Divyansh Chamria, 2022 NIST Research Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Colgate University

My name is Div Chamria (he/him) and I am a rising senior at Colgate University, double majoring in Physics and Chemistry. I am also the co-president of Colgate University’s SPS chapter. I am from Kolkata, India, and have spent most of my time in the US on the East coast. I am one of the NIST interns, and will be working on photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) this summer. I am interested in interdisciplinary fields such as materials science, and am hoping that this position will give me the experience necessary to work in a research environment later on. I plan to apply to graduate school to pursue a PhD in Physics, and I want to continue doing research after I am out of school.

I spend most of my free time biking, playing board games with friends, baking breads, and playing guitar. I am very thankful to SPS and NIST for this opportunity, and look forward to spending the summer with the other interns!

Internship

Host: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Project

Abstract

Electronic devices, especially those utilizing semiconductor materials, have become ubiquitous in our lives, being used in almost every industry. Because of this, continued further research into new electronic materials is very important in order to improve these technologies. A significant part of this research is dedicated to measuring various electronic properties of these devices using spectroscopic and electrical techniques. This project focuses on the characterization of semiconductor devices using Photoemission Electron Microscopy (PEEM) and electrical measurements.PEEM is an important method of imaging and spectroscopy for materials, due to its extreme surface sensitivity and high spatial resolution. Custom sample holders can offer us a variety of additional functionality for the PEEM, such as the application of an electrical potential to perform operando measurements. We have designed a sample holder to accept two additional electrical contacts that should be stable under high voltages of up to 20 kV. The design will be fabricated and implemented in the near future. This added functionality allows us to image the effects of a potential applied to samples, and serves as a base for other modifications to be made.Electrical measurements allow us to measure the functionality of devices. These measurements are performed using probe stations and with voltage sources and electrometers to measure variables such as current and resistance. We built programs using PyMeasure to control a Yokogawa 7651 power source, and a Keithley 6514 electrometer simultaneously. This allowed for all the functionality offered by most commercial sourcemeters, with a higher degree of control over the other instruments. The program also supports a second constant voltage source for transistor measurements. Similar programs were also built and tested for an Agilent E4980A LCR meter, which measures capacitance over a range of frequencies or bias voltages. This allows for more specialized applications such as measuring how capacitance changes over a voltage sweep. The instruments were tested with various resistors, semiconductors, and capacitors, to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Connections to the Past

I am writing this only a few hours after having come to Washington D.C. and the George Washington campus, with most of my belongings still in my luggage. Travelling for the last day and half has been quite demanding, not only because of the (multiple) delayed flights and long wait times, but also because I needed to prepare and be ready for my first day on the National Institute of Standards and Technology campus tomorrow.

I spent the first week of the internship working remotely while completing an extended study called “In The Footsteps of Galileo”. The last month for me has involved going to multiple places in Italy - places where the astronomer, physicist and philosopher Galileo Galilei taught, researched, and became the father of observational astronomy and the scientific method. We visited the places where the moons of Jupiter were first observed, where the first modern theories on mechanics and falling bodies were tested, and where the heliocentric model of the universe first gained popularity. This extended study, while not directly related to the work I will be doing this summer, has been transformative in terms of how I think about research, the importance of the search for truth, and the role that the scientific method plays in this all-important endeavor.

While spending the past week in Venice, I started working on some of the research I will be doing this summer, which involved reading and summarizing a few long review papers on the physical basis behind photoelectron emission microscopy or PEEM. This summer I will be modifying the sample holder used for this microscopy to be able to image the influence of applied electrostatic potential to a sample with a high enough resolution. To do this, I have also been watching tutorials on Autodesk, which is the software I will be using to design the 3D models for the sample holder. This work will involve looking at the theory behind electronic transitions, building models based on that, and a lot of testing to get the desired improvements.

This work has many commonalities with the research I have been doing at Colgate University as well, which has involved forming composites and testing their material properties through various spectroscopic and electronic techniques. In fact, the techniques behind PEEM could be directly applied to similar projects in order to better understand and explain the theoretical bases behind charge transport in novel materials. I look forward to seeing some of the instruments I will be working with and meeting my advisor Dr. Sujitra Pookpanratana tomorrow.

