Rosie Durland, 2025 APS STEP UP Intern

Biography
SPS Chapter: Utah Valley University

Hi all! I’m a junior at Utah Valley University studying Physics Education, and I’m excited to be the STEP UP Intern this summer. I’ve spent my undergraduate years tutoring physics and math for high school and undergraduate students, and I’m passionate about helping all students see that they can be scientists! Last summer, I had the opportunity to complete an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) at the University of Utah, where I studied group dynamics and equipment access in introductory physics labs. Through this experience, I became even more passionate about creating physics classrooms where every student has the opportunity to connect with and understand the material. I will be transferring to the University of Utah in the Fall with the goal of completing their Bachelor’s in Physics/Master’s in Education dual degree program. After graduation, I plan to pursue a career teaching high school physics in communities with limited access to STEM resources. When I’m not in a physics classroom, I love to spend my time painting, listening to folk/indie/pop music, going on drives with friends, and putting together charcuterie boards! I’m thrilled to be spending this summer working with high school teachers to advocate for inclusion and representation in physics education.

Internship Host: American Physical Society STEP UP Intern

Internship Blog

Week 1: A week in pictures!

So much has happened since I arrived in DC on Saturday, May 24th, so I decided to highlight some of my favorites moments through a series of pictures.

On Sunday, May 25th, I had the opportunity to see the President’s Own United State Marine Band for a Memorial Day performance, followed by the best firework show I’ve ever seen in my life! It was the perfect way to be welcomed into DC.

My sister lives in Arlington, and welcomed me to the area with a basket of treats and necessities!

On Monday, I met my roommate and fellow intern Naomi (in the brown shirt) and we went with my sister (in the white shirt) to the National Arboretum! I really enjoyed the Arboretum. We noticed that some people brought food or blankets, and decided we should try to picnic there with a good book sometime soon!

Tuesday was orientation day! I met the rest of the interns, and I can already tell we’re going to be a good bunch. Orientation day was filled with great workshops about networking and making the most of my time this summer!

On Wednesday I got more familiar with the office that I’ll be working in. The building is so beautiful! One highlight was touring the beautiful complimentary gym in the building and getting some fun free samples of perfume, lip gloss, and an electrolyte drink mix!

On Thursday after work, I got to walk past the Lincoln Memorial on my way to my sister’s soccer game! Her team unfortunately lost, but they put up a real good fight.

One of my favorite moments this week was going to Tonic at Quigley’s on Friday night with the other interns, where we ate crazy crispy tater tots and sang our hearts out at karaoke. We will definitely be going back!

Today (Sunday), Naomi and I tried out Union City Church, and spotted some pretty buildings on the way. Afterward, we walked through the Dupont Circle farmer’s market. (I confess, it had me missing the Salt Lake City farmer’s market. No shade on Dupont though.)

After our walk through the farmer’s market, we went to the National Gallery of Art. Naomi and I spent some time sketching Monet’s bridges with colored pencils. I didn’t end up finishing my sketch before the museum closed, but I’ll be back soon!

Overall, I had a delightful first week in DC, getting to know the other interns and seeing a few sights in the meantime. Until next week!

Week 2: Happy Pride!

What a whirlwind of a week! On Monday, I went with Naomi and MJ to a Coffee Republic shop near the office to work for a bit. The chai was a bit pricey and the music was a bit loud, but it was nice to be able to bounce my ideas off of Naomi and MJ (pictured), and have a change of scenery from the office.

My main task this week was to work on several PhysicsQuest lesson plans, and while I was editing a lesson, I ended up learning more about Lissajous curves and how they’re made! Enjoy the following links if you feel so inclined:

https://www.reddit.com/r/woahdude/comments/anh3os/lissajous_curve_table/
https://www.aoe.vt.edu/instruction/aoe3054/inst2.html

After work, I went on a lovely evening walk with my sister. The weather was perfect!

On Tuesday, I decided to work from home. At this point, I got a bit overwhelmed about one of the lessons I was editing, because I felt like there was a disconnect between the experiment and the phenomena it was trying to represent, but I didn’t think it was my job to edit at that level. I decided to talk with my supervisor about it when she got back from her trip on Monday, and that I should move on to the next lesson. When Naomi got home from work, we made some increeedible chicken salad (open-faced) sandwiches. We were going to save some of the chicken salad for future lunches, but it was so good (and we were so hungry) that we ate nearly all of it in one go!

