Sunny Rasmussen, 2025 DoD CAPE Office Research Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: University of Utah
My name is Sunny Joy! My heart belongs to astrophysics and political science. Astrophysics, because it combines the STEM of physics with the poetry of astronomy and politics because I am a natural born leader.
I major in Physics & Astronomy and Political Science at The University of Utah. My dream is to work in NASA Administration in Washington DC!
As an undergraduate, I work in an X-Ray Astronomy Research Lab. I research black holes using data from the Chandra Telescope to examine the hearts of galaxies.Outside of academia, I love to sew, play volleyball, knit, and spend time with my cat! I love to get involved in my community and serve!

Internship

Host: DoD CAPE Office Research Intern

Internship Blog

Entry 1 (May 26-June 1) “Everyone was so nice!”

Hello!
Welcome to my blog for this summer!
I am so glad you are here reading this!
I hope sharing the experiences I have in DC will be as fun for you as being here is for me.

FIRST WEEK REFLECTION:

So wow. I work in the Pentagon. It is so big in every aspect that I still can’t wrap my head around it.

Can I just start with I was a hungry freshman in love with DC and somehow 3 years later I ended up working in the Pentagon, and I was not expecting that at all?
I was introduced to SPS through a social where they offered free pizza and also a chance to go to DC for a conference. Not wanting to pass up either opportunity, I joined and have loved being involved ever since! SPS has been a grounding reminder for me that making friends in physics is easy and that physics is not some floating orb of elitism academia, instead it’s just a common passion.

I got the chance to do an internship last summer in DC through the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics . I worked for the American College of National Security Leaders (ACNSL) , learned about the military, and enjoyed the adventures .
This summer, I am still stunned to say that I have the chance to be an intern at the Department of Defense (DoD) in Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) .
Getting the offer email was a favorite moment of mine: rolling out of bed for a math lecture to find the offer letter and calling my mom crying, laughing, and jumping up and down in my cute little pink apartment is definitely one of my college highlights. A moment I wish I could have captured in a snowglobe.

After a grueling end of the semester with heavy STEM class -es , but good study buddies, I went back home to Nevada to spend time with the cat, pack, and oh also cram a 3-credit summer long class into 5 days..to graduate on time, because apparently I am a masochist.

After all that though, I have officially started and now finished my first week at the Pentagon!

The week kicked off with SPS intern orientation!

I won’t lie to you guys, I was super nervous about the orientation and even more nervous about the Pentagon.

I didn’t know what to expect walking into either. Coming directly from a hometown where my best STEM opportunities were getting a CTE in automechanics, I was reminded that I have come far but imposter syndrome is a constant ache and gnaw.

Putting on my best smile and best outfit, I went to the orientation and quickly realized that I never have anything to worry about when it comes to SPS. The SPS administrators are so kind and friendly and they create the best culture and environment! The other interns are absolutely the coolest! It is truly a blessing to be navigating this internship with a group of peers who are on my same wavelength: quickly switching between talking about black holes, Taylor Swift, and adventure planning!

The day after SPS orientation was my first day at the Pentagon.

I’ll level with you guys, those closest to me can attest that I had many fears. Most of them revolved around my brain telling me that security would be like 1,000 times worse than TSA but I couldn’t quite fathom that, so I was just generally scared. I was also scared that for no reason I would be expected to know like all of American/Military History and they would maybe pop quiz me for no foreseen reason. So I was consuming history facts and documentaries like no other in the weeks leading up to this. (Sorry mom for info dumping to you about the Bay of Pigs Invasion).

Thankfully though, security was no big deal. And also, thus far no one has given me a pop quiz. Which is good, because I see now that it would be silly if they did…

I say all this to show that there’s a lot of fear, imposter syndrome, and overall anxiety that accompanies exciting opportunities and the best way to meet those challenges is to face them head on. Sometimes you gotta look those worries in the eye and tell them that no one will kick you out for having questions.

Everyone there is the friendliest and kindest people! They all are glad I’m there, and I appreciate that. They are all willing to help and give me reading material that helped them when they were new, which is very thoughtful.

I was able to help organize the handful of us DoD interns to get lunch, which was quite the feat because we can’t email each other yet. I have been emailing people via sticky note recently, which has been wild.

