Despite the extensive planning I had done prior to the research period, I still didn't know what to expect. The six weeks loomed in front of me like an endless mountain, the other side completely obscured. My research felt like an unmanageable, huge task- yet I knew that somehow I would have to begin.
The first week unfolded slowly. I met with my supervisor on the Monday, still trying to believe that the self-defined project I had been thinking about and planning for weeks was now actually in motion. Early on, my supervisor had established his trust in me to fully lead the project and keep everything organised. The sense of pride this gave me was palpable, but with my independence came increased pressure and a hefty dose of impostor syndrome, especially when speaking to high-level academics about my research. A lot of the professors my supervisor put me in touch with to discuss my project and start gathering interest for volunteers were surprised to learn I was only just finishing first year. While this could prove discouraging, I am actively choosing to let this fuel my motivation for success, as the support I've received from these academics has been invaluable to improve my project plan- examples include confirming usage of the Physics Department's planetarium and getting some model hoods for the LED 3D printed by the wonderful Senior Technician. The impostor syndrome had not yet gone away- especially when listening to my fellow scholars discuss their fascinating research, but each time I meet with my supervisor he reassures me that the project is developing wonderfully, so I tell myself this during my independent work.
While I had planned to begin making measurements in the Optics lab at the start of the second week, this was delayed due to difficulties in ordering the correct equipment and testing an uncooperative 'smart' LED which failed to communicate properly over Bluetooth. With a flurry of emails, meetings and equipment-testing sessions with the aforementioned Senior Technician, gradually all the small, unexpected preparation tasks were ticked off and I started to grow excited for the project to truly begin. When the LED stand arrived near the end of the week and I was able to set the equipment up in the lab, the stress fell away a little. I also communicated with Outreach and created an engaging poster to send out to potential volunteers- I now consider myself a Canva expert.
The third week marked the true start of my research. I spent 2 sessions of about 2-3 hours each in the lab, making measurements of lux at different distances from the source, and repeated for all the different 3D printed hoods- 9 of them! Though the measurements were repetitive, I found a true science-nerd excitement in watching my Excel document fill up with numbers. I spent another 3 hour session in the lab plotting my data into preliminary graphs using Python, which thankfully gets faster and less 'buggy' each time I do it. Unfortunately, the other measurements involving wavelength of the LED have been delayed until a remote arrives which will enable us to change its colour- as mentioned, the LED will not cooperate with Bluetooth so we have had to resort to non-'smart' methods. I've also started drafting the Methodology and Results sections of my report, for this set of measurements.
As I write this at the end of the third week, I have been trawling through Python for half the day cleaning up my graphs, fitting the data to an inverse-square model for light vs distance and calculating various fit parameters and chi-squared values. As tedious as this is (though it's not too bad), I'll have these finished soon- Spotify has certainly helped.
The next few weeks of my research period will still involve a lot of work- taking those delayed wavelength measurements, finding and communicating with volunteers and carrying out the public awareness study, and then beginning to really work on my report. Though there's still a lot of work ahead, getting some good data collection done has given me motivation: the mountain now seems a little less vast; the other side no longer invisible.