Janessa Slone, 2022 SPS SOCK (Science Outreach Catalyst Kit) Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Arizona

Hello!

My name is Janessa Slone, I am a rising Space Physics Senior with a minor in Computer Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott. I have been involved in SPS for three years, including holding an officer position for two years. I am currently doing research with the astound Dr. Bailey where I focus on Short Range Tests of Gravity and Newtonian Potential. This includes analyzing different texts and opinions, deriving complex equations, and developing the ability to view the universe at a large scale. I am also a Physics Lab Teaching Assistant for different levels of physics.

In the past year, I was the President of ERAU’s chapter and Zone 16’s AZC. I continue to advocate for Physics and Astronomy outreach as I have a passion for inviting and connecting new members to our community. As an active member of SPS, I’ve participated in Physics Demos where I speak to a variety of audiences explaining physics concepts at a general level. As an officer, I started my chapter’s Member of the Week which gained a lot of attention and involvement from my chapter. My contribution to the program has taught me the importance of engagement and inclusion in order to promote the growth of the physics community by acknowledging new opinions and ideas.

I am beyond stoked to be working with SPS National as the SPS SOCK Intern and continuing to grow this welcoming community.

Internship

Host: Society of Physics Students

Project

Abstract

The Science Outreach Catalyst Kit (SOCK) is intended for use by Society of Physics Students (SPS) chapters around the nation. This year’s theme is Eclipses in preparation for the upcoming 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. Chapters will be provided with one box that contains 4 activities to promote public awareness to a variety of age groups and the general public. Numerous demo videos and instruction documents were created and shared on social platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and the SPS National Website, in addition to the creation of the SOCK. The goal of these projects is to continue the shared passion of service and outreach amongst SPS members.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Schroedinger’s Consignment and a Single Bean Can

Hello!

My name is Janessa, I am from California, and I go to college in Arizona. I am the 2022 SPS SOCK Intern working directly with the iconic Brad Conrad. Welcome to Week 1 of a series of blogs documenting my experience as the SPS SOCK Intern and my exposure to new culture in Washington, DC. Let’s rewind back to move in day--just to catch you up a bit.

Move in Day (May 29, 2022) :

My experience with moving in was definitely one of a kind. Because I traveled to DC from out west, I decided it would be more beneficial to fly in a day before actual move in day. On the day of, I ordered an Uber to take me to Philip Amsterdam Hall which is where I will be staying for the next few months. Memorial Day weekend did not make this easy. Of course, there was an event happening that resulted in 99% of the roads being closed, making what was supposed to be a 15 minute car ride turn in to an hour and a half stress session. My uber driver was not very happy with my destination being “so far”...so he dropped me off at a random hotel about an hour walk from the hall. I then decided to walk to the Smithsonian metro station with my 55lb suitcase and carry-on just to make it to ‘Am-dam’ by 12:15pm. This may seem stressful and hard to manage, which you’re not wrong..it was, but I was relieved and thrilled to finally be in my apartment that would soon carry my best memories of the SPS Internship Program.

Brad met me at the hall and asked me to help bring in all of the past SPS Intern belongings that they left for us. Pots, pans, hangars, irons--Emma and I soon found ourselves owning a neat

thrift store that was soon deemed “Schroedinger’s Consignment”. The idea behind ‘Schroedinger’s Consignment’ is some items could be useful or useless..but you wont know until you observe it.

Memorial Day and Schroedinger’s Consignment (May 30, 2022) :

The night before Memorial Day, about 7-8 of the interns came to Emma and I’s apartment to meet everyone and grab a donut or two that Brad had gifted us. We introduced ourselves, laughed, talked about how excited we were, and helped distribute any items in Consignment. We then arranged plans to attend the Memorial Day Parade that was happening on Constitution Ave the next day and planned to meet at 1pm.

In the morning, a couple of us went to Trader Joe’s which seems like a classic must-go between the past interns. I’ve found buying groceries has been the most difficult adjust to DC, mainly due to the limited store selection, but exploring has been useful. A big thank you to all of the past interns who were so generous and kind to leave us with plenty of cooking supplies, spices, and a single bean can :).

Once we all met for the parade, we strolled through the humid streets of DC and even took our first selfie as interns.

We sat in a very shady area awed at the amazing performances from numerous bands and performers. Even famous chef Robert Irvine was in attendance, but I could only snap a really quick video. Cooling down in the shade was nice but right as the parade ended, we started our trek back to the hall--with a quick stop at the White House of course. Emma and I performed the cha cha slide with a stranger as the other interns watched and cheered us on. Getting closer to Amsterdam Hall, we stopped at a series of stores that was almost like a food court, and grabbed the classic...chipotle. After an amazing burrito bowl we all went to Amsterdam and prepared for the next day.

Smiles Occur Creating Kits

Arriving to ACP was thrilling. Most of us endured the 45 minute metro ride together and walked the last 10 minutes. Brad, Mikayla, and I got to sit down and talk about the plans for the summer. I am really excited to accomplish all that I am tasked to do and more. My first order of business is organizing and leading a 100,000 people event called “Astronomy on the Mall”. I’ve been working on the demos that I’d like to bring to the event and making a list of any items we might need. I will also be creating lots of different style videos on various platforms, working on Psi*, and of course--my SOCK project. Right now, I’d like my SOCK theme to be eclipses as the next solar eclipse will be in 2023, but I am open to other projects as well. More updates on that later. As a cool little experiment, I microwaved a couple jolly ranchers and was able to blow bubbles from it . For now, I will continue to work on AoTM and making connections with new people. I am super grateful to be in D.C. for the entire summer and I will fully take advantage of all of the opportunities here.

Einstein

Just a quick “my life is complete” plug -- I got a picture with Einstein. LOOK!

That’s it from me--until next week.

