Abigail Ambrose, 2020 AIP/ Society of Rheology History

Biography

SPS Chapter: The College of Wooster

I recently graduated from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio with a degree in Physics. This fall I will be attending the University of Toledo pursuing a Ph.D. in Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics. I have been part of my SPS chapter since my first year of college and served as president of my chapter for two years. I also recently served on the SPS National Council as the Associate Zone Councilor for Zone 7. Through SPS, I have had the opportunity to pursue some other interests including science communication which I have really grown to enjoy. I also have always been curious about the history of science, so I am incredibly excited to work as a history intern for the Society of Rheology this summer.

I have had the opportunity to work on forest fire research at Wooster, carbon nanotube research at the University of Utah, and pesticide deposition research at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Station for the USDA. My senior thesis was on using stellar streams to find dark matter in the Milky Way. Aside from physics, I also really enjoy Irish dance and playing percussion in the band, both things I hope to find ways to pursue in graduate school as well.

Internship

Host: The Society of Rheology

Project

Abstract

A lot of times we hear these big names within a field and know nothing about them. This summer, I have worked to put together biographies for the Society of Rheology Fellows. These include everything from accomplishments to where they began. It also takes a look at how these fellows have helped the Society throughout the years. This way we get to discover who is behind the name and how they have come to the place they are. We get to see past just the great discovery that got them their awards into the service they have provided and some insight about their lives as scientists.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Remote Work and Zoom Calls

Here’s to week one. Despite the pandemic we still have gotten the opportunity to do our internships. I am very excited to have begun my internship with the Society of Rheology and the Niels Bohr Library & Archives. The history of physics is something I have always been interested in and I am excited to have gotten to dive into it. I even discovered this week that the second recipient of the Bingham Medal (the highest award in the Society of Rheology) was related to Mitt Romney.

I got to start off my week with many, many Zoom calls. Everything from ice breakers to how to set up my computer for remote work. I have learned that I require a great deal of coffee to survive that many zoom calls. (Please somebody send more coffee. I’m going to need it.) Of course, my favorite four-pawed coworker (my dog Sadie) had to of course join a few of the calls and say hello to my remote coworkers and mentors.

While we cannot be together in person, the interns still had to have a little fun. On Wednesday we had our first Zoom games night and played Jackbox games. We had to add a little physics humor to the quiplash question “what’s in the box.” The answers included “a particle” and “Schrodinger’s cat but is it alive or dead.”

I got to end my week with a check-in call from my mentors where we made exciting plans for next week that included working on some condensed biographies for the Society of Rheology fellows. I hope to discover some more random facts along the way as well. Our call also included some new dog introductions as well, which I enjoyed a lot. I love dogs, so I look forward to more appearances from our favorite four-pawed coworkers.

Week 2: Cat Picture! (Also, some productive things)

Week 2 is in the books! This week I started working on condensed biographies for the Society of Rheology fellows. And I even got to learn about how one of the fellows enjoys a good party. I also got to learn more about accessing the Archives while away from the building. We even found a picture of Hubble’s cat, Nicholas Copernicus, which I put below! (March 1953. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.)

This week AIP also participated in Shut Down STEM, including giving us many resources to learn from on Wednesday. On our Friday morning check in call for the Neils Bohr Library & Archives we discussed what we had learned that day and had a great conversation about how we can more actively help. My mentor and I have even started discussing ways that I can incorporate this movement into my work.

This week in Ohio we also had a major storm. With that came major power and communication issues in my hometown. So, to prevent any unpredictable Wi-Fi disconnections, I got to work at the school my mom works at. My mom even told everybody at her job it was bring your child to work day. Getting out and seeing people I know was an incredible treat that made me much more productive. There was still plenty of social distancing but getting to talk to people in person was a nice change of pace.

One of the things I have always wanted to know more about was the history of science. I am so glad to get to dive into that world, even if it is just a small piece of it. Hearing about all of the advancements people have made throughout the years is incredible and being able to put a face and personal information to all of these people has made me love it even more. I look forward to everything I get to discover in the upcoming weeks.

Week 3: Mountain Debates and Late Nights

Week 3 is over? It feels like we are speeding through these weeks. With the end of week three, I am done condensing biographies (at least for now) and am moving along to writing some myself. New fun fact, I learned that Andy Kraynik, the president of the Society of Rheology from 2005-2007, enjoys birding and making stained glass. Alas, I have yet to find more cat pictures, but I am looking. Or maybe some dogs next time...

As for intern activities, we had our call on Wednesday night to hang out. I remember telling myself I would go to bed at a reasonable time before getting on so that I wouldn’t be tired for my video call with my mentor the next morning. Apparently, I am bad at listening to my past promises and stayed on the call until midnight. We were discussing everything from Pride to what mountains are better, Smoky’s versus Rocky’s. We even ended up with virtual backgrounds of mountains behind us.

