Madelyn Stochaj, 2026 AAPT-SPS SOCK Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Rochester Institute of Technology
Hello! My name is Madelyn Stochaj, and I am the 2026 SPS SOCK intern. My passion is physics education and communication, and as a student of physics and illustration at Rochester Institute of Technology, I seek to use visuals to help people understand physics topics. I am so excited to work on the SOCK project this summer and help encourage a love for physics and learning within the younger generations! Outside of physics, I love to make art and music and can most often be found outside on a walk trying to identify different plants!

Internship

Host: American Association of Physics Teachers, Society of Physics Students

Internship Blog

Week 1: SOCK Time!

Hello all! I’m Maddie, and I’ll be your 2026 SPS SOCK intern! I’m super excited to start working on this project, and to see where this summer in DC takes me!
After making the long drive down from Massachusetts on Saturday, I finally made it to DC! On Sunday my parents helped me unpack, and we spent the day walking around the city before they headed back home. Alone in a new city, I figured should go exploring! I ended up at the grocery store about a million times, as I kept forgetting to pick up things, but in the end got everything I needed, and got more familiar with the neighborhood in the process. Luckily, I wasn’t alone for long, as I was soon accompanied by my new roommate Paige! We settled in for our first night in our home for the summer.
On Monday I decided to go exploring again, so I wandered around looking for some good coffee. However, I totally forgot it was Memorial Day! I wandered from coffee shop to coffee shop and most things were closed, but my path took me down to the National Mall, and I was able to see all the preparations for the day that was going on. I had never been able to explore the Mall, and it was amazing to see it so full of life and people. I almost got stuck on the opposite side of the parade, but I crossed just at the last second and continued my exploration. I ended up at the Dolphin Cafe, which was delicious (get the almond croissant!), and then headed back to our apartment to meet up with some fellow interns. We took another walk to the National Mall, and I was beginning to become very familiar with the path, but I got to see lots of ducks and squirrels, and get to know some new names and faces, so I can’t complain. I ended the night playing games with some of the interns and started to settle into the beginning of the summer.

Tuesday we started our introduction to the internship, which was nerve-racking but exciting! We did lots of training in the morning, and then in the afternoon, it was off to another walk (can you start to see a pattern?). I also had a meeting with one of my mentors, Justine at AAPT, and we talked about my role this summer.

Wednesday was similar except it started super early (at 5 am early) as Bailey, Ethan, and I had to get on the train to Gaithersburg to pick up our badges at NIST! Seeing the NIST campus for the first time was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to see what the summer would bring. We made our way back to DC for more trainings, and then Paige and I went for a walk around DC. We found another coffee shop (another theme) called Maman, and it was delicious! Strolling around the area, we found the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Museum, and a bunch of other cool museums before heading back to get changed before the Trible lecture.

The Trimble lecture was by Dana Scobel, and it was all on Marie Curie, her accomplishments, and how she taught some of the most influential women of her time. As a woman in physics, she has always been a huge inspiration to me, and I thought I knew a lot about her and her history, but I learned so much more at this talk. Did you know she named radium (the first element she discovered) after the Polish root “rad” which means “joy”? She was so happy to be doing her research that she named her element after joy. This is why I love science, because everyone who does science is just so passionate and invested in their craft. It was an amazing talk, and I will absolutely be checking out Dana Scobel’s books in the future.
Thursday was my first day at NIST! We got our computers set up and did a bunch of administrative stuff, but I also got to know my other mentor, Brad, a little better and begin to meet all the different people on staff at NIST. We are all working in the Office of Advanced Manufacturing, and I’ve been told it’s the best floor to be on (and so far, I’m inclined to agree). I also went for a walk to Arlington and almost got stranded when my phone died, but I made it back ok. Friday I went in early for a meeting again, and got to meet Henry, one of my coworker’s babies! He was adorable. Otherwise, I worked on coming up with all my ideas for the SOCK kits this summer and let me tell you we have some great things cooking up! I’m so excited for you guys to see what we come up with. We closed out Friday with all the interns getting together to play some games.

