Internships

Spotlight

2021 intern

Gina Pantano (she/her/hers), 2021 NASA Goddard Space Center Intern

AUG 16, 2021

Gina Pantano (she/her/hers)

Biography

SPS Chapter: University of Tampa

My name is Gina Pantano, and I am a graduating senior at the University of Tampa (UT) receiving my B.S. in Physics and Mathematics. I plan on attending the University of South Florida this upcoming fall to pursue a PhD in Applied Physics, and eventually, a career in either space or technology industry. The Department of Physics and Astronomy at UT helped solidify my passion for physics by providing me with opportunities to further my love for the subject in and outside of the classroom. I have had the unique privilege of playing an active role in the development of our physics program from co-founding our SPS chapter to helping the department move from the dingy basement of Plant Hall (the dungeon we used to call it) into the brand new Graduate Health Science building. I first got introduced to research my junior year when I met Dr. Morgan McAnally giving a talk on her dissertation research to the mathematics department. We had several meetings discussing her research on integrable systems and the inverse scattering transform, which led to us being accepted into the 2020 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program at UT to study the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. After completing my internship, I started working with my first mentor Dr. Ethan Deneault on an observational astronomy project. My group and I are performing a photometric analysis of the RR Lyrae stars OP Pup and AO Lep, and I will be presenting our findings at the end of the semester. Dr. Deneault ignited my interests in computational physics and provided me with the opportunity to gain experience with programming as the Computational Physics TA for our department. I am thrilled to continue expanding my knowledge working on a computational project this summer as the NASA Goddard Research Intern (pinching myself). Joseph and I will be working on the Experiment for Cryogenic Large-aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM), which is a balloon mission that will make three-dimensional maps of the universe to tell us how stars form and galaxies evolve across cosmic time. We can do this by using a cutting-edge “spectrometer on a chip” coupled to a cryogenic telescope to measure redshifted line emission from star-forming gas. I am excited to live out my dream as a NASA intern and share my experience with all of you!

Internship

Host: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Project

Abstract

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a balloon-borne mission designed to investigate why the star formation rate declined around redshift z ~ 2, despite the continued clustering of dark matter. EXCLAIM will use a relatively new observational technique, known as line intensity mapping, to measure the integrated sky emission of carbon monoxide and singly-ionized carbon line transitions at different redshifts. EXCLAIM will analyze the evolution of these tracers by integrating these snapshots and cross-correlating our observations with galactic surveys, which will allow us to provide a more detailed reconstruction of star formation patterns. During my presentation, I present high-fidelity simulations of these three-dimensional intensity maps based on current EXCLAIM models and mission data.

Final Presentation

Pantano_Final_SPS_Presentation.pdf (.pdf, 953 kb)

Internship Blog

Week 1: Imposter Syndrome is REAL

Hello! My name is Gina Pantano, and I am a recent graduate from the University of Tampa with a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics. I will be one of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Research Interns this summer (pinching myself!). I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I want to thank SPS and the NASA GSFC for making this internship possible despite the limitations COVID-19 has caused. Joseph and I will be working (remotely) in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory, which is part of the Astrophysics Science Division at GSFC, on the EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) mission. EXCLAIM is a balloon-borne far-infrared telescope that will survey star formation history over cosmological time scales to improve our understanding of why the star formation rate declined at redshift z ~ 2, despite continued clustering of dark matter [1]. The mission’s goal is to map the emission of redshifted CO and CII lines using a relatively new observational technique known as intensity mapping. Yeah, I was a bit overwhelmed reading that at first too, so let’s break it down a bit more...

The EXCLAIM team will measure the integrated sky emission of carbon monoxide and singly-ionized carbon line transitions at different redshifts using line intensity mapping (see attached figure and link). This will allow us to observe the evolution of these tracers going back as far as 12 Gyr! By analyzing these changes and cross-correlating our observations with galactic surveys, we will be able to provide a more detailed reconstruction of star formation rates. My job is to produce high-fidelity simulations of the EXCLAIM mission using the “limlam mocker” (Python code that creates line intensity maps from a given halo catalogue) as we enter into the mission’s final design stages.

My goal for these weekly blog posts is to be as candid as possible, so you, the reader, can take away something from my experience. That means exposing the good, the bad, and the UGLY realities of rewarding research. I want to share my true feelings at each stage, and how I overcome the inevitable obstacles I will face. For each post, I will explain the events I attended, physics I have learned, and share my overall experience and feelings from the week.

Weekly Events

The week started off with our SPS Intern Orientation on Tuesday where we discussed program expectations, upcoming events, the structure of our final presentations, best practices being a mentee, and so much more. The entire AIP staff has been so welcoming and encouraging over the past couple of weeks, and has fostered an environment where any intern can speak up if they find themselves struggling. I love the sense of community SPS brings to everything they do. Later on that day, I met up with Joseph and my mentor, Dr. Eric Switzer. Dr. Switzer is the Principal Investigator for the EXCLAIM mission and has an impressive background working as an Astrophysicist at the GSFC since 2013. I am honored to have the opportunity to work and learn from him over the summer, considering he is living out my dream!! He gave Joseph and me a brief overview of the mission and some provisional topics to start working on. On Thursday, I got to attend my first weekly collaboration meeting where Joseph and I got to briefly introduce ourselves to the team. Later on, we had our first official SPS event where we had the opportunity to talk to Dr. David Helfand, Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University and the AIP Board Chair. We had a nice (well, scary) discussion on the misinformation epidemic, most notably seen recently with the COVID-19 pandemic. I am looking forward to reading his book, “A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age: Scientific Habits of Mind.” On Friday, I got to attend my first group EXCLAIM meeting, which discussed the layout of the spectrometer before freezing the design for the first fabrication run. I was in awe of how intricate and complex the design is. The group was very collaborative and used a google sheet to keep track of everyone’s suggestions and necessary steps to complete each task. Afterwards, I got to meet with Trevor Oxholm, a fourth-year graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, who I also have the pleasure of working with over the summer. Trevor has been working with the EXCLAIM team for two years as part of his thesis work. Later in the evening, I coordinated an SPS social event. The interns and I voted on Antman as our bad physics movie to watch, and the commentary was even more hilarious than the “physics” in the movie. Next week, Joseph and I will attend the NASA Internship Orientation and a bunch of meetings. We will also be starting a crash course series on Python hosted by NASA, which will help a lot with my computationally intensive research.

