In this world, there are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can’t. Despite
learning multivariable calculus and E&M physics at SSP, I still can’t count, as 39 days vanished
in a blur.
I learned that time can go by extremely quickly when every single day is packed with learning,
fun, and friends. And today was only slightly different in that it was the last work day, and it also
happened to be my birthday.
The day started off with each group giving their 5-minute presentation to the Southwest
Research Institute guests. Some groups’ presentations were a little funnier, but everyone did
great. (Especially you, Thinh.) Helping out Sahil’s group while also working on your own is
awesome.
Not actually Thinh btw
After the presentations and the amazing lecture from our SWRI guest speakers, we headed to
Chick-fil-a for lunch, where Sahil the goat bought me a Spicy Deluxe Meal as my birthday
present. THANKS BUDDY! It tasted like chicken.
Then we got the pleasure of having Dr. Carbon explain his fascinating research topic to us.
Basically (if I understood it correctly), there are noise signals in every data point that an
astronomer takes, and the large data set would be limited to the picture with the highest noise
signal, making only one data point possible. What Dr. C did was that he ranked the pictures in
order of the strength of their noise signals and took the one data point. Then, he deleted the
picture with the highest noise signal and plotted the new data set, which gave another data point
that was different from the original one, and repeated this process until the end. HE WAS THE
FIRST EVER PERSON TO DO THIS!!!!! When he explained this to us, the whole class started
clapping out of amazement. I truly feel blessed for having had the opportunity to learn from
these amazing professors for the past 5.5 weeks. This was also the last academic lecture we
would have at SSP, so it was bittersweet. It was nice in that it meant we would have no more
work, but all of us felt like the program went by extremely quickly and we would all miss each
other.
After the lecture, we wrote thank-you letters to SSP sponsors and cleaned up the classrooms.
It’s cool to think about how SSP impacted these people so much that even decades after this
shirt 5.5-week summer program, they still deeply care about the program and actively support it.
I want to be in a position in which I can help out the program in the future as well, just like these
generous donors.
Then we ate dinner, where my table made fun of me for not knowing my travel plan by heart and
not knowing when my school starts. And then we went to the hive and chilled for a bit. Here are
some things we did:
Kal using Sour as his gym equipment
Human pyramid with Aditya, Gwanpil, Sahil, Andrew, Kal, and Eduardo
Spelling Bee (Darnell won!)
SSP shirts and hoodies!
Jonathan waving at the camera (he never does this)
And then we played tag from 10pm to midnight, when it was Lauren’s birthday and the day
ended. Of course, we sang happy birthday to her as soon as the clock struck 12.
Happy birthday Lauren!
-Gwanpil
