Amanda Williams, 2018 SPS SOCK (Science Outreach Catalyst Kit) Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Weber State University

I am a graduating student at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah with a bachelor’s degree in Physics. I’ve spent most of my undergraduate research time characterizing instrumentation for a new research observatory at my university, along with an internship studying Earth’s dynamo effect on the upper ionosphere at UC Berkeley’s Space Science Lab.

The past few years I’ve stumbled upon an enthusiasm for education outreach. Being a first-generation college student, I enjoy connecting with other first-generation students with math and science outreach. I also work at a planetarium, which, on top just being fun, has helped me learn the art of sharing how we humans can understand our universe. If not doing any of this stuff, you can normally find me outside running, hiking, or biking. In the future, I am looking to continue doing science outreach, and to pursue a graduate degree in astrophysics.

Internship

Host: Society of Physics Students

Project

Abstract

Undergraduate students are in a unique position to foster curiosity and passion for the physical sciences within the next generation through public outreach. SPS provides free resources to undergraduate students and chapters through comprehensive outreach demonstrations and outreach kits. This summer new outreach demonstrations have been developed and added to the SPS website. Each demonstration provides students with set up procedures, key concepts, and in-depth physics explanation to multiple audience levels. Additionally, the annual Science Outreach Catalyst Kit (SOCK) has been created – with 100 SOCKs packed and ready to ship. This year’s SOCK seeks to build the skills of undergraduates by visualizing resonance and exploring acoustics through the use of Chladni plates.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week One: AIP. SPS. ACP. FTW.

End of week 1, and what a time to be alive! To live in DC on the night the Caps win the Stanley Cup at home, to be working at the American Center for Physics with Danielle and Brad, to hang out at the Einstein memorial with a bunch of physics nerds; I would say I am thriving.

Let’s talk commute. As exciting as the metro is (I’m serious! I’m not a big city girl!), I was even more excited once I started biking to work. Full disclosure, I was skeptical about navigating a real city via bike, but luckily for me Kristen also brought her bike, and she helped me “pull the trigger” and actually commit to the commute by going together. I think a lot of things go that way. So, I really appreciate those people who give me the tools and support to help me do what I want to do. And it seems that I’m surrounded by those kinds of people with this internship, from the roommates and interns to the SPS staff themselves. I can’t say I know just how much back end work was done by our mentors and many others at ACP to prepare for our arrival, but I can tell you that I (and I think other interns agree) feel welcomed, supported, and truly part of the team.

To keep on track these next 9 weeks... my priorities are to connect with the interns and others in the physics community, to get some exciting demos up on the webpage, conquering various adobe/software applications, to do the kind of outreach that I would want to see done, and overall to experience and exhalt in and soak in this short, sweet, and unique time in DC — see if I can come up with just a handful of words to remember the city by.

Week Two: Balance

When I first got started in physics, and committed in college, I had a master plan to become the best out there. What would it take? I figured it was all physics. All day. Every day. I thought to be the best would be, well , jack of all trades and master of something, to be determined as I walked further down the road. As I continue walking, I am learning more about the workforce and about myself. And upon reflection, I am appreciating the chance to round out myself, and spend more time rounding out my interests and working on other skills.

I feel more confident about my work by gaining a wide breadth of knowledge and interests, and it seems inevitable that one sphere of knowledge or skill comes in handy for some other seemingly unrelated task. This variety is one of the many reasons I am loving our interns, with our numerous interests and skills. It’s a big reason I am enjoying my particular position here at SPS so much. I’m still breathing physics, but I’ve delved into different project ideas for outreach, produced a couple rough drafts for new demos, helped Brad teach the US Physics Team about the art of approximation (fermi problems!), and I’ve learned a little bit more about using Adobe Illustrator (thanks Michael!).

Currently, the top priority is finalizing the content for this year’s SOCK. I have a “simple” vision: just one or two versatile demos, with solid physics that can be explained to a variety of people, and most importantly, something cool. My favorite idea so far? Chladni plates; I call them resonance plates. It never fails to disappoint a crowd. Someone always says “it’s like magic!” and I laugh. Because... magic is just a less scary sounding disguise for science. It reminds of raisin and chocolate chip cookies. Across the room you see a chocolate chip cookie and a moment of excitement rushes over you; then you get closer or take a bite and feel a little betrayed when raisin reality hits. But, raisin cookies are good for you. Don’t think too hard about this metaphor.