The work highlight of the week for me was getting to work on a real problem with two other people: a mathematician who just jumped into the project and brought me, and an engineer who knew the logistics of the data well.
We worked to do a bit of the background math, then we discussed best approaches and started story boarding our code.
I had never story boarded code on a white board before: outlining where to call functions, do for loops , print statements: that sort of thing. University has gotten me used to theoretical problems without many limiting factors, so it was a change of pace.
I loved this experience because it felt a lot like solving problems with my physics friends back home, but it was also a real application of the problem. I also loved it because the people I was working with were so collaborative and supportive. Another reason I loved it was because it kicked my imposter syndrome right out the window because I came up with some good coding ideas and actually contributed. This gave me a strong foundation to start this internship: confident and on the right foot.

On Friday, after a long work week of trying to be a sponge and take in a lot of material, SPS invited us interns to a symposium! We were all pretty tired, but I think it was good because we were just fun and tired college students instead of strangers at an orientation - like we were a couple days earlier.

After the symposium, I talked a big game about going home to go to bed, but ended up at karaoke night:)
It turns out that a couple of the SPS interns are theater nerds like me. And let me tell you, there is a certain ecstasy to having just finished your first official work week in DC with other physicists and singing “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton that just drives home the point that you are not in Kansas (Utah) anymore, but you fit in perfectly even if you’re not sure what you’re fitting into.

On Saturday, I decided to swing by my favorite spots in DC. Grace (the SPS intern) came with me to the MLK Library to pick up a couple books. I really enjoyed being there with someone else who also appreciates books.

After the library, we did some meandering around Chinatown and right near the archway was this very cool drumline trying to fundraise. Their energy was unmatched and they turned the entire intersection into a party!

Grace had to go, but I went on to the mall. I love DC, and being back on the mall feels like saying hi to an old friend at this point. However, a spring storm was picking up by then so I crowded by the base of the Washington Monument for cover.

The flags around the monument were all fully unfurled in the wind, and each one was angled just a little differently. It looked exactly like a vector field and suddenly, Calc 3 made sense!

After the storm died down and I was drenched, I started to make my way back home. I passed the pond next to the WWII Memorial. There were little families of mamma ducks wrangling their ducklings into the water and it was so cute.

The rest of my planned stops were cut short due to the fact my contacts didn’t take to the rain very kindly, but I will save those adventures for another day.

On Sunday, I was able to reconnect with friends from last summer and friends from Utah I wasn’t expecting to see! Having those connection adds another layer of coziness to DC that makes this place so special to me.

TAKEAWAYS:

I think if I could just sum up this first week in a sentence I would say, “Everyone was so nice!” Which probably isn’t the exciting DoD intern takeaways you might have been expecting, but for me it always just comes down to the people. No matter how big or small an organization is, it’s always about making friends along the way so that you can all succeed together!

And I think that is the best gift SPS has given to me: to see that even in important or prestigious situations that give you anxiety, people are just people so do good and be grateful for the good that people do.

I can’t wait to tell you about next week!

Much love,
Sunny

Entry 2 (June 2-3) The Little Things

Hello!
& Welcome back to my blog!

I’m writing to you from Tuesday, June 3 instead of Sunday night before blogs are posted. It turns out if you work for the government, they want to review what you say first, so I will be jumping on a new blog schedule starting now.

The last time I blogged was Sunday, June 1 so it has only been a couple of days.

After a bit of thought about what I would say about only 2 days of work, I realized that this is a prime opportunity to focus in on the little things that I have enjoyed so far.

I might not normally get to tell you about them, but in this case, I’m hoping to give you a glimpse into the small joys and tender mercies that brighten my time here!
For those of you in STEM, you can take Entry 2 as a derivative (tiny part), so you can get a pulse on my overall slope (direction), and you can even use it to formulate Euler’s formula (using a bunch of tiny parts to get a feel for the overall direction) to understand my path.
Or if you like cooking references instead: take Entry 2 as the seasoning that is subtle throughout my experience here.

So assume that even when I zoom back out, all these little great moments are happening and they brighten my overall experience, even if I don’t zoom in on them.
Fair warning, since it’s not a narrative as much as a collection of moments, transitions will be scarce so bear with me, and welcome to my train of thoughts (and be grateful Ozzy Osbourn is not the conductor).