⚛

Week 2: If John Mather says jump, I jump.

Week 2: If John Mather says jump, I jump.

This week has been a chaotic masterpiece. Before I get into that I’d like to say that all of the Interns are getting along very well, and we all have bonded over our experiences while pursuing our degrees.

Beginning on Sunday, June 5^th, a couple of the interns all went to City Tap Brewing for a ‘Drag Brunch’ performance. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this, but I can say it exceeded anything I have ever experienced before. You could even say there was magic all around, even the DJ, mike, was having a blast. I enjoyed the music he was playing. Ben, the Potomac Research Lab Intern, even requested a song. At the brunch a couple of us enjoyed a $9 mimosa with an accidental refill and foods like ‘Brewer’s Breakfast’, ‘Chicken Sandwich’, and ‘Avocado Toast’. Their menu was a little smaller, but the food was delicious. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these infamous Drag Brunches, do it!

I’ve found that I quite enjoy working from home, but I love the atmosphere at ACP. Monday consisted of solidifying any demos that I want to take to Astronomy on the Mall. There were about 9 on my list and 2 of them I had to do a little more research on regarding materials that need to be purchased. My favorite addition to the demo list is ‘Cloud in a Bottle’. It’s very simple and quite interesting. This demo is used to show how releasing pressure affects water vapor and turns it in to a rain cloud.

Tuesday, I built my first demo! I did a very easy version of an electromagnet and about an hour later I graduated to intermediate level electromagnet.

This will be my first video on the SPS website along with an instruction document.

The next demos I would like to do are ‘Laminar Flow’ and ‘Density’.

These demos are fairly easy to create so I’m sure I will have that done soon. Also, my SOCK theme has been finalized to be Eclipses. Brad, Mikayla, and I have a few ideas brewing on how to create a fun and interactive kit for SPS Chapters.

June 7^th will also be forever known as ‘Janessa Day’ for a very good reason. A particular Sandwich shop did not meet the expectations of many of the wonderful ACP workers (if you’re reading this...hey). Not only were the ordered sandwiches 2 hours late, but they were also 95% wrong! Before the sandwiches had arrived, I decided to make a few phone calls and see what can be done. After talking to a sandwich shop that will not be named customer service rep, my information was passed on to the store owners. And yes, they do know I work for THEE Rachel. And they’re scared. As they should be. After finding out that the sandwiches were wrong AND THERE WAS NO PICKLE IN THE ORDER, I wrote a lengthy email in the feedback section of their website. Thus, Rachel dubbed June 7^th, ‘Janessa Day’. Anyways, that’s the scoop from this week.

All the interns gathered in the Consignment to play boardgames and Jackbox for a few hours. After a quick round of Exploding Kitten (well, quick for Emma and I—we were the first to die) we fired up the projector and laughed for an hour as we all came up with things like three things everyone must do on their wedding day.

On Thursday I and all the other interns had the honor of meeting Dr. John Mather. John is a Nobel Prize in Physics Laureate for his work in solidifying the Big-Bang Theory. He had a lot of great answers to our questions, and I’m not going to lie—I was very starstruck. I was able to ‘plug’ my research in when I got the chance to talk to him, and he gave me advice on pursuing theoretical physics. He gave me the idea to look further into a career in quantum optics, and I will. His story is very inspiring, he is very passionate and from what I saw, very kind. He encouraged all of us to say ‘yes’ to all opportunities, because that is how he got to where he is today. Meeting him was truly inspirational, and I am thankful to Brad and everyone else at AIP/SPS/ACP (etc..) for giving us this opportunity. Maybe, well hopefully, I’ll work next to John Mather somewhere at NASA. John also said it was an honor meeting all of us and it made me tear up.

Ben, Emma, and I have been going to watch the sunset around Lincoln Memorial as much as we can.

It’s very surreal that we can just walk about 10 minutes to the National Mall and enjoy the sunset and laugh and reflect. Being that this is my second blog post already, I just know time here is going way too fast.

Friday evening the interns joined the SPS Executive Committee at the Nationals baseball game. Brad was generous the entire time and I am so thankful to have him as my mentor. I was able to meet many people (even the SOCK Intern from 1998!). I enjoyed the game, especially the walk-out songs. After the game—Pride events for the interns had begun.

We started with a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. I had never heard of this before but even Brad encouraged us to go. It was super fun and not at all what I was expecting. Definitely look it up if you haven’t heard of it.

Then in the morning after a few hours of sleep, Emma and I started our long day. We marched in March for Our Lives, where something unfortunate and heartbreaking happened.

We must continue to have courage to act against gun violence.

Pride events continued throughout the day as we got ready to join in the festivities. We all ‘glittered’ up and headed to Dupont Circle to catch the Pride Parade.

It was fun and uplifting to see the support for the LGBTQ+ community. After the parade we went to the Pride Block Party, there were lots of people, so we didn’t spend too much time there. We went back to Amsterdam Hall to gather some of the other interns and walked to Lincoln Memorial to watch the fireworks that were happening at the pier. Pride events continue today with a festival and free DNCE concert.

As John Mather said, “It seems chaotic, and that’s because it actually is”.

Week 3: The Cast of Finding Nemo

The DNCE concert at the Pride Festival was amazing! Seeing Joe Jonas in person (and for free) was so cool.

Emma and I even stayed for the Sunset Afterparty, and we ended up moving up all the way to the barricade and just DANCED. In Arizona, we don’t normally have as many events as there have been here. It’s been nice to not be bored—literally ever. After all that dancing I got an AMAZING root beer float, literally best float ever.

We celebrated Emma’s 21^st birthday at Quigley’s nearby. The service was so amazing, and it was lots of fun. Quigley’s has $5 tater tots during happy hour, and they’re so generous with the portions. I also got buffalo mac & cheese ;).