On Saturday, it was our first day to really explore. We first ended up at the Renwick Gallery, which was doing an exhibition on state fair art, which was amazing. I go to school in Upstate NY (shoutout Rochester), where the very first state fair happened in Syracuse. Having gone to the NY State fair, it was amazing to see all the state fair artwork and pieces. My favorite piece was a room that was filled with fish. It was so cool.

After that, some of us went down to Petworth for PorchFest! If you’re ever in the area, I totally recommend going. There was live music on porches all over, and we just walked from neighborhood to neighborhood, listening to some amazing music. A bunch of people were also having yard sales, and I love a good yard sale. You can see some of our haul in the next picture. After that I came home and we got some ice cream before me and my roommate Paige decided to watch a movie for the night! Overall, a great day.

On Sunday, Ethan, Bailey, and I headed to the Nationals stadium for a baseball game with Brad (my mentor) and some other people from NIST. This was the first baseball game I had ever been to, and it was an amazing experience. I got a souvenir baseball cap ice cream and ate some great food. And Nats won! I think I am their good luck charm. We braved the crowds on the metro back, and I spent the rest of my night relaxing and cooking. Not a bad first week!

Week 2:

Happy Pride Month! It’s crazy that it’s June already! This was my first full week of work, and I feel like I was able to really sink my teeth into my project. I started the week by finally decorating my desk at work. I got to meet with some amazing people this week, all of whom helped me enhance the demos that we’re going to be putting in the SOCK kits this summer! The first person I met was Elizabeth Benham, who is the Metric Program leader at NIST. After explaining my ideas, she had so much insight about how to best communicate the demos to students of all ages. It was great to talk to someone who has so much expertise in curriculum and project development, as she had ideas I had never thought of! I also got some time to get out and walk around NIST’s campus and got to see their clone of Newton’s apple tree! Very cool sight to see as a physicist.

On Wednesday night, I ventured out to the Library of Congress for one of their Live! At the Library events, a jazz night with Ekep Nkwelle. She and her band were fantastic, and the energy in the auditorium was so strong. It was crazy to hear her sing about her history and songs that connected us all while in such a historic space (and great to go to a free concert!). It was my first time going to a concert solo, but I will definitely be trying to go again if they have another jazz night! When I left the Library of Congress, I was treated to an amazing view of Capital Hill, and even in the city I could see some stars. An amazing night to be sure.

On Thursday, my mentor Brad Conrad took the three of us NIST-terns to tour the Department of Energy. We got to meet with Nebiat Solomon, and learn about her work at the DOE. She had so many ideas to implement into each one of our projects, which was amazing. We also got to see a fully 3D printed car, which apparently can be printed in less than 24 hours, which is a testament to all the work they have been doing to help advanced manufacturing! Ethan, Bailey, and I then got coffee before heading back to ACP-DC to finish out our day.

On Friday I had some more meetings, so I didn’t go all the way into Gaithersburg to the NIST campus. This meant I was able to get breakfast with Paige (my beautiful pistachio croissant is pictured below). I then headed to the MLK jr Memorial Library to work with Bailey, where I had my second meeting with Justine, my mentor at AAPT. We talked about Pasadena, and I am so excited for the conference in July (stay tuned). I was then able to meet up with Dr. Gary White at George Washington, who let me into the physics labs at GW to start testing some of my demos! Not everything worked the first time, but that’s just how science is most of the time. More testing will come to make sure everything is ready before shipping off the kits!

On Friday night some of the interns decided to go exploring, and so we headed down to Georgetown. The walk along the Potomac was stunning (if not a little hot), and we made our way to a little spot with some live music. After that we found an ice cream place (sweet treat required) and a burger place. We wandered around for a while, eventually making it back to the National Mall to look at the Arlington Memorial bridge in the night.

Saturday was spent exploring Dupont Circle and their annual Walk Weekend, in which 5 normally ticketed museums were free and open to the public. First we made it to Dupont Underground, a repurposed metro tunnel. This month’s exhibit was all about Queer history and how DC is intertwined within it. It was amazing to hear of all the people who came and protested, in all different shapes and forms, for our rights that we have today. And while parts of it made me cry, it also showed so much queer joy and pride, overall, an amazing exhibit to see!

