My internship at STScI is coming to an end, tomorrow being
the last day of work. At first, I was under the impression that I would be
going into and coming out of this internship learning almost entirely new
things. I would not say that’s totally untrue! But, my time at University of
Michigan has helped me in some really surprising ways.
I found my classes in particular to be very useful. I grew
to appreciate what we learn in upper level physics and astronomy courses. They are
not just about hard facts and abstract concepts. A lot of practicality comes
into play in those courses.
In particular I should point out Physics 411 (computational
physics) and Astronomy 406 (computational astrophysics). Those two courses have so
far proven invaluable in my internship. So many skills I only acquired in those
courses have come into play. I had to know how to code for one. But beyond
that, specific techniques that we learned such as the Monte Carlo Markov Chain
(that I will not explain here for simplicity!) were practically necessary knowledge coming
into work.
I do not want to think of what the situation may have been
like had I not taken those courses. But I did take those courses, and for that
I am very happy and grateful. Truly, practical applications in the classroom
can go a long, long way.
Couldn't agree more.. being able to use what you've learned in the classroom while working is incredibly useful. It really helps being familiar with the things you are working on.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds great that you are able to apply your classroom knowledge to the real world! Good luck with the rest of your internship!
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you were able to apply specifics about what you learned in class to your internship! It probably helped not only your performance but your confidence in your work.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were able to apply knowledge from you physics and astro classes in this internship! I'm glad they helped you thrive in the workplace! (In that field, it's especially important.)
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