Sunday, June 9, 2024
By:
It’s been a busy week, but it’s been more memorable and enjoyable than I could have hoped. Now that I’ve completed much of the required training necessary before working at NIST, I was able to begin learning how to take measurements on the devices I will be working on over the summer. This meant that I spent a lot of time in the lab! It was exciting to learn how everything worked and start collecting data on some older OLEDs for comparison with when they were new. However, this also meant that I now had a lot of data to work with, so I spent a lot of time at my desk working on plotting our data. Overall, it was a great week at NIST and has me even more excited for this summer.
Other than working, there was a lot to look forward to in the week. Wednesday, I was fortunate to hear John Mather and Mark Clampin speaking at a Trimble Lecture with the fellow interns at the AIP office. The next day, Thursday, the interns attended a dinner cruise with the AIP Executive Board. It was a great opportunity to meet the people who give students the opportunity of interning through the Society of Physics Students. Both of these nights were also a great opportunity to eat free food, something that I personally appreciate greatly! This joy was furthered by getting to eat a free $50 dinner on Friday night, thanks to soft opening of 60 Vines. Once hearing from another intern that a restaurant was offering free food, I knew I had to be there. I rushed to the restaurant and was handed a menu with everything on it for free. Obviously I had to make the most of this meal, so I enjoyed a great steak dinner with a fried zuchinni appetizer. To the say the least, I am loving all the free food and events in D.C. right now.
Through all of this excitement, I’ve gotten to spend more time with the other interns and know them even better. Often this is through card games and board games, but it’s also through exploring D.C. together. Today for example, a group of this explored the giant zoo that D.C. has to offer, which even after four hours of walking we failed to see everything. Then tonight, Jaden grilled out on the mini-George Forman grill to make hotdogs for whoever wanted one and we played some intense Uno.
I’ve managed to cram a lot into this week, and with it a lot of good memories. I hope to keep up this pace throughout the summer since there’s only eight more weeks in D.C. for me. It’s going fast, so I guess that means it’s a good time at least.
Kaden Gammon