Next, we ended up at the Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of Modern art. They had some stunning pieces of work, including a piece from Wasily Kandinsky, who helped pioneer the Avant-Garde movement in Russia. After taking a class about Russian realism and the avant-garde, it was surreal to see his work in real life (middle bottom piece). I also included some of the other pieces I saw. After that, Amelie and I went over to the National Gallery of Art to their block party to see if there were any crafts we could do. We ended up both making Zines, which was so much fun and something that I have been wanting to do for a while. My zine was all about Massachusetts, as can be seen on the left below (shout out MBTA). Finally, we made it back to and met up with everyone to throw a surprise party for Bo, who had just finished the LSAT! It was super fun to celebrate him (and I’ll never say no to an occasion for cake). Congrats again Bo!

On Sunday we were off to the National Zoo! We got to see the giant pandas, cassowaries, elephants, and so many other animals. I think my favorite were all the long-necked turtles we got to see in the reptile exhibit. The zoo also just had a lot of cool architecture, accumulated over the ages. Did you know that the National Zoo first opened in 1891? The animals started to be amassed in 1886, living on the National Mall until 1889, when the zoo was first constructed, finally opening in 1891. After exploring the zoo, we headed home, and Paige and I watched another episode of Love Island (its honestly so terrible but I’m invested) and got ready for the next week!

Week 3: Finishing up the Ordering + Weekend Extravaganza

Hello! Welcome back to my blog! This week was the week of small adventures, and getting things cemented at work. Monday and Tuesday were spent rewriting my demos and finding all the things I would need to make the demos work the way I wanted them to work! Tuesday night was an adventure as well, as we went out looking for bar trivia, and found our ways to a hiking path instead. Me and Bo had a good time on our impromptu hike, however, and it was nice to get back into nature. I will have to take more spontaneous hikes in the future.

On Wednesday, I started to work on the design for the SOCK kit boxes this year, which was super exciting. I finished the day with the intern potluck, which was amazing as always. Thursday was full of meetings. I met with Elizabeth Benham of the Metrology department of NIST and got a tour of the measurement teaching lab. I also met with my mentor Justine about the upcoming conference in Pasadena, and Naomi, the SOCK intern from last year, who gave me some excellent advice (Hi Naomi!). I did some more exploring around the NIST campus on the search for more kit materials as well. The campus is HUGE and so impressive, and it’s such an inpiring place to work.

On Friday, the three NISTerns went to get a tour of the DOC. Because NIST is a part of the DOC, we actually are able to access the building at any time, which is such a cool resource. The building itself is so historic, and it was so incredible to walk around and get to know what’s happening in different government agencies.

By Friday night, my boyfriend had made it down from Rochester, NY to come visit me, which was amazing. We packed the weekend as much as possible to make sure we did lots of fun things before he had to go back on Monday. Satuday morning we were off to the Eastern Market, which I will definitely be headed back to. We got some incredible food, I got a new used book, and we saw so many awesome vendors. That night we went out in search of food I hadn’t tried yet, and found a Nepalese place called Tempo Shack in NOMA. Although it was a bit of a hike, I think I found my new favorite spot in DC. The food was incredible, and after a little walk, we took it back home to my apartment to watch some Dropout while eating.

We had another full day today as we set off in the morning towards the National Botanical Gardens. We got to walk through a bunch of cool biomes, and see some familiar plants, and some unfamiliar ones! I especially liked the children’s climate garden in the center where they taught people how to plant plants, and where to water them!

After that it was off to my boyfriend’s pick of the Air and Space museum. He knows a weird amount about aircraft, and so it was amazing to hear about everything he knew (especially after he sat through me talking about plants for a couple hours). We got to see some amazing things, and I got to learn about some amazing women, such as Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly around the world solo. As a self respecting physics major, we also spent a while in the first trip to the moon exhibit, talking about space.

After that it was off to the Hirshorn, which I will need to go back to. We spent 2 hours there and only made it through the second floor, which tells you enough about how long I stare at artworks. There were some pieces from people I know, some from artists I have never heard of, but all were so amazing, it really is a stunning museum.

However, after the Hirshorn, we were museum-ed out. We made our way to the waterfront to get tacos and ice cream, a perfect end to the day. Super busy week turned even busier weekend, but I wouldn’t ask for anything different. Stay tuned for more adventures as the weeks come!

