A summer in Delaware, 2007

Imperial College London – University of Delaware Exchange 2007 Review

Katerina Strakova

4th Year Physics, Imperial College London

I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the five Imperial College students to undertake an undergraduate research project at the University of Delaware in summer 2007.

I worked under Professor Matt Decamp in the Physics Department in Sharp Laboratory. His research interest is in intense laser interaction with matter. My project involved building a gravity driven liquid jet that would be used to produce X-Ray pulses by interaction of a high power focused laser beam with a thin film of copper solution. This was a challenging task as Prof. DeCamp was only just starting his research in Delaware and all the laboratory equipment was still under construction. This meant that I had to design my piece of equipment as well as find the cheapest and most suitable equipment to be ordered. On many occasions I had to improvise and cooperate with the Physics machine shop as well as the Chemistry department glassblowers, because some of the pieces were not commercially available.

For example I had to use a specific shape of an upper reservoir for my jet that would be capable of building a sustainable liquid level of certain potential energy such that the liquid film at the bottom nozzle is well defined and of certain thickness with no ripples from peristaltic motion of the pump. For this purpose I have designed an upper reservoir where the liquid level is above the opening for incoming liquid from the pump and the level is kept constant thanks to an overflow system. I also had to make my own wire guided nozzles for the liquid film. I got a lot of help to this one from a PhD student who works on a similar project in California whom I contacted in the beginning of my project. I also had to come up with a system that would allow a graduation of the flow of the liquid from the upper reservoir to the very narrow opening of the jet nozzle. For this I used a Teflon adapter for my tubing that was kindly made for me by the machine shop in the Sharp Laboratory. 

In this project I have learned a whole load of new skills including research team work, improvisation (which we nicknamed the “MacGiver” skills), patience and above all plumbing which turns out to be one of the most important skills of an experimental Physicist! I was lucky to work with a team of excellent people such as my supervisor, local technicians and other PhD and Undergraduate students in the lab. Everybody was extremely helpful and understanding to my lack of experience. Prof. DeCamp even gave me extra tutorials on Laser Science that came extremely useful as I am now dealing with lasers in my MSci project, Laser Physics seminars and my 4th year lecture course on Laser Technology. My project has also come very helpful for my PhD applications this year as I now have extra laboratory skills and knowledge that opened a whole new field to me.

The social part of my placement was absolutely fabulous. Thanks to marvellous organisation skills of our summer program assistant Dan Kanhofer, who helped us to settle in the dorms in our first week and took us on a number of excellent trips to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York, the Longwood Gardens, Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City and the Hershey Park. Being a History major Dan was also a fabulous tourist guide to all these cities and gave us the opportunity to learn a lot about the American history and culture. The undergraduate Research office staff also helped us with all the organisation bits such as getting a Social Security number, opening a bank account, provided fridges for our rooms and bikes for those who had a bit of distance getting to work and for exercise.

I was surprised to find that the University of Delaware is a very busy place in the summer. There were very many summer research students as well as other students taking summer classes. I made lots of great friends from all over the US with whom I stayed in touch. Three of them are even planning to visit me in London in next few months. I had the opportunity to experience America and its youth culture deeper with these people. We went to a number of parties, cultural events and trips. We went hiking in Maryland and saw a music festival in New York with a friend of mine who had a car with her. The last two weeks I had the privilege to stay with two amazing host families: the Schultzes and Bennetts. The all worked as professors at the University of Delaware and were inherently very interesting people to spend time with. As a great folk music fan and musician I had a chance to see a real Blue Grass jam with Jerry Schultz and try his numerous musical instruments. Peggy Schultz came from the Washington State and I think I must have the best salmon in my life at their house. Robert Bennett took me on great hikes in the nearby national park and Joan Bennett identified my interest in art and film so she took me to two local galleries with American art (both historical and modern) and we saw a number of independent international films in the Theatre N in Wilmington.

After my placement was finished I still had a lot of money from my stipend saved up so I travelled down to Florida with my boyfriend who came over from London. We hired a car and saw the whole place including the Walt Disney World, Kennedy Space Center, the Everglades National Park, Miami, Orlando and the Florida key including Key West. Then we travelled back north and spend last few days in Washington D.C. and New York. This was a trip of my life so far and I could not fully describe with words the experience to do it a full justice.

I can only recommend this placement to anyone who wants to experience something new and amazing at the same time as working on their academic career. I have grown both as a person and a scientist in this summer. I have learned lots of new skills and experienced things that I never dreamed of. Now I am left with an excellent CV and amazing memories.

Original article can be found on:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/26781696.PDF