I feel like this week was a bit of a ‘break’ from constantly having an event to go to. It was much needed that’s for sure. We have all been out doing as much as we can because, well yanno, fomo.

At work I really focused on Astronomy on the Mall details. I was able to order any materials we needed for the demos we’re taking, and I’ll be able to build them all next week in time for the event. Most of the Smithsonian Museums will be open until midnight that night as well so we’ll all be able to do something afterward! I also recorded my Laminar Flow video, which will be posted on Instagram Reels :). All the interns decided to recreate one of National’s TikTok videos (the Full House one), so I’ve been receiving those videos as well and I am almost done editing! They’re super funny so definitely keep an eye out for that. Brad and I ordered an orbits model for my SOCK project, and soon I’ll build it and possibly adjust the speed on it.

Emma and I are going to a Wallows concert this upcoming Tuesday and I’m pumped. I haven’t been to a concert in years (.... unless you count DNCE). We also have a Rooftop Picnic scheduled for next week so that will be a great experience.

Friday night, at the recommendation of Brad and a past intern, most of the interns went to a night club called ‘Decades’. Decades has themed floors where every floor is a different decade. It was so incredible, and we all had so much fun. For sure going again.

The Orchestra concert was insanely amazing. Honestly, I went into it not knowing if I was going to enjoy it, but I truly did. Watching the lead violinist was inspiring and watching everyone in sync was so satisfying. It makes me and a couple other interns think—what if we pursued arts rather than physics? I think with my theater background I would quite enjoy being on the stage often, but I do have a great passion for physics and science. Maybe in another life :).

Just wanted to say Emma is literally the best candid moment photographer ever--she’s amazing.

Anyway, next week’s blog will have much more events and other things. See ya then.

Signed,

Nemo

Week 4: “it’s a search engine!......BING!”

Buckle in. This week was long.

Starting with Sunday—The interns walked to the Dupont Farmers Market where Ben and I discovered the most amazing delicacy since being in DC. Spicy Chicken Empandas. Now, I’ve had my fair share of empanadas, but these are stuffed with the perfect amount of meat and cheese and are wonderful pillows of pure goodness. We have dubbed Sundays, ‘Empanada Domingos'. Find out next week if we try more flavors.

Ben, Emma, and I also made the impulsive yet correct decision to get a couple piercings. Ben and I got our nostrils pierced while Emma added another piercing to her ear. It hurt, but I do like it a lot. I have multiple tattoos as well and I can confidently say that piercing my nose hurt more than some of my tattoos. The rest of Sunday was relaxing in Consignment with some of the other interns while watching nostalgic youtube videos.

On Monday a couple of the interns decided to head to Sandy Point State Park Beach. It was a very small beach compared to those in California, so it seemed very crowded. But laying in the Sun and enjoying the water and the views was much needed.

We listened to Fleetwood Mac, ate snacks, watched ‘Tay Tay’ have a photoshoot, and swam in the water. There were also many chili cheese items bought including hot dogs and fries. One weekend we would like to have all the interns go to the beach so we can have a bbq and enjoy the time together. It was so fun, and an amazing experience to see the Atlantic Ocean.

Monday evening the interns got together to go enjoy some bowling and arcade games at ‘Bowlero’. Bowlero is probably one of the most high-tech bowling alleys I’ve ever seen. You can order food electronically at your lane and it’s no issue to pay separately. They bring your food/drinks straight to you and the screens above show you how to complete a spare. Coding that must’ve been a nightmare! My bowling lane had Saksham, Emma, Ben, and Matangi. I worked at a bowling alley in high school but never got any good at it. I tried but didn’t secure any wins. Our second game that we played we all turned bumpers on, and we tried to see who could get the lowest score! It was more difficult than it seems, and Matangi was able to show us all up.

We ended up playing 3 games but could have done another, it was getting late, so we all decided to go home.

Tuesday at work I worked on building a Chladni Plate. I haven’t built a circuit since my sophomore year, so this wasn’t easy. I needed the circuit for the audio amplifier that completes the Chladni Plate demo. (Check out the 2018-19 SOCK!). Brad helped me out with a couple of things including how to read circuit diagrams. I still didn’t feel as confident in this as I wanted to, so I decided it was better to just remove it from the line up for Astronomy on the Mall. I was able to learn how to solder some small wires, though. The rest of my demo supplies delivered, and I was finally able to perform the other demos I wanted to take to Astronomy on the Mall. Most of them worked very well and I was relieved to find that out.

Tuesday night after work, Emma and I went to the Wallows Concert. Wallows’ lead singer, Dylan Minnette, is the main character in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. I honestly hadn’t listened to much of their music before buying a ticket to the show, but I figured another concert would start the week off right. Wallows was amazing. Emma and I got fairly close to the front of the barricade (...after a fake phone call that got us through the crowd) and we had so much fun. I wish I had more water that day, people were passing out even before the opener came out. It was getting so bad that security had to hand out water bottles to people in the crowd. I think people passing out just gave me anxiety and made me feel like I was going to too, but once Wallows did come out, I felt a lot better. There is one song that I know 95% of the words to and I was so nervous it wouldn’t be on the setlist. Come to find out, it wasn’t. But then they came out for 3 encore songs! It ended up being the last song they performed, and it was so fun.

Wednesday, SPS held a picnic at Mikayla’s apartment complex. There were thunderstorms so the picnic was moved inside rather than it being on the rooftop, but it was so nice and amazing! The food was delicious and the company even more enjoyable. While eating, we – well, I – talked about the Kardashians as reruns of Keeping Up with the Kardashians played in the background. The interns all sat together and played ‘Heads Up’ on my phone, which is always a go-to with my friends at school. We were able to go to the rooftop for a few minutes, and the view was awesome. Thank you to SPS and Mikayla again for putting the picnic together.

