During the summer of 2011 I worked as an intern at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the AERONET program calibrating the AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) - a network DRAGON campaign, deploying, of ground based sun photometers Š instruments that measure the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere.
During my time at AERONET I worked on the DRAGON campaign, implemented under the NASA funded mission Discover AQ (Air Quality) which works with employing NASA aircrafts with scientific instruments on board to collect aerosol measurements of gaseous and particulate pollution. These measurements were collected in a coordinated grid of 42 ground-based sun-photomers at different locations around Maryland and the Metropolitan area. This project supervised by Brent Holben the program director. During my internship and time on the DRAGON campaign I helped with the set up take down, calibration and organization of the campaign and its instruments. During this mission I would drive out to the chosen sites around Maryland and be involved in the complete process of the data collection and site analysis necessary for the success of the campaign. This internship gave me new skills in mechanical engineering, with the physical task of fixing the robots, as well as my communication skills in working as part of a coordinated task force.
The campaign ran for 6 weeks in the middle of summer Š a peak season for aerosol production. The results and goals of this campaign will be to better inform policymakers on the current status of air pollution in the tested area Š aiding in decisions and regulatory law as well as leading to new scientific studies on the nature of aerosols, which still remains a largely unexplored field within atmospheric sciences.
Being at NASA gave me insight on the scientific process and data collection as well as a knowledge of the geography of Maryland given that IÕm from Virginia and donÕt have a previous knowledge on all the regions and their relation to each other. On top of this working with AERONET gave me information on aerosols and a knowledge of their behavior and function that can be applied to the classes I am currently taking in school. In addition this experience has affected my college career by making me choose atmospheric science classes to acquire a deeper understanding of the affects of aerosols and how these affect climate change as well as causes and solutions to the increasing and decreasing aerosol loads.
With global warming becoming a increasing issue on the world stage aerosols are in parallel becoming extremely important. The link between aerosol load and global warming is becoming increasingly clear and this field of research as been growing exponentially because of this.
Working at NASA Goddard was interesting for getting a better idea of what id like to do in the future. From working here realized that I enjoy the field work side of science that involves a more hands on approach. I enjoyed working outside setting up robots and being able to apply the data collected. The next step in expanding my experiences will be working on the policy side of science. For next summer I plan on applying to the states office to be able to work on the policy of environmental science to get a better understanding of the bureaucratic process of getting laws passed and the information and people that go into this. Merging my background of Environmental Science with a concentration in Global Environmental Change I hope to be able to work on both the policy and actual scientific process of this field and be able to make an impact on bringing awareness to this current global issue. Scholars has expanded my knowledge on a wide number of subjects related to my major and has given me valuable insight on the background of global warming without which the importance of this issue would not be truly understood and I hope to spread this with me and I continue my educational journey.