Hannah Means, 2023 Physics Today Science Writing Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Bowling Green State University

Hello! My name is Hannah Means, and I am a rising senior at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). I am pursuing a Physics major and an Astronomy minor, but am also very passionate about science writing and communication. I aspire to bring thoughtful, creative, and ethical science journalism into this world, and am excited to strengthen those skills this summer.

I am proud to have been recently elected as the SPS President for this upcoming academic year, and can’t wait to bring more people together within our department. I am currently the Head Stargazer and Planetarium Operator at BGSU, which allows me to bring the beautiful vastness of space to the general public. I also volunteer at BGSU as a writer for the Physics and Astronomy department website, which highlights news and awards received within the department.

I am so grateful and excited to be an intern at Physics Today this summer, and can’t wait to put my passion for Physics and Astronomy into writing.

Internship

Host: American Institute of Physics

Project

Abstract

The way information is communicated to the world has rapidly changed over the last several years. More and more people are accessing their science news through short-form content and social media rather than print. How do magazines keep up, and where does someone new to journalism fit into this process? How can a science background help someone build a career as a writer? This presentation explores the many steps of creating an article, from finding an intriguing research result to publishing a polished piece. I show how this process resulted in my first few publications, discuss the skills and lessons learned from my time at Physics Today, and how it all shaped me as a writer.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: It Began with My Birthday...

For the first time in all the times I have visited DC, I am no longer a tourist!

Welcome to Part 1 of 10 in a series filled with tales of new adventures, both fun and educational. As someone who only knows the suburbs, it has certainly been an adjustment moving to DC. However, it gets a little easier each day and I am having a lot of fun exploring the city and the lesser known attractions here. I am writing this happily full of good pizza from a place I would have never seen back home.

Week 1 actually started with my birthday! It was strange - in a good way - to celebrate my birthday with a bunch of people I had never met before. I mentioned it once in our intern group chat that my birthday was the day before orientation, and they took that and ran with it. Imagine sitting at dinner in a restaurant with 15 other people you only met 30 minutes ago, and then, all of a sudden, they start singing happy birthday to you AND give you a signed card. It was one of the kindest gestures I have seen in a while, and I will NEVER forget it. If any of the interns are reading this, THANK YOU! <3

Work Stuff: This week was really exciting and a little nerve-wracking, as a new job can be sometimes. The great thing is, everyone here, mentors and interns included, is extremely kind and wants to help. I am working with Physics Today this summer, and met some really great people on the team that I am excited to get to know better and collaborate with this summer. I am currently trying my hand at an article-drafting exercise, which is both challenging and really interesting. I have a LOT to learn about science journalism, but I find a lot of joy in it and am looking forward to seeing how the process works. Communicating science in an informative and creative way is really important to me, so I want to keep that sentiment in mind as I encounter difficulties and struggles along the way. I look forward to the frustration that will inevitably come with the learning process.

Fun Stuff: All of us interns have been hanging out quite a bit and it has honestly been really eye-opening to hear about everyone’s internship experiences. We have all been taking turns talking about our days, and it makes me happy to hear about how many ways people use physics in their daily lives. On a completely different note, some of us went to the zoo on Saturday! I hope you enjoy the animal pictures below (including my slightly fuzzy picture of a baby meerkat). A lot of them were sleeping and ignoring everyone which I found to be hilarious. I would probably do the same if I were them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I am excited to move into Week 2 and keep exploring the city, friendships, and journalism.

Week 2: And Then the Projects Commenced

I think I am a Metro professional now.

I am pretty proud that as a person who only uses their car to get anywhere back home, I seem to have figured out the Metro. That being said, all the walking I am also doing is making my Fitbit very pleased. All in all, this was a pretty solid Week 2. I am learning so much about so many things, which makes my curious little brain happy.

Work Stuff: This week was very different than last week, in that I got to experience firsthand how stories come to life at Physics Today. My mentors and I solidified the projects I will be working on for the next month or so, and I must say, they are exciting. I am branching out and writing about topics I don’t normally write about, which I am eager to try. I know that writing about different topics and in different styles will expand my skillset and only help me grow as a writer. While I am nervous about doing a good job, I know I have plenty of people I can reach out to for help. Everyone has been very kind and has been teaching me about the timelines for the magazine, the types of content they write about for specific audiences, and the roles each person plays in creating a successful issue. Next week, I am going to learn about and begin conducting interviews that I will incorporate into my writing. I do not have much experience with this aspect of putting together a piece, so I am excited to learn about how what makes a good interview. There are 500 things I feel like I learned this week, but they are only making me more confident that science journalism is a career I want to pursue.