Naomi ordered a projector for our apartment, and that night we picked it up from the front desk and set it up! We ended up completely rearranging the furniture to make it more host-able for movies. I’m quite happy with how it turned out.

I finally finished the lesson plan I was working on around 1:45am. I was glad to be done with it, since it was the longest one!

On Wednesday, I met with Meg (not my supervisor, but another employee on the APS Public Engagement team) about the lesson plans. She was very encouraging - 10/10 person to meet with. Also, thanks to our meeting, I think I finally understand where I fit within the broader organization of APS! It goes like this: American Physical Society --> Office of External Affairs --> Public Affairs --> Public Engagement --> Nicole’s educational materials team. This was very good knowledge to have because later that day I had an activity with the OEA (Office of External Affairs)! We started out with a yummy lunch, then played a speed trivia game. Then, the Government Affairs team (which is another subset of Public Affairs) gave a presentation about the projects that they’re working on right now. It was great to learn about more cool things happening at APS!

At home that night, Naomi and I reheated some leftover mushroom cream pasta that she had made. I’m not normally a mushroom person, but WOW it was good. We also ate the last bit of chicken salad that was left over.

To test out our new speaker setup, we watched the first two episodes of Ted Lasso! So many people have recommended that show to me, and they were onto something, because I’m loving it so far! After the show, I worked for just a little while one of the PhysicsQuest lessons.

On Thursday, I slept in a little, which was needed. Then I hashed out some conceptual edits on one lesson plan, and some formatting edits on another. Thursday was special because we got to go on a small cruise down the Potomac River, hosted by AIP! All the interns got to eat some delicious free food and order a couple of drinks.

The view from the boat was amazing!

After the cruise, most of the interns stayed out and hit the town, but MJ, Saniya, and I headed home because we were a bit tired. We watched the next two episodes of Ted Lasso together, which was the perfect chill way to end the night.

On Friday, I taught myself a lot about quantum entanglement so that I could make sure one of the lesson plans was teaching it as correctly and simply as possible (but not simpler!). My sister came from Arlington to check out my office, and it was fun to show her around. Then she came back with me to my apartment for another evening of Ted Lasso. Joined by MJ, Saniya, and Naomi, we watched a grand total of SIX episodes to end season 1! Between episodes, we realized we needed a treat, so we made microwave popcorn and warmed up some wassail from Trader Joe’s. (You might be thinking, isn’t Wassail a winter holiday drink? You would be right. We had some because Trader Joe’s was giving it away for free, presumably because they needed to get rid of the off-season item!) Not all of the popcorn kernels popped, so MJ used a pan to pop the remaining kernels (pictured below). They made it look easy! From left to right in the picture below: Me, MJ, Naomi, Saniya.

Friday was one of my favorite days this week. I love a good night in with friends. 😊

On Saturday, I went to test drive some cars with my sister (who is looking to replace her car), then came back to get ready for Pride in DC!! (I know that my eyeshadow isn’t even, but I did it in less than 10 minutes, so I’m still relatively proud of it.)

I got to see David Archuleta in the concert after the pride parade with my sister, which was meaningful for me. David Archuleta grew up a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) like I did, and I vividly remember his season on American Idol, which he got second place in. My community was really excited about it! He eventually ended up leaving the LDS church due to his sexuality, around the same time that I did, so I’ve always felt like we shared a similar journey. It was so beautiful to see him so happy at a pride festival! My sister (pictured above and below) is still a member of that church, but has been very supportive of my journey, and I’m really grateful that she came with me to Pride.💗

Above is David, and below (from left to right) is Emma (my sister’s friend), Mandy (my sister) and me!

The headliner of the concert that evening was the absolute legend, Cynthia Erivo! Seeing Cynthia Erivo live was breathtaking. I didn’t even get out my phone for the first couple of numbers, because I was completely in awe! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone command a stage so effortlessly. She was so powerful, but also exuded so much love! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

What an unforgettable Pride!