Overall Experience and Feelings

Imposter syndrome is REAL, folks. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, the psychologists Suzanne Imes and Pauline Rose Clance first described the phenomena in the 1970s [2]. Imposter syndrome is when an individual doubts their abilities and has an internalized fear of being found out as a fraud. Oftentimes, I find myself thinking I am not as competent as others perceive me to be, especially working with extremely brilliant people! I have always had a difficult time accepting/celebrating my accomplishments because of pesky imposter syndrome. I convince myself it’s a result of good luck or my experiences only seem good on paper. This past week, although I have been filled with lots of excitement, I have also experienced some uneasiness due to feeling lost. Members of the EXCLAIM team use a lot of technical terms and discuss physics that I am unfamiliar with. This uncertainty of course leads me down the rabbit hole, “I am not smart enough” and “what if my mentor realizes I am not smart enough?” So, how does one overcome imposter syndrome?

As a long-time victim of pesky imposter syndrome, I have found ways that have helped me to overcome these thoughts. First, understand that this is extremely common, especially among women [3]! You are not alone in experiencing self-doubt and your feelings are valid. However, dive deep into exploring why you feel the way you do. Sit down and ask yourself, “why do I feel less competent than the other people in the room?” or “why do I have feelings of not being good enough?” You will quickly realize you do not have a solid answer. This is simply because nine times out of ten our feelings are not our reality!! “Just because what you feel is authentically and validly what you feel, this does not mean the feeling is true to life and accurate, since it can be powerfully influenced by what you think and what you do.” [4]. Our feelings often lead us to make presumptions or assumptions about how other people feel which can be extremely problematic and usually way off. A lot of imposter syndrome stems from caring about what other people think. The reality is people are more concerned about themselves than you. Second, recite your accomplishments to yourself and practice positive affirmations! Our thoughts control our feelings, our feelings control our actions, and our actions control our reality. If you vocally repeat to yourself in the mirror, “I am amazing” every day for several weeks, you are going to feel amazing. You retrain your brain to think differently. I am amazing leads to feeling amazing, feeling amazing leads to doing amazing things, doing amazing things leads to amazing results. It is that simple (well, easier said than done)! Thirdly, it is OKAY to not know everything. The other day my mentor asked me to add a slide that “tracks overall project definition.” I was unsure what he meant, so I asked for clarification. Admitting to something you do not know is a sign of intelligence. It shows you are open-minded and willing to learn. Have you ever noticed when someone stutters during a presentation or admits a mistake, we tend to like them or relate to them more? This is something psychologists have labeled as the beautiful mess effect [5]. The idea is we view our vulnerability more negatively than other people do. In fact, we love seeing the raw truth and openness in other people, so why do we refrain from asking questions or seeking help? Food for thought!

I apologize for the long rant, but this topic is extremely important to address because it’s a very common theme that undergraduate/graduate researchers experience. Overall, besides feeling a bit uneasy, I am ecstatic to be a part of the EXCLAIM team and have the opportunity to gain more computational experience this summer. I have always dreamed of working at NASA, but I never thought my dream would become a reality. I am looking forward to sharing my experience with all of you. Stay tuned for more!

Happy researching,

Gina Pantano

Resources

[1] Essinger-Hileman, T. M., Oxholm, T. M., Siebert, G. L., Ade, P. A., Anderson, C. J., Barlis, A., Barrentine, E. M., Beeman, J., Bellis, N. G., Breysse, P. C., Bolatto, A. D., Bulcha, B. T., Cataldo, G., Connors, J. A., Cursey, P. W., Ehsan, N., Fernandez, L.-R., Glenn, J., Golec, J. E., ... Yang, S. (2020). Optical Design of the Experiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM). Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2576254

[2] Weir, K. (2013, November). Feel like a fraud? American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/fraud.

[3] Tulshyan, R., & Burey, J.-A. (2021, February 11). Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome.

[4] Friedman, W. J. (n.d.). Feelings Are Authentic and Valid - Perceptions and Beliefs Are Suspect. Mental Help Feelings Are Authentic and Valid Perceptions and Beliefs Are Suspect Comments. https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/feelings-are-authentic-and-valid-percep...

[5] Jarrett, C. (2018, August 2). The “beautiful mess” effect: other people view our vulnerability more positively than we do. Research Digest. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/08/02/the-beautiful-mess-effect-other-peo...

More information on LIM: https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/education/graphic_history/intensitymapping.cfm

Overview of EXCLAIM Mission: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.11734

Line Intensity Mapping

Week 2: Attacking the Steep Learning Curve

Hello everyone.

Thank you for continuing along with my journey as one of the NASA GSFC Research Interns this summer. I can’t believe I am already two weeks into my internship! This past week I established my project and objectives with my mentor, attended several events and meetings, and started my Python crash course with Joseph. I am excited to share my overall experience from this week with you, so let’s get into it!

New Physics

As a recap, line intensity mapping is a relatively new observational technique which measures the integrated sky emission from a specific atomic or molecular line transition (specifically CO and CII for us), which allows scientists to understand the physics of star-forming galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe. CO and CII line emissions are key tracers of the gas phases in the interstellar medium involved in the star formation process. I learned that singly ionized carbon (CII) is one of the brightest emission lines from star-forming galaxies! If we observe these line emissions at different redshifts, we are essentially watching these tracers evolve over time, which gives us a detailed reconstruction of star formation in the early universe. We are particularly looking at the time the star formation rate began to decline, approximately 12 Gyr ago, up until our current universe today. The mission’s goal is to provide new evidence for why the star formation rate has slowly been declining since redshift z ~ 2. For my project, I get to develop the software for visualizing these intensity maps in celestial coordinates. The end goal is to create a mission reference simulation pipeline where a user can input certain parameters related to the mission and the code will produce a reference sky model. Furthermore, I get to add realistic instrument noise to the simulations based on our MKIDs noise models and resonator noise data.

