Friday, July 13, 2018
By:
As I sit and work on write ups for our outreach page, I ponder about the different kind of obstacles people face to understanding a concept. If you’re lucky it’s just the act of storing all the nomenclature and arbitrary infrastructure humans have made to help us describe phenomenon (like a child learning to read an analog clock), or there’s the obstacle of fundamentally understanding phenomenon (like actually making meaning out of the concept of time and its implications in all reference frames, relativistic and otherwise). And then there’s the barrier of communicating it to others.
Once you do know something, what do we do with it? Most scientists make instruments to further their own knowledge in a self-perpetuation of understanding and grappling with Nature. And in order to grapple with it, you need laboratories and more scientists like yourself, and money for those people too. Sitting in the hearing about artificial intelligence over at Sarah’s building, I sat with the interns behind some brilliant scientists like Dr. Kasthuri, Dr. Yelick, Dr. Nielson, and Dr. Rollett trying to communicate with congress why artificial intelligence and machine learning needs prioritization for funding and resources across our country. Talking to Dr. Kasthuri afterward, they had a little over a week and help prepare their own 10-page written testimonial, before flying out from their home universities get bombarded with questions by congresspeople. To do this effectively, the act of simply knowing the science is not enough. They have to be able to paint a picture that everyone can understand; one that is not only logical but persuasive and thought provoking.
Pondering these scientific needs of the community, I’ve been looking all around at what trajectory to shoot myself towards that will sustain my desire to find meaning. Do I get a PhD? Do I continue doing outreach with my bachelor’s and stay in science communication? Do I teach the next generation? For students reading, maybe you’ll take heart (like I am) from some insight of Bill Foster. Dr. Foster went out of his way to meet up with all the interns in the middle of the AI meeting, to hear about the things we are doing. He mentioned to us that it seems most physics majors enter college as the top of their high school class; he confided in us that there is certainly a moment for most physics students realizing that you’re not going to make to the pinnacle of physics, such as becoming a tenured professor at MIT. But, as he put it, “no matter where you take the exit ramp, there will always be interesting things to do.”
Whether it’s getting a PhD and then trying your luck as and AAAS fellow for science writing or science policy, or working as high school teacher, or getting a job at a museum, or being a telescope operator, I agree with Bill that there will always be something worth your time to do, no matter where you take the exit ramp in your education or pursuit of "mainstream" track physics.
We have 15 interns scattered throughout the Washington DC area (and maybe one in Chicago at a conference for AAPT), trying to figure out what it is that marries our skills, aspirations, and affections. There’s no better place to learn about our nation’s history, and physics-oriented opportunities. At the intersection of Physics and DC, there is SPS.
Amanda Williams