I would also like to thank Mikayla, Kayla and Brad for helping me with everything so far, and setting up a hybrid orientation so I could attend it remotely. I have not yet met most of the other interns, but I look forward to getting to know everyone over the next week and exploring the city and campus around me. Tonight, however, I look forward to getting some rest.

Week 2: Neophilism

This week has been a blur for me, but in the best of ways. I feel like I am just getting started, even though we are already 20% of the way through the internship. I have to constantly remind myself to make the most of this fleeting summer. I always enjoy living in new places, but for some reason, DC feels new and familiar at the same time.

Monday was my first day on NIST campus, and a lot of the time was spent going over orientation and going over some of the work I will be doing this summer. While I still haven’t started most of the physical work, I learned that I will be modifying the sample holder for a photoelectron emission microscope to accept electrical contact while it is imaging the sample. To do this, I have to model, and then modify the sample holder over multiple iterations which will then be manufactured by the machine shop. Then, I have to figure out a way to pulse the voltages so that the imaging occurs simultaneously with the pulses. This will be in the order of picoseconds, so everything must line up perfectly. There are a couple of other projects that I will be helping with as well, since Sujitra expects that there will be a lot of waiting, especially during the manufacturing phase of the project. One of these will involve building a small electrical probe station using components leftover by another NIST employee and writing out the software to run it. A probe station is essentially a device that allows you to supply a voltage while constantly measuring current, and other values such as resistance and capacitance. I have worked with one before, so I look forward to finding out how they actually work.

A lot of the work I did last week involved learning how I should model the (very expensive) sample holder and reviewing some lengthy papers. Part of this is because I still do not have access to my NIST email, and cannot access the computer on my desk, or go through any of the security trainings required to be in the lab. I think next week will be quite busy in terms of work, and I look forward to it! I have also had a lot of fun events and hangouts with the other interns, which has helped me balance all the work.

Apart from hanging out with the interns and exploring DC, our first SPS event was a lunch with Dr. John Mather on Thursday. While I didn’t know about the work he did until a few weeks ago, it was very helpful and inspirational to talk to a someone who had such a passion for science and Physics. I even got to ask him a couple of questions, which felt quite surreal. This was also my first day at the American Center for Physics building, and I have to give a shoutout to the most well-stocked beverage area I have seen in any office. As someone who has been carrying my own coffee in a thermos to the NIST campus every day, I certainly appreciated all that was on offer.

Friday was quite packed for us as well, since we went to a Nationals baseball game. As someone who does not follow sports, I didn’t anticipate enjoying the experience as much as I did. The stadium was only 70% full, so we did not have to contend with too large of a crowd, and the weather was perfect along with some really nice seats that gave us a great view of all the action. We also went to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show, and it was definitely the most entertaining theatrical experience I’ve had in a while. The trifecta of the actual movie, the very impressive shadow cast, and the two people in front of us who had had practiced a synchronized quip for almost every scene in the movie really made the experience for me.

After getting back quite late on Friday, I spent most of Saturday inside, just doing work and some unpacking (still). At night, I went to the Lincoln Memorial to see the fireworks happening at Pride at the Pier from afar. I was mostly taken aback by the Memorial itself, and want to go back soon, especially since it is so close to us.

Today, we went to a Spy Museum, which was a blend of actual artifacts from spies and some exhibitions, and an interactive undercover spy game with activities littered throughout the two floors. I lost my initial spy identity, crawled through an air duct and found myself quite startled by a mailbox containing a bomb (extremely bright light with some pretty scary noises). We then went for a walk and bite to eat along the wharf, which was very pretty at golden hour.

I am really looking forward to next week, as we have an orchestra to go to, my work is finally starting to ramp up, and I might actually receive access to my email! I plan to try and go to more museums, as well as just explore DC more in general, since I will only be here for 8 more weeks.

Week 3: Exploration

There was quite a bit that happened this week, so I’m going to limit myself to some of the highlights in this post –

I decided to start meal prepping semi-regularly, instead of trying to cook every morning. It’s kind of a therapeutic way to mark the end of my week and start the next. I actually got access to my work email, computer and the lab at the start of this week and was able to start and finish the model for the sample holder. I also gave my first journal club presentation to my advisor and a couple of the post-docs who work in the same group, which was a little daunting, but went over quite well. For next week, I am starting work on the components that will be used for the probe station. I have to write code to sync up a power source with another electrical component called an electrometer so that we can interface with the probe station. I am quite excited for this (Electronics has been my favourite college course so far). Lastly, I also went to a group happy hour with some NIST researchers and the SPS interns, and it was very interesting to learn more about NIST and the research they were working on!

