Memorial day with Brian

Brian and his two oldest girls, Emily and Aleah, came to DC to spend the week with me.  They rode the train all the way from Iowa.  It took them more than 24 hours to get here.  We were going to take the bus from the train station to my house, but it didn't come and didn't come so we started to walk.  Of course, the bus came just as we left.  The plan was that we would wave down a taxi, but all of the taxis we saw already had people in them, so we ended up walking all the way home.  After resting a little, we walked to the Congressional Cemetery (we walk a lot in DC).

Aleah really liked the family crypts.

And the Native American totem pole.

Monday we decided to rent kayaks on the Potomac River.  Well, they were out of kayaks so we rented two canoes instead.

Everyone loved the canoeing.

We stopped and climbed to the top of a waterfall that was cascading into the river.

Does everyone look happy?

National Center for Women & Information Technology

Well, last week I was on the road again.  This time in Chicago for the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Summit.  It was pretty interesting getting there.  I took a cab from the airport, but he had to drop us off before the river because of the security around the NATO Summit had all of the downtown river crossings blocked by about 40 police in full riot gear standing shoulder to shoulder.  We had to walk through them pulling our suitcases behind us.  I should have taken a picture, but I was afraid they would not like it.

As always, I find a little time to go sightseeing.  This trip, I had two mornings without meetings so I grabbed my camera and enjoyed the city.  The first day, Erik Russell (former Einstein Fellow) and I took an Architecture River Tour.  Here are some of my favorite buildings.

It was a beautiful day.  

Trump building

Love how the other buildings are reflected on this building.  It is meant to have a ripple-like effect to give feeling of the water of the river.  It is also curved to match the shoreline of the river.

This is a very large apartment building.  Cars on the bottom, residents on the top.

House of Blues.  It was across the street from my hotel.

I also attended the NCWIT Summit.  Most of the conversation, panels, and speakers was centered around how to get more women in STEM fields, especially Information Technology.  There was also receptions for the Illinois Aspiration Awardees and the Innovation Award.  Women and girls that are doing amazing things in computer science.

The next day I took a long walk around the city and ended up at Millennium Park which is right next to Lake Michigan.

This was just one of many beautiful gardens with the city in the horizon.

This was a strange sculpture that was a large curved mirror.  I had fun taking pictures of my reflection with the city in the background.

The trip was great.  The city is wonderful.  The summit was informative and I was able to make some good professional networking connections.  I enjoyed seeing my friend Erik.  I have only two more conference trips left before the end of my fellowship in DC.  Time is going all too quickly.

U.S. Naval Academy

Our Einstein field trip this month was to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  They showed us around to their physics and chemistry labs and talked to us about the Academy and recruitment. Every student graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree.  Almost all of the teachers have PhDs.  Classes have a 25 to 1, student-teacher ratio (or less).  About half of the teachers are civilians, the rest are military. All students get a research experience their senior year as an undergraduate.   About 20% of the students are women.  After graduation, there is a five year military commitment. Unfortunately for us, it was dead-week between finals and graduation, so there were no good looking students in uniform on campus.

My very good friends, Jean and Geraldine rode with me to Annapolis.  

Sound proof chamber where they do acoustic experiments.  

One of the chemistry labs.

In the afternoon, we went out on one of their oceanography research vessels into the Chesapeake Bay for a couple of hours.  They showed us how they collect data and how it is recorded.  It was a beautiful day in every way.

I got a short lesson on how to steer the ship and then I got to drive for a few minutes!

This is called the "orange peel" and we used it to collect samples of the bottom of the bay.

DaNel (other Einstein Fellow from Idaho) is looking at a worm specimen that was in the mud sample.

Busy week in Idaho

I spent last week in Idaho.  Seven days sounded like a long visit, but it went so quickly.  My brother and his wife were staying at my mom's house for a few days on their way to Seattle to spend the summer on their sailboat.  So I stayed Saturday night and Sunday with them.  It was great.  I got to see my mom and Bob, my sister Ginger, and brother Jerry and Bernita.  Ginger and I took Macy for a walk and got some time to talk and enjoy the spring weather.

Then I went to Anna and Mike's house.  Jon and Charlotte and kids were there.  The kids had a wonderful time playing on the rope swing over the ditch in the backyard.

Tuesday and Wednesday I participated in the Idaho STEM Summit in Boise.  At the reception on Tuesday evening, I met Barbara Morgan, Teacher turned astronaut from McCall.  I learned that my brother was her trainer when she went through astronaut school at the Johnson Space Center.

Wednesday I was a speaker at the STEM Summit held at Boise State University.  I had about 20 minutes on the program.  My talk was well received.  It was a good day.

Thursday I visited my old school and then my new school.  Next year I am assigned to teach at Boise High School.  Finally, on Friday I was contacted by BSU Public Radio asking if I would do a radio interview.  We talked for about 45 minutes.  It was pre taped and was to air on Monday morning.  Haven't heard it.  I do not know how much editing they did.  Saturday it was back DC.  What a week!