So my first thing that I wanted to share is that I really enjoy not being allowed to use my phone in the Pentagon. Always having my phone around adds some drag (friction) to life for me sometimes, so it makes me kinda grateful to put it in the little box and I don’t have to worry because everyone else put away their phones too so it’s just people being people at work. (Also, I’ve been trying to break my Spotify dependence so this helps haha)

On that note, getting back to my Spotify on the way home makes listening to music even better, instead of a given. So on the way home from work, I was on the metro coming out of a tunnel into all this green space and trees. There was green everywhere I looked and even these little bunnies running and frolicking along. Right then, “Ribs” by Lorde came into my earphones. (Now, if you don’t know this song pretty please go listen to it and feel. Or if you don’t want to do that, do a quick search about all the video essays and online discussion about this song. It’s truly a masterpiece.) So listening to this song while taking the metro home, in DC, from the Pentagon, in all this green, watching little bunnies frolick. It was a lovely little moment that reminded me about how beautiful life is.

Also, I get so excited every morning when I walk in! For the most part, I’m still trying to get the sleepies out of my eyes, but then I walk into the majestic front door with the huge “Welcome to the Pentagon” letters hanging above all the armed services’ flags. All of a sudden, I just perk up and there’s this huge smile on my face because I really love it here!

As a girl in the world, I’m pretty used to looking over my shoulder but I feel so safe in the Pentagon. It’s like all the hypervigilance leaves my body because I know I can relax there. Even in the food court (which I’m fairly wary of in malls, campus, ect) I know I don’t have to keep an eye over my shoulder. It’s such a relaxing thing for me because it takes the mental load off of being on alert.

Another thing about the Pentagon in general is that absolutely everything has a pentagon shape on it, which I find really funny. Here’s some obscure things that are heavily branded: recycling bins, bathroom mirrors (“please wash hands” signs inside the shape), and most signs in general are in a pentagon shape.
Either someone got trigger happy with pentagon shapes, it’s a tongue in cheek thing, or it was just easiest if anyone said “name a shape for this sign” to say “A Pentagon!”

Which reminds me, there are many fabulous places to eat there. There is a sandwich shop which has a sandwich called The Pentagon. I can’t remember exactly what is on it, but I think it’s fun there’s a Pentagon sandwich too (though not shaped like one, oddly).

Last week, I got the chance to go to a cool event and see to a couple 3 star generals in the Space Force! It was really cool to be there and understand more about the Space Force and how it operates and what the general vibe is: which is a pretty dang good one, in my opinion! :)
One of the 3 star generals spoke. She focused on how being a good leader means taking the time to understand and know those that you are leading. From there, you can allocate tasks and missions to those you know who can handle that load at that moment in their lives, and the lives of their families. She talked about making sure, as a leader, you get the right people for the right job and everyone can contribute in their own way. I loved hearing this because it is fabulous advice! I also loved hearing from her because there is something about her (and many of the general’s I’ve seen/met) where they are magnetic leaders. Listening to her, I could tell that she leads with care, intention, purpose. She didn’t even speak for that long, but she might be one of my heroes, I won’t lie. There was that thing about her that made me instantly look up to her.

Speaking of Space Force, there are a couple Space Force people on my team and they are really cool. They are very kind and fun to be around, which I am very grateful for. I enjoy talking to them about their life paths (they both went from Air Force to Space Force) and how they ended up at CAPE. They are good humored, and frankly so is everyone I’ve met!
Speaking of military, there are all these high ranking people walking around the office all day. I’ve been scrambling to pick up what each insignia means because I realized there are a lot of important people I interact with, daily.
The Executive Assistant of my office and I had a couple of good chats about when she was first starting work at CAPE. She had to pick up rankings quickly too. She’s also been a great connection here, and I get excited to say hi to her when I walk in every morning!

PS, it’s been so interesting to talk to people who actually have call signs, like from Top Gun. I knew that was a thing, and I’ve researched it a bit, but it’s been cool to meet people that actually have call signs!