Thursday at work I finalized everything for Astronomy on the Mall and distributed the various demos across the interns. Anthony and I also tried ‘District Taco’ and I could positively say that is somewhere I will be ordering from again.

Thursday night, Taylor Colaizzi put together a Character-Building session for the interns to play Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve never played before, but I think it’s going to be tons of fun. Taylor’s enthusiasm about the game inspired me to want to start! I am also a huge Stranger Things fan, so that helped too. The full campaign hasn’t been revealed but Taylor dropped some hints about it. There are about 10 interns playing so the session took a little bit of time, but it was nice to learn about how the game works. So far, I like the freedom that we have when creating our characters.

Then there was June 24, 2022.

Saturday was Astronomy on the Mall. I’ve held events like this at school and around Prescott, but this was much bigger than any of those. I had to put on a brave and strong face regardless of what I was feeling, and as Emma said, '[I] did the damn thing’. AoTM went great. The interns had so much fun talking to young students and teaching them new physics.

Thank you to all of the interns who put a lot of work in and helped me out when I needed it. Some of us even got to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy, who was a role model for us in elementary school. Astronomy on the Mall is a great event, and I know we made an impact on many young kids’ lives. If I had the opportunity to run this event again, I would take it without hesitation. Though I stressed about a few things, everything came together like it always does. Thank you to Brad and Mikayla for being the best mentors and friends and supporting me through this event.

Come back next week!

Week 5: Empanadas

Of course, starting with Empanada Domingos, Ben and I got the classic Spicy Chicken Empanada. Ben also got the veggie empanada, and he gave it great reviews. I also bought a Garlic and Chive cheese spread at the farmer’s market and it was...amazing.

The rest of Sunday consisted of relaxing and getting ready for the week.

Monday, I had the pleasure of joining Brad at the University of Maryland (UMD) to watch him give a talk and to network if possible. I had never seen Brad give a talk, and he did great! His confidence inspired me and made me reflect on talks I’ve given in the past. Brad’s talk consisted of advice about careers, futures in physics, and multiple stories of former colleagues. I enjoyed the fact that Brad did not push one specific pathway on to his audience. He remained neutral, and simply encouraged them to pursue physics if they have a passion for it. Before last semester, I had never thought about graduate school deeply, but some part of me would love to excel in this field even more than I feel like I do. I have a meeting with Donna Hammer soon, to talk about the potential of attending grad school at UMD. She would also like me to present my SOCK later in the summer, which I would be grateful and glad to do!

On Tuesday the interns had planned a potluck to take place later in the evening. We organized this so that each room would bring a dish rather than each person. Emma and I came up with the idea of making—you guessed it—empanadas. These would be sweet empanadas, normally filled with apple, cherry, or blueberry filling. The night before, Emma went on an empanada ingredient chase at three different stores. She couldn’t find pie crust or filling, so we unfortunately decided to settle on a normal apple pie. But! fear not my friend, Tuesday after work Anthony was kind enough to take us to Safeway where all the empanada supplies were acquired. Immediately when we got home, Emma and I became baking masters—rolling the dough, filling the empanadas, and folding them just before a drizzle of egg wash and cinnamon. The interns came to consignment with many different and delicious foods. A zucchini boat, black bean noodles, and potato casserole serving later, I was stuffed (but not enough to refuse an empanada).

The next day at work I filmed my Cloud in a Bottle video. I found that the best way to record videos is filming in portrait and landscape, so we have multiple versions to post on various platforms. This took me about an hour, and I performed the demo about 6 times total. My next plan of action for this is to write an instruction document. Sometime during this week, I also made a small Eclipse demo to include in my SOCK that would be ideal for elementary ages.

Later, I bought a ticket to ‘Paddle the Potomac’ which was $10 for 2 hours of kayaking or paddle boarding. It was a fun experience but could have been better. Because it is such a great deal, we are all going to again this coming Wednesday. This time, I’ll make sure not do arm day a day before.

Thursday we all joined together in consignment to play session 1 of D&D. I had no idea that it consisted of role playing as your character, so that came to a surprise when Justin yelled in his Scottish accent. This started getting everyone excited to participate and made it even more fun. We ended the session a couple hours later, after winning our first battle with no damage to any of the characters. Next Thursday a lot of the interns are going to watch Thor: Love and Thunder so we’ll reschedule D&D for another day!

My best friend Megan came to visit this weekend and arrived Friday afternoon. It was so nice seeing her, especially after going two months since our iconic rant/vent/laugh/cry sessions. I introduced her to most of the interns and we all went for happy hour in Georgetown! Wednesday was my first time in Georgetown, and it was nice to be back so soon. It is really beautiful, especially at sunset. Anyway, we went to Mr. Smiths and honestly it wasn’t what I was expecting. I wish it had more of a selection and bigger portions. After that we headed home and laughed and talked for a couple of hours.

Saturday, we geared up to begin the 4^th of July festivities. We went to multiple places around Dupont Circle and saw many sporting their USA gear. Everywhere we went was so fun and I am so glad Megan was there! We walked back home and began to relax after a questionable margherita pizza, and a beautiful charcuterie board put together by Taylor C. The night wasn’t long as we all were in bed by midnight.

This post was a little shorter, but it was a fun week! Hope to see you here then!

Week 6: Vienna by Billy Joel

Hello, and welcome back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Sunday July 3rd, we all had a very relaxing day. Megan left near the afternoon and the rest of us skipped Empanada Domingo for a hike near Georgetown. Emma, Taylor O, Nicole and I all went on the hike and enjoyed nature and got to know each other a little more. We walked about 6 miles total with little detour trails that took us in between the trees. After getting back a lot of the interns joined in consignment to watch Thor: Ragnarok in preparation for Thor: Love and Thunder that comes out Thursday.