Fun Stuff: This week was loaded with fun activities. We had a video game night that Jenna (my roommate) and I hosted. We played Mario Kart, which is my personal favorite. I tend to get slightly competitive with that game (this is a lie, I get way too into it) but I don’t think I scared anyone off, which is good. On Friday, I went to see a ballet show with some of the interns and it was pretty amazing. On Saturday, a large group of us went to the Pride Parade near Dupont Circle, which was so fun (picture below). I have never been Pride before, and I was so excited I had the opportunity to go. Watching everyone be so authentically themselves was inspiring to see, and I am so happy I was able to go and support the LGBTQ+ community in this way. On Sunday, I went to the Dupont Farmers Market, which had some pretty great produce. I bought and devoured an Italian sub from one of the vendors, and it was probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten.

New Tradition: There is a little white board that was left on the front of our dorm door, which Jenna and I decided to use to make polls for people to answer as they walk by. We will change the poll each week, and I will report the findings here. This week, we asked everyone what their favorite pasta shape was. Penne and bowtie tied for 1st place with four votes each, macaroni and spaghetti tied for 2nd with three votes each, and ziti in 3rd with two votes. Stay tuned for next week’s poll results.

Off into Week 3 we go :)

Week 3: I Conducted My First Interview

I am slowly but surely becoming more confident in my abilities as a writer.

The funny thing is, I haven’t written anything, not even a first draft (stay tuned for Week 4!). However, I am becoming more confident in the various steps that lead to a final written and published product. Spoiler alert, there is definitely a lot of work you have to put in before you put a single work on the page.

Work Stuff: This week was full of all kinds of new things, all of which were good. I am learning a LOT and am honestly just enjoying asking lots of questions. As I said right above, there are a lot of steps that go into the final written piece, even before you write the actual story. Once the story idea is solidified, you have to research, talk to experts, and interview said experts. I have been doing this with a few pieces this past week. I learned that while I do not need to go down the rabbit hole and do hours and hours of research, I do need to become familiar enough with the topic that I feel I understand the main ideas and can formulate questions to ask experts. Finding experts has honestly been the most challenging aspect of this internship so far. I am not always confident in my choices in who I pick to reach out to, but I learned that as long as I reach out to someone, they can usually direct me to the right person to talk to if I don’t get it right. I am now on the third step of my list, which is to interview the experts. Setting up interviews can be tricky as many people are on vacation, can’t speak to me within the time frame I need to talk to them, or simply don’t respond. However, I had a really great first interview that happened in person this past week. Once the story is published in roughly one month, I will provide some more details (just want to err on the side of caution). I was very nervous but speaking to people in person is so amazing and you can learn about the passion and drive that goes behind their work. I have three interviews I am conducting next week, and then I will be putting together a draft of my first article! It is very exciting, and I will be happy to talk about them more once they are published. To summarize, I did a lot of researching and emailing this week, but was eager to learn more about the process and actually do it myself!

Fun Stuff: My brain cannot comprehend the amount of things you can do in DC. Ohio could never. Anyway, one amazing place that Janessa showed us was The Wharf, which was right up my alley. I love the water, live music, and good food, all of which this wharf had. Also, the sunset was beautiful. We all had a lot of fun playing Jenga and had some very delicious food at Shake Shack (I recommend the triple chocolate brownie smoothie). Next, we all had an amazing opportunity to speak with the SPS Executive Committee at a dinner. It was really nice to talk to so many people of different backgrounds who all ended up at SPS. I loved hearing about how SPS brought us all here in some way. Lastly, we interns had the amazing opportunity to see the NOI-F Orchestra Concert. The musicians were quite extraordinary and the pieces they played were beautiful. “Rhapsody in Blue” has a special place in my heart. I was honored to attend and hope I can see them perform again. Thank you so much to SPS for setting these last two events up for us!

Poll Results: This week’s question: What superpower would you pick? Teleportation easily stole first place with 8 votes, flying and knowing all physics (haha) each had 3 votes, and mind reading came in last with 1 vote. Invisibility and night vision had no votes. Not quite a nail-biter but very interesting to see. Tune in next week for another exciting poll!

As always, thank you for reading and I am excited to head into Week 4!

Week 4: Then I Wrote for the First Time

I have started to write!

Between conducting three interviews and submitting my first article draft to my mentor, it has been a busy week. As mentioned from last week’s blog post, I wrote my very first draft of my very first article ever. As someone who considers themselves a perfectionist, it was very hard to decide when to stop editing it and just send it. Anyway, more below!