On Sunday, Naomi and I tried out a new church, the Western Presbyterian Church, with another intern, Grace. It’s only a couple of blocks from where we’re staying, and I noticed that it had a huge pride flag out front, so I thought we could try it out. :) The service was really lovely. One of my favorite parts was when the pastor had the children come up to the front. She helped the children say ”Happy Pentecost!” and then ”Happy Pride!” and finally ”Happy picnic!” since they were doing a potluck after the service. It made me really happy to be in a place that could celebrate so many things together! Toward the end of the service, they brought out the banner that the church had walked with in the Pride parade, and I thought it was very beautiful.

The potluck after the service ended up being very happy indeed: my plate was piled with two hot dogs and delicious sides like homemade coleslaw, green beans, strawberries, and salsa with chips. Pictured below from left to right with our dessert plates: Me, Grace, Betsy (a new friend), Naomi, and Flanny (another new friend). It was a great Sunday!

Next week has a lot to live up to! I’ll update you all then. 😊

Week 3: Good food, good people
This week I had a big reckoning with PhysicsQuest Lesson 4: Tangled in the series of lesson plans that I’ve been working on. First, my supervisor and I decided that it would be best to remove some of the math from the Teacher Background section, since it wasn’t necessary for understanding the lesson. Then, I came to realize that none of the lessons (which are all themed around quantum physics for the International Year of Quantum) focused on the quantum model of the atom, which I think middle school students could really use some background on before diving into quantum computing and entanglement. For all the lessons, we like to provide an extension activity or two that teachers can use, and Lesson 4 already needed one, so I decided to make an extension activity for the lesson that focused on superposition in the quantum atom. This turned into a bit of a project, mostly because I was having so much fun! When I showed it to my supervisor, we agreed that this content should actually go before Lesson 4... and that maybe it should become its own lesson! That’s when I started trying to combine lessons 4 and 5, so that there would still be 8 lessons in total. It didn’t take long before both me and my supervisor realized that combining these lessons wouldn’t be feasible. Ultimately, we decided to turn my extension into an optional prequel for Lesson 4 that teachers could use if they hadn’t talked about the quantum model of the atom with their students yet. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I had been editing the wrong version of Lesson 4, which didn’t include some important edits that other people had already made. So, then my task was to unify those two documents, and make sure there weren’t any edits that I was missing. Overall, it was quite a project! But I love lesson planning, and I know that Lesson 4 will be better for all of the phases that it went through.

Onto the non-work events of the week! On Tuesday, I got to go to dinner with my friend Kate, who I hadn’t seen in years. They’re doing a Mars research internship at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and it was so cool to hear about their work! We got food at a place called “&pizza”, and I learned from Kate that all &pizza locations actually have a different menu. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture with my friend, but I’m sure we’ll hang out in the future, and I’ll snap one then!

On Wednesday I spent some time sending voice memos back and forth with one of my bandmates, for a song that we’ve been working on. It’s a lot harder to work on songs remotely! I’ve been in the band Lunar Spirit for a couple of years now, and I’ve really enjoyed making music with them. On Wednesday I also had some delicious grilled cheese, tomato soup, salad, and fruit with Naomi! It has been really fun to plan and prepare meals with someone else.

On Thursday, MJ (another intern who is fabulous) made homemade mac and cheese using the leftovers from a cheese platter that we had catered at work. That was some of the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had!

Not too long after we started eating, the fire alarm went off! All of us left the building, and we ended up having fun getting to know some of our neighbors in the complex for about half an hour. 10/10 forced interaction. :) Later that evening I went to my sister’s place to hang out with my sister and my mom, who came into town for a week! I told them all about my lesson planning conundrums, and they were kind enough to listen. :)

Friday was one of my favorite internship days so far. I was planning on going to a dance fundraiser for immigrant rights, but that night there was a flashflood, accompanied by lightning. The National Weather Service issued several warnings not to travel unless you were fleeing the flood, so all the interns were cooped up in the apartment. Naomi and I decided to host at-home karaoke + a movie night at our apartment! We were really excited to put our hosting furniture setup to good use.

