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2022 intern

Gizem Dogan, 2022 Physics Today Science Writing Intern

JUL 31, 2022

Biography

SPS Chapter: Bowdoin College

My name is Gizem, and I am currently a sophomore at Bowdoin College pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physics and government and legal studies with a concentration in international relations. Although I study at Brunswick, ME and love to spend my holidays in DC, I am originally from Istanbul, Turkey. I aspire to have a career in public service focusing on science policy and defense technologies. I believe sciences, physics in particular, possess immense potential for technological advancements to improve standards of living all around the world.

At Bowdoin, I work as the Maine Votes Democracy Ambassador, raising civic engagement on campus and I am a proud member of Women in Physics. Aside from physics and politics, I act and write for the stage and was lucky enough to perform in The Wolves with a great group of women in front of an audience post pandemic. One of the plays I authored, The Ripped Flag, was put on stage by the Indie Theatre Group at Robert College in Istanbul. In this upcoming summer, I am excited work with many physicists and can’t wait to learn more about the nuances of science writing and communication at AIP Physics Today.

Internship

Host: American Institute of Physics

Project

Abstract

Explaining their life’s work isn’t necessarily physicists’ forte. Consequently, having science journalism mediums like Physics Today is incredibly valuable for the physics society to stay informed about the latest research and policy news in their respective fields. Stories need to be told in a compact, easy-to-understand language that is convenient for both expert scientists and physics enthusiasts who are simply curious. It is the job of a science journalist to draft writing that brings these two demographics together, in cooperation with the researchers to produce the most accurate story. But what exactly goes down, between the lines, as physicist-turned-journalists try to convey the recent advances? What kind of interactions are born within the magazine, amongst editors, and in communication with researchers? This short discussion draws examples from the 2022 AIP Physics Today intern’s limited experience as a science writer, to uncover the mysteries of producing printed and digital content for Physics Today and installing confidence into writing. The discussion will be focused on a recent update, titled, “Microcombs undergo silicon chip integration.”

Final Presentation

Gizem Dogan - SPS Final Talk.pdf (.pdf, 871 kb)

Internship Blog

Week 1: Memorial Day, Watergate, Drag Brunch, Colleagues

First week in DC as a working physicist!

Hello, I am Gizem and I am the AIP Physics Today Science Writing Intern for the summer of 2022. I am directly working with Christine Middleton and Andrew Grant from Physics Today, the magazine that I used to get in my mailbox on a monthly basis. Crazy! For the next ten weeks I will be researching and creating content such as science updates, discoveries, and policy news; exploring DC with my fellow interns; and getting to know as many people from AIP as possible.

Having finished my second year in college I arranged my travels to DC to arrive a day prior to the move in to be a responsible young adult to have enough time to unpack and settle in before my internship began. Have I actually started unpacking on the day of? I am writing this entry one week into the internship and I still have two boxes of clothing staring back at me in my room. So the answer is no. But still I managed to meet a considerable number of SPS interns during move in to start exploring the city together. Fifteen minutes into my arrival, I found myself in Emma and Janessa’s room upon my roommate Aidan’s advice, to collect a couple of kitchen supplies left from previous interns. Until that point on I wouldn’t say I gave much thought into the fact that I will be cooking my every meal over the summer. Now, that may sound pretentious and I guess it is. Because as college students we live so comfortably in our dorms removed from the realities and the responsibilities of daily life that adults have to sit through like cooking for survival, paying bills, shopping and many more. And of all of these cooking takes the most time, possibly more than it ever should or I am just a little bad at it. So I had to face with the horrific reality from the first day: I will be cooking for myself.

Other than that the first week was as great as it gets! I went and watched the Memorial Day parade with friends. We stopped by one of the food trucks around the Mall to get Philly cheese steaks, which I suggest to everyone, both time efficient and delicious. I have been to DC many times before and I would say I know my way around the city but to my surprise I discovered that our summer housing is five minutes to Watergate. To WATERGATE! The place where one of the biggest political scandals took place. And it’s such a beautiful complex on the inside that it is a bit unfortunate now that every other scandal is named in the format, "....-gate.” I promised myself that I would go to Watergate to do work on the days I would work remotely.

