Monday, June 5, 2023
By:
As Eminem once said: Guess who’s back?? Back again.
I’m so happy and grateful to be back in Washington, D.C. with the SPS Internship Program. If you need a refresher: My name is Janessa Slone, I just recently graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Space Physics with a minor in Computer Science. Last year, I was the SPS SOCK (Science Outreach Catalyst Kit) Intern working with Dr. Brad Conrad. My theme for the SOCK was Eclipses in preparation for the Eclipse happening later this year. Being back is so surreal and I am so excited to document my experience as a NIST Research Intern.
This summer I am working with Dr. Jared Wahlstrand and Dr. Giuseppe Fumero at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in the Nanoscale Division. Our specific project stems off of 2D Optical Spectroscopy work that has been done previously. I’ll explain a bit more regarding my position, but let’s start from the beginning of my week.
Orientation came quick once I touched down in D.C. I will admit that I was nervous, but I felt very relieved once I walked in to the American Center for Physics (ACP) again. It’s all felt very nostalgic and comforting, and I was so happy to see Brad, Kayla, Mikayla, and Andrew again. The famous Jack Hehn also made an appearance and I’m so glad I got to see him! We went over the important details for the Summer and some of the events we will be doing. Afterward, some interns split to meet with their mentors, but my mentor and I planned to meet at NIST the following day. At the end of the day, some of the interns went to Lincoln for sunset, where we all relaxed before our first day of work.
I left early in the morning with another NIST Intern (..or NISTern for short), Colin, where we endured the hour and a half commute on the metro. My mentor picked me up from the visitors building and showed me around the campus. I went down to the lab and was able to visualize the project that I was reading about a couple days earlier. Later on, I had a meeting with my mentors where they went over some “basics” of what I’ll be working on. Some of the physics is new, but the I found myself comfortable with the math that compliments it. This is a mixture of experimentally, theoretically, and analytically researching characteristics of semiconductors. It’s so surreal being a part of a project that advances our knowledge of the world around us and I’m ready to learn and contribute. I was invited to a group eating with the group and some of the NIST SURF Interns where I got to talk to some of my mentors’ colleagues. Some of the group attends “Journal Club” meetings where each member presents a scientific paper that they’ve read to the rest of the group. I attended one of the meetings and found the journal so interesting. If I knew about this before, I would have made this an SPS Event at ERAU ;). I received a couple papers that would help make the physics/math more concrete — which was my task for the next day.
I went to a cafe, Tatte (like latte), and read my first paper while simultaneously researching certain sections to understand everything. After a bit, I went back to Amsterdam Hall to eat some lunch and continue reading. I wrote some questions down for my mentor, and planned to ask him the next day. I caught up with the interns after a short walk to the Georgetown Waterfront and watched them play Azul, which Devin (Diversity and Education Intern) was thoroughly enthused about. That is when the ‘quotes’ channel in our Slack was founded.
Returning to work on Friday, we went in to the lab to find Giuseppe running the lab. Both Jared and Giuseppe explained the set up and what each lens, mirror, camera, device, etc. does and how to take data. After alignment fixes, we took various spectra in phasing and double quantum to find that results are able to be reproduced. We plan to do some further alignment to make our spectra the most accurate and precise as possible.
Saturday morning, a group of interns went to see Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse. The movie was amazing and so unique from the first. I highly recommend seeing it if you’re a marvel/spiderman fan, but make sure you’ve seen the first one, first! Brynn was highly dedicated and woke up early to watch the first one before the second. We walked back from the movie, and planned to watch another movie in Julia and Eva’s room. The interns were so kind to watch the very last Harry Potter movie with me since I had never seen it before. That movie made me cry approximately 18 times, and is in my top 3 HP movies. And of course, some of us got a late night snack at Crepeaway.
Sunday started with the Dupont Circle Farmers market where I was reunited with my absolute favorite Garlic and Chive cheese spread. We stopped in a bookstore and looked around a bit, then headed back toward GW to get ready to celebrate Emily’s 21st birthday. We went to the infamous Quigleys (or Tonic..) and afterward caught the sunset at Lincoln.
Again, I am so excited to conduct this research with my mentors and be in D.C. once again. Until next week, Janessa.
Janessa Slone