Work, right now, is a lot of readings because I still don’t have computer access. I have quickly learned there is no shortage to printed slide shows!
Since I don’t have computer access, I can’t send a message to the other interns to see if they want to go to lunch together. So one day I asked the Executive Assistant to call the other intern’s office, to ask if he wanted to go to lunch. It felt a lot like when I was a kid and had to ask my mom to call my friend’s mom to ask if they could come play. Hopefully, the computer access comes soon: to improve my autonomy.

Something else I really enjoy is the commute in the morning and people watching. There are a lot of people going in a lot of directions. The common thread is that they seriously slay with their outfits, and I love to see it! I, myself, also enjoy wearing business clothes every day - as opposed to my college outfits which land all over the scale. It’s been fun so far!

I’ve been working very hard to be a sponge and learn all I can. A lot of what they are teaching me is how the DoD is organized and how the budget works. Something I have found interesting is how the checks and balances woven throughout The Constitution are in pretty much everything in the government! I did not realize that. For example, CAPE is all about civilians having the chance to analyze budget without the bias that comes with being a military member - especially from a home team branch. So you have civilians checking and balancing military members. Then, you also have career people checking and balancing politically appointed people. This is a way to balance the Executive Branch while also allowing for consistency in the overall structure of the organization.
This is really cool to me, as a Political Science major, because I will start looking harder for how and where else principles of The Constitution are applied throughout the government.

Oh, here’s a great little moment for you guys: in Entry 1, I talked about how nervous I was to start at the Pentagon. Before my first day, I was waiting for my train and feeling so nervous I had to pull out the inhaler. My train pulls up. The doors open, and right in front of me - exiting the train - are two SPS interns! I had only met them the day before, but seeing friends made me feel much better. And let’s be real, what are the odds they were coming off of my train right in front of me? It was completely a tender mercy.

After work on Monday, and a little fun moment with friends, I went to the top floor of my building and watched the city as the sun set. I was listening to my music and it was beautiful to watch the clouds, people, cars, planes, and monuments in the setting light. I haven’t gotten too many chances to slow down and realize I’m in DC, but this was one of those good moments. I collect those moments close to my heart.

I will say, when I tell people I’m coming from Utah, they kind of go “woah, out west!” and nothing could mentally prepare me for the concept that being from Utah could add “diversity” to a group. To me, it’s Utah - not that deep. But I appreciate the enthusiasm haha!

I also finally have my room set up! My mom insisted on sending me a super long strand of fairy lights . I wasn’t as sold on it as she was, but that’s because since my only child is a cat, I don’t yet have the special mom-sense that she does. And boy, did that sense come in clutch! Moms always know. My room and bathroom are soooooo cozy, homey, relaxing with the fairy lights. I’m very grateful that she looks out for me. <3

Oh! Ok guys, this is a great moment. It is standard office behavior, but there are these fabulous printed memes hanging on the cubicle walls. My favorite one is this graph of an upside down parabola . Time is on the x-axis. Amount of math is on the y-axis. On the going up part of the parabola, it has all the maths someone has to take in engineering - as they get progressively harder. Then the slope drops down and it’s just “excel,” as time has gone on. It means that when you’re younger, you have to do all this crazy math for ‘training’ then all of a sudden it doesn’t even matter because you just do spreadsheets all day. I can appreciate that dry take on STEM in the workplace.

Today, the other intern - that I’m cubicle neighbors with - and I were talking about how slow the computer access process is. He seems a bit quiet, but maybe we just haven’t gotten to talk much. So I make a comment about the slow process and he looks at me and says “type shit.” I laughed seriously too hard. It was not that funny of a thing to say, but I think I’ve been working so hard to not venture into any GenZ brain-rot slang at the office, so it was a bit of a brain shock to reminded me other interns are peers and it’s good to have those culture connections - even if it’s internet culture. I’m glad to be surrounded by DoD interns and SPS interns that help ground me in having fun and being silly sometimes.

Also, I don’t have any pictures for you guys, but I think SPS requires at least one per week…so I have brought you the most exciting equivalent! Drum roll please!
*fake trumpet noise but like the awkward one people do when they just say “du-du-du-dun!!”*
A screenshot mom took of FindMyIPhone telling her I’m at the Pentagon!
Aunt Jessie said Entry 1’s pictures of me at the Pentagon worried her because I was looking too thin, so hopefully this helps her see I am healthy and doing fine haha

So you can see that I am well and I am having fun. Not every moment is huge, but every moment matters to me. I am working to make the most of it, and making great connections!

