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.