Friday, July 24, 2015
By:
Wow, this summer has gone by fast! This week started off with a tour of Capitol Hill where two of my fellow interns have been working with science policy. First we toured the Capitol building itself.
We saw the crypt, the rotunda which is still in the process of getting a facelift. Next we walked around the Library of Congress. It was absolutely gorgeous with lots of polished marble and ornate carvings. Shauna and I had a surprising amount of fun trying to decipher the quotes which had their u’s printed as v’s. After that we toured the Rayburn building which is where the members of the House have their offices. We saw the rooms where the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Energy and Commerce hold their hearings. Drew and Elias stressed that more scientists need to get involved in politics because having had experience doing science themselves they are well equipped take part in determining how our country should continue supporting scientific progress.
The next few days were spent playing around with AutoCAD some more to design the source, gate, and drain electrodes. Wednesday evening my fellow women in physics and I attended the STEM Fair and Reception. It was hosted by the Women’s Policy Incorporated group. A variety of government labs, private companies, and non-profit organizations were represented. There were tables set up for each one where we could talk to women employees about their experience and hear their advice.
Thursday and Friday were spent making even more tweaks to our AutoCAD design. By the end of the week I realized that you need more than science skills to do science well. You need to be a good communicator. If there had been clearer communication of the expectations for our AutoCAD file we could have completed it much sooner and with much less frustration along the way.
Teresa Turmanian