Week 4: Many Such People, Many Such Places

Week 4 was jam-packed with adventures. Monday started off with saying goodbye to my boyfriend in the morning, as he began the drive back to Rochester. Then it was back to work, which I did at the DAR library, which is stunning. I ended out the day with some of the other interns, trying to find a trivia night, but again being unsuccessful. That was ok though, because I was able to have some great dessert anyways, and hang out with some cool people.

On Tuesday, we had the AIP dinner cruise! It was amazing to get to talk to some of the AIP mentors who I don’t see on a normal basis, especially Jack Hehn, who is so knowledgeable about physics education on all levels. The food was exceptional and the company even better, we couldn’t have asked for a better night! It was also amazing to see my mentor, Brad Conrad, receive the Sigma Pi Sigma Woth Seagondollar Service award, which he truly deserves! Congratulations Brad!

No rest for the wicked, we were all together again on Wednesday to head to NIST for a tour. Even though I work there every day, there is so much to explore. We were able to visit the neutron lab and the forensics lab, as well as have a pannel with the AAAS fellows from the Office of Advanced Manufacturing (the office I work at). It was amazing to hear their experiences and advice, and overall a cool experience! Thank you again to Brad and Cheryl for being our unofficial tour guides! Wednesday night we got to celebrate Ethan’s birthday as well!

Thursday was spent refining the first demo write up, and then getting off early in observance of Juneteenth being on Friday. Happy Juneteenth to everyone! We spent the night going to a place to play board games and playing codenames, which is an amazing game.

On Friday, I had the day off and spent the morning baking zucchini muffins (very tasty). I was then able to meet up with some of my friends from college who are visiting for the weekend. We walked around a bunch of markets, as well as a vintage store. We ended up hanging out all day, and it was super cool just to catch up!

Saturday was the day of Capital Pride, which was super exciting because I have never been to a big pride celebration before! We headed down to the parade route and got to see so many amazing people marching. As a lifelong girl scout myself, it was so incredible to see girl scouts marching at pride. When we show acceptance and love, nothing can go wrong. Show up for your community and tell those around you that you love them.

After the parade, I made my way over to the Summer Solstice celebrations at the Smithsonian. Events like this that make museums more accessible and fun for the public are so important to getting people interested in museums. I was able to make it to both the African and Asian art museums, and within I saw some really moving art. Being able to come in the evening changed the whole experience of the museum, especially in the African Art Museum, which was hosting a dance party as well. One of my main interests is how we can make education more accessible, and events like these are my favorite because they exemplify how we can incorporate education into non-intimidating events! (Plus the art was amazing I love art museums).

On Sunday, my best friend since preschool flew up to see me! Everyone say hi Bella! We made our way to the Pride Markets, then the Eastern Market. We finished our day by picking up some things for sandwiches and making our way to Gravelly Point in Arlington, a cute park near the water where we were able to watch the summer solstice sunset, and watch planes take off right above our heads! After 28,000 steps around DC that day we were exhausted, but happy to be in good company. We made our way back to my apartment and called it a night.

Week 5: Demos Galore

It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through the internship! I feel like I’ve done so much, but there is still so much to get done. The orders have been made, things are starting to ship, and I’m working on my write-ups for all of my demos, really focusing on how we communicate to different age ranges. It’s been fun trying to imagine the middle schoolers I tutor as I write my demos, seeing what they would know or not know (shout out ROC Anna Murray Douglass School 12!).
Monday was spent organizing my plans for my talk at the AAPT conference in Pasedena this year. I will be presenting in the K-12 lounge on illustrating physics, which is something I am super passionate about. Being able to combine my knowledge of physics alongside physics education and illustration has been super cool, although it has been a learning experience to reframe my mind of things that I think people think about, that they really do not. The more I practice different communication styles, the more impressed I become of the different communicators I know. It really is an art to understand your audience and tailor your presentation to who they are and what they may want. After I got off work, my best friend was still visiting, so we did all the touristy stuff of walking around the National Mall and exploring the Sculpture Garden, finishing our night out with some brownie sundaes.