I have finally found some balance in terms of work and other time and have managed to explore more of D.C. than last week. I also turned 21 this week, which allowed me to go to Decades with all the other interns. I went to Quigley’s twice and am already looking forward to going again. I went to the Farmer’s Market today and got some purple (!) broccoli, and a lot of the groceries for the week. I have spent the last couple of day doing some shopping and exploring the area around us. I also really enjoyed the orchestra that we went to on Saturday, which was organized by SPS. I’d never attended one before, and the sheer scale and effort at display was both impressive and moving.

There is quite a bit coming up as well, both in terms of work and events, so I look forward to sharing more next week.

Week 4: Bowling, Biking, and Boomwhackers

This week might have been my favorite so far! I got a lot done, and it finally feels like I have settled into a schedule.

At NIST, I went from having very little experience with coding in Python, to being able to operate both the electrometer and power source simultaneously. Now, I just need to build an interface around it so that other people can actually use it for the probe station. I also had a second journal club presentation, in which I talked about how other groups have modified sample holders to have different functionality. We then had a discussion on how we can do something similar with our equipment. It was quite exciting to be part of this discussion with the researchers at NIST, and I feel like I learned a lot about how scientists come up with hypothesis to test and work on. However, with two projects, I feel like a lot of my time has been spent learning the software I am working with such as AutoCad or PyMeasure. Now that I have learned how to use these tools better, I am hoping I can start working faster since we only have six weeks left.

On Monday, we went to a Bowling Alley which ended up being enjoyable. I started off not being able to bowl at all but was able to get better within the course of a few games. I also played a round of Dance Dance Revolution with Justin, and got destroyed. On Wednesday, we had an SPS picnic at Mikayla’s which I ended up walking to. DC is definitely not the best city to walk in, but I really enjoy doing it because it allows me get familiar with the area. The picnic was was a lot of fun – we played a few games of pool (which I have missed playing), had some nice conversations, and we were even able to get a few pictures on the roof before the thunderstorm.

Thursday night, we had Session 0 for the D&D game we are starting up, with Taylor C. as the DM. This is my first time playing a full campaign, so I am excited to learn more about the world and how it works. We went to Quigley’s again on Friday, and it didn’t disappoint. Saturday was Astronomy on the Mall, where we set up tables on the National Mall with different activities and experiments for visitors to try. It was very rewarding and encouraging to see people of all ages be interested in Physics, especially Physics Trivia and Boomwhackers. Thank you to SPS, and especially to Janessa for coming up with these demonstrations. The event was to celebrate the Summer Solstice, and a few of the Smithsonian Museums were staying open till midnight. A few interns and I decided to go to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art after the event. Exploring the museum at night enhanced the experience, and I imagine it was less crowded than during the day. I haven’t gone to all of them quite yet, but I have been trying to go to at least one every week, so that I would have gone to most of them by the time the summer ends.

I spent most of my Sunday preparing for the next week at work, and biking around the Georgetown area. DC was quite fun to bike in because of the wide lanes, so I might be going on further expeditions soon.

Until next week,

Week 5: The Smithsonians

This week has been very exciting, with lots of outings and experiences! At NIST, I finally made a lot of progress, finishing up the interface for the electrometer and the power source! After fixing a lot of problems, I figured out how to get them to work simultaneously, and it acts like a source measurement unit! I even added in support for a second power source to assist with transistor measurements. As for the PEEM project, I have gone through a couple rounds of revision with my design, and I think we are at a place where I can start brainstorming about the various connections and functionality of the sample holder. I am not sure if I will be present for actual testing of this sample holder since we are already halfway through, and the machine shop can take a while to make the necessary modifications.

I had a great time outside of work as well. On Monday, I went on a long shopping trip across three grocery stores in the area, looking for some ingredients. They were surprisingly hard to find, but I spent the rest of the night preparing my dish for the potluck on Tuesday. The potluck was really nice, and it was fun to try things that everyone had made! I think we’re doing another one next week, so I’m looking forward to that. A few of us went down to the Potomac after the potluck and got some great views of the river along with some great conversation!