The interns continued the 4th of July festivities starting at 11 on Monday. We all headed down to Constitution Ave. to watch the 4th of July parade. It was okay, I liked the Memorial Day parade and Pride parade much better. We ended up leaving the parade to get lunch at Duke’s Grocery. One of my friends from high school, Collin, is in DC for an internship as well, so he met up with us at Duke’s. We all ate and headed back to the dorm to have fun at Consignment before going to the Washington Monument to watch the fireworks.

We played games and listened to music then rushed out the door right at 6pm to get a good spot for the fireworks. Saksham, Collin, and I found a great spot on the lawn in front of the monument and the other interns met up with us then. The whole lawn filled up within the next 5 minutes, so we made it in great timing. We played phone games and a version of a schoolyard game that Justin taught us. Div suddenly got hungry and went to McDonalds just in time to make it back for the fireworks. He gave me a free 4pc nugget that I enjoyed as the fireworks began. They were so amazingly beautiful, and I’m so happy we ended up going to the monument.

Tuesday, Brad and I took the day off from work to go visit Ben and his mentors for lunch. We went to T.J Stone’s in Alexandria and it was really great! Brad was roommates with Ben’s mentors in graduate school, so it was nice to see they were able to catch up. Ben and I were able to ask questions regarding industry and graduate school and it was really helpful in expanding my view of the opportunities I have with a Physics degree. Later in the day, the D&D group got together for our second session. It was a lot of fun again but went a little slower since we’re all still learning how to play. I’m excited for the next session!

Wednesday, I finished editing another video and ordered some things for more demos to perform. My focus has fully shifted to my SOCK, so I’m hoping to get that done in the next week so chapters can start ordering them. More of the interns wanted to join in on kayaking this week, but unfortunately it was postponed due to weather, so we’ll go next week.

On Thursday at work I brainstormed ideas to package my SOCK. In the previous years, interns have given SOCKs out in actual stockings that take the shape of socks. I thought of a box with sock print all over it, but I came up with another idea that I think takes the cake. I won’t spoil it now–you’ll have to wait and see. We finalized all the materials that will go in the kits and how many demos/activities chapters will be able to perform. I also started a bit of my final presentation that will be presented on August 5th at the end of the internship.

This will be live streamed so hopefully more info about that soon! Thursday night about 7 of the interns went to watch Thor: Love and Thunder and we all had a fun time. My soda exploded in the middle of the movie so that was embarrassing but still a great time!

Friday, I enjoyed a bowl of coco puffs in the morning while starting to work. I haven’t had that cereal in a long time so I just had to give it some recognition in the blog. #notsponsored. I worked on another instruction document for a demo and this one I feel confident in. I found that for my other instruction documents I was having trouble with breaking down the physics into simpler ways, but comparing concepts or relating them to everyday occurrences has helped a ton. I also worked on my SOCK Welcome Letter that will be included in each kit, and I planned a meeting with my chapter’s new SPS Officer Team. It was a great way to close out the work week, and I’m excited to return back to the office in time to perform some more demos.

It was a very rainy Saturday, which of course calls for movies and snacks. Emma and I watched about 30 minutes of Avatar before a spontaneous trip to Trader Joes with Taylor C., Nicole, and Lucy. When we got back, Emma and I put on Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (the best Tinker Bell movie, by the way) and then invited the other interns to watch the rest of Avatar in consignment. Very surprisingly, many of them hadn’t seen it in a while, and they all said they enjoyed it more than the first time. I had just recently watched it and I like the movie a lot, so I was happy to hear that.

Just a quick note: I have been enjoying the D.C. life a lot, and am so grateful for all of the opportunities and activities that are presented my way. But it is important to acknowledge that it can be tough to be away from family and friends for this long, and it has been. I do miss being at family events and celebrating birthdays with my best friends. I look forward to seeing them all again and reflecting on how wonderful D.C. has treated me.

Week 7: Another Checkmark on my Bucket List

Welcome back!

I’ve dedicated Sundays to self-care, as it should be. On Sunday I went to the top of the Washington Monument after an eventful 15 second race of trying to get a ticket (successful, obviously). It was so beautiful, and worth the panic honestly. There are 4 panels with 2 windows on each side, and descriptions of what you can see while looking through them. The day was very cloudy, but still a beautiful morning to overview Washington, D.C.

After going to the Monument, I went to the World War II Memorial and a couple Smithsonians. The first one I visited was the American History Museum. It was really big, 3 stories I think, and I got lost so quickly. I went into the same exhibit 3 times by accident. My favorite part was seeing the First Flag, which is HUGE. There were no pictures allowed in the exhibit, and it was freezing in the room. I then walked to the Natural History Museum, and it was beautiful. Also, very big, but lots of amazing exhibits. I saw Hope Diamond and some amazing crystal exhibits. Also saw Nemo and his friends so that made me incredibly happy.

Somewhere during that journey, I also got a cheesesteak.

The interns also met up again for another potluck in consignment. We had a lot of fun and will be doing something similar to a potluck next week!

On Monday I went into the office to get some things done. I started my final presentation in preparation for the upcoming Intern Symposium. The intention of the SOCK is for chapters to be able to set up an activity table at an outreach event. I made 2 table cards that members can place on the tables for parents and kids to read. Part of my SOCK will be a pinhole viewer activity that can be made from the box, so I also made an instruction document for that. I mainly used Jacob’s (a past SOCK Intern) document and just adjusted it to fit the descriptions of the box. I also designed the tape that will close the box, which I won’t spoil just yet, but I can say this might be my best design I’ve ever done!

Monday night I went to see the new Elvis movie. The first hour of the movie moved very quickly, and honestly made me a little motion sick. I don’t think I would go see it in the theater again, but I would watch it again on a streaming service.

Working from home on Tuesday mainly consisted of revising all of my initial documents and designs from Monday.