Work Stuff: As I stated above, I did three interviews this week, which is definitely a skill I am working on getting better at. One of my mentors gave a talk this week about how to ask the right questions, what you can do when you aren’t getting the information you need, and more. There are so many journalism terms I am learning about that I never knew before. Listening back to my interview recordings is eye-opening for me (and a little cringy) as I can see the places where I need to improve, such as my question delivery. However, it is always heartwarming to listen to people talk passionately about their work. Also, I put together my first draft of my first article this week! I was definitely nervous, as I knew there would be a lot of edits I would have to make. I honestly got to a point where I knew the piece needed fixing in certain spots, but I was not sure how to do it. That was the point when I sent it off to one of my mentors. He gave me some really good advice and I will make some revisions before sending it off to the editors early next week. I really appreciate my mentors and their advice for all my projects. Finally, John Mather came to speak with us about his research in astrophysics, both past and present. He is an amazing presenter and it was inspiring to hear him talk about astronomy. I loved seeing how his work helped shape astronomy as a whole. I get a little giddy when I hear people talk about the universe we live in; I love it so much. I made sure to take a moment to speak with him one on one, and I even asked him for his input on the article draft I put together. :)

Fun Stuff: This week, we went to Bowlero, which had a lot of arcade games and bowling. As a video game fan (and a game fan in general), this was a very great way to spend my Wednesday evening. I was very excited when I got a strike in the second frame of bowling. The interns and I also represented SPS at the Astronomy on the Mall event, which was pretty amazing. NASA had some really fun interactive demos, and it is always nice to talk to people about astronomy. Every person has a level of curiosity about our universe to some degree, and you can really see the way people light up when they learn something new. Communicating science is a large part, if not the entirety, of my job, and it was a great way to better that skill in an informal way.

Poll Results: Between a spherical cow and Schrödinger’s cat, people said that a spherical cow would win in a fight. It was a pretty narrow 3-2 win, and I can truly see arguments for both (but the cow would win).

I can’t wait for all the fun projects I am working on to come out into to the world. Stay tuned for all the fabulous things I am working on.

Week 5: I Edited Some Articles

July is going to be the month of Hannah’s Published Articles (YAY)!

Work Stuff: This week has been VERY busy, but I am really excited for all to come this next month, and the work I did this week is vital to getting all my pieces out into the world. This week, my first article draft went out to the editors. It was really insightful to get feedback on my writing. I am still new to the journalism style of writing, which is really different to the writing I have done in the past. You have to be able to tell a story in only so many words, and they all have to mean something. I think essay writing has taught us to stretch things out and really analyze them, but a research article has to take that 10-page paper and condense it into one. I was surprised that the content of the articles I have written thus far were actually not the main struggle, but rather the tone of getting that content across. Like I said, journalism has its own style, but so does Physics Today. I am forever grateful for all the people on the PT team who have taken the time to help me and answer my three thousand questions (per day). The editing process can be hard sometimes because you really have to take your time with it and reflect on the feedback you’re given from the editors in a non-personal way. I am proud to say I am doing that so far! Now, I am finishing up Article #1 and it looks as though it will be out in the world very soon... I will most definitely talk about the process of its creation when it comes out! Stay tuned for July, content is coming!

Fun Stuff: Not only has work been busy, but so has my social calendar. This week started off strong with the Astronomy on Tap event. I love listening to people talk about their astronomy fields, and it was so fun to do with friends and those who love astronomy. The speakers were so entertaining and so knowledgeable in their fields. We got to play bingo and do some trivia (your girl was one of the winners!). On Wednesday, we kayaked down the Potomac, which was beautiful (minus the smog, air quality was not on our side this week). I love kayaking and anything on the water in my hometown, so I appreciated that little reminder of home. Speaking of home, my dad came to visit me this weekend! I missed him a lot, and I was happy we got to spend some time together. We went to the Air and Space Museum, saw an adorable kitten, and saw the new Indiana Jones movie (it was REALLY good, 9/10 for reasons that are spoilers).

I am sorry, I have no poll for you this week. I hope the kitten picture below will suffice. Happy Halfway done! I am both excited for what is to come and in disbelief we only have a month left. BYE.

Week 6: AND NOW I’M PUBLISHED!

As the title says, I’M PUBLISHED!!! My very first article is officially out for the world to see and I couldn’t be more excited. Article below!

