1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
My STEP project was an undergraduate research project where I worked with Dr. Skinner and his lab to build a stimulation in the programming language Julia that explores and mimics the intricacies of measurement induced phase transitions. The main activities of the project were working on the project at home, in lab, and communicating with those who I was working with.
2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
Working with the Skinner lab gave me my first real experience in the field of “modern physics”. Quantum mechanics, which is a broad field the lab focuses on, is still a new and upcoming science, with many new innovations happening every day. To be a part of this field was a great experience in being in an especially fast paced, highly competitive, and quickly developing field and transformed my perspective on research for the better. The research I had done in the past, while also fast paced and competitive, gave me a perspective of a practice rooted very much in older technology and techniques. However, joining this lab introduced many new cutting edge and modern forms of research and study that really granted me a lot of valuable experience and understanding.
3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
I had many positive experiences come out of my time working with Skinner lab. Firstly, meeting with Dr. Skinner himself to discuss a potential project gave me a huge amount of insight into what the field looks like now, what research in the field would look like, and how that research would be done. We talked about many projects and he introduced to me a couple of projects and let me choose which one I would be most interested in working and participating in. I had a great first impression and this helped fuel my ambition for working in the field and helped me realize that I really do like being in research.
Another notable meeting was when I first met with Xiaozhou, the graduate student who helped me throughout the project. He made sure I understood all the material and context of the project and throughout the summer has aided and guided me in coding in Julia, giving me examples, and other general help. The first meeting we had, he introduced me to some of the other lab members and also gave me an in-depth look into the subject and, most importantly, let me know the significance of my project and what my part in the research is. This helped me feel like I was part of something bigger, and further reinforced the importance of teamwork and working together in my mind.
Overall, the members of the lab and the experience of doing the project itself greatly aided in my journey to becoming who I am today. Learning how to code and output useful results even on my own computer was a very powerful moment that helped me realize that anyone can get into quantum research and high level research even with the technology at one’s own home. I felt like I was contributing to the actual science rather than just learning it in class, and this curiosity is further motivating me to contribute more in the field.
4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
This experience was greatly valuable to my life in all aspects. From an academic perspective, this project helped shape my future goals as a physics major who wants to further pursue this field in graduate school. Personally, I always loved working and being part of something I am passionate and interested about. I enjoyed working with the lab this summer and had a great time participating in the cutting-edge work. Professionally, like I stated before, have the goals of making it into graduate school for physics and hope to someday get a PhD. Working on this project put me one step closer to achieving this goal and have given me more insight on what I want to do in the future in this field.
Here is a picture of part of my code that I learned to make during my time in the lab:
