Victoria University

Today I visited the membrane research labs at Victoria University's Werribee campus. Werribee is decently far from Melbourne, to the point where many consider it more to be its own town as compared to a western suburb of Melbourne. In any case, by train, it took about an hour to get there and I left after working (somewhat unsuccessfully) on the AFM for a few hours in the morning.

I was glad that I woke up feeling a bit better this morning. I have still felt a little stuffed up, but it has not been nearly as bad as it was for the past few days...

When I arrived in Werribee, I met up with Mikel Duke, Stephen Gray, and two other professors who didn't really talk much. We went to a local restaurant for lunch and I had a great minute steak along with a glass of wine. After lunch, we went to the university and I gave a seminar to the membrane-related groups at VU. The seminar went well and I am hopeful that the students (and professors) were able to learn something from the presentation!

After the talk, I toured their facilities for a while. I was very impressed with the lab setup that they have at Victoria University. Their in-house analytical capabilities are very impressive. I wish we had that kind of equipment right at our finger tips. We have access to all of the same equipment at UT, but it is often either part of a shared-use facility or located in other departments/labs. So, equipment is not always available exactly when you would like it to be. It's not really a problem, but it would be much more convenient to run an experiment across the hall as opposed to across campus.

I was also impressed by the amount of larger-scale equipment and pilot testing equipment that VU has. It is obvious that they are well grounded in industry application and I think it is great that they have large-scale facilities available. Mikel told me that most of it has been donated as hand-me-downs from industry, but it is certainly better than nothing. Altogether, I enjoyed the visit and I was glad that I made the trip. I have enjoyed getting to know Mikel and I am hopeful that this will be one of many friendships that will extend beyond my visit here in Australia.

The train ride back home was pretty quick since I caught an express train (it's so awesome when that happens)! Unfortunately, dinner was not good at the Graduate House. I am really looking forward to being able to cook for myself again. I have missed good home cooked meals while I have been here.

So, now I am finishing up some work for the day. I have a few things to do tomorrow at the University of Melbourne and then it will be time for the weekend! This week has just flown by since it has been so busy. I like to think that I have accomplished a lot this week - I am hoping AFM time will be rewarded with good results once we can compare all of the samples.