Name: Hyo Sun (Charlotte) Park
Class Year: 2023
Major: Physics and Mathematics
Hometown: Hanam, South Korea
Internship Organization: Department of Physics, Ewha Womans University
Job Title: Undergraduate Research Intern
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Award: Dean Karen Tidmarsh '71 International Internship Fund
What’s happening at your internship?
I have been doing astrophysics research with Professor Chunglee Kim at Ewha Womans University. We are trying to estimate the properties of gravitational wave sources (which are black hole binaries) that are expected to be detected by Pulsar Timing Arrays. To this end, we have been analyzing the black hole data, but instead of using real data obtained from an observatory, we are using simulated data taken from a cosmological simulation. The cosmological simulation basically simulates the Universe from the Big Bang to the present, capturing all the galaxies, black holes, stars, gases, etc.—imagine how much storage you would need to store all those data! Because the datasets are too large, I remotely access the computer lab at Ewha Womans University to perform any analysis. I spend most of my time writing code to do calculations and analyses and reading lots of papers to understand various equations and learn about the background. My internship is fully remote, but it did not put up any barriers because my project is heavily computational by nature.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I did a summer research with Professor Andrea Lommen at Haverford last summer, where I helped develop a new code for detecting gravitational waves. That was the first time I did research in computational physics, and I fell in love with it! So I was looking for opportunities to continue doing some kind of computational research, but I was (and am still) in South Korea. Luckily, Professor Lommen had a collaborator—Professor Chunglee Kim—in South Korea who also does research on gravitational waves. I am extremely grateful to Professor Lommen for reaching out to Professor Kim for me and helping me transition to a new research project.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I think the most important skill I am learning through my internship is computing skills. I am learning how to perform various statistical analyses and how to use various code packages (e.g., NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and Pandas) that are frequently used by physicists. My research project tends to move very fast, so I am thankful that I already learned how to code in Python and Java in my physics and computer science courses at Bryn Mawr.
Another important skill is learning how to read papers efficiently. I typically have to read one to two scientific papers each week, and I won’t be able to finish them if I get caught by any of the details. For those of you who also need to read long papers, I recommend reading the abstract, the introduction, and the conclusion first because they include the main thesis and key results.
Also, attending and giving presentations at various scientific conferences and workshops, I am learning how to communicate effectively, especially with other scientists. All of these skills are so important to me because I want to become a research scientist in the future.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?
The biggest challenge I have faced is definitely time management. I really miss living on campus because it is so easy to grab food from the dining halls, find a good study space, and focus on my work. But at home, I have to set aside extra hours each day for going to groceries, cooking, doing the dishes, cleaning the house, etc. So it is important for me to plan my time in advance to make sure that I don’t spend too much time on other things and I have enough hours to do my work. I have been putting a lot of efforts to take control of my time (e.g., writing a weekly planner and getting up early), so I think I got a little better than before, but still, it is the hardest thing that I must work on continuously.
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