By the end of the night, almost all of the interns had come by at some point! We filled all the seats in our happy semi-circle. :))

It was also Saniya’s birthday on Wednesday, but she had been gone at a AAS conference, so that night we all sang happy birthday to her! I think she had a great night. :) She asked to take a picture of me and Naomi, and now it’s one of my favorite pictures of the internship, because it just shows how great of friends we’ve become, and how delighted we were to host everyone!

On Saturday, my mom and sister and I all went to the Old Town farmer’s market in Alexandria, VA. I had such a wonderful time there! First off, the Old Town area is just so charming. We had a great time walking around!

The farmer’s market itself had loads of fresh produce, breads, and spreads, along with some lovely-smelling candles and perfumes. I tried a cheese spread that I was thinking about the rest of the time I was walking through the market, so I went back to get it, only to find out that the vendor had sold out of it. But to my surprise, she offered me the sample container for free! I was beyond delighted. It still had most of the cheese in it! Later, I went back to a pickle stand I had been thinking about, and the same thing happened! He was out of his Sweet & Savory pickles, but offered me the sample jar for free! I gave him some cash to show my support somehow. Then he said “Do you like hummus?” and ended up giving me a free container of hummus too!! I’m not sure how I got so lucky at the farmer’s market, but I’m not complaining. I ended up coming home with the cheese, pickles, sourdough bread, fresh tomatoes, a peach, and raspberry jam. A great haul!

I put the cheese spread and peach slices on the sourdough bread, and it was delightful. Highly recommend.

After the market, Maia (another intern) made a cake for Saniya, and we went to sing happy birthday to her again. :) The cake was amazing!

On Saturday night, I went to the National Orchestra Institute + Festival (NOI+F) with Naomi, Erik (Naomi’s boyfriend), MJ, Zhane, and Kavin (all interns). Our orchestra night was sponsored by Jack, a lovely older man who I believe started the SPS internship program. He attended with us! The orchestra was lovely -- I especially enjoyed the first half. It was an “NOI+F commissioned work by Emmy-award winning composer Jasmine Barnes entitled, ‘Kinsfolknem,’ which [featured] masterful solos performed by a guest selection of Black principal players from leading orchestras, including Demarre McGill, Anthony McGill, Titus Underwood and Andrew Brady” (NOI+F Instagram page excerpt). The solos were truly incredible. I was amazed at Jasmine Barnes’ writing considering that she hadn’t even gotten into music professionally until partway through college (and she started with singing, not composing), and she’s only in her early 30s! A brilliant mind, honestly.
On Sunday I had a good home-reset day. I tidied my room and the living room, swept everywhere, cleaned my bathroom, did the dishes, and took out the trash. Then I spent some time with my mom and sister! We sang together (as we often did when I was growing up) and worked up a little arrangement of “I can’t help falling in love with you”. This involved quite a bit of laughing, since we kept messing up. After that we played several competitive games of Catchphrase with each other and my sister’s friend. It was a great end to a lovely week!

Week 4: Where Technology and Art Meet
This week we only had three days for work, because we toured NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and had Juneteenth off! In my three work days, I completed the edits for PhysicsQuest lesson 5, and got partway through lesson 7. It has been so rewarding to grapple with the quantum concepts that we’re sending out to be taught to middle and high school students, and engage with the pedagogy of lesson planning!

On Monday, I went into work early so I could leave work early and meet my friend Kate at the National Air and Space Museum, where they work. They ended up getting off of work later than they thought they would, so we didn’t end up looking around for very long, but it was still worth it to me! I learned that Orville Wright of the Wright brothers was an avid mandolin player, and that the two brothers loved to “scrap” (argue) to work things out. Wilbur Wright once said, “I love to scrap with Orv. Orv is such a good scrapper.”

After the NASM, I invited Kate back to my apartment where we made and ate dinner with my roommate Naomi. We had delicious homemade chicken alfredo and green beans!

Soon after dinner, other interns arrived at our apartment for a game night! We played Apples to Apples, and eventually decided that we wanted to use part of the Captain Cookie gift card that we were gifted by SPS. I had to get out my whiteboard to help us visualize what cookie flavors we wanted. 😂

On Tuesday, I went to the National Gallery of Art with my mom after work, since it was her last day in town. I had just enough time for a little sketch of a Mary Cassat painting before the museum closed.

