Places
Conferences
Since my graduation in 2023, I have been a member of several professional organizations. I am apart of the American Physical Society (APS), the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and the American Astronomical Society (AAS). I have attended many conferences from these organizations, the biggest being APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) in both 2023 in Denver, CO, and 2024 in Atlanta, GA.
observatories
One of the organizations I am a part of is the Orange County Astronomers Club, where speakers in the field give presentations on their work and unique history. We were invited to go to the Owen’s Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) for a tour of the site (and inside one of the dishes) as well as a place for dark site astronomy. This was an incredible experience I hope to do again. On MSU’s campus, there is an observatory that mainly performs exoplanet detection. I was always helping friends that worked at that observatory with random tasks. We have also taken several trips to both Palomar and Griffith Observatories.
Launch Sites
I have had a long-standing interest in spaceflight launch vehicles. I visited both of the major launch sites in the US: Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Vandenberg Space Force Base. I was also able to attend a SpaceX Return to Launch Site (RTLS) launch from Vandenberg that left me speechless. This is seen to the left.
Reactors
I have visited several reactors across the US. The most available one is the Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 (EBR-1) located in Idaho. This was converted to an amazing museum with two other reactors in the front. I also visited the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) during their decommissioning process. I have only been to two operating reactors, both being research reactors. The smaller of the two is operated by University of California, Irvine, on-campus. The one seen to the right is the reactor operated by MIT, where I was able to take a special tour.
Test Sites
I have been to the Trinity Test Site twice during their open houses. This was a unique look into the history of nuclear energy and the power it contains.