Changing Perspectives at STScI

Today I just publicly presented my work of the past 8 weeks to the Space Telescope Science Institute. In preparing the presentation and giving it I came to realize that a lot of my fears coming into work did not materialize into anything bad. In fact, they were largely misplaced fears.

As the operations center of the famous Hubble Space Telescope, STScI intimidated me quite a lot at first. “I couldn’t possibly pull off what they expect of me” was pretty much what kept going through my mind through the first couple of weeks.

That thought subconsciously subsided and I worked at STScI and I pulled off quite a bit of progress actually. I managed to recalibrate 3 of the 5 settings on STIS (one of Hubble’s main scientific instruments). I put together a report, and I successfully presented it all today.

I came into STScI not knowing anything about STIS or how it worked. But it worked out. Through trial and error, reading heaps of documentation, and direct support from my mentors, I managed to get through a lot. It was frustrating at times and I ran into nasty obstacles more often than not. Nevertheless I am happy with how it has worked out.

I suppose that what changed from the first week of work until now are my expectations of myself. I thought that I had to know more than I did coming into this job. That was a very misplaced notion. Anything I did not know I picked up as I went along. I learned that if you put yourself to it, a job becomes much less intimidating that it may initially seem. After all as college undergraduates, we can’t be expected to know it all. I am definitely glad at this point that I managed to secure a position at this internship and that it worked out so well.