After the museum, my mom and I met up with my sister to grab some tacos at District Taco. I found it to be quite well-priced, and yummy!

On Wednesday, we left at 6:30am to travel to NIST, which is the National Institute of Standards and Technology! Two of our interns, Grace and JJ, work there, and their supervisor was able to give us a tour! We got to see a nuclear reactor, a super quiet sound-absorbing room called an anechoic chamber, the standard kilogram, and even a genetic clone of one of Isaac Newton’s apple trees.

At one point in our tour, the rain was coming down crazy hard, and we had to run to pile into the van before we went to our next stop! We all made it safely. :) (Although my phone fell out of my pocket when I was running to the car! Thankfully an employee saw it fall and brought it to me at our next stop.)

Here’s a bonus picture of Naomi and I on our way home after a long day. I’m glad to have such a silly and wonderful roommate

After we got back from NIST, I got to meet Jen at the DC office. She works on the Public Engagement team but isn’t usually in town! It was great to chat with her.

During our tour of NIST, they showed us the cases that they created to protect the US founding documents, so we had to watch National Treasure when we got home. Fun fact: according to NIST, the cases weigh over 200 pounds, so there’s no way Nicolas Cage could have casually run about the building (and deflected bullets) using the case!

Thursday was Juneteenth, so we got the day off! A few of us went to Tatte for brunch (which was delicious). When we got on the metro afterward, James almost got eaten by the doors! Thankfully he fought back valiantly and he’s still with us. 😌

Naomi, MJ, and I went to the Hirschhorn modern art museum afterward, which is now probably my favorite museum in DC. The exhibits were soo delightful! And I was actually able to get through the entire museum in a day, which is unusual for me. Here are a few of my favorite pieces that I saw, in no particular order.

One of my favorite exhibits consisted of writing and drawings painted directly onto the walls and floor of a room. It was done by Laurie Anderson in 2021. She didn’t sketch any of it out beforehand and instead did it like a stream of thought. Some of the writing was really thought-provoking or moving, and some of it was absurd or just silly! Here are a couple of my favorite snapshots from the room:

Another one of my favorites was this next painting. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to spend a couple of hours drawing a small portion of it. I’m quite happy with how it turned out!

After a long day at the Hirschhorn, Naomi and I went home and had hot bean dip and corn on the cob for dinner. 😊 The best part was dessert: peaches and cream!

After dinner we went on a walk down to the Lincoln Memorial with Saniya, JJ, and James. It’s so cool that we live within walking distance of it!

On Friday after work, Naomi and Saniya and I went to get our ears pierced at Claire’s. I got my seconds, and Naomi got her thirds! I tried to be good moral support for Naomi, but I think I was more scared than she was for her to get her ears pierced. 😂

When we got back, the three of us had dinner together. Naomi and I love to host a friend for dinner!

On Saturday I slept in, then met up with my sister to go to the O St. Museum. They were doing a free portion of the museum for the solstice, but it was underwhelming compared to the real thing. After that we got to see the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as General Order No. 3! General Order No. 3 is the order that Major General Gordon Granger took to Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, to inform the slaves in Texas that they were free! He arrived on June 19^th, 1865, and the day is now celebrated as Juneteenth. Both documents are only available for public viewing for 36 hours a year, around Juneteenth! I was very happy to see them.

After seeing those documents, we went to the Natural History Museum for a little bit, and then we went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center, with the National Symphony playing the score! It was absolutely incredible.

The Kennedy Center is so beautiful!

After the show, my sister and a couple of her friends went to Crepeaway for a late night treat. I highly recommend the “Mandy” crepe!

Sunday was nice and slow after a full week. Naomi and I mostly stayed home, working on various tasks in peaceful quiet. But at 7, we went to celebrate James’ birthday!! Naomi had found a stuffed boot plushy at TJ Maxx that we just had to give him, and Maia made a delicious ice cream cake for the occasion. We played some Mario Kart and Just Dance to celebrate!
All in all, another great and busy week. I look forward to another!