On our first day all interns took the metro to American Center for Physics together and I believe that is the best decision we’ve made that day. Not because the metro ride from Foggy Bottom to College Park is that big of a hussle but I think the forty five minutes long metro ride gave us the time to get to know each other a little more even if it was literally eight o’clock in the morning. During the orientation we received networking and communication advice from the SPS Director Brad Conrad, who I swear has been to every inch of the US and has a story to tell about all of it. So if you ever get a chance, stop him and tell him where you’re from, he’ll come up with something. Later the magnificiently friendly Kayla Stephens and Mikayla Cleaver gave us a little bit more information on how we would be spending the next couple of weeks at AIP. On the same day, I had my first in person meeting with my Physics Today (PT) advisors Christien and Andrew to establish their expectations and go through the schedule for the upcoming weeks. I was glad to hear not only would I be producing content for PT but also be included in the editorial process and get the chance to connect with and interview the scientists/researchers that conducted the research that I will write about. I am excited to see what comes next.

Week 2: PT Editorial Meetings, Pride Parade, Comedy Club, Rocky Horror Show, Nationals Game w/interns

I have been biking a lot lately and I love it!

Everything from the metro and the people in suits rushing to work in the mornings to the ever expanding pool of possible daily activities that we enjoy here at DC remind me that I am in a city. I love cities. I am from a big metropolitan myself, Istanbul, so I am used to the hustle and bustle of the city. I love the fast pace. My intern friends have been letting me know after long walks that I walk pretty fast. I call it my city walk. DC is great, I wouldn’t call it a city that never sleeps, especially not with Istanbul standards, but there is always something to do. I enrolled for the AMC A-list program, now I can go see up to three movies every week for 22 dollars a month. Since I go to college in a small town at Brunswick, Maine I’ve been falling behind on my old habit of going to the movies every Friday evening after school. I hope to get back on it and see the latest Cannes movies in the next weeks.

This week was very eventful at work. I got assigned my first update for Physics Today and started doing research for it. The academic paper I am currently reading is about microcomb driven silicon photonic systems. I have not been aware of the significant role photonic systems already plays and is projected to play in our lives in the near future. This paper opened my eyes to the possible near future adoption of photoelectronic systems if not all photonic technologies. I had a couple of meetings to learn more about the digital PT content and general conduct during the interviews. I have sent my first set of interview questions to the researchers and received positive and more than willing responses. One of the perks of working as a Physics Today journalist is that reseachers are more than happy to talk to you and to hear that the biggest physivs journal in the world is interested in their work. So you never have to chase people around waiting for their response. I also had the chance to attend two PT editorial meetings to weigh in on the stories for the next issue. I got to meet Paul, Tonya, Alex, Heather, Matt, and Ryan in person hear about their passions.

One of the greatest aspects of an SPS internship is the community of great physicists that it introduces you into. Just this week I had the great pleasure to have lunch with the Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather at ACP. He talked to the interns about the space projects that he was involved in and his work in George Smoot, the famous cosmic background wave explorer satellite that won him the Nobel Prize. He had great advice for us young physicists and was very down to earth and to the point.

The Nationals baseball game that we all went to on Friday was a great icebreaker for all of us and encouraged us interns to make plans amongst each other for later. We went and checked out a couple of pride parties going around in the city. And later saw a late night screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Many of us got marked a virgin at the entrance as it was our first time seeing it on the big screen and witnessed the festivities inside the theatre organized by the long time fans. I definitely recommend a hundred percent. The pride parade 2022 was this weekend and I can safely say the entire city went all out for the parade this year. It was bold, hopeful, and crowded at Dupont Circle. Although we later got scammed at the food trucks at the Concert on Sunday, having to pay 30 dollars for a gyro sandwich and a lemonade. So beware!

But my favourite things about DC so far are the bikes and the comedy clubs. I have biked and laughed like I never did for the longest time in this past week. I can’t wait to see what this next week has in store for us all!

See you then!

Week 3: Le Diplomate, Orchestra Concert, 1st Update Draft, Clean up Lunch, Comedy Club, Nats Game

Third week in DC and I’ve completed my full transformation into a Nats fan.

I went to my third Nats game in two weeks in a row and although we lost this timw against the Phillies, I was more than happy to get my Nats hat and the employee shirt that was awarded to the first 20000 fans who showed up at the stadium on Friday’s game. Needless to say every single person got a shirt that day as the stadium was not even quarter full. The Nats loss was the second blow this week after the Celtics lost the NBA finals against the Worriors after a tough game. Honestly many Celtics fans were just happy to have qualified but it would’ve been nice to win the finals against one of the best teams.