Physics of MKIDs

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector, or MKID, is a new type of superconducting photon detector developed by scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2003. Photons incident on the superconducting material are absorbed breaking up Cooper pairs, pairs of electrons (or other fermions) coupled together at cryogenic temperatures, creating an excess amount of quasiparticles (a disturbance in a medium that behaves like a particle). The increase in quasiparticles changes the surface impedance (ratio of voltage to current) of the superconducting material. This change in surface impedance is measured by making the superconductor material part of a microwave resonant circuit, and by monitoring the phase of a microwave signal transmitted through (or past) the resonator [1]. In other words, the resonator changes frequency based on the photons incident upon the surface of superconducting material. Some benefits to MKIDs include them being cheaper to make and having higher sensitivity than other detectors. EXCLAIM will have MKIDs coupled to six superconducting spectrometers. Super interesting condensed matter physics!!

More on MKIDs:

http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~bmazin/Papers/2004/Mazin/Caltech%20Thesis%202004%20Mazin.pdf .

Weekly Events

The week started off with our GSFC Orientation, where we got to meet the other EXCLAIM interns for the first time. Following the event, I attended my first mission science and analysis meeting. The purpose for these meetings is mainly to talk about the physics behind EXCLAIM, review related papers, and discuss progress on physics-based simulations. Later in the evening, I met up with a few of the SPS interns to play a couple rounds of Scribblo, similar to Pictionary. On Tuesday, I got to attend the mechanical systems meeting where I met the rest of the EXCLAIM team. They showed the interns and me the detailed SolidWork designs of EXCLAIM and talked about areas needing improvement (so cool!). Wednesday, I met with Trevor, the fourth-year graduate student from the University of Wisconsin, to talk about my project. Trevor has been extremely helpful by walking me through the current coding files on GitHub and reassuring me that “feeling lost” is completely common at the beginning stages of my internship. Later that day, the EXCLAIM interns and I attended our NASA division’s orientation. We met the directors of each laboratory in the division and learned about weekly events we can attend. I am particularly looking forward to attending the Inclusive Astronomy Roundtable to talk about DEI-related topics in the astronomical community. Thursday, Joseph and I attended our first Python course. However, the first class familiarized us with Git and GitHub since we will be using the version control platform throughout the course series. I will admit the class was a bit chaotic with over 100 interns asking questions and trying to follow along virtually. Luckily, the classes are recorded and sent to all GSFC interns after each session. On Friday, we had an agency-wide event where amazing speakers, such as the NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson, spoke to us. We learned about NASA’s Artemis mission, the importance of STEM education, the science behind the Orion spacecraft, and so much more. We even got a virtual goodie bag! The day ended with the SPS interns meeting the SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma Executive Committee. We played a couple rounds of Scribblo and got to know each other on a more personal level.

Overall Experience & Feelings

This week has been challenging with the steep learning curve I am facing. My project involves a lot of background research related to the physics behind EXCLAIM and is computationally intensive. I have never worked with JupyterLab, utilized classes in Python, or have used the plotting package WCSAxes in astropy. Additionally, I am still struggling with certain technical terms my mentor uses such as scan strategy and websky. Scan strategy is the process by which we map the sky by scanning the instrument in azimuth. Websky is a simulation for gravity on cosmological scales which produces a “halo catalog” of large structures as a function of redshift. It took me asking for clarification to understand these terms better. A learning curve is certainly to be expected for any new job or project, and your mentor(s) know this because they have been there before too. The key is being able to flatten the curve enough to get yourself in a position of feeling confident. Here are my few tricks to work on getting there!

Be Patient

You will not be an expert on day one, so give yourself a break and some time to take everything in. Your first two weeks can be overwhelming attending meetings for the first time, meeting new people, learning new material, getting assigned tasks you are unsure of, and receiving deadlines that seem to close for comfort. This is where it is critical to remind yourself that you were chosen for this position for a reason. Understand that your nerves mean you care deeply, and you want to do well. Furthermore, do not downplay your accomplishment for being selected (as I talked about last week). Even if luck was on your side, you still had to beat out other candidates.

Do Your Relevant Background Research

One way to start flattening the curve with any new research project is understanding the why behind it, arguably the most important part. The ‘why’ behind the EXCLAIM mission is to understand what caused the sudden decline in star formation rate despite dark matter continuing to cluster in the universe. Once you know the why, look into the key concepts that surround the overall topic. For me, this was line intensity mapping, large-scale structure, infrared spectrometry, the evolution of galaxies/dark matter, and star formation. You will soon find yourself falling down a rabbit hole of information about your project. Just picking a place to start will allow you to tackle the important information a little bit at a time.

Ask for Help & Advice

With any research project, you will inevitably run into roadblocks. This is where mentors become extremely important. Mentors are there to support you, help set goals, serve as a source of knowledge on the subject matter, offer encouragement, provide feedback, and so much more. Do not be afraid to seek advice or ask questions if you do not understand something. If you do not, you create the risk of either setting yourself or your team behind on schedule. Internships are learning experiences, so you should continuously be asking questions.

Do Your Best!

Overall, this past week was very exciting for me. I am thrilled to be a part of the EXCLAIM mission and help lay the foundation for future line intensity mapping missions. Although the steep learning curve has been challenging, I am confident I will be able to overcome it and successfully meet all my project objectives. Next week, I plan to discuss my challenges with remote work and how to create a work-life balance at home. I hope everyone’s enjoying their summer!

Happy Researching!

Resources

[1] Mazin, B. A. (2004). Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (dissertation). Retrieved at http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~bmazin/Papers/2004/Mazin/Caltech%20Thesis%202004%20Mazin.pdf .

Interesting Links

Current & Future Line Intensity Mapping Missions: https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/expt/lim_experiments.cfm

Cosmology lectures I have been watching: https://youtu.be/ndSD9U34-gM

Dr. David Helfand’s book from last week: https://www.amazon.com/Survival-Guide-Misinformation-Age-Scientific/dp/0231168721

What a balloon telescope mission looks like: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-will-study-the-cosmos-with-a-stratospheric-balloon

Week 3: The Realities of Remote Work

Hello everyone!