Peculiar comet confirms existence of water ice in the asteroid belt | Physics Today | AIP Publishing

Work Stuff: This week was short due to the holiday, so I do not have too many updates besides the obvious. I truly am so excited to see my work out there. I thought this week, since most of it consisted of prep for my next article, I would talk about the process of creating my first article. This particular story was one that was discussed at the monthly Physics Today (PT) meeting in June. This meeting is to discuss which stories will be researched, written, and put into the magazine. There are always several more options than what will actually go in, so I took one of the stories we decided not to use in print and wrote an online article about it, which are typically shorter than the print stories. I did my research on the topic, reached out to the researcher (whose work the article is based around), interviewed him, wrote the piece, sent it in to the editors, did five rounds of edits, sent it to the copyeditors, and now here it is! This whole process took about 3 weeks. Normally, pieces would go out a little faster, but my mentors let me take my time and really learn about the process, which I am grateful for. So many people helped me put this together and answered my many questions. I love the PT staff and their willingness to teach me some of the basics. I honestly feel proud of myself and I can’t explain how emotional seeing my article online made me. <3

Fun Stuff: This was a pretty jam-packed week (in a good way). On Monday, all the interns went to the Nationals baseball game, which was fun despite how insanely hot it was. My mom came to visit me and went to the game with us, which was pretty special. She and I grabbed the very last available canoe and watched the July 4th fireworks from the Potomac the next day. We also did a bit of bouldering at a rock climbing gym. :) Some of us played some video games on Wednesday, Jenna lead an absolutely amazing workshop at ACP on Thursday, and a group of us went to Kramers (a bookstore/restaurant) yesterday! The week ended with a nice walk around the National Gallery of Art with Brynn :) Overall, it was a very full but exciting week of activities. I still can’t believe I am here sometimes.

Poll Results: This week’s question was: Do you wear socks when you sleep? I was not surprised to see an 8-2 vote for No Socks (It depends for me; I wear them in the winter cause it’s chilly where I live).

The point is: I AM A PUBLISHED WRITER!

Week 7: The Next Article is in the Works

My next article is officially in the works! (Side note: Physics Today = PT)

Work Stuff: I honestly spend the entirety of the week writing the first draft of my next article, which is very different from the one published last week. This one is about a more policy-oriented subject in physics, rather than a research result. It is also substantially longer. I received my first round of revisions, and I have a lot to fix (which is good!) but I am grateful I have so much to learn from. Also, some of the interns helped me in a couple of focus groups I helped facilitate for PT, which I appreciate immensely. I think their input will be really helpful for any changes PT wants to make moving forward. Finally, we had our monthly meeting for the magazine this week, in which the article topics were selected for the next monthly issue. I likely said this last time, but it is really interesting to see how they all bounce ideas and questions off each other. I am in a different spot than I was a month ago, and I am happy to say I feel like I know more about how the process works and I have the ability to make contributions to the decisions.

Fun Stuff: This week, some of us went on another kayaking adventure, which I will never say no to. My kayak unfortunately flooded pretty quickly but nonetheless, we had a good time. Some of us also dressed up a bit for the upcoming Barbie and Oppenheimer movies (cleverly melded into the name Barbenheimer) and took some fabulous pictures. The week also consisted of a little DnD, a fun game night, a potluck, and just hanging out with each other. There is a really nice group dynamic among the interns, and I know a lot of us will miss it when we all leave.

With only three weeks left, I can genuinely say I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone and diving into my internship. So many aspects of my life here are different than back home, and I have learned a lot from being in such a different environment. I am grateful for all my experiences here, and am looking forward to everything the next few weeks hold.

Week 8: Editing Takes Some Time

The fact that I will be back home in 2 weeks from today is mind blowing to me, but alas, there are so many fabulous things to finish up here before I can think about that too much.

Work Stuff: I am officially working on the last two articles that will be published by the end of my internship! This week, I have slowly been working on revising the first of the two pieces. I unfortunately got stuck at one point and just had to set it down and email one of my mentors. It can feel a bit defeating when you have to admit you don’t know what you’re doing, but I know with the help of my mentors, I’ll figure it out. I am looking forward to this article coming out; it is my biggest piece of the internship. The very last piece that I will come out with is shorter, but requires a lot of international communication, which I learned is tricky with language barriers and time zones. It is pretty amazing to connect to people from all around the world, and I can tell people are passionate about what they do. I don’t have too many exciting updates with work this week, but next week, oh boy. Things will be ramping up with the end of the internship nearing. I will admit I am a bit stressed but I am definitely more excited about actually finishing all my odds and ends.