Wednesday was also exciting, as I ended up playing my first full game of Magic: The Gathering with the NIST interns and Anthony. This was really fun for me as someone who likes tabletop games, and I definitely want to play another game soon (even though it took almost 3 hours). In keeping with the theme, we also had our first session of DnD scheduled on Thursday. I enjoyed the session a quite a bit but was a bit lost on what I should do with my character. I hope to have more things figured out by our next session. I also went to a Peruvian restaurant with the NIST interns on Valeria’s recommendation, and it was some of the best food I’ve had in the last month. I would highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it before!

We had a happy hour on Friday, as usual, and we went to a new restaurant this time. It was in Georgetown, and while the company was great, I missed the enormous portion sizes we were used to at Quigley’s. We also went to Georgetown Cupcakes on Justin’s recommendation, and I had one of the best cupcakes I’ve had in a bit. This comes from someone without much of a sweet tooth. I spent most of my Saturday inside, just relaxing and doing some light work, which was much needed. I did go to watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On in the evening, and it was really heartwarming and funny.

I was able to go the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sunday morning (thanks to Lucy’s tickets!), and really enjoyed the experience. I also went to National Museum of American History right after, which was also quite nice. Both collectively took up over 6 hours of the day, so I didn’t do too much more that day.

It was a packed week, and I am now looking forward to the Independence Day Celebrations in D.C. on Monday!

Week 6: Reconnections

This week started off with 4^th of July celebrations, so Monday was a day off from work. I have enjoyed the festivities quite a bit during the last couple of years at Colgate, but I was very excited to experience it in the middle of the political capital of the U.S. We decided to get to the National Mall 3 hours before the fireworks started and were able to get some very good spots close to the Washington Monument. The hours passed by very quickly through a combination of great conversation, looking for food, and some fun games. The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, and we made our way back soon after. I was quite tired, so I went to bed early in anticipation of going back to work.

On Tuesday, we had our second session of DnD, where a basic slime almost murdered our entire group. This gave us quite a bit of experience in terms of how combat works, so I’m hoping that we can do better next session. We had a kayaking trip planned for Wednesday, but this got postponed to next week because of the rain D.C. has been experiencing recently. I went to watch the new Thor movie on Thursday, and thought it was quite decent, but definitely did not reach the heights that Ragnarok did. Friday came with another trip to Quigley’s, and then hanging out after. I had quite a few plans for the weekend, so I called it in early.

On Saturday, I slept in until the afternoon, which was a nice change of pace. We had our second potluck scheduled for Sunday, so Valeria and I went shopping for the ingredients for the dish we were making. After having Peruvian food last week, we decided to try our hand at replicating Aji de Gallina for the potluck. This grocery trip ended up taking around 3 hours as we went to a few different stores searching for all the ingredients. For some reason, I find grocery stores quite therapeutic to walk around in, so I saw this as a good use of my weekend! After coming back to Amsterdam Hall later that night, we whipped up a quick Bailey’s hot chocolate and played Magic: the Gathering with Taylor and Anthony. The games lasted a while, and before we knew it, it was already 2 am. One of my friends from Colgate was in D.C. over the weekend, so I had to wake up early in order to meet them. After getting a full 5 hours of sleep, I made my way to the Lincoln Memorial in the morning. I didn’t have a concrete plan for the day, so we walked over to the Wharf for some breakfast, where I was served the largest burrito I had ever seen. We were near the Artechouse where they had an exhibition called AṢẸ: AFRO FREQUENCIES, so we decided to check it out. It was a short but very immersive experience, with screens covering entire walls, and some pretty interesting visuals. After that, we went through a couple of the Smithsonians, catching up on the last few months. I only had the morning to hang out though, since we had to start cooking at 4 for the food to be ready for the potluck. The potluck went even better than last time, with a wide variety of foods, and some incredible deserts. It was a good end to what had been a relatively long week at work.

My week at NIST has been a bit bumpy as I try to tackle an LCR meter to make capacitance measurements. While I got the program to work after a couple of days, the measurements are very different from what is expected, and I have spent most of my time testing, troubleshooting, and doing literature review. I hope to have everything up and running by next week, so that I can move on with further testing and preparing for our upcoming presentations.

