Wednesday, August 17, 2022
By:
I’ve been procrastinating writing this blog post for a long time…I didn’t want to say goodbye!
I got quite a lot of last-minute work done in Week 10. I found a duct with a compatible flange to use for the mount’s outer shell. I finalized the new mount design and uploaded a solidworks file to the sharepoint. I added exposure adjustment to class wrapper and cleaned up the whole program before committing it to the EXCLAIM github. I also made a class wrapper for my astrometry program from earlier this summer and committed it to github. I cleaned up documentation for software installation, and made slides showcasing program flow in iDS and astrometry. Then I uploaded my NASA poster presentation and abstract to the NASA portal for the agency intern presentation and finalized my SPS presentation. I rehearsed both with Eric and the other intern in his group, Diego, and also got to practice at the SPS rehearsal session on Thursday.
The interns returned our things to the consignment (and made some new donations) before having one last potluck, featuring nachos and chickles (cheese + pickles). Later that evening, I picked up my girlfriend Savannah from the airport during a rainstorm. She presented her research to APS for the Leroy Apker award at the same time that the interns presented at the SPS Symposium!
On Symposium day, we gathered in the conference room to watch presentations. Everyone’s projects were so interesting! Apparently John Mather made an appearance at our symposium, but I was so enthralled by everyone’s presentations that I didn’t see him :’) At the end, Brad, Kayla, and Mikayla closed the internship and gave us all unique books. I got The Very First Light by John Mather, which is his account of the COBE project and all the work (and drama!) surrounding it. Then we enjoyed a catered lunch and headed back to the dorms. When we got there, Taylor O and her mom and I loaded up Taylor’s car just in time for a sudden torrential downpour! Then I shipped my boxes home and finished packing up my room. The interns headed to Quigley’s to enjoy one last round of tots and say our goodbyes.
I spent my last day and a half in DC with Savannah, and we visited the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Botanical Gardens, Museum of Natural History (where we ran into Anthony and his family!), and Dupont Circle. We also tried out the electric scooters!
Some closing thoughts: When we first got to DC, Taylor O and I talked about how we thought this internship would change our lives, and it has certainly upended my future plans (in a good way). I’ll miss all of you (interns and mentors) and I hope we will see each other again at Physcon 2022!
Nicole Leung