Week number three is officially in the books! I hope you all are doing well and staying healthy. This past year has been a challenge for all of us with the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the world. We have had to endure one of the greatest tragedies in our lifetime with families being divided, businesses closing for good, life events being put on hold, experiencing an economic crisis, and losing thousands of loved ones. Personally, the pandemic robbed me of a lot of important life events such as my graduation and award ceremonies I worked tirelessly for. I was also heartbroken when I found out I will be living out my dream as a NASA intern from inside my living room. However, I am extremely grateful to still have access to these opportunities, and I recognize my privilege that comes with that. Despite the hardships brought on by the pandemic, we have made it out of the neck of the woods together. The pandemic has shown us how adaptable and resilient we truly are as a society. One implication of this is teleworking from home. Of the 5,858 working adults surveyed by Pew Research Center, 71% of them are currently working from home with only 20% who worked at home prior to the outbreak [1]. Teleworking has equal benefits and shortcomings, in my opinion, and I will share my experience and advice on how to effectively work from home towards the end of this post. But first, let me tell you about my busy week!

New Physics

Although I do not have any new physics to share this week, I wanted to discuss my process of learning object-oriented programming with Python. Before my internship, I was the Computational Physics TA for my department at the University of Tampa for two years. I gained a lot of experience working with Python, from modeling the double pendulum to creating my own fourth-order Runge-Kutta solver. However, I never learned how to work with classes in Python. Classes in Python are used to create new user-defined data structures that contain data in the form of variables (informally called attributes) and functions (informally called methods). An object is just an instance created from the class. Classes can be thought of as nouns: people, places, and things. A common example professors use is creating a simple class called “Vehicle”. The attributes in this class could be the model, the make, the year, etc. The methods could be a function of filling the gas tank, driving the car, or something alike. You can create as many objects as you like for each class, such as a 2014 Honda Accord. Classes can be extremely useful when you need to define and keep track of state (essentially the values of attributes for each object), create organized and reusable code, and so much more! If you are interested in learning more about classes in Python, try clicking the link below. I also included a link to Jules Kouatchou’s GitHub, a Computational Scientist at GSFC, which has LOADS of tutorials and information on Python. My next objective for my research project is to create a datacube class that assigns WCS coordinates for plotting, tracks the frequency and redshift for each line intensity slice, and plots the data. Later on, we will add in more functions (methods, now you are getting it!) such as noise from the detector.

Working with Classes in Python: https://vegibit.com/python-class-examples/

GitHub Link: https://github.com/gina-pantano/py_courses

Weekly Events

Starting with Monday, Joseph and I attended the first beginning Python course, which ended up being a nice review for me. With programming, there is always something new to learn. I also find it interesting how different people code, almost like an art similar to writing. Later in the evening, I attended our biweekly collaboration meeting which my mentor, Dr. Switzer, facilitates. On Tuesday, I attended a virtual lunch and learn session with the GSFC library in the morning where I learned about an amazing resource called the O’Reilly Learning Platform. The platform delivers expert content from world leaders in the technology industry. This includes ebooks, content from leading technology conferences, live courses, interactive videos, and so much more. I signed up for eight classes to take over the summer, and I will talk about them later on! The rest of the day was filled with meetings and working on developing software for visualizing the intensity maps in celestial coordinates. On Wednesday, I started the morning off with my weekly meeting with my mentor and Trevor. I was anxious to attend since I had not made any significant progress on creating the software to plot in celestial coordinates and required additional assistance. I struggled significantly figuring out how to plot a random 2D array in WCS coordinates. I felt as though I was going to lose an opportunity to impress the team and make a significant contribution. However, after doing extensive research, I discovered a website that explained a method on how to build a WCS object with a dictionary, allowing us to map the pixel coordinate space to the world coordinate space to our specifications. I presented this during the meeting, and my mentor said this was a great direction to take. My mentor later showed me you can plot a random 2D array similar to just plotting a .fits file (image). In other words, I was overthinking it the whole time! Later in the day, I attended the second beginner coding class where we talked about data types. Friday we had the day off in observance of Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., which was officially declared a federal holiday after Biden signed legislation on Thursday. Although this day gives us time to reflect on our history and celebrate those affected, the new law is not enough. There is still tremendous progress that needs to be made with advancing racial equity at the federal level.

Overall Experience and Feelings

In addition to working through my issues with plotting in celestial coordinates, I have also been trying to navigate the work-from-home culture, and what the best daily routine is for me. Teleworking has several benefits such as freedom and flexibility, saving on commute costs and travel expenses, and working from the comfort of your own home. However, there are also some harsh realities to remote work. Here are some of the challenges I have been facing and some tips to overcome them.

Maintaining Motivation is Hard

While teleworking, it can be difficult to maintain motivation and avoid procrastination. I have found myself easily distracted with my phone, the television, my crazy cats, the lawnmower outside, my loud neighbors, the unfinished chores, and the list goes on and on. I am learning it takes a lot more self-discipline than I anticipated to stay engaged with my video conference calls and to finish my project objectives promptly.

Solution: Define a workspace and limit distractions. Create a space in your place that is solely dedicated to work (and no not your bed!). When you enter this space, you must eliminate all distractions including your cell phone. Invest in a pair of earbuds or headphones that filter out external noise. Make sure you have a full water bottle on hand and your devices plugged in (charging). You want to avoid getting up and breaking your flow state as much as possible. I also recommend looking into the Pomodoro method since your work schedule is flexible from home. The basic science behind it is that our brains only need 5-minutes to reset, but it is important you take that time to remove yourself from your workspace. You set a timer for 25-minutes, complete as many tasks as you can within that interval, take a 5-minute break, and repeat this three more times. Once you do this for four cycles, you can take a 30-minute break to decompress. Here is a video explaining how the method works: https://youtu.be/mNBmG24djoY .

