I was extremely pleased that my advisor, David Kohlstedt, was able to find me a research project this summer that was in relation to completing my senior thesis. This summer I worked with high pressure and temperature instruments to run experiments on iron-rich olivine samples of rock. The purpose of doing these experiments on such samples, was to mimic what might be occurring within Mars'. Because these experiments can often take many times to complete, I was worried that I might have walked away from the summer program without any data to support my thesis topic. Fortunately, within the last week of this program, I was able to get the data I needed and learned more about the elastic properties and microstructure of iron-rich olivines. I am very happy that David and I were able to talk about a possible project for me before I arrived for the program. This gave me a chance to place much emphasis in my pathway of interest in Earth Sciences and mineral physics.