Time flies. I am already three weeks into my summer internship with the AIM Photonics program at UCSB.  I do research under professor Meinhart and Rustin Mirsafavi, and conduct my daily work in both Meinhart’s and Moskovits’ lab. A lot has happened since starting the program. Being a frequent list-maker, and lacking other ways to efficiently convey everything that I have learned and done so far, I decided to make one to cover the highlights of my research experience thus far.

Following is a short list I have assembled of some of the things that has made this summer research internship an awesome experience:

I learned how to make these microfluidics devices.  They might not look like much, but they have the potential to accomplish great things, such as detecting substances of forensic significance in various fluids (like blood or saliva). They each have three inputs, seen on the right, for the sample and the solutions that we need to analyze it. The slightly bigger output is seen on the left. In between the two glass slits is a microfluidics chip that contains the micro channels the fluid travels through.

Below is a close-up of the micro channels through a microscope. In case you’re wondering why it is has all that dust in it, it is because this was my first-ever attempt at making a device.

My mentor is good at explaining things, so I learn a lot. To be honest, I was a little hesitant to begin conducting research in a field that was so different from what I study. I major in physics and focus mainly on astrophysics in my other research and classes. This research involves a lot of chemistry, which I have not taken a class for in about 3 years (and with those classes being taught in Swedish). I expected that I would have to spend a lot of time reading up on things that I didn’t understand, but Rustin goes over the concepts thoroughly.  I feel like I get a very good grasp of the theory behind what we do, and I also learn quite a bit of chemistry in the process.

Weekly talks, workshops, and networking opportunities. This is one of my favorite things about the program. So many resources are available to us interns. In addition to attending workshops and talks on various topics, there are occasional networking events. Just this Friday we got to sit down and have dinner with a few UCSB professors, and another dinner with industry will be held in about two weeks. I am really excited.

I get to practice public speaking. This one is overdue.  I can say with great confidence that public speaking is certainly not my thing. It is a vital skill that I will inevitably have to use in my future career, and I have done next to nothing to help me get over being terrified of it. This being said, I am actually very thankful that we are required to prepare weekly presentations for our internship groups. While we have only had two meetings so far, I am already feeling better about it.