Sunday, June 5, 2022
By:
Hello everyone, it is an end to a fantastic first week! On Tuesday, we had orientation, and I met a new group of intelligent individuals. I made new connections and friendships that I look forward to exploring for the rest of the internship. At first, I was nervous about meeting everyone, but the orientation was lighthearted and fun. Everyone was friendly and outgoing, making it easy for me to get to know the other interns.
After the workday, the interns had movie nights and went out to eat or explore D.C. together. We talked about each other’s projects and our expectations and worries for the summer. I was glad to hear other interns were worried like I was about whether we’d understand everything that was going on. Even if we are not working on the same projects, just having each other ask for advice or a different perspective will be extremely valuable this summer.
I met with my mentor, Nimisha Kumari, on Tuesday and learned about the research I will be helping with for the duration of the internship. The goal is to learn how to perform integral field spectroscopy. On Wednesday and Thursday, I spent a lot of time downloading programs for my internship. In addition, I spent the better part of a day figuring out how to install Linux onto my computer without messing with the hard drive. On Thursday, I finished installing Linux and spent the rest of the day installing DS9, Python, and Gemini IRAF. Friday was spent reading some papers given to me by my mentor.
The first week of work was about learning the science behind the research I will be doing and finding ways to download the required software. I look forward to learning and applying more about the research that I learn from my mentor throughout the rest of the internship. I spent the rest of the time getting to know the other interns and exploring D.C. for a bit. I found new places to eat and connect with a new group of great people that I look forward to sharing a lot of time with during the rest of the internship. This was a great first week, and I can not wait to see what the rest of the summer holds.
Anthony Olguin