Wednesday at work I filmed multiple videos. The first one is titled “Fireworks in a Glass” and is a demo about Properties of Matter, mainly Density. The second video is actually the main part of my SOCK, so I won’t reveal too much. Here is a photo as a sneak peek.

A lot of the interns Wednesday evening went kayaking with Potomac Conservancy. This was my second time, and it was a lot more fun as I actually knew what I was doing. We went in the direction of the monuments and made it all the way to Lincoln. Yes, my arms were jello by the end of it.

AIP Foundation hosted an Intern Meet & Greet on Thursday, so all of the interns came to lunch. Thank you so much to those wonderful people, and for giving us advice and letting us share our experiences! The rest of work I met with Brad after his trip to AAPT. We worked on a plan for the next few weeks and finalized the components of the SOCK (I realize I have said that in many of my blog posts, but things are constantly changing so things must constantly be finalized (: ). I also started editing the Fireworks in a Glass video and was able to finish that. The SOCK video is taking a little longer to edit and is a bit longer than normal, but filming went very well and a lot of great clips were taken.

Friday evening the Interns went to Jazz in the Garden that was hosted at the Sculpture Garden. I think we all had very high hopes for this, but the jazz was quiet, and the spots were limited. I don’t think I would go again, but if I had the opportunity to, I would sit closer to the stage or speakers. We left a little early and reconvened in Consignment to watch College Road Trip on Disney+.

Saturday, we went to the Asian Festival on New Hampshire Ave. I tried some Nepali dumplings that were quite delicious, though Saksham said they weren’t authentic. One day I’ll just have to visit Nepal to try the real ones! I bought a cute plant from one of the vendors just before rain started to fall. I grabbed ice cream from one of the trucks then we all scrambled to the nearest metro station. We planned to have a games and snacks night in Consignment, and it was lots of fun! Justin showed some of us how to play Poker-Uno and it’s definitely a game I will be sharing with friends at school. We played a lot of Speed, the card game, and played Exploding Kitten as well. I also figured out Saksham’s magic trick, which I made him do blindfolded to solidify how I thought he was doing it.

We finished off the night with some Karaoke, where all of the interns joined in singing Mr. Brightside and Alexander Hamilton.

Next week the last few items for the SOCK will arrive, so I’ll be able to start packing those. Chapters can begin ordering them as soon as one kit is put together!

That’s all for now, until next week.

Oh! I also just got my first publication this week. Check out the research I’ve been working on here : https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.06270

Week 8: Speeding through this Week

Hi there!

Sunday morning I took myself out to a nice brunch at Mission Dupont. It is a mexican restaurant with a limited brunch menu, but everything that they did have looked great! I ended up ordering a chorizo and egg quesadilla with a tangy chipotle sauce on the side. It was so amazing and the sauce was perfect, even my airpods liked it (if you know, you know).

After grabbing brunch, I explored the farmers market for a bit. One of the stands has cheese and crackers samples and they highly encourage everyone to take the samples. I’ve bought their garlic and chive cheese which was only seasonal. The new seasonal cheese is a ‘Baba Ghanoush’ that is eggplant and garlic in olive oil tossed with lemon juice and parsley. It was very tasty. The rest of the day consisted of a much needed nap and enjoying a show over ‘Vemos’.

Monday morning I woke up early to go into the office. I got a few things done before Brad and I left to join Earl Blodgett and Toni Sauncy for lunch in Chinatown. We went to ‘Yardhouse’ which had the perfect atmosphere and great company. I was able to explain my SOCK to Toni, who used to have a big part in the creation of the kit. She loved my ideas and even said she would like to order one. I’m really grateful that Brad invites me to lunch with his colleagues. It gives me a chance to meet more people who have been down the path of choosing what they want to do with their future, and it’s so nice to hear all of their experiences. I ordered a beautiful sandwich that was perfect in all ways. Brad ordered a couple tacos that also looked so great.

Coming back to Foggy Bottom, I went to the market to grab a couple chicken breasts for a taco night that Emma and I planned in consignment with the interns. It was a lot of fun and consisted of lots of dancing!

During work on Tuesday, I uploaded a new demo to TikTok titled ‘Fireworks in a Glass’. This demonstrates Properties of Matter, specifically density. The simplicity of this demo makes this more of an attractive activity for students and teachers, and it is an easy visual for how density works. The main takeaway is that water and oil don’t mix–which many people know. But why? Turns out, water is a lot denser than oil, so when they attempt to mix the oil sits on top of the water. Water is made of polar molecules, meaning the molecules have one positive end and one negative end. These molecules can only attach themselves to ‘like’ molecules (those that are the same). Oil is made up of nonpolar molecules which means its charge is evenly distributed. Here is a small breakdown that made it easy for me to understand.

Polar + Polar = YAY

Nonpolar + Polar = Absolutely not

Nonpolar + Nonpolar = Sunshine and Rainbows

So in the demonstration, I show that water-based food coloring does not mix with oil, no matter how much it is broken down. But when I pour this ‘mixture’ into water, the oil floats up along with the small food coloring bubbles and because the food coloring is more dense than the oil, it sinks to the bottom of the oil and mixes with the water.

I also made a youtube video demonstrating this, which will be live in September!

Tuesday night a couple of the interns walked over to Franklin Park to enjoy a movie on the lawn sponsored by Whole Foods. The movie was Black Widow, and Taylor O. had never seen it. We all got free goodie bags with sparkling waters, cookies, and popcorn. What we didn’t realize was that the whole movie was being scored by the company that put the event together. So basically, they were playing their own music over the actual music/dialogue. We left, mainly because we didn’t want this to be Taylor’s experience seeing it for the first time.