Anyway, all that to say there are a few obstacles to making this demo at an affordable price, but I am creatively determined to make it happen. I have been met with support by my mentors which makes all the difference. I am laughing at how I always manage to end up working on a small engineering project that involve sheets of metal and clamps. It’s like trying to create new mounts for the public observatory telescopes at Weber State all over again.

Here’s a fitting quote by amazing scientist Hope Jahren:

“I’m good at science because I’m not good at listening. I have been told that I am intelligent, and I have been told that I am simple-minded. I have been told that I am trying to do too much, and I have been told that what I have done amounts to very little. I have been told that I can’t do what I want to do because I am a woman, and I have been told that I have only been allowed to do what I have done because I am a woman. I have been told that I can have eternal life, and I have been told that I will burn myself out into an early death. I have been admonished for being too feminine and I have been distrusted for being too masculine. I have been warned that I am far too sensitive and I have been accused of being heartlessly callous. But I was told all of these things by people who can’t understand the present or see the future any better than I can. Such recurrent pronouncements have forced me to accept that because I am a female scientist, nobody knows what the hell I am, and it has given me the delicious freedom to make it up as I go along. I don’t take advice from my colleagues, and I try not to give it. When I am pressed, I resort to these two sentences: You shouldn’t take this job too seriously. Except for when you should.”

Week Three: Art.

Okay, so birthdays. Shout out to Stephanie and her birthday on Monday, and all the interns pulling together with food and drinks and games to make the night special. We love you Steph. And then, luckily for Michael, his 21^st birthday fell on the date of the boat cruise. What a lovely way to see the city and spend time with SPS staff, interns, and executive committee! The food was great, the staff were cordial, and it was great to meet and talk with everyone SPS. And Kim got great pictures! When I got accepted into this internship, one of my professors told me, “SPS is where all the nice physicists go”. My experience has thus far been consistent with that statement! I was honestly a little upset when we docked at 10, an hour earlier than I expected. It was one of my favorite memories of this internship thus far. SPS really knows how to have a party.

Other highlights include my first visit to the museum of natural history and the portrait gallery with some of the interns over the weekend. It’s intriguing that everyone clusters around the 3^rd floor of the presidential portraits at the portrait gallery, there is so much more in the gallery to appreciate. I loved walking into the UnSeen exhibit on the first floor with works by Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day. They took these original American works and distorted them in a way to shed light on the under and misrepresented cultures in our history. These artists evoked a visceral reaction out of me and caused me to physically stop and think about our country’s long past of injustices, and about myself and where I fit in the picture. I love that it’s on the first floor, and that people stumble upon the exhibit first before continuing on in the gallery. It was a sobering and needed experience.

Let’s talk about the exhibit with artwork by Kumi Yamashita. I’m not really sure how to define her art pieces. All she did was crumple paper in the right way to leverage the shadow as the art, to form faces and human silhouettes. And it was as beautiful as it was simple. As E.F. Schumacker once said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” Kumi is an exorbitantly courageous woman with austere elegance.

Noteworthy: we interns stumbled into a fancy lecture about the Cassini Mission that we were hilariously underdressed for Friday night. Still worth it even with the funny glances. Shout out to Mikayla for staying and astro nerding it up together, and having some ice cream rolls that are arguably funner to watch being made than to eat.

In other exciting news: my first demo is up on the web ! I already have a new found appreciation for the art of video editing and science writing.

I am stumbling upon and through a new world of art forms this summer. It’s not nearly as put together as it sounds.

Week Four: Astronomy.. Not on The Mall!

All the interns working at the American Center for Physics agreed to divide and conquer the Astronomy on the Mall supplies. Hence, I took to the metro with a big blue Physcon tote filled with rainbow glasses, LEDs, and a big copper pipe (no one on the metro was phased by this).

I sit on a semi-full metro, with an open seat next to me. A mother and child start walking over to my area. The woman gingerly sits her child in the seat next to me, standing next to her daughter in a comfortable silence, hand on her child’s dark-haired head. I smile, and they smile back at me, the girl hugging her cotton candy blue unicorn backpack. I glance at this girl. I glance at my tote of rainbow glasses. I glance back at the girl.

I hastily grab a couple of diffraction rainbow glasses out and motion her to take one. I ask her if she’s ever worn rainbow glasses before. She says no in that shy adorable way only children can really pull off. We start both bending our glasses to put them on; she bends them inside out and timidly slides them onto her face. “Rainbows!” she says excitedly under her breath. She starts pointing at the metro signs, the floor, my phone, all the light things, with the biggest grin on her face. I ask her mom if I can take a selfie with her. She smiles and nods. This girl’s name is Alexa, and she is six years old. I couldn’t talk much to her mother because English is her second language. Alexa was the translator between the two of us. I transferred at L’Enfant Plaza, and to my surprise I see Alexa and both her parents in the same car train as me after the transfer. They come over to my empty area, so Alexa and I can play some more, with her parents in the metro seats behind me. She tells me her favorite subject is math.