Another first this week! I finished my first draft for my first update at PT, which was about microcomb-driven silicon photonic systems. I started out writing this piece on a recent research paper with many aspects of photonics unbekownest to me, did a lot of research, possibly more than necessary, to comprehend the details and the importance of this newly dicovered approach, and produced my first draft. Christine and Andrew reviewed the first draft and they were quick to give me their suggestions. Prior to my starting at Physics Today I’ve been explained that the review process would be long with many version of the draft being re-written and the final piece being sent to the researchers for final suggestions, but I’ve forgotten how tough it is to receive the first review after riding the highs of the accomplishment of getting the first draft out of the way. Needless to say they’ve reminded me. I’ve been doing some more research to incorporate more basic information about microcomb working principles. I was also assigned two different projects by Ryan and Toni this week. I am excited to learn more about the Physics Olympiad and write about the recent host country switch from Belarus to Switzerland following Belarus’s involvement in the invasion of Ukraine. It is encouraging to see the physics community doing their part in standing against the wrongful invasion of the foreign lands of a country. I have also started reading a book on defense and security technologies and ethics to produce a book capsule about it .

Other than work, we had the time to attend an orchestra concert at UMD with all the interns and Brad, Mikayla, Jack, and Kayla. The pieces were all American and beautifully played by the yound musicians who came together for the summer. Our metro rides from ACP back to DC gives us, fellow interns, enough time to dive from one subject to another such as the interesting eating habits from Phillipines, the nuances of the Nepali language, and the beauty of the Georgetown waterfront. Aside from this SPS activities we attend together, I have been enjoying the clean up lunches that bring all American Center for Physics employees together during lunch breaks. I have met many staff whom I wouldn’t have the chance thanks to clean up lunches.

I am considering getting a City Bike membership as I have been getting more and more used to riding a bike around the city.

Last update of the day, I was lucky to have dinner at Le Diplomate, a famous dining spot in DC previously visited by President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Pete Buttigieg, yesterday. I tried Escargot (the snails) for the first time and I don’t care what you think, they were DELICIOUS!

Week 4: Astronomy on the Mall, Summer Solstice, Interview with Physicists

This Saturday we had the Astronomy on the Mall event open to all Washingtonians.

The event brought together a variety of astronomical institutions, research laboratories, and groups of physics students and graduates. Aside from NASA, the Naval Research Laboratory, and AAPT, we were there to represent SPS with many experimental demos Janessa put together. I volunteered for the fabric of space time and the helmholtz resonance demonstrations. I must say the fabric of space time acted as a click bait that attracted many passers to our tables. Rolling many marbles with a variety of sizes and weight we demonstrated the effects of gravitational pull massive objects have on any entity that gets caught in their orbit. Children were particularly interested in participating in this interactive demo. Although I can’t say the same for the helmholtz resonance as it was much harder for people to know what they were supposed to listen for and for me to articulate what kind of a noise they should prepare to hear. Overall we all interacted with many interested Washingtonians who were kind enough stop by and learn cool magic tricks we call physics.

Later that night I went to the Natural History Museum for a late night at the museum for the summer solstice. A lot of peopel had rushed to several museums the same night to participate in the events and to see art, artifacts, fossils, and insects. I have never seen the mall as crowded at any night before.

At work I have submitted my third draft and I hope the new version is much easier to comprehend no matter what physics background the reader is coming from. I am also reading several books I am assigned to write book capsules for. Many of the topic include national security and defense technologies as I am most interested in those issues. Additionally, I got responses from several scientists I have reached out for an interview, which I am very excited about. Next couple of weeks are going to be interesting. I am stll working on the Physics Olympiad story, trying to reach out to coaches and the organizers about the recent cancellation of events in Belarus and stepping in of Switzerland. Hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon.

I am loving my walks from Watergate to Georgetown Waterfront on sunny days. Even when I don’t want to do much a movie after work at AMC on K Street or just a simple iced macha latte from Blue Bottle Cafe make my day!

More to come on next week’s blog!

Week 5: Broadway in DC, First Interview, Virginia Beach, Horror Movie on a Monday

I opened up this week with a horror movie at AMC in Georgetown. Although it turned out to be more of a thriller the walk back from Georgetown waterfront close to midnight made it worth my time.

