Sunday, June 22, 2014
By:
This week in the House Science Committee was filled with hearings, markups, and additional side projects. I took the lead on a hearing titled "The Future of Surface Transportation," through which I learned about the advancement of vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication technology which seems to be the near future of highway transportation. Until this hearing, I had not realized how close we are, as a society, to a highly automated multi-modal transportation system. I was impressed with the descriptions of the technology and the vision for the future of transportation in our country from both a technological and environmental perspective. This week I was also responsible for video recording for a hearing titled "NASA Security: Assessing the Agency's Efforts to Protect Sensitive Information," a task at which I am quickly becoming much more proficient.
In addition to hearing and markup related tasks (which include videos, pictures, and binders) I also engaged in several small research projects for the subcommittee on the environment related to my interest in environmental issues as well as editing hearing transcripts and transcribing quotations from hearing recordings. Every single day here is still proving to be different and full of learning opportunities.
Outside of work, my week was filled with people! Last weekend, several Davidson alumni moved into the area and so I met up with a large group of them at Trukeroo—a food truck festival near the Nationals' stadium. Then on Wednesday, there was a Davidson in D.C. alumni event attended by everyone from current students to alumni who have been in the area for over 30 years. It never fails to strike me how close-knit and boundless the Davidson community is, even so far away from the college.
Also over the weekend, some of the other interns and I enjoyed the beautiful weather at the botanic garden (which I hadn’t been to in spite of its proximity to my office) and the sculpture garden, as well as embraced our inner childhood with frozen yogurt and a carousel ride on the National Mall.
Ashley Finger