Golden Geese and Other Goodies

I am now a month into my fellowship, and two weeks into my stay as a Fellow hosted at NSF. And I've been keeping quite busy!

On the work end of things, I’ve been running all over! I’ve been trying to get a feel for the various projects and foci of the CRS group within CNS in CISE at NSF. (And there are so many new acronyms to learn, too! Computer Systems Research; Computer Networking Systems; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; National Science Foundation; FYI.) I’ve been getting familiar with the building and it’s quirks (the elevators are VERY fancy -- so fancy, in fact, that I got stuck in one within 15 minutes of entering the building for the first time). NSF just moved locations so not only am *I* unfamiliar with the layout, so is everyone else! For this reason, I’ve been making a point of taking all the AV training and the like, so I can help my group with all the newness as best I can. I have my own work computer, I have an official badge I can ‘beep’ in and out of the building and the more secure floors with, and it seems like my group works on a lot of interesting things! Everything from grant panels, to outreach programs, to career/industry training, to online performances, to international collaborations.

I'm also attending a lot of events through my fellowship program. The AAAS fellowship program (another acronym -- as a reminder, this one is the American Association for the Advancement of Science) has a lot of different workshops, events, social groups, networking events, happy hours, and seminars that the fellows are invited to attend. For example, one of the social affinity groups basically just tries a new restaurant in DC every month. When I heard about it, I decided that it OBVIOUSLY was the best social group, don’t you think? 

Also through the AAAS group, I went to the “Golden Goose” award ceremony last Wednesday, which was a LOT of fun. The Golden Goose awards were created in order to honor science that had, shall we say, unusual, obscure, or controversial beginnings. This award was conceived of as a contrast a congressman's annual ‘golden fleece awards’ – highlighting projects that used federal funding that he felt were ‘fleecing’ the American taxpayer by funding silly research. But research can have very humble, or even silly origins, since it usually starts with a question which doesn’t have a obvious or even noticeably useful answer. One of the speakers at the event had a great quote from Isaac Asimov, where he said: "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not, 'Eureka! I've found it,' but, 'That's funny!'" It’s impossible to say where the next big breakthrough is going to come about, especially when research can be full of serendipity. 

So the awards on Wednesday honored three projects: mussels sticking to rocks, ‘fuzzy math’, and an obscure type of fungus that practically no one cared at all about for ages. Or rather: research that eventually turned into an adhesive that is currently in 60% of American-made plywood, dramatically changing the industry and removing the irritant formaldehyde for a far more eco-friendly adhesive. A method of analysis and statistics for situations where the answers and parameters aren’t always clear, with large commercial implications/applications in industry. And the answer to a decades old question of why certain populations of frogs seemed to die out with no immediate cause detected. The award ceremony was quite enjoyable -- I really enjoyed hearing about the science, the MC was very entertaining, plus we heard from at least 4 different representatives from congress. The reception was also particularly neat -- it was held in the beautiful hall of the Library of Congress, where we could wander over and view the reading room from above while drinking champagne and eating delicious grilled shrimp, mussels, and other hors d'oeuvres.

And last, by not least, on the home front, I’m enjoying being back in a city with all that THAT entails.  I’m living very close, within a half mile, of the new NSF building, so I can walk to work. The metro station is literally across the street from the building, so I can go into DC with ease. I'm within walking distance of Old Town Alexandria, which is full of adorable shops and delicious restaurants. There are excellent Korean and Vietnamese restaurants not even a 15 minute drive away, and I can and an excellent Mediterranean and great French restaurants literally on my walk to work. I’m going to miss Green Bank – the beauty the mountains, the quiet, the outdoor opportunities, but I gotta say, the number one thing I missed there were good restaurants within a reasonable distance! So, life is pretty good right now -- busy, but good!

Watch Out, Washington!

Hello World!

After a year and a half at the Green Bank Observatory, I have once again started a new chapter of my life. I am now a Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)! This is similar to a post-doc in that it is a one to two year non-permanent position for people who have received a PhD (in this case, specifically PhDs in STEM fields). However, this position is completely outside of academia. Instead of working at a university or research institution, I am being hosted at a government agency: the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, VA. My fellow Fellows have been placed at a host of government departments and agencies throughout the DC-metro area -- in some cases, even congressional offices!

I have a long-standing interest in politics and policy (see one of my very first blog posts!). And I am trained, in my PhD work, as an astronomer -- a scientist. So this fellowship seemed like a natural fit for me. It is designed to bring more scientists to Washington, and to train them in the workings of policy --  specifically science policy and using science to shape policy. I have now finished my initial two week orientation. I have heard many truly fascinating talks on everything from using science effectively in building policy, to the legislation process, to networking strategies, to the creation of the US Constitution. And for speakers, amongst others, we've heard  a congressman (Bill Foster, Illinois), a federal judge, and an ambassador! So it's been quite a varied two weeks!

I have not yet begun my time at the NSF -- my first day is this Monday. What will I be doing? Well, the short answer is: I don't know yet. I will be working at the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) at the NSF. There are a wide range of projects I could end up working on, so right now, I'm keeping my mind open and my options flexible. I likely won't be working very much on Astronomy-related things, I suspect, but I'm looking forwards to applying my talents to other areas.

