SUMMER 2002
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER . . .
Well, besides travel around through many beautiful states, I got to meet many beautiful people, work in a beautiful clean room doing research, got some beautiful, cold hard cash (actually, more like room-temperature flexible cash, and not cash, a check) and enjoy some beautiful weather.
The program I was in was through the National Science Foundation and the National Nanofabrication Users Network (my research will be posted here after September), and was conducted at 5 schools throughout the nation - I worked at Penn State in State College, PA.
These are all the kids in my program! From the left (back row), we have:
Mamie - from Baltimore, goes to Harvard
Matt - from Doyleston, PA, goes to Penn State
Hector - from Ponce, PR, goes to University of Puerto Rico
Diane - from the Bronx, goes to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rose (front row) - from Girardville, PA, goes to Lehigh University
Me!!
We are like peas and carrots.
This is me at work!!! What's a clean room you ask? Well basically it's a place where there is almost no dust or other particles in the air. Why is that important? Well, if you're making stuff on the scale of nanometers (10^-9), a piece of dust is like a mountain compared to that and can completely ruin your project. That's why we wear these crazy suits. But it's kinda fun.
What was my project you ask? Well, I was making electrodes with 10 nanometer gaps between them. Why is that important? Well, DNA is about 8 nanometers wide. Proteins are from 5-10 nanometers in size. Using my electrodes, you can measure the electrical properties of DNA, proteins, or anything else that is REALLY small. The importance of the project overall is that the electrical properties of a single protein or strand of DNA have never been measured before. There have been theoretical studies, but no one has actually proved it. And here we are.
The next set of pictures were taken on my drive up to Pennsylvania with my mom.
Yale and a rock wall in CT. (yeah, I'm obsessed with these rock walls!)
So my alternator went out . . . in Mystic, CT! What a great place to break down.
The beach in Rhode Island.
Boston streets, Harvard
Baltimore . . . oh joy!
Captiol, Iwo Jima, Kennedy's grave
Lincoln, the Monument, Vietnam Memorial
John, Me, and Diane, after playing frisbee in front of the White House
Though DC is a pretty cool place, NEVER EVER EVER drive there. When trying to drive the short, 30-minute drive from DC back to a hotel near Baltimore, we followed all of the appropriate signs, and ended up back in DC almost an hour later. To fix the problem, we drove all the way through DC to Virginia, then bypassed it on our way back to Maryland! Get some civil engineers Washington!!
In the Bronx at Diane's house!
Sights around NYC
Anne with a bear . . . and notice how she never puts her head all the way in the holes of the Ben and Jerry's photo opportunity.
Ben and Jerry offer endless fun (or Anne's parents)
Jumpin off waterfalls in Vermont
Andrew expresses extreme emotion while others look on in concern.
More pretty sights on Lake Champlaign in Vermont. The sillohettes are me, Nicole, Joe, Megan, Anne, Cara, Heidi, and Andrew.
GQ in Friendly's parking lot
4th of July MADNESS! Nicole, Anne, Me, Diane, and Cara
Amy Henning! Anne . . . Nicole . . . friend to no one (during Speed Uno anyway)
More peeps at the ACF picnic
Sights around State College . . . me and the Nittany Lion SHRINE, and the view from Mt. Nittany . . . what is a Nittany anyway?
GQ on Mt. Nittany . . . Joe, Matt, and Megan at the A house . . . my favorite coffee shop in State College (it's no coincidence that Saint's Cafe is on Kelly Alley)
Rose, Diane, and Me out on the town . . . Me and Biz (m,n)
At our final convocation at Cornell! Don't we all look stunning?!
In the middle of Cornell's campus . . . Ithaca really is GORGES.
Hanging out one last time . . . *sniff*
Sigh . . . so that was my wonderful summer. To all of you in the pictures . . . I miss yall so much . . . hope to see you soon. Much love.
When I got back, I started my crazy round of medical school interviews. Read about them