~Thursday, June 1, 2023 ~
I told myself I was going to write about my REU often and look how that worked out lmfaooo
It's almost been 2 weeks since I got to UAH, here's a quick list of things that have happened to recap, and then I promise I'll update regularly LOLOL
I got really cool pictures on the plane ride down here
All 3 of my suitemates are trans/enby like myself, and we all get along phenomenally!! I couldn't have asked for better roomies
We had a lotttt of lectures last week on all sorts of topics. I found the one on gravitational astronomy particularly interesting (LIGO just started its 4th observation run, that's super super exciting!)
I got the details of my project!
My title is Active Region Simulation with EBTEL. In a nutshell, I'll be using Enthalpy-Based Thermal Evolution of Loops (EBTEL) simulations to observe differences in heat/density fluctuations in coronal loops with the introduction of nanoflares, which are small scale energy releases. This will be useful in trying to better understand the coronal heating problem - why the heck does the temperature go from a few thousand K at the photosphere to suddenly orders of magnitude higher??? SUPER excited about this project! All three of my mentors are either associated with or work at NASA, so my work amongst the others will directly help them in their projects which is super cool.
My suitemates and I visited the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, and I got lots of artsy photos! (pictures above from here: the piano, the ladybug in the flower, and the walkway over water)
We found a good boba place nearby (SCORE!!) called Leafly!
good soup.
I found two seeds that had little roots forming inside an apple I ate, so we germinated them and stuck em in some soil. They stood up within a day!
A lot more happened, but this is a pretty decent list of notable things!
I'm super stoked to be here, and I cannot wait to get started on my project!!