I don’t really know how to digest this encounter, but my heart swells with bittersweet hope, happiness, and fierceness to fight for equality. How do we fight systematic biases and institutionalized disadvantages so Latina girls like Alexa grow up into women who feel supported to pursue and stay in STEM fields?

As tempting as it is, it is of course dangerous to seek a single flawless answer to such an intricate issue. Some of the best advice I have heard that I like to keep in mind when feeling overwhelmed: do not let perfect be the enemy of good. The most important distinction is between doing nothing and doing something.

So, let us acknowledge that unrepresented minorities exist. Let us acknowledge our own implicit biases that keep glass ceilings on those different than us. Let us be an ally, and do the marches, and learn the science, and teach the science to others, and fight for funding. Let us not alienate those who work hard every single day for privileges we do not even realize we have.

~

Before signing off, I’d like to give a shout out to the whole crew of SPS interns + Brad + Danielle for making Astronomy on the Mall fabulous. It was indoors, and surprisingly well attended. Everyone collaborated getting the supplies there and made an effort to genuinely connect with the families passing by. I never feel more in my element than I do nerding out about telescopes, or walking with the SPS crew singing along to some bad song like All Star or Africa (usually spearheaded by Brad).

Week Five: A Taste of Victory

The SOCK is coming along!

Like most projects, you catch a glimpse of a working product, but then another obstacle stops you. How will we ship violin bows? How will we use speakers without blowing out your eardrums? “It’s too late into the internship to back out of this project now,” I thought to myself as I frantically tried to make a cheap tiny violin bow with a wooden dowel, violin hair, and a hacksaw. (You can guess how that turned out).

As Austin Kleon puts it, I’m thinking (hoping) that was the “dark night of the soul” stage of the project.

Then came the brilliant idea: sheet metal! Less metal = less power needed to excite vibrational modes = not wanting to blow your eardrum out = victory.

A Home Depot trip later, a little snipping and gluing, and viola! A working chladni plate demo with speakers.

Even though it might be taking a little extra TLC to get these chladni plates working, I am envisioning the final product of this SOCK to be one that SPS will be proud of. Thank goodness for good mentors who believed in this project when I wasn’t so sure. Next step: mass production and prototyping an amplifier for these babies.

Week Six: At the intersection of Physics and DC

As I sit and work on write ups for our outreach page, I ponder about the different kind of obstacles people face to understanding a concept. If you’re lucky it’s just the act of storing all the nomenclature and arbitrary infrastructure humans have made to help us describe phenomenon (like a child learning to read an analog clock), or there’s the obstacle of fundamentally understanding phenomenon (like actually making meaning out of the concept of time and its implications in all reference frames, relativistic and otherwise). And then there’s the barrier of communicating it to others.

Once you do know something, what do we do with it? Most scientists make instruments to further their own knowledge in a self-perpetuation of understanding and grappling with Nature. And in order to grapple with it, you need laboratories and more scientists like yourself, and money for those people too. Sitting in the hearing about artificial intelligence over at Sarah’s building, I sat with the interns behind some brilliant scientists like Dr. Kasthuri, Dr. Yelick, Dr. Nielson, and Dr. Rollett trying to communicate with congress why artificial intelligence and machine learning needs prioritization for funding and resources across our country. Talking to Dr. Kasthuri afterward, they had a little over a week and help prepare their own 10-page written testimonial, before flying out from their home universities get bombarded with questions by congresspeople. To do this effectively, the act of simply knowing the science is not enough. They have to be able to paint a picture that everyone can understand; one that is not only logical but persuasive and thought provoking.

Pondering these scientific needs of the community, I’ve been looking all around at what trajectory to shoot myself towards that will sustain my desire to find meaning. Do I get a PhD? Do I continue doing outreach with my bachelor’s and stay in science communication? Do I teach the next generation? For students reading, maybe you’ll take heart (like I am) from some insight of Bill Foster. Dr. Foster went out of his way to meet up with all the interns in the middle of the AI meeting, to hear about the things we are doing. He mentioned to us that it seems most physics majors enter college as the top of their high school class; he confided in us that there is certainly a moment for most physics students realizing that you’re not going to make to the pinnacle of physics, such as becoming a tenured professor at MIT. But, as he put it, “no matter where you take the exit ramp, there will always be interesting things to do.”