Work-Life Balance is Difficult

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult when teleworking since your work is always near you. Sometimes you will find yourself bored late at night and want to get some work done at 9 pm. Although this is not necessarily a bad thing, you can easily end up working 10-12 hours by accident and quickly find yourself burnt out. Work can be consuming and it’s important you dedicate time to hobbies and getting out in nature every day.

Solution: Create a solid daily routine, and most importantly, STICK TO IT! Try to start and end your workday at the same time. Avoid breaking your work habits at all costs. It can be a slippery slope and lead to either being overworked or procrastinating. Schedule breaks for yourself and time to dedicate to other hobbies.

Networking is Hard

When you telework from home, you lose the benefit of those “water cooler” talks. You can no longer visit someone’s office, overhear important conversations, socialize with colleagues at lunch, etc. Building good rapport with your mentor(s) can be quite difficult through a computer screen, but it can be done! Additionally, working remotely can also be very isolating. Make sure to schedule informal social hours with your peers such as a virtual happy hour and stay social in your real life as well.

Solution: Make sure to make connections virtually through platforms such as LinkedIn and schedule weekly socializing events.

Additional Tips

Get outside at least once every single day.
Make sure to complete a teleworking agreement between you and your mentor(s). This will establish expectations, goals, work hours, and more. It also serves as a “contract” to hold you both accountable if you run into trouble communicating with your mentor(s). Good communication is crucial!
Invest in a pair of blue light glasses to save your eyes.
Find ways to channel your stress through positive hobbies (journaling, exercise, etc.)
Create a schedule that works for you!
Schedule breaks for yourself.

Happy Researching!

References

[1] Parker, K., Horowitz, J. M., & Minkin, R. (2021, May 25). How Coronavirus Has Changed the Way Americans Work. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/12/09/how-the-coronavirus... .

Week 4: Research Challenges

Hello everyone,

I cannot believe July is right around the corner! I still feel as though my internship started last week. The NASA GSFC has been such an amazing place to work for, even from home. The EXCLAIM team and the Observational Cosmology Lab have created several opportunities for interns to get involved, make connections, and learn new physics. My favorite meetings have been the biweekly science and analysis meetings Monday afternoons, since we discuss recent papers and the cosmology science behind EXCLAIM. For my project, since I am creating simulated intensity maps, it’s necessary to understand the background physics to the mission. I would love to have the opportunity to be a science lead or principal investigator for an influential mission one day.

New Physics

Due to having a light week of research, I do not have any new physics to share. However, I did attend a really cool event hosted by the O’Reilly Learning Platform I discussed last week. The live event was titled “Life Hack Your Day” and it was a really cool informative lecture on chronobiology. Chronobiology is the study of natural physiological rhythms and other cyclical phenomena such as circadian rhythms. Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, an astronomer and geophysicist, observed strange behavior in a plant called mimosa pudica (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLTcVNyOhUc ). During the 18th century, he watched the plant experience a circadian rhythm similar to us even in permanent darkness. Thus, began the field of chronobiology and the research of these unique biological cycles. Today, chronobiology is being used in the study of genetics, ecology, psychology, sports medicine, and more. The speaker shared that depending on our natural circadian rhythm (when we sleep and when we wake) would determine when during the day we should complete analytic tasks, make decisions, meet people, and more. How you determine this is actually really simple! You figure out the normal time you fall asleep (for me it’s midnight), and the normal time you wake up (for me it’s 9:00 am in the morning). Next, you find the midpoint between these times — for me the midpoint is 4:30 am. If your time falls before 3:00 am you are a “lark,” if your time falls between 3:00 am and 5:00 am you are a “third bird,” and if your time falls after 5:00 am you are an “owl.” Your category determines when you should be making these life choices. If you are interested in learning more about chronobiology and how to use it to take advantage of your day, I suggest reading “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing” by Daniel H. Pink.

Weekly Events

I had a pretty light week in terms of work due to unforeseen events in my personal life. I appreciate my mentor and the EXCLAIM team being so flexible taking a day off of work Tuesday. On Wednesday, I continued working on the data cube class and attended an agency-wide event on their NASA@Work program, which connects interns to projects across all NASA centers. I plan to look and see if there is anything I can work on in addition to EXCLAIM, with my mentor’s approval of course. On Thursday, we just had our weekly tag up meeting in the morning. I also caught up on the Python courses since I had to miss out on Wednesday. Friday was a very busy and productive day. I started off with an early meeting with my research advisor and scholarship advisor at the University of South Florida. They are helping me prepare my application for the NSF GRFP. At noon, the 2021 SPS intern cohort got to meet with Dr. John Mather and ask him questions about his work at NASA and more. He shared slides with us on the James Webb Space Telescope and future missions he is working on. At the end of the event, we were able to ask him questions about his life experiences, and we got his personal email (so cool)! Later in the day, I met with my mentor and Trevor to go over our progress with the data cube class. Next week, I will not have as many meetings but have a lot of computational work to do.

Overall Experience and Feelings

I am starting to make some progress on developing the data cube class to produce the simulated intensity maps for EXCLAIM. We figured out how to plot the maps in celestial coordinates. Our next steps are to add a colorbar to the LIM map, a circle on the map indicating the instrument’s angular resolution, a third dimension with frequency of the spectral data, and the associated redshift with each frequency. It’s definitely been challenging learning new technical terms, computational techniques with Python, and making sure I complete everything my mentor needs promptly. I am learning a lot through this internship and am really grateful to have this experience and be a part of the EXCLAIM team.

Happy Researching!

Week 5: Work-Life Balance

Hello everyone!

