the pots and materials up on the deck because the facilities seemed a bit off with the placement of my stuff. Im a bit worried that my plants aren’t sprouting. It might be because of the climate, so I hope they will start growing again.
1/28/26: Im waiting for my plants to grow, so I’m still looking for pots. Some plants are budding, so im probably going to use my downtime to see what else I could do with the sampling kit. I used this Nature article that discussed oil metabolism, which changes the environment on a large scale.
1/22/26: Small week for WISRD. I’m working on my plants and creating a watering schedule for them in my researcher profile, so when I'm not here or during the break, someone could help me with that. I’m waiting for my plants to grow. I worked on finding a good pot, but I couldn’t find any.
1/13/26: Megan and I finally ordered the silk and soil. This week, I planted both my sticky monkeyflower and white sage. I have a pot that contains the plants and an empty one. I will bring out my urban water-testing kit once my plants grow.
1/6/26: First WISRD class of the year, I plan to plant on the deck so I can move forward. and continue to examine oil under various conditions and its impact on living organisms. I scouted out where I was going to plant my bushes and sage. Soren (WW’28) and I tested the soil pH for the area I’ll be planting in, and we found it needs to be less acidic. Megan has all the necessary materials to solve this problem. I will hopefully pitch my lab to the board before we reach the deadline.
12/16/25: I took a video of a seaweed chloroplast for my project in WISRD and Bio, so I can use the video twice. I also scouted some places for my white sage and brittle bush. I also worked on developing my inquiry. Click THIS LINK to see the video.
11/4/25: Working on my Inquirer draft took up all of my block today(11/4/25). I finished my intoduction and almost have all my links that I use or are planning to use as evidence/ reasoning for my claims. (11/6/25)I started working on my poster for the poster session, my testing kit has arrived, and I will be experimenting with it soon. I’ve read the instructions for the kit, I’ll read it one more time cause its confusing, but i’ll check for more steps I missed.
10/28/25: INQUIRER DRAFT… I worked on brainstorming how to start my inquiry and look more into germ tests.
10/21/25: I fixed the issue with the Glowforge with Megan, and we’re doing the final prints for Dark Matter.
10/14/25: I worked on my Dark Matter Day project, fixing the part where the cardboard moves in the Glowforge. The printing took the whole class. Next week is Dark Matter Day. I’ll be doing the finishing touches on our stuff, then we’ll be ready. Finished around 2 full prints of our bugs, were doing some examples for the kids, and it’ll be so cool, trust.
9/9/25: I couldn’t find a cheaper solution for chemical filters, but I did find the microscopes easy to use and discovered that I can filter. I also started my Inquire project
9/4/25: I worked on looking for cheaper solutions for the silk cellulose filter, which would help me continue my research and find other compatible filters that could filter other items like sewage and algae.
8/27/25: I worked on researching filters that remove dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli. Hopefully, with further research, I can identify other hazardous items to the human body. For the rest of this class next week, I’ll focus on lead in water and other chemicals that bacteria can be removed with filters, as well as how different immune systems can tolerate more diseases or be immune to them.
8/22/25: This is my first entry!
Today, I examined algae and seawater under a microscope, and we primarily observed larval snails. I have almost nothing on my research profile, but it’s there.
I’m VERY excited to be in WISRD!
12/8/25: I worked with MoPic, and I got my seeds, and I found where to plant them, and which pots to plant them in. I also completed the WISRD form.
12/1/25: I worked on getting native plants instead of invasive ones, my poster has been completed, and I connected some topics to further expand my project. I am also collaborating with the MoPic to work next week.
11/17/25: I operated on getting some seed for oil filtration, like: sunflowers, vetiver grass, Indian mustard, and alfalfa. Update on my tests, all of them are testing positive. I’ll work on seeing if it's still valid; if not, two of them are positive for coliform.
11/11/25: I worked on my poster and found many links for future experiments. I HAVE to contact Isaac R to try to sample his water for next class, continue my project, and practice water testing with my new kit. I’ll have everything done for the next class. I got my first coliform test results. I’ll contact Isaac and have more areas available to me to submit my project to the board. On Friday, I’ll work on looking at my tests to see if they work and hopefully they react to anything thats being tested in the lab. My tests came through, one of my test came back postive for coliform, (left to right) 12(negative), 8(inconclusive), 16(postive). I’ll contact Isaac for the type of soil water mix to see what I should test more.
10/7/25: One day of WISRD this week, I’ll merge it into the 9/30th. I did work on my dark matter project with the laser cutter
9/30/25: My tests are unappealing and unattractive. I don’t like this, but I will definitely test them next time they are available. I've been accepted to inquire. Right now, I’ll focus on studying for my tests and trying to grow more. I’ll wait for them to be ready.
9/24/25: I assisted with setting up the gravity well. I'm currently waiting for my water tester, which will hopefully arrive this week or next. I also worked on collecting water samples for viruses in various parts of Wildwood. I will see if they grew any bacteria or anything. I also helped Niko with his project. I finished all the work I was supposed to finish
9/16/25: I finished developing my pitch, and I also processed my order for the water testing kit. I’ll work on having more water samples around Wildwood or bodies of water. The photos below is my research on the organism I found in the water. I’m working on the body of my inquiry.