Much love,

Sunny

Entry 3 (June 4-10) Me & The Girls

Hello!
It’s great to have you back!
This week, I had a lot of great moments.
I’m finally getting into the swing of things.
With the swing of things though comes a reintroduction to the highs, lows, and neutral
ground.

Beginning an internship in a big city is fabulous. However, the high energy newness is not sustainable and can get draining if you don’t radically accept the new way of living.
I last wrote to you from Tuesday. Wednesday is when things started to especially pick
up.

Most of Wednesday was average, though I’ll be honest, since I didn’t have computer
access and my calendar was on a sticky note my boss put on my desk which has since
found its way to the trash, I can’t really remember the specifics of what I did that day.
I do know though that near the end of the day, everyone in CAPE was called to an All-
Hands. It was an awards ceremony where the Director of CAPE spoke
about the place and importance of CAPE in the DoD.

I loved the opportunity to see the entire department and get a feel for who the people
are, outside of our cubicles. The awards ceremony was fun to watch! My boss got a
couple awards, and even a nomination for a peer award! It was cool to see that the rest
of CAPE thinks he’s as cool as I do!

After the All-Hands, we trekked far to a remote jungle bar for happy hour. I say jungle,
but I’m pretty sure it’s actually always just that green and humid next to the Potomac.
Happy hour was great! I felt very Utah, with my can of Dr Pepper in hand.

If anyone there was from the west, they would have for sure laughed at me for being so Utah, but thank goodness no one there knew the about the Dr Pepper cult of the west coast. It is too bad they didn’t serve any dirty sodas though…

I got to experience the very Intern moment of not knowing I was talking to a high up
boss while everyone watched, with humor. In my defense, the high up boss was one of
the coolest ladies I have met, and I had an inkling she was important just by her poise,
so I wasn’t completely oblivious :)

There was a girl there in my conversation circle who was super generous and invited
me to a Nats game after happy hour. Now listen, I was pretty sleepy and in work
clothes, but you know I’m not missing the opportunity to hang out with work girlies, especially
when my co-workers are predominantly young dads.

In my dress shoes, pencil skirt, and cashmere sweater we trekked back through the
jungle (Potomac river bank) and to the Nats game. We got hotdogs, fries, and watched
a very average Nats game where it was 0-0 until the 7th inning.

Hanging out with the girlies was so fun!! They are also in their 20’s so I loved hearing their perspectives on CAPE and DC. I super appreciated their takes and their advice! They were so nice, and I was so grateful they invited me along.

Thursday was low key. I was grateful because I did have a couple blisters from the night
before.

Thursday evening, however, was a different story.
On Thursday evening, SPS hosted us interns on a Potomac dinner cruise!
A dinner cruise?
A dinner cruise. On the Potomac. On a double decker boat.

Let me begin with, though I was having fun, my internal monologue was ‘I grew up too
poor for this, what is going on?’ Pushing past that, it was a great experience!
SPS is so epic for setting that up and inviting us! We started with drinks and hanging
out, followed by dinner on the lower deck while we watched the Washington Monument on the
right side of the boat and planes land at Regan Airport on the left side of the boat. The
planes were so near my mind was blown!

Getting to network and hang out with everyone was such a great experience! There
were a couple familiar faces from my time as an SPS AZC (Associate Zone Councilor),
and it was great to catch up with them!

The boat portion of the evening ended with dancing and dessert back on the upper deck, in the sunset. After we got off the boat, many of us went on to meander down the boardwalk to a cute little arcade-restaurant-bar. We crowded around the tables and hung out.

Now, as previously mentioned, I was exhausted. I was very glad for the fun, but living at
the high energy state of ‘yay DC! yay friends!’ and being a yes-(wo)man can drain you
fast. My table’s conversation veered into sensitive territory for me, and I didn’t have the
sleep tank filled for any emotional tenacity. My eyes filled with tears, and thank goodness,
only a couple people noticed.