Fun Stuff: This week, I took some time to go to the waterfront by myself to read and watch the sunset. The moon also sported a very thin waxing crescent, and I spent some time marveling at the sky, which never ceases to amaze me. A group of us also took some time to sat our final goodbyes to the ACP building, where Brynn and I had our Titanic moment on the balcony. This weekend, Jenna, Emily, and I went to Georgetown to grab milkshakes and hang out near the waterfront. There were some pretty great singers performing that night. Finally, the same group of us went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is by far my favorite museum in DC. If I could recommend going to any museum here, it’s that one. It was hard to walk through some of the exhibits, but I learned so much and there are so many amazing people I learned about that I would have never heard of before.

I’m ready to buckle in for the final two weeks of the internship; I can’t wait to see all the things I finish up this week!

Week 9: But We’re Almost at the Finish Line

The end is near...

Work Stuff: I have been working on the Big Piece for the entirety of the week. I am so excited for this article to come out even though it will be after the internship officially ends. I worked really hard this week to the get the piece in good shape (hopefully almost done!). I have revised 5 different drafts this week which is a great learning tool but it is also, to be frank, a lot of work. I spent a good chunk of time just staring at my screen willing the right words to come to my head. Fortunately, the end is in sight now. Also, my next article is officially published!! I will link it up top. My presentations (one for work, one for the end of the internship) are also in good shape, although I am not quite sure if I am happy with them yet. The editing continues!

Fun Stuff: This week was admittedly a little quieter than the others. Everyone is working hard to get everything wrapped up and I can’t wait to see the presentations that come as a result. We did have a game night earlier in the week where we played one of Devin’s favorite games: Azul. I am sad to say I did not do that well, but we took the time to plan out some more activities we wanted to do before we leave. The group of us who played DnD also finished up the campaign this week, which was bittersweet. I had to say goodbye to Gavin, the 77-year-old man I played (I did a voice for him; it was truly something). Jenna, Janessa, and I all got our last burritos from District Taco and played Jackbox with a bunch of other interns on Friday. Last night, a group of us went to see two pianists perform in Georgetown. They played so many great songs and my hearing went out a little bit from the cheers of the crowd. Devin and I also did our last gym day together and Emily and I finished watching our reality TV show. Today, Janessa and I went to see Oppenheimer (it was great) and we finished it off with a sunset viewing on the Kennedy Center terrace.

It is strange to know that I will be back home in less than a week from now. It is very bittersweet. I have grown very fond of the people here (as well as the work, which I love). I am ready to be out of the city but I will really miss all the wonderful people I have met. I am very grateful to be here. We’ll get to the sappy stuff next time, but I am looking forward to spending this last week with everyone and relishing in a successful summer.

Week 10: Thank You

Well, we did it!

Presentations are done, and I can honestly say I am so proud of everyone here. We crushed it. I am so tired and I still have more packing to do, but I am happy.

I want to officially announce that I have three published works on the Physics Today (PT) website and one on the way! One of the online pieces is in the August issue of PT, and I will have one more coming out in the September issue, which is such an honor. I never thought I would get published in the magazine (twice!). I worked so hard this summer and I am really happy with the results. Only a little bit more to go next week in finishing up this September article!!

Not only did I learn a lot of technical skills in the science journalism world, but also a lot about myself. I am a lot better at taking constructive feedback than I thought. I am not really a fan of cities. Science journalism is a career I can truly see myself pursuing. I am pretty good at working under pressure. The waterfront is my favorite spot in DC.

I am very grateful to have experienced this summer. This internship was the push I needed to believe in myself. I think I grew as a person much more than I realize in this sleep-deprived moment.

I am so lucky I got to meet everyone here. I sincerely wish Brad the best of luck in his next job and wish nothing but the best for all the interns. I think our group was truly a family at the end of the day and I will miss every person. However, I am excited to go home and bring all my new SPS knowledge to my physics friends at school :) I can’t wait to implement what I learned here into our own little chapter.

Some people I want to thank:

Andrew and Toni - for being amazing mentors

Brad, Kayla, and Mikayla - for running this whole thing and being so supportive

Jenna - for being an amazing roommate

Brynn - for being a real and true friend

Devin - for being my gym and gaming buddy

I value every experience I had here, both the good and the bad. I feel like a stronger and better person for them. I think I found my dream career, and I know I met some of the most incredible people I have ever met here. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences here. Thank you, and I’ll see you in my next article ;)

P.S - We put a poll up for what everyone’s favorite part of the summer was, and Devin was the answer that won. I don’t think anyone is surprised.