Unfortunately, with a busy week and the Fourth of July holiday, I did not have as much time to dedicate to writing my blog post this week. However, I wanted to share an important topic with you all that I have been struggling with, which is a healthy work-life balance. I have been finding myself the past week and a half in an unproductive sluggish state. I am struggling to work consecutive work hours, maintain motivation, and make progress on the data cube class for my project. I am having flashbacks to my Spring 2020 semester when the pandemic caused my classes to go completely online. I struggled significantly to find an efficient daily routine that worked for me. I tried creating my own office space, eliminating distractions, and scheduling breaks for myself. I even worked from local coffee shops just to have a change in scenery. However, similar to back then, I am finding myself lacking focus. This leads to a negative feedback loop of procrastinating in the day, and making up for lost time at night leaving no room for other activities. I know I can be a bit critical of myself at times, but I also know I am capable of accomplishing more. The past few days I have spent self-reflecting and setting up a better work routine for myself. I am finding consistency is really important! I have been trying to make it a habit to begin and end my workday at the same time which allows me to have time for myself and hobbies in the evening. I noticed I am a lot more motivated with having a dependable routine and knowing what to expect throughout the day! I am looking forward to having a productive week. I plan to arrange informational interviews with a few NASA employees to learn about their career journeys and establish connections with them. I am also excited to make progress on the data cube class after receiving advice from my mentor on Wednesday.

Weekly Events

I had a relatively light week in terms of meetings. On Monday, I had my halfway check-in with Kayla where she got to meet my two baby kittens. Later on in the afternoon, I attended our biweekly collaboration meeting. I was excited to hear about Joseph’s progress with his internship project. Tuesday, I attended our weekly MKID meeting and a couple intern networking events. Wednesday, I had my weekly meeting with my mentor and Trevor. We talked about solutions to some of the questions I had with the data cube class and the next steps to take. Afterwards, I attended an agency-wide event for women in engineering which was awesome to hear about the panelists’ individual experiences. Thursday, I had a few meetings before work with my scholarship and research advisors at USF for my NSF GRFP application. Later in the evening, I got to listen to one of my colleagues, Carrie Volpert, give advice on graduate school and life afterward for GSFC’s “What’s Next?” panel event. I was excited to learn that it’s possible to take a semester or even a year off before starting graduate school for physics, which has been something weighing on my mind. Overall, I am looking forward to next week with the new routine I created for myself and hope I make more progress with my research project!

Happy researching,

Week 5: Work-Life Balance

Hello everyone!

Weekly Events

Happy researching,

Week 6: NASA History, Career Choices, and More...

Hello everyone.

I hope you all had a great week! I am happy to report I had a very productive week, and my new work routine I created for myself is working well. I am looking forward to getting the full data cube class finished within the next couple of weeks, which is a huge portion of my project. I feel as though this week flew by with having Monday off due to the Fourth of July and the KICP LIM workshop. The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) at the University of Chicago hosted a three day virtual line intensity mapping workshop where my mentor and a few colleagues spoke about the science and current standings of the EXCLAIM mission. I really enjoyed listening to some of the pioneers in this relatively new subfield of observational cosmology speak at the event. When I wasn’t attending talks, I was either at EXCLAIM meetings or working on the code for the data cube class, so overall was a pretty busy week!

Weekly Events

On Tuesday, I attended our weekly MKID meeting where Trevor, one of the returning EXCLAIM interns, practiced his presentation for the workshop. Afterwards, I worked on my data cube class, gave Dr. Swtizer a progress report, and prepared my schedule for the workshop the following day. On Wednesday, I attended a few talks from the workshop starting with Abby Crites who gave an overview of current LIM experiments. She was a terrific speaker and structured her talk well by answering key questions behind the experiments. Later on, I attended Anthony Pullen’s talk, the EXCLAIM science and analysis lead, and got to hear more about what him and his students have done at NYU in addition to working with the GSFC. On Thursday, I continued working on my project and attended a few more talks, including Carrie Volpert’s, another member of the EXCLAIM team, who gave a status update on our experiment. Later in the evening, we had our virtual summer picnic with Dr. Rush Holt, former U.S. House Representative and CEO of AAAS. By far one of the best intellectual conversations I have had in a long time. He had so many insights on science communication and is a huge advocate for having a scientist be a member of every committee in congress. After a brief Q & A, we played a few games in Zoom breakout rooms to end the night. On Friday, Trevor gave his talk in the afternoon and then I spent the rest of the day working on my project and communicating with my research advisor at USF.

Overall Experience and Thoughts

At the end of this week, I decided to watch Hidden Figures for the fourth time (lol) after work Friday night. The movie always reminds me why I became interested in physics/astrophysics to begin with and inspires me to continue paving the way for other women in STEM as they did for us. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan were forces to be reckoned with! I feel motivated to really take advantage of the opportunities these women worked tirelessly for during the last few weeks of my internship. I plan to seek out opportunities through networking to hopefully prolong my stay at NASA (aka a full-time job or another internship!). The past couple of months I have been debating whether graduate school is the right path for me or if I should consider going into the workforce now. I know informational interviews with NASA employees who have my dream job will certainly help me decide which is the right path! As for now, I will be attending the University of South Florida in the fall to pursue my PhD in Applied Physics. I know I will enjoy my time in graduate school and my advanced degree will open a lot of doors for me, especially with government research positions which is my main area of interest. I am so blessed to have had this experience with the GSFC and look forward to the last few weeks as a NASA intern.

Happy Researching!

Week 7: Making Connections

Hello everyone.

I cannot believe we have less than three weeks left until we present at the SPS Symposium. I am definitely feeling the pressure since I still have a lot of work left to do for my project, and I have to start putting my slides together tomorrow. However, I am equally excited to hear about the other interns’ projects and everything they have accomplished this summer. This past week I really focused on utilizing my time to make connections with employees at NASA and used what free time I had to attend interesting agency-wide presentations.

Weekly Events

On Monday, I worked on my project throughout the morning/afternoon and updated my progress report for my mentor. Later on, we had our weekly collaboration meeting where we listened to updates from EXCLAIM team members. Afterwards, my mentor graciously agreed to an informational interview about his career path, his position at NASA, the pathways program, and graduate school. After our discussion, I felt a lot more confident about my plan to attend the University of South Florida to pursue my PhD in Applied Physics, and eventually, a career within the space industry. On Tuesday, I started the day by attending our brief MKID physics meeting at noon. Later on, I attended an agency-wide lecture on the NICER telescope and neutron stars by astronomer Dr. Michelle Thaller, who is a wonderful speaker! On Wednesday, I had my weekly high-fidelity simulation meeting with my mentor and Trevor. I was able to ask some clarifying questions and move on to new deliverables this week! Later in the afternoon, I had the chance to attend another talk by Dr. John Mather on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which is always a pleasure. On Thursday, I attended another interesting talk about the Vegetable Production System on the International Space Station that studies plant growth in microgravity. Afterwards, we had a check-in with Dr. Rita Sambruna for all of the Astrophysics Science Division interns. The week ended with quiet Friday, which is a day for NASA employees to choose how they want to utilize the day for their own work-life balance, so we did not have any meetings. I decided to work on my project throughout the morning and then ended the day working on my NSF GRFP application.