I spent most of my time at work writing intverview questions for several academic directors and coaches for the International Physics Olympiad story that I got assigned at work. The politics around the world and the recent invasion of Ukraine made it difficult to maintain the competitions in Belarus as decided in the previous years. Therefore more than the medals and the individual accomplishments of physics students from all around the world, the competition is, unfortunately, more about the political conflicts this year. On Friday I had my first face-to-face interview and I was quite excited about it. I found it best to maintain a continuous converstaion with the interviewee than to ask my questions one by one, as that proved to ease teh air and break the ice.

I have been looking forward to this week because of two events I had planned in the prior weeks. The double date with my high school friends at Cafe Milano, a Georgetown legend, and seeing To Kill a Mockingbird at Kennedy Center. Whenever I bring two friend groups together, I am always very much nervous to see whether they’ll like each other or not. However, the date went smoothly and I am afraid we occupied our table a bit longer than it would please our waiter. The play on the other hand was legendary, adapted by one of my favourite screenwriter Aaron Sorki, who by the way has an entire dialogue technique named after him: Sorkin Dialogue. The subject matter of the play is unfortunately still very much relatable in today’s America. It was my first time in Kennedy Center and I must say we took advantage of the Student Rush tickets released every once in awhile in getting seats for such a big scale Broadway production. I want to go back as soon as possible for Hamilton next month!

As it was the July 4th weekend, we took advantage of the long weekend and went on a trip to Virginia Beach. I got to swim in the ocean after a long time and tried to make the most fun out of the giant waves that welcomed us. Due to an outflux of people trying to leave DC it took us six hours to get there and if you know the area you must know how much of a frustration that was. Fortunately, we managed to leave as early as possible on Sunday to keep our drive down to 3-4 hours. The short vacation has definitely fueled me up for the rest of the my time at Physics Today.

Week 6: Political Roast, Bike Ride to Alexandria, House of Cards, Almost Done With Update

Although the week started out humid and rainy, DC recovered quickly!

This week was the week of reconnection. I completely coincidentallly bumped into a college friend at Blue Bottle at Georgetown and decided grab dinner together. I learned one of my closest highshool friends is coming from Boston to visit me next week. And DC recovered to have its usual sunny weather,which I am used to from back home.

Good news is that I am done with the major edits of my update and feel very confident moving ahead. I definitely learned an incredible amount of information about how microcombs work and what type of photonic systems are possible as a result. Although I was hesitant to write about such a complex and technical paper at first I am glad I took on the challange and pushed through. I also had a second interview for the Physics Olympiad story I am working on and got to meet the US team, which I was very excited about. Back in Turkey it is a huge deal to go to the international olympics let alone get a medal so I must say I was a little starstruck by the sheer amount of intelligence present on that zoom call.

This weekend was the most fun I had in a long time. I got to stay in on Friday watching the House of Cards the entire night. I mean I am in DC what could be more appropriate? And later I played the Walking Dead video game with a friend I was staying with. Although all of this was to gather more than enough energy for Saturday to go out and have fun. I must say, although Ultra is not the best bar in DC, time spent with friends make up for it. Later we came back and made a ton of food at 3am in the morning. Somehow the food was more delicious than usual.

Sunday felt like a vacation. We biked from Georgetown to Alexandria and stopped at Gravly Point to watch the planes fly above and land at Raegan. Although the bike ride was more than a half hour long the riverside route we took provided for a peaceful path. Later we decided to take the metro back to DC Improv Club to watch a political roast between AOC, Trump. Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk, Putin, and many more public figures. I must say it was the weirdest comedy show I’ve ever witnessed, although the Trump and Putin comedians were hilarious but of course they had a lot more to work with than mnay others.

More to come next week!

See you soon...

Week 7: A Busy Friday, Asian Street Festival, Egusi with Fufu, The Untitled

It was a busy Friday!

When I say busy, I mean 9am to 4pm three consecutive editorial meetings type of Friday. This was my second time attending Physics Today editorial meetings and once again I am pleasently surprised by how far ahead we are planning for and the work ethic of each and every editor that deems this possible. For every section, news, features, stories, we start nominating article or news ideas for months ahead, of course once the next months writer assignments are confirmed. I am hoping that I will be lucky enough to be a part of this type of a team in my future work life.

Unfortunately, the editorial meetings that ran untl late in the afternoon didn’t let me join other interns in the Jazz in the Garden at the National Sculpture Museum but I was still able to catch a Nationals game right after at around 8pm. Needless to say, they lost. Once again, but we will continue to support them no matter what. Another update from work before I forget, is that after working on the third floor of ACP for seven weeks Taylor, Lucy, Justin, and I finally found the switches that turn on the hallway lights right above our cubicles. Success!