Week 7: Running out of Time

This has been a very productive week for me in terms of the internship. As the end of the summer draws closer, I am thinking about everything I need to wrap up in the next three weeks, and I know that there isn’t enough time.

In terms of work, I went back to basics this week. After spending the first day or two at work trying to troubleshoot the LCR Meter, we ultimately thought it would be easier to switch to the makeshift SMU I had worked on a few weeks prior to see if the probe station worked, or if there was too much electrical interference from the optical table the setup was on. After testing some resistors and some MOS capacitors, we had some nice-looking plots and made sure that the instruments were working as expected. Before going back to testing the LCR Meter, I also decided to take the I-V curve of a diode, but this proved very difficult as the drastic change in current in the on vs off state crashed my code. I spent the rest of the day trying to fix this issue but did not make much progress. I have a few ideas on what could fix this, so I look forward to trying them out next week. I also finalized my abstract after going through a few drafts and have started working on the slides for our end-of-the-summer presentation. I also saw the national resistance standards used by companies to calibrate their resistors. It was accurate to 9 decimal places, and used the quantized hall effect in monolayers of Graphene.

I did not do too much apart from work on Monday, but the rest of the week was pretty packed for me. The initially JWST images were released this week, and I am really looking forward to reading about some of the observations that are now possible. Tuesday also concluded with our weekly DnD game. This was the most fun and interesting session yet, and we even had a mat for keeping track of our characters. We killed numerous undead and have made our way to the deepest part of the cave to find treasure.

On Wednesday, a lot of the interns went Kayaking on the Potomac, and this was one of my favourite things I have done in D.C. so far. It has been a while since I last kayaked, but it reminded me how much I miss being in college to a certain extent. On Thursday, we left NIST early to go to the lunch at ACP with the AIP Foundation. The conversation was quite lively, and I think had some helpful takeaways by the end.

Friday was also quite packed as we left work early to go to Jazz in the Garden. It was pretty crowded, and hard to listen to the music at points but it was a nice place to hangout for a while. Right after jazz, some of the interns and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which might have been the best food I have had in D.C. so far. On Saturday morning, I biked over to the far side of the National Mall for the Asian Street Fiesta. There were tons of food stalls and lots of different performances. However, the lines for everything were quite long, so I only tried some Japanese-style waffles and mango sago, both of which tasted amazing under the burning sun. It rained soon after, and instead of going back to Amsterdam, I decided to explore the National Gallery of Art, which was right beside us. I spent the next 3 hours there, and I feel like I still missed quite a bit. I would like to go back at some point, but I am not sure if I will have the time since there are quite a few museums I still haven’t had the time to visit.

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and preparing for the upcoming week, where we have a beach trip, the NIST tour, and a concert planned. There is a lot left to do in terms of work as well, with the LCR Meter and the PEEM sample holder.

Week 8: Beached Up

With the final two weeks of the internship starting tomorrow, I have spent the last week trying to get as much out of my time as possible. I finished a draft of my slides for the intern symposium and fixed the issue I had with diode measurements on Monday, which turned out to be a hardware limitation. I also started learning how PCB design, and have nearly finished the first draft for our chip. We are planning to use this in an Ultra High Vacuum environment (almost 10^-11 mBar) so the materials needed to be carefully selected to prevent outgassing, where gases trapped within the PCB material start escaping because of the vacuum and damage the board. Once I had the materials finalized I moved on to the actual design. It is quite simple looking as we only need to contacts to attach the sample to, but it was still daunting to learn how the design process works in a relatively short period of time. Luckily, one of the postdocs in my lab is an electrical engineer, and he helped me learn the software. Lastly, we also tested the LCR meter with a new sample and deduced that the problem was with the MOS capacitor we were testing earlier. Now, I just have to add some extra functionality and before uploading it to GitLab.

It was a busy week outside of work as well. On Thursday, we had the NIST tour organized by Joseph Kopanski and all the interns (and Brad) were able to go through several facilities and labs. Some of the highlights were the anechoic chamber, the low-temperature STM lab and the PEEM lab (where I usually work!). The tour took almost the entire day, and we were all tired by the end, but I was glad to have explored more of the NIST campus. Friday was also hectic as we left NIST at 3 in order to be able to go to Brad’s Physics career talk. I learned a lot from the talk, and it helped me calm my nerves about applying to grad school during the upcoming semester. We ended the day by going to Quigley’s for happy hour with Brad.