Overall Experience & Feelings

Overall, I am really happy with the effort I put into my project and networking this week. I am looking forward to putting my presentation together over the next few days and to be able to share the science behind EXCLAIM which will help intensity mapping experiments in the future. As summer is slowly coming to a close, I am about to begin what feels like a completely new chapter in my life starting graduate school. The decision has been weighing heavy on me whether graduate school is the appropriate choice, or if I should start my career early in the workforce. The reality is I do not think I will ever know what the right decision is. Something my mom always taught me, is that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. If graduate school ends up being the wrong path for me, I am not afraid to alter courses and use my undergraduate education to enter the private sector. With that being said, I still feel I have a lot to learn with physics, and I want to improve my research skills to eventually lead my own team of scientists one day, whether that will be for a NASA mission or building new revolutionary technologies. I know a PhD in Applied Physics will help me achieve that goal. Well, it couldn’t hurt!

Happy Researching!

Week 8: Tips for Remote Networking

Hello everyone! Crazy to think my dream internship will be ending in less than two weeks. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity despite the challenges the pandemic posed on the GSFC and SPS. This past week was extremely busy between informational interviews, meetings, NASA events, and working on my project. I’m excited to share what I did this week and some advice on networking remotely.

Weekly Events

Monday started with my last check-in meeting with Kayla and updating my progress report for my mentor. Afterwards, I had an informational interview with Ryan Kramer, Assistant Research Scientist working in the Climate and Radiation Laboratory. He shared his experience as a NASA postdoctoral fellow and how he obtained a full-time position this past January. The day ended with the instrumentation and science & analysis meetings. On Tuesday, I had the MKID meeting in the afternoon and had to end my day earlier than usual for a doctor’s appointment. On Wednesday, I had our weekly high-fidelity simulation meeting with my mentor where I got to show my progress on my project. Later on, I had an informational interview with Tiffany Lewis, a postdoctoral fellow in the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, who studies blazers and astrophysics theories. The day ended with meeting my USF research advisor, Dr. Jacob Gayles, to work on my research proposal for the NSF GRFP. On Thursday, I had another informational interview with Zach Nasipak, a postdoctoral fellow in the Gravitational Astrophysics Lab. Afterwards, I attended an agency-wide information session on the Pathways program, which is something I am considering applying for while in graduate school. Friday, I had one more informational interview with Emily Barrentine, the spectrometer lead for EXCLAIM. Emily gave me a lot of useful information on NASA’s fellowship, postdoctoral, and pathways programs. She also discussed a few potential career paths with me with my PhD in Applied Physics. Later in the evening, I had a work dinner with my research group at USF, which was the first time I got to meet everyone in person.

Overall Experience & Feelings

One of the difficult downsides to working virtually is the limited opportunities to network. You no longer have the ability to make simple personal connections from running into someone in the hallway or being able to build rapport with someone at a lecture or conference. It takes a lot more effort to forge these online networking opportunities yourself, but they can be equally rewarding! You will be surprised how many people are willing to meet with you virtually over Zoom or Teams, but it requires you to send that initial cold email to spark these conversations. As an intern, you have an “in” to network with individuals within your organization more so than if you were just a normal student. One of the best ways I have networked during my internship is by reaching out to people via email for informational interviews. Here are some of my tips for networking virtually:

Send 1-3 cold emails a week asking to meet for an informational interview.
Always send a follow-up email after meeting with someone and thank them for taking time out of their day to meet with you.
Follow anyone you meet on LinkedIn as a way to contact them again in case you lose their email information and to follow along with their career. Congratulate them for new positions, publications, etc. Maintaining connections is the hardest part, so make sure to use platforms like LinkedIn.
End every informational interview asking “do you have any recommendations for other people I should talk to or other resources I should explore?” The best thing about networking is the endless network! Those you meet will introduce you to their colleagues and their colleagues will introduce you to their friends/other colleagues and so on. You should also ask if there are any additional resources you should look into.
The most important relationship to build first is with your mentor.

Overall, I am happy I made a lot of connections this week, and I am looking forward to wrapping things up with my project over the next few day.

Happy Researching!

Week 9: Wrapping Things Up

Hello everyone! We officially have one week left until the SPS 2021 Summer Internship Program comes to a close. The past week I have been putting together my PowerPoint slides for my final presentation, working on my project, and trying to make last-minute connections. I am excited to share my research with the internship cohort and colleagues from the EXCLAIM mission. I would lie if I said I was not extremely nervous, but I appreciate the SPS coordinators for keeping us on a schedule to make sure we are well prepared for the event.

Weekly Events

This week was relatively light with meetings, and I spent the majority of my time working on my project and putting together my presentation slides. On Monday, I attended a new virtual event series called the Road to NASA that has guest speakers share their unique career paths and how they ended up working for the Goddard Space Flight Center. We first heard from Dr. Roopesh Ojha, a Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters, who shared his journey of first becoming a senior fellow at the GSFC and then a full-time Astrophysicist until December of last year. I really enjoyed learning about what he considered “successes” and “failures” within his career, and how he managed to work through his own obstacles. Later on, we had our biweekly collaboration meeting where team members shared project updates. On Tuesday, I attended our weekly MKID meeting and continued working on my project. On Wednesday, I met with my scholarship advisors to work on my NSF GRFP application, submitted my abstract for my NASA presentation, and had my weekly high-fidelity simulation meeting with Trevor. The rest of the day I worked on my presentation slides and caught up on my blog posts. On Thursday, we had our weekly morning tag-up meeting for the Observational Cosmology Lab. Later on, the intern cohort got to meet Dr. Matt Wright, chair of the physics department at Adelphi University, who spoke about Shark Labs which was created to inspire young physics entrepreneurs. I thought his talk was incredibly interesting with a very innovative idea! He also talked about his research in atomic physics. Since Friday was Quiet Friday, I just worked on my presentation and project while getting caught up on some personal chores.