Tuesday was spent working on communicating my circuits demo. I made diagrams and walked through how to recreate the circuit as clearly as possible. That night, Bella and I headed to a rooftop jazz night! We stopped first for some amazing food, and wandered around the city for a while, then watched the sunset from the roof while listening to some amazing jazz performers. I love listening to live music whenever I can, so this was a real pleasure!

Wednesday was spent doing more edits on the optimizations demo, which included the creation of a companion worksheet to go alongside the demo. It should guide students of any age through the scientific process and get them thinking deeply about the “why”, not just the “what”. It’s so cool to be able to exercise my more creative side in the making of these worksheets, as I can add graphics to make them fun and understandable to kids of all ages!
On Thursday, Ethan, Bailey, and I headed to the Eisenhower Building, the building just to the West of the White House. Ethan’s mentor Mark had a friend, Nathan, who worked in the Office of Management and Budget, specifically the AI taskforce. When there, we were also able to meet his intern, Ava, and learn a lot about what it is like to work in the Administration rather than an agency of the government. We were able to sit in the room where MLK spoke with the then Vice President about civil rights, and you could feel the power in that room. Did you know that there is a bowling alley underneath the Eisenhower Building? It was put in for President Truman, but apparently the president who used it the most was actually Nixon! Big thank you to Mark and Nathan and Ava for the tour, it was a spectacular experience.

That night, a group of interns headed to the Kennedy Center! We were able to get student rush tickets to see Moulin Rouge, which I highly recommend seeing. I had already seen it before, but it was amazing to see how the production changed with the actors and the space. Paige, my roomate, hadn’t seen it before, so it was fun to see her reactions and hear everyone’s opinions. The Kennedy Center is such a beautiful and historic place, and to sit in the orchestra and see one of my favorite shows was such a treat. Hopefully we’ll be able to go back this summer!

On Friday after work, we were off to the AIP board dinner in Baltimore! While it was a bit of a drive to get there, the night was incredible. Being able to talk to the AIP board members was invaluable, as all of them had expertise and lived experience in and around the physics world. I was able to speak to Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist who worked in policy before becoming the president of the American Meteorological Society, and Charles D. Brown II, a physics professor at Yale and an experimental atomic and condensed matter physicist, and Steve Iona, an executive board member on AAPT. It was amazing to talk science communication and education to people who were living it, who have had experience in it for years. I was able to talk about the direction we see education going and what is happening in climate science and so much more. It was an incredible experience (with even more incredible food), and I’m so glad we were invited. Thank you so much to the AIP team, and to the Board of Directors for letting the interns crash your party; it was a pleasure.

By Saturday, I felt like I had had such a week, but there was still more to do and explore! It was the last couple days of my friend visiting, and so we had to make the most of it, even if that meant traveling all over DC, and even out of it! We started off the morning in Eastern market to get Bullfrog Bagels (delicious, stunning), and to walk around the market again. Then, we headed over to the metro store! Happy 50 years of metro everyone! After that, we headed to Dupont for the mango festival put on by the Indian Embassy, but it was far too busy, so we made our way to Childhood Cafe for some coffee instead.

We then decided to take the train down to Old Town Alexandria in Virginia, which surprisingly I had never been to, even though it is an easy train ride away! We got to walk through the historic costal town and go into all the stores and just sit and watch the Potomac, and it was super peaceful. Both Bella and I are from Massachusetts, and it really reminded us of some places on the Cape, or Salem (just with a couple less witches). We wandered around, got some amazing Indian food and some more amazing custard, and then ended the night sitting and talking next to the river.

Sunday our plans went awry (just a little). We had planned to hit all of the vintage markets, including Georgetown, the farmers market in Dupont, and a pop-up market in NoMa, but it was POURING rain. I’m so glad we had the SPS umbrella because without it we would have been soaked. We made it to two of the markets but then decided that we needed somewhere to wait off the rain. We ended up at the National Museum of Women in Art, which was spectacular. All the works in there were made by women artists, and you could feel an energy shift from a traditional art museum. It was an amazing place. After that we took a bus to get some Nepalese food, and it was delicious. We finished the day out with some more ice cream and headed back to my apartment to rest and get ready for next week!