On Saturday we visited the Asian Street Festival on Penn Av between 3rd and 6th streets and tried out a variety of delicious food. Justin was kind enough To later introduce us to a dancing game from Philliphines. And we got to enjoy many Asian dance performances and songs.

Washington keeps bringing me surprises! I bumped into yet another friend from Bowdoin doing work at Blue Bottle. Thank god she took that right turn and went down that alleyway, otherwise I wouldn’t have known about her involvement in Georgetown’s The Fringe Theatre Festival. Three other friends and I got the chance to watch Ellie perform her one woman comedy show The Untitled in front of a full audience. She was brilliant, switching from one accent/character to another ina split second, giving the audience a glimpse of the New England life that we are very much familiar with from college.

Late Sunday, I was craving a West African dish called egusi with fufu that my uncle used to make when I was only in middle school. Egusi is a soup that you can get either with fried fish or goat meat. And fufu is made with some rice flour of sorts. You take a piece of fufu and dip it in the Egusi soup and voila! Magic happens. We found a West African restaurant at Adams Morgan called Bukom Cafe and it didn’t dissapoint. I am aiming to try out food from many different cultures before I leave!

Week 8: The Silent Room, NIST, Beach House, A Friend From Home

This week I do not know what to prioritize on this blog!

During the SPS field trip to NIST we each had twenty five minutes in groups of five in the anechoic chamber also known as the silent room. I musyt say it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, feeling the blood rushing through my veins in my ear and hearing my eyes open and close. For some it might be the most disturbing of the experiences but for me it was somewhat soothing. Other than the anechoic chamber we had the chance to visit two labs within NIST and saved the time to tour the nuclear reactor facility that hosts scientists from across continents. Definitely qualifies to be one of the coolest days of my life.

Another highlight of my week was my highschool friend coming to visit me in DC. Until now I have always been the one reciving a DC tour but it was incredibly joyful for me to give a tour of this beautiful city and go through the mall as a tourist. We started with the White House and made our way to Jefferson Memorial biking through the mall and ended up at the fish market at the Wharf, one of my favourite places in the city.

We also caught the Beach House concert at the Anthem. I’ve been looking forward to hering them sing live as they have been the band that introduced me to the dream pop genre. I had immense fun singing along to the songs that I listedned to for years in my school bus early in the morning. I just wish my best friend who is also a big fan could have been there with me to enjoy.

At work I interviewed one of my favourite physicists Erkcan Ozcan who collaborates with FluTV on Youtube to produce a popular science program that I enjoy very much. I am officially done with the update and have finished three book capsules that went to copyediting on Friday. I made considerable progress on the IPhO 2022 story and I believe it’ll be finalized on Monday for online publication.

We are nearing the end of the internship with only two more weeks to go. We are making more and more plans to spend the remaining time together.

Week 9: Published at Last, Thrifting, Black Bird and Discovery

My first Physics Today story is now published!

After weeks of research, interviews, and editing the Physics Today update I’ve been working on since the beginning of my internship is not published online. What an incredibly exciting week this has been. I was quick to share this achievement with my family, friends, and professors and received many congragulatory texts and emails. Only a day proceeding the publishing of “Microcomb enhances silicon photonic chip” my story on the International Physics Olympiad 2022 also went online after the coipyediting stage. I am now recaping what a fruitful internship this has been and feeling very grateful for the people I’ve met and others who made this opportunity a reality for me.

Having said that... This was the week preceding the last week of my internship. So i mostly dedicated the week to finishing up the latest edits of my update and story. I’ve started translating and transcribing my interview with the Turkish physicist Erkcan Ozcan whom i’ve been a fan since high school. The interview will be published under PT’s Q&A and people section. I have been spending more time with my intern friends, trying to cherish the last of times we have together in DC. My 21st birthday is also approaching so as you can see there is a lot of closings and new beginnings awaiting me in August.

With a friend visiting from Mass, we went to visit the Air and Space Museum in Virginia that is the home of the space shuttle Discovery, The fastest spy figther jet Black Bird, and the plane that dropped the atomic bomb in Japan Enola Gay. It was exhilirating to witness the history and be in the presence of a space shuttle and the beautiful Black Bird. It re-enforced my desire to go to graduate school in Aerospace in the future.

With the same friend I touristed in DC again and took in its beauties in broad dayligth and late at night time. I know I will live in this city one day.

Nearing the end...

See you soon to talk about the last week! (Maybe)