My week also included my Saturday morning trip to the farmers’ market in my hometown. I sell handmade jewelry, hair scrunchies, and decorated cups. This week the scrunchies were once again a big hit, so in my free time I will be working on sewing some more this week. I have some space themed fabric I’ve been excited to use, so hopefully I can get to that soon!

Week 4: Bad Physics Movie Night

End of week four! With the end of week four I get to dive into some more science in order to better understand what the people I am writing biographies about have accomplished. Currently, I am reading a lot about foams which is something I haven’t particularly contemplated the physics of before.

On Friday, we had a bad physics movie night and watched The Core. If you can ignore all of the bad physics, it is quite a good movie. We were all truly shocked when we heard actual physics (specifically constructive interference). You know there is an enormous amount of bad physics if you are shocked at the one concept that is accurate.

This week I also got some packing done because I get to move into my apartment for grad school in a few weeks. What I have currently learned about myself is I have too many books and too many crafts. Luckily, I will still not be too far from home, so I am trying to not bring everything at once. Choices are hard though.

I also had a phone call with the other first year astro students in my program. We get an attempt at qualifiers in September, so we did a call to study using the previous exams. All of us were much more interested in talking about whether there was an axion detection in Italy than how many degrees of freedom a double Atwood machine has. All I’ve learned is I vaguely remember how to do these problems, but I have some serious studying ahead of me. At least we got a little done this weekend.

Week 5: Narrowing Accomplishments

Happy end of week 5! We are somehow already halfway through the summer. Currently, I am working to narrow accomplishments so that only the most important are in the short biographies I am writing for the SOR Fellows. How do you gauge what is the most important accomplishments in somebody’s life? I seem to be struggling with this one more and more as I go on and see all of the amazing things these people have done.

Another incredibly difficult thing is narrowing what scientific accomplishments are most influential and important to include. These accomplishments often include hundreds of publications, so just reading the titles can be overwhelming. I tried to dive in more to some of them and it was very interesting, but also a lot of information I am nowhere near familiar with. One paper I came across earlier this week even talked about bone scaffolds. I only hope I can accomplish so much one day as any of these people have.

I spent my holiday weekend in the most exciting manner possible. I was packing for my move. (Somebody send help, please. I think I may have gotten lost in all of the boxes.) On Friday, I will be moving to Toledo, Ohio, where I begin my Ph.D. program in August. This coming week is going to be hectic, but when I am writing this blog next week I will be sitting in my new apartment. Exciting? Terrifying? Both? I guess we shall see.

Week 6: Moved!

Week 6 is over, and the summer is moving too quickly. It has been one of those weeks that flew by and now I don’t even know what I’m doing. (Seriously I know I worked on bios, but it feels like time is moving too quickly.) I think I am improving on narrowing down accomplishments to a short biography now, but it still feels like I could write entire books for some of these fellows.

We also had our intern picnic this week (virtually of course; BYOF). We had a great time playing games and chatting with new people including other intern’s mentors that we had not gotten to meet yet. We even played some Jackbox games in one of my breakout rooms. It was nice to get to see everybody in the SPS office as well and get to hear Brad make some terrible puns.

From a political side of things, ICE announced changes that would result in international students not being able to stay in the United States if they are taking only online classes for the semester because of COVID-19. ICE advised students to either return home or transfer schools if their university is online only for the fall. This policy would impact many of my friends if universities had to go entirely online again and many universities are taking a stand against it and even writing a brief on how it would have a negative impact both on students and the education system as a whole. I urge you to call your representatives about this and voice your concerns for how this will negatively impact our education system.

And just a little more politics because it has been an awful week for politics. The Trump administration is pushing for schools to be fully reopened in the fall regardless of the state of COVID-19. He does not want to see any social distancing guidelines in place that would result in students only coming to school some days a week. My fiancé and my mom work for the public-school system, so this is causing a great deal of personal stress. Thankfully Ohio is trying to put some precautions into place, but we will still have schools open again in August, so there is a scary time.

In some positivity for the week, I moved! I am all moved into my new apartment in Toledo. And by I am all moved in I mean I am writing this blog post from the one spot in the living room that is not currently covered in boxes. But after an eventful time building Ikea furniture (including some missing dowels and a misdrilled board), all of the furniture is finally in one piece and I am able to start putting things away. My textbooks have already found a home on the bookshelf! Although I am still avoiding studying for the 0^thattempt, an attempt that does not count against my two attempts but can result in passing, for my qualifiers. Apparently studying quantum just doesn’t sound like the best summer activity.

Week 7: Delayed but not Forgotten

Sorry this blog is delayed. I’ve had trouble writing a blog because of everything going on in the world.

As far as intern activities go, things are going well. We are slowly winding down and there is still a lot to do. We had a lot of fun with our demo videos. And we even had some great conversations during our own happy hour.

I’m going to keep this blog shorter than others because of why I am having trouble writing. I feel like there are a lot of voices that need to be heard in the world right now. So instead of spending more time talking about what is going on in the world I am going to go do some reading of ways I can help more and I invite anyone who has read this to do the same since things are so crazy right now.