My second, but really first in-person week as a student intern has been intense, but also very rewarding.

On Monday, I was very nervous and felt unsure about my capabilities. because at first, all the terminology and procedures didn’t make too much sense, but I was simply appreciative to be in the lab working under a graduate student. Thankfully, the graduate student I’m working under is super nice and most importantly, patient.

On Tuesday, a few meetings were held and one of them had donuts which were delicious. After that, I went to my lab and had a conversation with a different graduate student who gave me a lot of great advice. I was explaining how nervous I was and she told me to just be a sponge this entire week and soak up all the information I possibly can. In time, I’ll actually begin to understand the information and connect it to concepts I already know, and she even told me about her experience as an REU student years ago which really opened up my eyes.

On Wednesday, I learned a few new processes, and I have come to really like one of them — cutting silicon wafers. It’s a very tedious process because it has to be a specific length and they are very fragile, but I genuinely enjoyed it. If I could put some earbuds in, play some music, and spend all day cutting them into squares, I would jump on that opportunity.

On Thursday, I was told to do something entirely by myself and while I was extremely nervous at first, I followed through with the process and directions given and did it successfully. Funnily enough, my graduate student and I ran into some issues later on in the day but quickly found solutions. We actually almost ended the day on a bad note because we ran a sample through the machine and it looked completely wrong, but I figured out the issue and we reran it which resulted in a successful measurement.

On Friday, I learned how to use a Scanning Electron Microscope which was very exciting because it’s something I never thought I’d have the opportunity to work with and instead just see pictures in textbooks. My graduate student took me to a little coffee shop on campus and gave me a little tour of the buildings around, so I now have a better layout of where I am.

Overall, this week started off nerve-wracking, but quickly I settled in and found some procedures I enjoyed. I’m grateful to be surrounded with such funny and kind graduate students. I cannot wait for my upcoming weeks spent in the Halas Lab.

This image is of a distinguished squirrel eating on a chair. (I felt the need to share it)