Sunday, July 9, 2023
By:
Salutations! This week was jam-packed with events, although I didn't get to spend too much time at NIST.
As far as the work I did this week, I did recieve some feedback on the paper/report I have been writing on my research project. My mentor's feedback was really helpful! This was the first really scientific piece of literature I have ever tried writing, and there were many standards and unspoken rules to this process I was not aware of. My mentor really emphasized how I needed to keep as much of my writing to the point and informative. This style of very direct non-flashy writing is something I'm not quite used to, but I plan on revising and adding to my report in the coming weeks. As far as the next steps in my project, my mentor wants to move onto producing more concrete results, and expose me to some new science. Now that we have some conductive samples, he wants to look at lithography and actual device fabrication with me! To do this, we need to deposit a layer of gold onto the surface of one of our diamond samples. This acts as a sort of protective coating which can be dissolved after later steps. He explained to me that we'll sort of "carve" a electrical channel into our sample using a variety of techniques. I spent the remainder of the week helping my mentor design and test a method of gold deposition. By friday, our efforts had been somewhat unsuccesful, but we'll continue working on it in the coming week.
The real highlights of my week were the National's baseball game, July 4th, and Science Trust workshop this past thursday.
I had never been to an MLB game before, so this was very new to me! I definitely think watching baseball in person is a lot more fun than on TV. I think all of us had a great time, and it was especially fun spending time with Brad and several other core SPS members. Ballpark food was surprisingly good too. July 4th was incredible though. It was terribly hot out, but the firework show at the Washington monument was breathtaking, and easily the longest and biggest show I've ever seen. I suppose that should be expected from a July 4th firework show in the nation's capital. Shoutout and huge thanks to the APS Public Engagement Intern, Jenna, who put a lot of work into a fantastic workshop on thursday as well! It was a really fun and engaging event!
Looking forward to what the next week will hold for all of us.
Colin Myers