If you are a PhD or PhD candidate and would like to try something different, I would highly recommend checking out this program! You need to be a US Citizen and have a PhD in a STEM related field, and you can be in any stage of your career -- I've met both people right out of grad school, and people who are tenured and taking a year's sabbatical!

Whether I go back to academia after my fellowship or if I stay in policy, I am sure I'll be learning a LOT throughout this fellowship and really get a new perspective. It should be interesting to explore something I'm less familiar with and, I hope, make a difference to this country.

Travelogue: Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle

Having never been to the UK before, I really wanted to see some parts of it that were a bit further afield. So it is important to grab opportunities to travel when they come. Last week, there was a mini nova conference near Manchester, just the local astronomers around the UK which they hold every 6 months or so, kind of informal but a good opportunity to see other astronomers who focus on novae and even some of my collaborators that I rarely see face to face. This was actually held on my birthday -- I made some comments to Benson about this, saying that the ONE DAY I knew I had to work ALL SUMMER without taking off was, of course, the day I'd most want to NOT work and take off and celebrate. So, anyway, the day prior, I rented a car, then woke up at 6:15am on my birthday to drive 3 hours to the conference (with Benson navigating/snoozing in the passenger seat -- he just worked in a nearby library the whole day while I was chatting with folk).

Benson and I at Jodrell Bank

All in all, it was a decent birthday (terrible traffic aside) - I had a lot of good conversations with people, talked about science, got some feedback on my research, and so on. But because we were already going up towards Manchester, Benson and I reasoned it was a good time to just keep going north. Which is why we rented the car for a full week and spent a long weekend in Scotland! So, after spending a chunk of Friday afternoon visiting a collaborator at the Jodrell Bank Observatory (the central hub for the radio telescope array eMERLIN, which is spread over the UK -- we got quite a nice tour of the facility, in fact) we drove up to Edinburgh. Our first night was a simple one -- we just checked into our hostel (which was made entirely of shipping containers and absurdly inexpensive), went into town and walked around old town. There, I lusted over the multitude of plaid clothing that was *everywhere* (if you ever look through my wardrobe, you may notice that I have a fondness for it), and, more importantly, went for dinner and drinks. Naturally, I had to have haggis for my first ever trip to Scotland... followed by four shots of whisky (divided by two, though, since Benson and I split them). You see, we deliberately went to a place called Whiski, which I would highly recommend, which has 300 different whiskies available for tasting. Which is a good selection, I think. We actually went back again on Monday night to get 3 more shots. Benson is a BIG whisky connoisseur, so I pretty much let him chose what we got. Between the 2 tastings, we got one whiskey from each of the regions -- Highlands, Lowlands, Islays, Speyside, Campbeltown, and the Islands, plus an extra Lowlands -- I don't quite recall what we got, honestly, you'd have to ask Benson -- but they were all very good. I tend to prefer whiskies that don't have an overly strong peat taste and that are smoother, but I'm also not that fussy or knowledgable about the whole thing. I know more now than I did at the beginning of the weekend though.

The next morning, we arose from our shipping containers,  bright and shiny early, and drove to the Isle of Skye. Which was a lovely drive across the lowlands and highlands, going through a national park at one point. Now, you'll note that I was driving. Benson hasn't really driven since he got his license 10 years ago, and doesn't really trust himself behind the wheel. Whereas, I actively enjoy driving (assuming no traffic). This was my first experience driving in Britain, however, and it took some getting used to not only DRIVING on the wrong side of the road (and through endless roundabouts), but also shifting gears with my left hand. Manual cars are the norm in the UK, and much cheaper to rent, you see. My dad taught me how to drive stick shift when I was in college -- he kept a manual car around in part for this purpose, and had me drive said car to my camp job over the summer every day, so I'd get used to it. So it's a useful skill! I never finished writing up my last summer's activities (whoops) but this came in handy last year when we were in Italy, as well -- we stayed at a friend of Benson's house, and borrowed his grandfathers car. Which was stick. And I was the only one of the four of us that could drive -- which made me the designated driver throughout the Italian countryside, and enabled us to see much more of it than we would have been able to otherwise. So worth holding back a bit more on those italian wines....

Anyway, the Isle of Skye was GORGEOUS. We did a lot of hiking over the weekend, drove all around the island, had lots of delicious fresh seafood (and were even taught how to shuck oysters by the proprietor of the wonderful Oyster Shed), saw a TON of sheep (sheep EVERYWHERE), visited the Portree harbor, and, naturally, toured the Talisker Whisky Distillery. Talisker is one of Benson's favorite whiskies, so we got to sample a few very nice ones, too. We stayed at a lovely little B&B which overlooked the Eilean Donan Castle in the town of Dornie (not on the Isle of Skye itself, but within driving distance). After we spent a very nice 2 days in Skye, we headed back to Edinburgh, to explore the town a bit more in depth. We still mainly wandered -- I bought myself some plaid items as souvenirs, we had more delicious food, more whisky at Whiski, visited the main castle there, and climbed up Arthur's seat for a gorgeous view of the city. All in all, a good trip! Now, we're back in Cambridge again, which means... we should probably start thinking about buying tickets and planning our trip to Greece for the last week of August. Yeah... things to get on soon...

The view from Arthur's Seat