Whether it’s getting a PhD and then trying your luck as and AAAS fellow for science writing or science policy, or working as high school teacher, or getting a job at a museum, or being a telescope operator, I agree with Bill that there will always be something worth your time to do, no matter where you take the exit ramp in your education or pursuit of “mainstream” track physics.

We have 15 interns scattered throughout the Washington DC area (and maybe one in Chicago at a conference for AAPT), trying to figure out what it is that marries our skills, aspirations, and affections. There’s no better place to learn about our nation’s history, and physics-oriented opportunities. At the intersection of Physics and DC, there is SPS.

Week Seven: Lessons From a Bicycle

There’s something oddly satisfying about achieving a qualitative personal goal. It’s not one that’s like “I’m going to learn today” or “today I’m not going to say anything negative,” but those really specific, palpable ones. “I’m going to eat 1 whole Chipotleburrito in this single sitting,” or for me this summer, “I’m going to bike at least 100 miles over the course of one work week.”

Being 13 miles one way, this goal requires 4 days of commuting. Between tours and thunderstorms and flat tires and whatever else, I haven’t gotten a week in yet where I’ve done it. This week was going to be the week. No tours. No rain that I couldn’t handle. Nothing could get in my way.

Here’s the story. I hop on the bike to go home Thursday night; 5th gear feels a little wonky in an unfamiliar kind of way, so obviously I just click into 6th gear. Out of sight, out of mind. Problem solved. Until three miles later when you need to downshift back into “wonky gear” to go up a hill. Ker-plunk. A couple disconcerting noises and chain smashing strokes later and I’m off the bike, inspecting. Excitingly enough, the piece that attaches the derailleur to the bike (the hanger) has apparently snapped in half. Mostly impressed that that’s a thing that happens, I whip up an exit strategy. Luckily, I’m not far into the Anacostia trail and it’s only a 10-minute walk to the nearest road and a couple miles to the nearest metro. “I’m not gonna call...” I mumble as I try to find the quickest way to walk my bike. But the pulley on the derailleur seems unhappy with its new configuration and soon enough the bike refuses to even walk beside me anymore, as if to protest such foul treatment.

But do I throw the towel in here? Oh no. “I’ll just take apart the derailleur so the chain doesn’t have to go through that part!” I laugh deliciously as I pull out my little Allen wrench tool. By this time, I’m on the side of the road, on my knees getting black grease all over myself.

I’m not sure if it was the obscureness of the gas station I was next to, or the less than cheery forecast google maps showed me for my ETA, but I cracked. I call Brad, and of course, he dropped everything he was doing to pick me up, even taking me to a bike shop and driving me home to GW.

Why can it be so difficult to put our pride behind us and reach out? In endeavors of multiple facets, I must keep being reminded of this lesson: it’s okay and necessary to ask for help. Science is no exception. In theory, it is the most humble human and collaborative undertaking. I have to reconcile with myself every time before deciding to ask a “stupid” question to someone I look up to for the sake of understanding. Every time we humans think we are the center of something, we come to find only that we are at a more obscure “corner” of the universe than ever. We have to constantly be reminded as a community that our island of knowledge is tiny, as we stand surrounded by a boundless ocean of ignorance. But, from a social perspective, vanity, fear of judgment, and the apparent notion that “science progresses one funeral at a time ” barricades humans from accelerating scientific advancement. Our species seem to be our own double edged sword.

I envision a world where humans collaborate and willingly offer, accept, and reach out for help when needed, where scientists and the like can collaborate with transparency without fear of perishing. As I look at myself in the mirror, I know that change starts with myself.

~

To flip this 180 degrees: another lesson from this is to never take yourself too seriously! Plans and goals will get muddled, and you should still set them, but you have to laugh it off (actual laughter is encouraged) when life throws a wrench in them, as it inevitably will do.

Week Eight: Smorgasbord

Want a sneak peak of all the variety you get as an intern here? Let me take you on my week 8 journey.

Kristen and I took a trip to the Atlantic Ocean. Not only did I eat the best watermelon gazpacho of my life at Rehoboth Beach, but we reaped the value of early Sunday mornings by getting the wild horses all to ourselves on our tandem kayaks at Assateague National Shore.

With the NASA and NIST tours, the interns got to see some real science getting done. I like how many flavors of physicists there are, with not only different interests, but assortments of different humor and styles of talking to us about their research. Daniel’s mentor Ed even gave us all a manila envelope with goodies with information about things like the microwave anisotropy probe.

