Week 9

Throughout the week I have been preparing for my presentation. The date has been moved up earlier than I had originally thought, but it does not matter. I’m feeling confident about my presentation. I started on it two weeks ago and I’ve just finalizing everything. I believe it has enough information, but I think I will talk to my mentor about adding more because I keep finding interesting and useful information online. The conversation that kept coming up this week was if I was planning on getting my Ph.D after I finish my Master’s. This week I’ve had conversation with two NSF employees about furthering my education with cybersecurity by going into my Ph.D. It’s currently just a thought process, nothing has been decided, but I wanted to know what having my Ph.D. could provide me that my master’s can’t. The two things subject that came up academics and research. I received a lot of information for funding while I’m getting my Ph.D. I can’t say getting it is really my goal right now, but I can’t predict the future. I went to Baltimore this weekend to talk on a panel for QEM. The panel had professors from HBCU institutions, who asked us interns who are computer science majors and went to HBCUs, questions about the internship and how we feel HBCUs could better the stem field. It was a great experience, I met professors from Florida A&M, Winston-Salem, Alabama A&M, and Tuskegee. I plan on reaching out to everyone as soon as possible. This upcoming week will be my final week in Washington, D.C. for the summer internship program. I’m going to be happy being back and seeing my family, but I’m also going to miss the DMV area. If you want to make it in cybersecurity, this is the perfect area to live. It kind of ended quickly.

Week 8

This week has definitely been one of the most eventful and exciting week at NSF. On Monday the summer scholars and I attended he NIST headquarters. We did a tour at the headquarters and learned about what NIST does. It is a a metrology laboratory, and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. We saw equipment they had that makes scientist from all over the country to come and use. I’ve met one of the scientist there and ask her about the possibility of interning at NIST next summer. Wednesday we finally were able to do the white house tour. It was a fun experience. Since I’m about to leave in a couple of weeks and I don’t know the next time I will be in D.C. I was happy to go. It was definitely something to tell my family about when I get back home to Alabama. Thursday I went to event called “Engineer’s on the Go!” I wasn’t an engineer major but I decided to go anyway, thought I might get lucky. Strangely I did meet a company that needed computer science majors. I might someone from an IT consulting firm that says they will be looking for new graduates next year. We exchanged LinkedIn information and emails. I might another person from Metro who says that are also looking form information technology specialist. It was an event worth going to in my opinion. I would have to say that the most exciting day I had was Friday. I don’t know the specifics on why it happened, but there was an evacuation at the NSF building. When I got off the metro trying to go into the building they said that no one was allowed in. The Department of Homeland Police were at the scene and they brought the k-9 unit. But as I said earlier I don’t know the specifics of what they was looking for, all I know it was a day I’m not going to forget this summer.

Week 7

This week at NSF, the other summer scholars and I learned about a fellowship that will help us pay for the continuation of our education. Tuesday there was a meeting, where NSF staff told us about the Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This scholarship supports graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields who are pursuing research based Master’s degree. Wednesday was kind of a disappointment. We had to reschedule our visit to the White House. But my mentor was able to look at my resume and LinkedIn profile to give me some pointers on how to make it better. She helped me decide what to keep what to delete and how to reword it. During this week I was able to learn about a new programming language called ruby and javascript. I visited a code academy school where within 15 weeks, you can be a certified programmer. The school gives you a career coach to help you find job as a soft-ware engineer. I gave some serious thought about joining the academy when they told me it was also an online program. This could be a great to learn a new language and hone my coding skills also. The week wasn’t all work. I did make some time for fun. I went to AMC for $5 movie Tuesdays and saw the new Purge movie. Tuesday be the perfect night, cause any other night the movie would be $16.

Week 6

During this week at NSF all of the summer interns had visited capitol hill.  We all went to visit the senate building and had tour guides to show us around.  It was July the 4th this past Wednesday, so we had a day off from work.  On the July 4th we had all visited Dr. Toldsons and had a great time.  We had some good BBQ, music, and drinks.  It felt just as if I was at home celebrating with my own family.  From the rooftop you had a fantastic view of the fireworks around the city.  Another great thing about going to Dr. Toldsons cookout was that I made a connection with someone in the cyber security field.  We are at the halfway point through our internship and I have to make these last couple of weeks really count.  They are going to fly by real quick, so I'm going in extra hard.  I have added more people on LinkedIn account.  I've asked my mentor to introduce me to more people in the cyber security field.  I believe I am making progress professionally.