A lot of the interns went to Sandy Point Beach on Saturday morning. It was very, very hot outside, and the water was infested with jellyfish. After a few people were stung, we all promptly got out and spent the rest of the time playing games and eating lunch. Overall, it was quite fun, and we even got to visit Annapolis on the way back. In the evening, we also went out to a pub called Mad Hatter, which was themed around Alice in Wonderland. On Sunday, Valeria, Gizem and I went to a Beach House concert at The Anthem. This was the largest concert I have ever been to, and it was very surreal to hear them play live. The concert took up most of the evening, and we came back to eat some French toast before calling it a night.

Week 9: Feeling the Frisson

I loved going to work this week. Only 8 workdays remained, so I really tried to make the most of them, even more than usual. Some workdays that are shorter than others, usually because I’m too absorbed in what I’m working on, and I feel like I get a lot more done on those days. This week, every day was that day. I finished working on all the various instruments, finally testing and verifying that the LCR Meter (the instrument that gave me a lot of trouble back in Week 6) works given that the probe station is properly insulated. I then spent a lot of time documenting all my code, my data and the work I have been doing at NIST, to make it easier for the people who have to deal with it once I’m gone. Simultaneously, I have been spending a lot of time on the presentation we are supposed to give during the Intern Symposium. I had to give the presentation to my mentor, Sujitra, and a couple other people who work in the lab for feedback, so I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday making the slides. Also, I usually have a short meeting with Sujitra every morning in order to discuss what I am doing and talk about any updates. This week, I got some really great feedback which was very helpful. Lastly, I also started work on another instrument to control using PyMeasure, and was able to verify that basic functionality works. I will try to make some progress with that before the internship ends.

Lunch hours at NIST have also been quite eventful this week. Firstly, I would like to thank Sujitra for taking me and the lab out to lunch on Thursday since I am leaving for the summer. I had hand-pulled noodles for the first time and liked it quite a bit. I also learned about the gift shop that NIST has and ended up going there on Wednesday instead of lunch. This had mostly been closed during the summer due to Covid and people teleworking, but we were able to get access by emailing the person who ran the store. After about 30 minutes of deciding, all of us came out with piece(s) of NIST memorabilia. On Friday, we decided to have a photoshoot during lunch in our respective labs, which ended up taking a few hours. I sported the aforementioned memorabilia and will refer to you to Valeria’s post for pictures.

Outside of work, we had our second last session of DnD, where we are still in the cave from the last two sessions. The story has evolved quite a bit, and all of us have become far better adventurers thank to Taylor C. being a great DM :). Ben’s character bonded with his pet Ghoul, we helped out a ghost, and we surprisingly encountered aliens, which will likely drive the story forward during our last session. I also went to the zoo this week, and while I am not sure how I feel about the idea of zoos, the Smithsonian seems to be doing a good job in being ethical in their treatment of the animals.

On Wednesday night, we had our now weekly potluck themed around breakfast foods. Saksham had the best savory French toast I’ve had in a little bit, and I’m definitely gonna try out his recipe sometime later. On Friday, a lot of us went to Duke’s Grocery after work to get their amazing burgers. After spending a bit of time there, we ran back to Amsterdam while light rain followed us. Then, we met back up in consignment, and played Jackbox and ended the night with some karaoke. On Saturday evening, a lot of the interns went to Korean BBQ. It was my first time, and I really like the extra flair that comes from cooking your own food over the fire. I’d definitely like to go again, but without the 90-minute time limit we had. After that, we ended up going to a Speakeasy where Anthony acquired a small bathtub and I had a really flavorful sour. We then spent the rest of the night in consignment making some late-night sandwiches. Today was also very busy because Taylor C. Valeria, Anthony and I went to the Natural History Museum and were there until about 5 pm. It was very fun, and it was great to see how much effort they had put in to educate kids and adults alike. After, we had a second potluck this week, where everyone used up ingredients they had lying around since there’s only one week left. Most people stayed back up after the potluck to hang out, which concluded the day.