One of the SPS interns who noticed was a complete ‘girl’s girl.’ She offered to pull me aside to the bathroom. She was so kind and totally there for me. I wasn’t in the mood to talk, so instead we talked about being Swifties.

I feel like in the movies, there’s always that girl crying in the bathroom while the friends
are trying to have a nice time out. And it wasn’t so fun to be that girl, but also being that
girl and having a girl’s girl helping me out - talking about Taylor Swift while I fix my
mascara - was a moment that I think will stay with me awhile.

Friday was a day of rest and more girl power. Because I still didn’t have computer
access, my boss told me to work on some coding from home and come in for an
afternoon meeting. I got have some alone time and just focus on fighting my computer
to download Anaconda. I was glad to have that time.

My afternoon meeting was with some of my favorite CAPE people, which made me glad. After the meeting, one of the CAPE people took the time to answer any and all questions I had. It was not scheduled and she did not have to do that, but she chose to and she is so kind for that. She and I even talked about what it’s like being a working mom in DC, the importance of dating and marrying a supportive partner, and surrounding yourself with good mentors who will get you where you want to go in life.

We also talked about imposter syndrome and something she said stuck with me:
“Prestige gets your foot in the door but it doesn’t keep your foot in the door. People
skills, professionalism, and good questions opens the doors for you.” (Which is not a
direct, exact quote so don’t come after me, but it’s how it landed in my heart).
She totally helped me feel overall better about my ever-changing life as a 21 year old
girl in the world. Our conversation was a great way to round out the end of my second
week here at The Pentagon.

But wait! There’s more!

On Friday night the pinnacle of my weekend occurred. I got to watch Star Wars and knit
(well, she crocheted) with one of my best friends. Now, she and I – despite both going to
school in Utah – have not got a chance to hang since last summer when we watched
Episode 1. However, like Anne of Green Gables and Dianna, we recognize eachthoer as kindred spirits and despite time passing, we always pick up laughing wherever we left off.
She is a complete Star Wars nerd, who loves the political drama aspect of it. She has
read all the books and seen all the shows. I, myself, do not seek out Star Wars content.
Instead, I seek out people I like to be around and ask them to nerd out about it and
teach me what they know. Our friendship works well.

We watched Episode 2 and a couple Tales of the Jedi (for additional context) :) and
between the blanket she’s crocheting and the sweater I’m knitting, no yarn was safe
haha

I loved hearing her insights and all the fun facts! We even jump cut to a
deleted scene, and I totally understand the Padme hype. She was totally undersold in
the Prequels.

On Saturday, I was able to facetime the girls from home: mom & the cat! I hadn’t called
home in awhile, so it was great to catch up! That evening, a couple interns and I had the
privilege of going to a symphony at The University of Maryland! They did a rendition of
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream It was beautiful, and such a great
opportunity, since I have never been to a symphony before!

At church the next morning, I met a girl who performed in the symphony and
learned more about the history of the program!

The last story I have for you guys is actually with a Utah friend. He and I are in a bigger
friend group back at school, and I refer to everyone in it as ‘girlypop.’ We all came
together this year, so it was tragic to break up the group for the summer. We all decided
to come together to play Minecraft throughout the summer. The rest of the group
couldn’t make it though. But it was still ‘epic’ (which is actually a word I stole from his
vernacular) because I got to hear about his astronomy research lab! I love CAPE, but I
do miss astronomy sometimes, so I appreciated him telling me about his epic Monte
Carlo simulations and black holes! We played Minecraft, while I sat in my dorm’s
courtyard in the sunset, and it was an epic evening, getting to chatter it up with a fellow
girlypop friend.

So you can see that this week was a lot to take in, but it was mostly a lot of great
moments of connection, true kindness, and friendship. I love the girlies and girlypops I
was able to hang out with.

As I write this from my office – now I finally have computer access – I am getting
messages back and forth from the Nats game girlies, on a group chat named “the
girlies,” as they teach me about the sticker variety on Teams Messages.

So between my connections here and Taylor Swift getting custody of her work again,
this week has been chalk full of girl power and good vibes!

I’m glad I’m getting into the swing of things and making/strengthen friendships.
I hope your week is full of good vibes and friendship too!

Much love,
Sunny