On Wednesday, I worked on a new Physics Jeopardy for the SPS National website where it focuses on Astronomy Questions since my SOCK theme is eclipses. Astronomy and Physics relate very closely, so it wasn’t easy to differentiate questions, but I am more than happy with how it turned out.

I found out that they added more episodes to ‘The Good Doctor’ on Hulu and immediately started watching some while eating some alfredo pasta.

Thursday morning all of the interns left GW at 8am to go to a tour of NIST that was put together by Taylor C., Valeria, and Div. NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. They have various departments and research projects happening, and it was nice to be able to experience these in person. We went into an Anechoic Chamber, which is a room that is designed to stop sound waves from bouncing off of each other. I was nervous at first because some of the interns said they got dizzy and I get motion sickness very easily. Before we went in, we discussed what it may sound like and what we might be able to hear. It basically sounds like you have noise canceling headphones in, or maybe like someone is trying to talk to you underwater. Our group was silent for a minute or 2 in the chamber, and most of us were able to hear the blood flowing through our body. I was lucky enough to also be able to hear my heartbeat, which basically sounded like a machine whirring. Afterward we all went to grab lunch that SPS provided. We were all able to pick our own meals from Panera which was very nice! We then split into two groups and visited two different research groups that were very interesting. Honestly, it did solidify the fact that I would like to stick to theoretical physics and possibly work with an experimental group as a theorist. I do enjoy experiments, mainly optics, but would really enjoy working on the theory of various projects. The last stop on the tour was the Neutron Center, where we were guided around a large and very secure warehouse.

On Friday, I went in to work at ACP and the packing of the SOCKs began. I folded 80 boxes and packed 80 tiny bags worth of brass brads (which are needed for a demo). I also stuffed the boxes with blue shredded paper to make them a little fancy. Brad helped me out by printing out the presentation guides, mainly because my computer never wants to print anything. There were about 360 papers printed, and that’s not the last of it.

After lunch, Brad and I performed the Smoke Cannon Demo, and it was so cool! I had never seen this done and it seemed like a very simple set up and procedure. We then headed down to Foggy Bottom - GWU together because Brad was giving the Interns a Future Careers talk. This talk was clarifying for a lot of us, and helped us in the tough decision on what to do after graduating from undergraduate. A huge thank you to Brad for all of the great advice. We all met Dr. Alexander van der Horst who is the Department Chair of Physics at George Washington University. I was able to talk to him about graduate school programs where he gave me advice on attending internationally -- specifically Europe. He has a great amount of experience, and it was nice to hear all of the advice from someone who has experience in fields I would like to go in. We also got to see George Gamow’s (a very important person regarding the Big Bang Theory) desk.

10 of the interns all rallied at 8am to drive to Sandy Point State Park Beach to enjoy the water and some sandwiches. Everyone brought food to share, and we packed it in an ice chest (or cooler..) to bring with us. It was such a hot day, and it had been for many consecutive days. We all got in the water quickly, but also got out even quicker. Unfortunately, Lucy got stung by a jellyfish and as soon as I heard that, I was out of there. We later found out 3 other interns got stung as well, so we all pretty much stayed out of the water as more of the jellies were coming out as the day went by. We played uno, ate lunch, and listened to music before deciding it was getting incredibly hot and leaving. After many naps and a lot of relaxing, some interns went out for a night on the town!

Until next week!

Week 9: The Bathtub Heist

Second to last blog post.

On Monday, the SPS Interns met over zoom with Dr. Renee Horton. She has an amazing and motivational bright spirit and had great advice for all of us. I am super excited to meet her in person at Physcon later this year.

Later in the day, I had a timed ticket to visit the Holocaust Museum. It was very heavy and quite emotional as you would expect. The layout of the museum was interesting and basically just a huge timeline. If you ever get the chance to go, definitely allot about an hour and half to go through each exhibit.

Tuesday at work, I finished packing the SOCK boxes with blue shredded paper. I then added some of the materials that were ready to go into a couple of the boxes. I also filmed another demo video, but unfortunately, I didn’t like how it turned out. I may or may not refilm it, but right now my focus is on other things as the internship closes out.

The next D&D session continued later that night, which is the second to last one before we end our time here. It ended with my character in treacherous waters, and hopefully a huge advantage for the others. Justin usually plays background music to match with the story line and Michael Jackson’s Thriller came on so it was expected that we bust out the dance.

Wednesday was a very long day at work. I finished some more boxes and printed out some more papers. I don’t want to get too into detail about the SOCK, so using the word ‘some’ will have to do for now. I also built one of the demos that is included in the box, and it works perfectly! Toward the end of the work day, I added the ‘SOCK Documents’ folder to 80 thumb drives. This was so tiring and a lot of repetition for a 2 hour period.

The interns then had a ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ potluck where each dish showed up and showed out! Everything was amazing as always.

Thursday morning I practiced my presentation in front of Brad and Mikayla, and they helped me make changes and gave me some advice on presenting. Honestly, after the practice, I was a little more nervous so we planned another practice talk for the next day. The rest of the work day was uploading videos to social platforms. Check out @spsnational on TikTok!

Thursday night a group of us went to the Wharf which is actually such a great place to hang out. We got Shake Shack and then went to a movie event sponsored by Pacifico.

A quarter of the way through The Goonies, it started storming. The way the audience got up so quickly was hilarious. We all ran under some tents and a few brave souls stayed to embrace the rain and enjoyed the movie. I ended up underneath a small pizza shop to stay warm, then eventually rejoined the group. We left a little after the rain stopped and enjoyed relaxing the rest of the night.

The SPS team all came to ACP on Friday and it was nice seeing everyone. I had a meeting with the new Zone 16 Zone Councilor, Dwight Luhman, who is at Sandia National Lab. He is amazing and we have really high hopes for Zone 16 this year.