All in all, I had a great week, although it was a bit busy. With less than seven days left for the internship, I am not sure if I want the week and month to end, but I look forward to what comes next. This has been a very unique experience, but I will leave discussing that to next blog post.

Week 10: So long, and thanks for all the Summer

It’s a bit of a strange feeling, writing this blog from my dorm in Hamilton, NY, instead of Amsterdam Hall. I had definitely become very used to life in D.C., and having all the other interns around. The last week went by in no time, even though we did quite a bit.

At work, I mostly wrapped up everything, and spent the first few days of the week cataloguing and saving data. I also had a couple of very productive and helpful conversations with Sujitra, and would like to thank her for being an amazing mentor! I spent quite a bit of my time editing my slides and preparing for my presentation, especially since Taylor C. and I had to do a trial run in front of our division on Wednesday. This was also our last day at work, and it definitely felt weird leaving without my badge that day.

Outside of NIST, I think we all tried to spend as much time with each other as possible, once again. The week started off with our final DnD session: Lincoln Memorial edition. Apart from the bugs, this was our most fun session yet, and we ended on a cliffhanger so the story will hopefully continue at some point. On Tuesday, I ended up going out to Georgetown on my own to do a bit of shopping, and finally had a good bowl of ramen in D.C. I would recommend Kintaro if you’re ever in the area. On Wednesday night, I finalized my presentation after getting a lot of good feedback from Valeria and Matangi, and prepared for our rehearsal on Thursday. The rehearsal went very well, and I only had to make minor changes. Some of the highlights from Thursday include listening to others’ presentations, hacky duck, Physics jeopardy, and the incredibly well stocked coffee station at ACP. Thursday at Amsterdam was a bit hectic, with everyone scrambling to pack the SPS Intern boxes, finish food and pack their own stuff. Overall, it was a fun night, and I made final changes to my presentation.

I got up early on Friday to make sure everything was okay, and dressed up for my first formal presentation. It was a bit intimidating at first, but I think that every single presentation went really well, and it was actually really fun to learn about everyone else’s work during the presentation. The symposium was also really good at showing how varied each intern’s work this summer was, even though they all end up tying back to Physics. After saying our goodbyes to people at ACP, I got some great pictures taken and headed back to Amsterdam. A lot of people were leaving today, and a lot had already left. Brad joined us for a final happy hour at Quigley’s which was great. Friday night at Amsterdam was filled with many goodbyes. Even though everyone was tired, we all convened back at consignment, played some games and just talked. It was the last time we would be together for a bit, so nobody really wanted to leave.

Over the last 10 weeks, I met some amazing people, and those people quickly became close friends. It was strange to go from seeing everyone almost every day, to being scattered all over the country in the course of a couple of days. I already miss everyone quite a lot even though it’s only been a few days, and I especially miss the Car Conversations™ with the NIST interns every day. I am looking forward to going to PhysCon to see everyone again, and I cannot wait for October to roll by. Thank y’all for an incredible summer!

This was undoubtedly the best summer I have had since I started college, not only in terms of the fun I had, but also because of how impactful it ended up being. Meeting so many people from very different backgrounds was kind of new for me after freshman year of college, and I learned a lot because of it. All the conversations I had with mentors, people at SPS, and the other interns helped me solidify that I want to continue pursuing a career where I can do research. I was unsure about this before the summer, because I had only ever worked in my university, and did not know what it was like outside. Working in a federal laboratory and getting acquainted with a different style of doing research was very rewarding. This summer helped rejuvenate and reinforce my appreciation for both Physics and the community that it can come with.

I would like to thank Brad, Mikayla, Kayla, Andrew and everyone else at SPS for being so thoughtful about all the interns. Everyone was placed in positions with mentors that were related to what they were interested in, and all the events throughout the summer were great bonding experiences. I would highly recommend applying in case you are considering the program, or just thinking about a career in Physics. I would also like to thank Sujitra, my mentor, as well as Andrew and Ory in Sujitra’s lab for being great sources of help and support at NIST, and for making it a very enjoyable and educational experience for me. Of course, I cannot thank all the other interns enough for making the summer so much fun with all the events, potlucks and conversations. I cannot wait to see everyone again!

Signing off,