At NASA, we spent some time at the Science Jamboree, where I learned more about several (like, a lot) of scientific entities doing really groundbreaking, outside of the box science. With this, comes exploration of talking to scientists and their varied stories, and I love hearing how many different paths you can take to get into this stuff. I talked to a grad student at GW who is working at a summer internship with SWIFT, with someone from the Heliospheric Science group who started there with just her bachelor’s and is currently getting her PhD so she can continue work there, with interns from the NASA DEVELOP group, and a full time scientist who works at the Goddard facility on LISA. It was a delightful overload.

At NIST, we got a tour of their museum, with things like the neon tubes and a replica of the casing that the Declaration of Independence is around (thanks National Treasure).

On Thursday, Sarah took a few of us on the Library of Congress Scavenger Hunt! During the hunt, only House staffers + their invites were allowed in. It was the highlight of the week. Shout out to the librarians Kathy and Signe for going above and beyond in helping us out. And our team name “Physics Pham” won some Kahoot.

On the work front, things are happening, fast! The AAPT Summer Meeting is in DC this year! I’ve never been to one, so I’m excited to pop into some talks and to lead a workshop on Tuesday with SPS about best practices in conducting outreach. Shout out to Michael and his willingness to help and take time to talk about the cool outreach HPU has been doing.

Also, last week we officially have all the gear to make this year’s SOCK! There was something extra sweet about that moment when you have a working product and then all the materials to make 100 of them, and to have the write up and video for this demo pretty much done . It’s been a journey with these, and I think they are a working product that chapters will use and hopefully enjoy.

Also, the outreach page is really coming along. It’s been a lot of fun to dip my hand into so many platforms and take a wide survey of the land on ways of communicating this science, from the write up to the video. Attached are some behind the stage looks of video prepping.

One last thing: sorry fellow interns for photobombing this intern group photo of us at NASA. I really thought everyone was making goofy faces too. ;)

Week Nine: AAPT

If you were to walk around the Renaissance Hotel this week, you would find it filled with physicists on a mission. It was the AAPT Summer Meeting, which was (fortuitously for us) in DC! I haven’t been to an AAPT Meeting before, and what a shame I haven’t; I had so much fun. It’s not very often you get to be in a crowd of physicists, and it’s especially rare to be in a sea of physics teachers. There was everything from the biggest demo show I’ve ever seen, to poster sessions, to a plenary with Shirley Malcolm, to invited talks from leading scientists in the field to see what’s new in the world of astronomy.

A few of us interns went to LabEscape, which is exactly what it sounds like. A fun science version of an escape room. We had a blast and it only took us an extra few minutes on top of the hour we were given to finish the challenge. I think the group did a fabulous job putting it on, and considering we were the first group at the AAPT meeting to go through it, the timing was pretty spot on.

Also at the meeting, I got the opportunity to give a talk for SPS about the best practices on conducting outreach! It was an hour session on Tuesday morning. It was intimate, and I was lucky to have the room filled with the SPS support of Brad, James, Michael, and Phoebe. In the planning process, I struggled with formatting this information to fit the wide breadth of possible audience members, so it was a great learning experience for me on how to adapt content based on the level of experience with outreach and how they fit into it as an educator or student. I am grateful that the SPS National team trusted me to represent them in this aspect.

Beyond this personal connection, I love physics meetings for the opportunities to feed my extroverted scientist and connect with others. Advice to future students: when you go to a conference, put yourself out there. Very often you will have a fair amount of free time that could and should be spent talking with others. These meeting are for networking! With a combination of being introduced by others and going in to extra sessions that were designed to connect with others, I got to have conversations with PER (physics education research) graduate students, several professors working in PER, physics high school teachers, and other undergraduate SPS students.

Week Ten: Thank you, SPS

On our final day, I was caught in a surreal trance. I realized this summer was special not just because of the location, or the people, but because of the notion that even when I come back to DC, and when I do meet up with members of this new family I have made, I will never be in the exact same spot or have this exact experience again in my life. There is something powerful and moving about this. Vicariously seeing 14 different job placements this summer, and meeting a whole realm of new people from all walks of life, I will use this summer as a reminder. A reminder to put myself out there, and be in the moment. A reminder to be open to sporadic opportunities. A reminder to continue with my passion for sharing things I love like physics, because life is too short for anything else. I will use this summer as a reminder that, as Smash Mouth puts it, only shooting stars break the mold.

To sign it off,

The greatest gift SPS gave me

was putting me in the nation’s capitol

with other budding physicists

and presenting me the opportunity

to connect with them

and grow alongside them.