As a member of the United States Armed Forces, the citizens of the United States entrust us with upholding and defending our Constitution. Airmen, Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers around the world prepare everyday to accomplish this country’s missions. Training is a vital component to the success of our nation’s missions.
Every unit within the Armed Forces has numerous training objectives. We streamline all of our training requirements by creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). SOPs allow every member of the unit to execute a given objective exactly the same way. SOPs are crucial because they provide units with a continuity of techniques.
The importance of establishing a continuity of techniques is also a major concern when establishing lab experiments. Lab SOPs allow any student to conduct an experiment without losing a lot of time struggling through a new experiment. Personally, I created or revised several SOPs for Absorbance, Ultraviolet 254, Cross-flow membrane vessel, Total Organic Carbon, and Fluorescence.
These SOPs were created or revised through numerous hours of spring research. However, the long hours were instrumental when Dr. Ladner allowed Kristen Carpenter to work with me during the summer. Kristen seamlessly transitioned into my research by reading the SOPs. Kristen’s support helped me decrease my experiment run time by six hours. I attribute our summer success to the implementation of lab SOPs.