Overall Experience and Feelings

This week I want to highlight what I wish I did differently with my internship and some key takeaways, and next week I want to talk about my “successes” and favorite moments working at NASA.

What I Would Change

I wish I had asked more questions. At the beginning of my internship, I was intimidated to ask questions thinking in my head, “I should know this” or “If I ask this, they may think negatively of me”, which was rarely the case! I found these thoughts created limiting beliefs about myself which made it difficult to make progress on my project. If I just asked about a certain part of my project in the beginning, I could have saved myself time in the long run. Also, asking questions shows initiative and that you’re engaged with the topic.
I wish I took advantage of NASA’s free online SATERN courses. Although I attended a lot of presentations and online courses through the O’Reilly Learning Platform, I did not take advantage of the other free online SATERN courses, which some give you a certificate of completion. This was mainly due to time constraints with other events and my project. However, I know with better time management I could have made it happen.
I wish I reached out to more people at NASA and focused on building relationships. I think the most important part of any internship is building strong relationships that can help with your future career endeavors. Although I believe I built a lot of strong connections, this is an area we can always improve upon. I wish I reached out to more people outside of the Astrophysics Science Division (Code 660) to learn more about other career avenues and research going on at NASA.
I wish I was more upfront with my mentor. I found towards the end of my internship I was more successful because I was more upfront with my mentor when I felt lost/confused in regards to my project. I wish at the beginning I was more honest with my coding experience and how challenging the project seemed for me. However, I think because my project was challenging I was able to push myself more and learn new skills. I just wish I contributed more to the EXCLAIM team than I did!
I wish I kept a more detailed record of everything I learned. One of my biggest regrets! Ten weeks may seem like a short period of time, but I forget the skills I learned during my first couple of weeks. Make sure to reflect at the end of every week, use your blogs if necessary, to track the new skills or interesting bits of information you learned. You will need this information for personal statements, interviews, resumes, and/or CVs. I did start doing this until about halfway through my internship.

Key Takeaways

Do not be afraid to ask questions!
Get yourself on a consistent schedule and set up a designated workspace early on.
Network with at least one new person every week.
Be crystal clear about your expectations and needs with your mentor.
If you cannot figure out a problem after three attempts, ask your mentor for help.
Gain as much knowledge about the field as possible by attending as many meetings and lectures as you can.
Keep a detailed record of every new bit of information or skill you learned for your resume/CV.
Make sure you have an idea of career goals going into your internship as a guideline and something to ask about when networking.
Gather glowing references if possible.

Happy Researching!

Week 10: That’s A Wrap!

Hello everyone! The SPS 2021 Internship program has finally come to a close. I had such an amazing summer, and I am so proud of all the wonderful work the interns accomplished. If you haven’t watched the 2021 SPS Symposium yet, you can check out our projects using this link: https://youtu.be/S1eD9dOdhGM . Joseph and I share our work we did with the EXCLAIM team starting at 1:17:45. Here is what I did during my last week!

Weekly Agenda

On Monday, I attended our detector meeting, instrument meeting, and science and analysis meeting for the last time. The team shared updates on their individual projects as we approach major critical design reviews (CDRs) in the upcoming months in preparation for the engineering flight. Afterwards, I worked on my presentation slides and finished last minute changes to my project. On Tuesday, I had the MKID meeting, and afterwards, the intern cohort and AIP staff had a virtual tour of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We heard from several scientists working in different laboratories at the GSFC about their research and ongoing missions. On Wednesday, I had my high-fidelity meeting with my mentors and got to practice my presentation before the NASA symposium. I spent the rest of the day fixing my presentation slides based on the suggestions from my mentors. On Thursday, I had my 10-minute presentation for the NASA Symposium with Joseph, and I got to say my goodbyes to the EXCLAIM team. Later on in the afternoon, we had our SPS Symposium practice. We split up into two groups with Brad and Kayla to receive critiques on our presentation. Dr. Conrad gave us all AMAZING suggestions for our presentations, and I learned a lot on how to give an effective and professional talk. On Friday, we had our SPS Symposium in the afternoon. This was by far the largest audience I have given a talk for, but I am happy I did not have to see their faces XD.

Overall Experience and Feelings

It is bittersweet now that the program is over. I am sad I am not able to continue my work with the EXCLAIM team and get to hang with the interns, but I am also excited to utilize what I have learned for my computational research at USF. I am proud of the work I accomplished with my project, but I wish I was able to integrate my code with the limlam mocker to simulate the intensity maps and also add in noise based on the EXCLAIMs detector model. Regardless, I learned a lot from my time at NASA, and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to network with amazing scientists. I hope in the near future I can find a full-time federal position at one of NASA’s branches through the connections I made. I also plan on applying to their postdoctoral and fellowship programs while attending USF.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who made this opportunity possible in spite of the pandemic! I first want to thank my friends and faculty at the University of Tampa for helping develop my passion for physics and research, especially Dr. Ethan Deneault, Dr. Morgan McAnally, Dr. Simon Schuler, and Dr. Catherine Kennedy. I also want to thank the entire SPS/AIP staff for designing and funding the internship program, especially Dr. Brad Conrad, Kayla Stephens, and Mikayla Cleaver for making this summer such a fun experience and supporting us along the way. Thank you to the GSFC and the entire EXCLAIM team for being so welcoming and providing endless events and opportunities to network with scientists and get involved. A special thank you to my mentors Dr. Eric Switzer and Trevor Oxholm for your assistance throughout the summer and teaching me the science behind EXCLAIM. Lastly, thank you to my parents for your endless support and encouragement that helps keep me going even when things get hard.

Happy Researching!