I had another practice with Brad, and felt a little stronger about my presentation. The new packaging tape and the stickers for the SOCKs came in and they look great! I found out that I missed one important document on the thumb drives, so I had to add it to every single one. This time it took me around 20 minutes–which is DRASTICALLY different than the first time. After this, I was finally able to pack and finish the SOCK boxes, which was so relieving. They look so amazing, and the full theme and components will be in my next blog post :). Friday night all of the interns got together and played Jackbox and did some karaoke.

Saturday morning I found an amazing bagel sandwich place that is about a 5 minute walk from the dorm. I got a breakfast sandwich and enjoyed it at a table on the GW Campus. Later on, Emma, Taylor, and I went to the Smithsonian visitor center where Saksham met up with us.

It was a super hot day, but we enjoyed walking through various museums. My favorite was the Modern Art Museum. I visited this last year in September but it wasn’t quite finished yet. It was so breathtaking and emotional and scary and so many other things in just the hour that we were there. We also went to the sculpture garden where we wrote wishes on a tag and tied them to a tree. A lot of the ones we read were so sweet, and some were really funny.

Afterward, we headed home and Emma and I enjoyed watching Ice Age and welcomed the interns back to our room for our last Saturday together.

The end of our internship is coming to an end, and I’m so excited for everyone to see the SOCK.

Week 10: The End of this Chapter

This is my last blog post, and wow my time in D.C. flew by.

Let’s begin with what I did this week.

Sunday afternoon a lot of the interns got together to grab brunch at a crepe place near by called ‘Crepeaway’. I’m so shocked that none of us had been before, it was maybe a 10 minute walk from Amsterdam Hall. After the tough choice of sweet or savory, we all enjoyed our crepes and began to walk toward the Smithsonians. We went to the National Gallery of Art, and it was kind of a maze.

Monday at work I published the Cloud in a Bottle Youtube video and looked over some instruction documents that I needed to fix up before. Later, I joined the D&D group for our last session. I quite enjoyed this session because we had it behind Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Potomac. Here’s a picture of us:

Tuesday at work I finally completed the Metal Resonance Demo. My main struggle with it was building the Audio Amplifier Circuit. It worked great! You can check out the demo on youtube in the next coming months. I also had a photoshoot with my SOCK in order to post it on the SPS National website. Soooo, let’s talk about my SOCK. I am so happy with all of the demos included in the kit. The purpose of the SOCK is to promote outreach to at least 80 chapters, and provide them with a kit full of activities surrounding one theme. This year’s SOCK theme is Eclipses. I wanted the kit to have something suitable for all ages. The main centerpiece is the Wooden Orbital Model, which is mechanical and is useful in describing the orbits of the Moon and Earth. Next, I included receipt paper in order for chapters to perform the ‘Scale the Solar System’ Demo. Chapters can scale the solar system down to 1 meter, 2 meters, or 3 meters with all of the conversions included. The ‘Paper Model’ demo is intended for younger participants. They can color and build an eclipse model in order to visualize the different types of eclipses. Lastly, what’s unique about this year’s SOCK, is the box is also a demo! I had ‘cut here’ stickers made and placed 2 on one side of each box. This creates a pinhole viewer so participants can safely view the Eclipse. Each kit will also come with a pack of Solar Eclipse Glasses, Presentation Guides, and a thumbdrive containing all materials and demos I’ve performed this summer. Order your kit here: https://www.spsnational.org/programs/outreach/science-outreach-catalyst-kits

I love the final result of the SOCK and I am so grateful to Brad and Mikayla for guiding me through the process. I realized that creative freedom throughout this process was important to me, and both Brad and Mikayla really allowed me to have that control.

Tuesday evening I went to a Hamilton showing at the Kennedy Center. A couple summers ago I watched Hamilton on Disney+ nonstop, and this year it was so surreal to see it on stage. I was lucky enough to secure a ticket on opening night, and I plan to return to the show when I go back to D.C. for Physcon 2022. I would also like to add that I cried for the first 8 songs in the show because I was so overwhelmed with joy.

Wednesday, I published my SOCK on the SPS National Website and added all necessary links. I also added the new Physics and Astronomy Jeopardy, which you can find here: https://www.spsnational.org/programs/outreach/physics-jeopardy

Some of the interns then went to Rock the Dock at the Wharf. A really cool funky band was playing cover songs. We enjoyed the sunset and music at one of the well known bars. Because the event didn’t last long, we headed back to the dorms to whip up some crepes with leftover ingredients any of the interns had. They turned out so well and were incredibly tasty.

Thursday during the day, all of the interns joined at ACP for a presentation rehearsal. All of the interns had amazing advice for each other, and it made us all realize that the internship is really coming to an end. We went through all of the presentations and had lunch, then headed back to the dorms where we all began to pack up. We packed the ‘intern boxes’ and basically took over the 9th floor hallway. The saddest part was the removal of the iconic consignment scrapbook door. Over the course of the summer, Emma and I have added small items from the events we attended to the door.

Friday was the day of presentations. You could feel everyone’s nerves in the room, but every single intern did amazing. Thank you to everyone who came to support and those who have supported me all summer! I was a little nervous at the beginning of my presentation, but I am satisfied with how it went.

To the interns,

This summer was incredible. It was something that I never thought I would experience, and you all made it so much fun. You have all impacted my life in one way or another and I will never forget all that I’ve learned from you all. The laughs we shared were one of a kind. From screaming the lyrics to chop suey to the numerous potlucks in consignment, I cherish each and every memory with you all.

I wish we had more time together but as we all kept saying – this is not goodbye, it’s see you later. I better see you all at Physcon (I’m talking to you Justin!!). Enjoy the rest of your summer and good luck in your senior year, in grad school, and in industry. I am so proud of you all and so happy I was able to share my life with you all.

Emma – love you girl. I’ll cry if I write anything more.

Signing off,