Undergraduate research assistant, Bugatti, has been busy contributing to our ongoing research on CO2 sequestration by studying the reactions that cause amorphous magnesium carbonate to crystallize into magnesite, a stable mineral for long-term CO2 storage. Normally magnesite requires either heat or time to form, so Bugatti is examining unique and possibly more efficient methods for its synthesis. He is also using our new and fancy Bruker D2 X-ray diffractometer for determining the mineralogical composition of his precipitates during transformation. Additionally, Bugatti has been setting up vibrantly lit environmental chambers for growing diatom cultures. Diatoms have a siliceous frustule and are thus, a sink for dissolved silicon. He plans to grow these microbes in association with silicate minerals to see if their growth has a positive impact on mineral dissolution, often a rate-limiting step in CO2 mineralization.