The Adopt-a-Physicist program is a web forum where physicists interact with students from high school classrooms around the US for a few weeks each fall. The students ask questions about our work and our career paths and we answer them. I have done this for 4 years now and it is a very fun experience! Below are just some of the interesting questions the students ask:
- How do you use the low-frequency cameras to collect the data? What kind of data are you receiving? What does the camera that you use look like/ how big is it?
- For some reason we expected the camera to be much bigger than what it is, it's amazing that such an average sized instrument can detect the oldest wavelengths of light. What do you do with the data that you collect from this camera? Is there something specific that you are trying to find/prove?
- (From an AP physics class) How often do you use mechanics in your work?
- Your profile says that you work with microwave instruments. What exactly do you do with them? Or rather, what is the purpose of your work?
- What were your goals in high school? Have you always wanted to be a physicist?
- You mentioned in your job description that you measure cosmic microwave background radiation. How exactly is this done and what information does it provide? Could it be used to help understand the size of the universe? If so, how?
- What's one thing you now know about a career in STEM that you wish you knew when you first started to pursue it?
- What was your favorite class in college, and did you ever take a course in String Theory? (I actually did!!!)