Week 6:

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! This week was an adventure, so strap in and buckle up! On Monday I took Bella with me to the ACP-DC office because all of the materials for my SOCK kits were in! We spent the day unpacking supplies and making sure everything shipped correctly, and I took some pictures for the demo writeups. It was surreal to see all of the materials; it actually feels real now! I’m so excited for these kits to go out and for you all to see the demos! I added a sneak peak below, try to guess what the demo is about!

We also took a break in the middle of the day to do a tour of the Capitol building! It was such a cool experience to be within all the history. They had some amazing art and sculptures around, including lots of amazing influential women, which was amazing to see.

On Tuesday I went to work in the morning, then in the evening Bella and I had one last dinner together before we took her back to the airport to fly back to Massachusetts. I’ll definitely miss having her here, but it was so fun to see her! I spent the evening on the Potomac reading my book, and I was able to see her flight take off over the river! The DC sunset is one of my favorite things to watch, and it was nice to catch it!

On Wednesday I headed into NIST super early in the morning to help set things up before I had to run out to get to the Neils Bohr Library and Archives Tour up in the main AIP offices in College Park Maryland! On my walk from the bus to the building I got to see an adorable box turtle (very cool). The tour itself was amazing, thank you so much to everyone who hosted us and to Amelie for showing us around. My favorite thing we saw was all of the SPS archives, they have data and informaition from schools all over the country (including mine, shout out RIT!). They also showed us some of their book collections, including Atomics by the Millions, which was written by scientists to the general public to try and get them to understand atomic power a little better after WWII. The most amazing thing about it in my opinion was the fact that it was illustrated and specifically illustrated by Maurice Sendak. If you don’t know, Sendak is the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are, one of my favorite children’s books of all time! This was actually his first paying illustration gig, as his physics teacher in high school asked him to draw some images for the book he was working on. Visual communication of physics is so important to me, and to see that people have been doing it for so long before me is so amazing. I definitely want to take the book out of the library sometime to actually read it myself. After the tour we headed home, and I played a game of Catan with Ethan, Bailey, and Bo before heading to bed.

Thursday I was back at ACP-DC because it was kit packing day! Even though the boxes weren’t in yet, I wanted to start packing because for the next couple weeks I will be at NIST helping out with their Middle School Summer Institute, and then in Pasadena at the AAPT summer conference (super exciting), but that means I will have no time to pack the kits. So, with the enlisted help of Bailey and Ethan (thanks guys!) I got to packing everything in bags. I started by filming the demo videos, which was super cool because I got to work through all my demos for the first time! We then set out unwrapping everything, and the guys helped by cutting a bunch of wire for everything. After 4 hours of packing, we had all the kits packed and ready to go!

On Friday morning, my boyfriend flew in to spend the long weekend together. We started the morning at Call Your Mother, and I had one of the best bagels I have had in a while. Then, we walked around the Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress. We ended the day at the Shakespeare Library, which was gorgeous, I had been wanting to go for a while. We had a pastry and read our books together. It was nice to just hang out, even if it was 100 degrees outside.

Saturday was the fourth of July. I’ve always spent the fourth in the woods with my family, and I was really missing nature living in a city. We ended up at Rock Creek Park for a 3 hour hike, which was so amazing. We got to see lots of birds and a couple dogs. After that we headed to Eastern Market, where we got sandwiches and ice cream, which was so needed by the end of the day (it was so hot). We ended off the day by watching the fireworks from right outside our building, and it was cool to see that many, although the air pollution was crazy.

On Sunday, I had one goal: make a rhubarb peach crisp. I keep seeing rhubarb at the farmers’ markets, and I love it so much but had never cooked with it myself before, and so I knew I wanted to make one. We started the day at the farmers market, picking up rhubarb and a few other bits and pieces. Then after dropping off our goods at home, we ventured out to a goodwill to find a pie plate, as I had none. After a long train and a longer walk, we acquired the plate (and some dumplings for dinner at a place nearby), and headed back. We then baked our crisp (and ended up with enough to make about 1.5 crisps, which was great for me), and then devoured an entire pie by ourselves while watching Phinneas and Ferb. In my opinion, it was a perfect night!

Week 7:

Come back soon!