Melendrez '23 Reflects on Summer Astrophyics Program

This summer I was selected to participate in a selective program to study astrophysics and submit research to the Minor Planet Center at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology through the Summer Science Program. This was a five and half week program where I and 35 other students from around the world studied college level math, physics, astronomy, and computer science. We were split into groups of three and given the task of observing and determining the orbit of an actual Near Earth Asteroid (NEA).

Monday through Friday we would start our days with a three-hour lecture followed by a break and then another three-hour lecture given by one of our wonderful professors. After lectures we would immediately start on either problem sets (basically our term for homework) or reducing and analyzing images of our asteroids taken the night before if we had an observing shift. Each group would observe a couple nights each week from 9:00-11:00 p.m. (early shift), 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. (middle shift), or 1:00-3:00 a.m. (late shift). Luckily, I usually had early and middle shifts because by late shift my asteroid was “in the soup,” a term used to describe an asteroid not in our observation parameters. Saturdays we had morning lectures and usually a problem set due later that night. Tuesdays we would have field trips; some notable ones were Los Alamos National Laboratory, White Sands National Park, and Santa Fe. Our only day off was Sunday but even then we were usually working on something. Each week we also had the opportunity to hear from amazing guest speakers including Dr. Kelly Fast from NASA and many other impressive researchers and scientists.

As with anything, this program had its ups and downs. The best way to put it is that this program is not for the faint of heart! Most nights we were all up until curfew, which was 2:00a.m., because the workload was so intense. The lectures were taught at a college level but given our short time everything had to be accelerated which in turn accelerated the problem sets. From the moment we woke up to the moment we fell asleep, all we did were problem sets and more problem sets. Honestly, it was really difficult and oftentimes I felt very overwhelmed. As the program progressed I found myself more stressed especially because my team was rather uncooperative and cooperation was of utmost importance as SSP drew to a close. There was a lack of communication and I often took on responsibilities that other team members said they would take care of. From this experience, though, I learned the type of team environment in which I thrive and how to hold my own in situations less than ideal. All in all, this program was not what I expected but I am still thankful for the experience.