Sunday, July 12, 2020
By:
Every time I realize another week is over, I am a little surprised. At the end of week 6, I am very aware the internship is closer to its conclusion than its start. I truly hope to make the most of the next few weeks.
This week was rather eventful, both for intern activities and my projects. The interns meet three times, which is more than the norm. We had a Science Policy Roundtable with panelists from the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The event helped me better understand some of the processes behind science I had never considered before. The interns also met to plan and attend our Virtual Picnic. I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet some of the other interns’ mentors and friends of SPS, and appreciated what they shared about their journeys to where they are now. Both the panel and picnic (and generally my internship as a whole) challenged me to consider different ways of thinking about and supporting physics.
In addition to these intern events, I had many other meetings this week. I attended an AIP All-Staff meeting, which offered me a broader perspective of AIP. I also had a planning meeting for the outreach projects I am developing. I have many ideas I would love to see finished, and hope I can get to most of them (or leave really good notes). The project I decided to start with is an online timeline of events in the Middle East and Europe leading up to Newton’s Laws. I am happy to say it is nearly done. I found it clarifying to return to the topic of physics in the Islamic Golden Age after setting it aside for a few weeks, and am excited that I can represent the topic in a few different ways.
Outside of internship activities, I again returned to the outdoors. This weekend I was able to enjoy some lake views and a beautiful sunset.
Furthermore, I got away from light pollution and did some stargazing. I even tried my hand at astrophotography, which I have included for your enjoyment. (Disclaimer: I am quite new to astrophotography, and didn’t have a tripod because I wanted to travel light. Nevertheless, the Milky Way was far too photogenic to resist).
Maria Stokes