Things I've learnt on my first experiment

You might already know this, but I'm a laser/plasma physicist and I'm just about to finish my masters in research in Photonics from Imperial College. I am currently working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, where my current research is basically in the field of laboratory astrophysics - recreating the conditions found in space in the lab! And exciting news for me ..  I've just finished my FIRST EVER experiment at SLAC!

I had collaborators from my home university, Imperial College, other collaborators from Livermore National Laboratory. It was also a chance for me to write my first ever proposal, see previous blog post here.

In this experiment, we're basically trying to recreate the conditions found in the interiors of planets such as Neptune and Uranus. I'll delve more into this in another blog post. 

But for now, let's delve into the life of a physicist on experiment at a scientific facility. Here are 5 things I've noticed whilst on experiment:

1. SOMETHING WILL ALWAYS BREAK

After the first week of setting up I quickly realised that we were always bumping into problems that we didn't think we would have and certain things we thought wouldn't have problems, ended up having problems and it was almost scary how many things could break in one day. Those of you that have been on experiments before understand the struggle I'm sure. 

2. EVERYTHING TAKES WAY LONGER THAN YOU THINK

One thing I noticed from the beginning was that, EVERYTHING, took way longer than we planned. We always had a plan, every night before the next day we'd make a plan and sometimes we'd speed through it and sometimes we would 

3. TAKE NOTE OF EVERYTHING, BECAUSE YOU WILL FORGET

University taught me how important lab books were, but being on experiment when you're tired, really enforced the important of taking a log of what you're doing. Your future self will thank you later! 

4. SLEEP DOESN'T NECESSARILY TAKE PRIORITY

This is my first ever experiment and I didn't realise how little sleep I would get. Some days involved working until 2am in the morning and starting the next day at 6am. Self care went off the edge during this experiment, and it was super hard to make sure that I took care of myself. 

Also, I noticed that in academia it's a given that on experiment you won't get any sleep, which I personally am not a fan of, staying healthy is super important. Also, there were comments floating around that implied that if you coudn't ahndle the long hours then academia wasn't for you. 

Let me know your thoughts on this, because I'm not sure if I agree with expecting people to not take care of themselves on experiments. :( 

5. DATA SEEMS TO APPEAR ON THE LAST DAY

I feel like with all the experiments I've been on, and heard about from others, the juicy data seems to come through on the last day. 

All in all, though, I've had a great time, got to meet some cool people and do cool science! Hopefully onwards and upwards from here for hopefully the next experiment! Let me know about your experiment experiences in the comments below. :) Happy experimenting! 

Proposal Writing

Last month, I wrote my first ever proposal! It was quite nerve-wracking because I'm still not a PhD student yet and I felt like I wasn't knowledgeable enough to write a proposal.. I thought they were always things written by professors. 

But.. I overcame the whole imposter syndrome thing and told myself.. what have I got to lose. I can submit it and if it gets rejected, it gets rejected and I learn from the experience and then hope the next is successful. 

So having written the proposal I learnt a few things along the way and wanted to share them with you.. here are my top 5 tips for writing scientific proposals. 

1. Do your research

Read lots of papers and get up to date with your field so that, firstly, you don't do what someone else has already done but secondly, you'll find out what holes there are in your field so that you can do experiments to fill those knowledge holes!

Make sure to also include references in your proposal.. certainly if you are building off of previous research carried out by others. 

2. Plan

Find out the deadline for proposal submissions to the lab you would like to carry out your experiment in and then plan ahead of time. Write in when you'd like to have a first draft, who you would like to proof read your draft and let them know you are writing a proposal. You certainly do not want to be scavenging for references and reading papers last minute before the deadline. 

3. Check the format

Depending on where you are submitting your proposal you will find that there will be a format for you to stick to. Normally, they will provide sections and questions that they would like you to answer and address in your proposal. 

Most proposals include sections that address the 'bigger picture' of the science/experiment you want to do, how you will carry out your experiment, what you will find out and 

There are also page limits that you need to stick to. Being as concise as possible is ideal when it comes to writing proposals. It's also helpful if there are simulations to back up what you expect to see happen in your experiment. 

I also really like using ShareLatex because not only can you use Latex in an easy to use way but you can also add editors and other people to the document so that they can edit it remotely. 

Using ShareLatex to write my proposal and add others to it to edit/proofread. 

4. Ask others 

Since this was my first ever proposal, I certainly asked the more knowledgeable around me to send their previous proposals as examples that I could learn from. Also, most laboratory websites provide examples of previous accepted proposals that you can also look at and learn from. This definitely helped me with structuring my proposal and working out what made a proposal effective and successful. 

5. Proof read 

Getting others who are experts in the experiment you are going to carry out is super important, at least for me it was. I'm still a baby in my field and there is a lot left to learn, so have experts in my field proofread my proposal was very useful and gave me confidence that I wasn't writing anything that was completely wrong. 

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So there's some tips from me, that I have learnt during my first proposal writing experience. I'm sure if I write some more, I'll learn more things about writing a successful proposal, and I'll make sure to update this in the future. So watch this space and comment down below any of your proposal writing tips, I'd love to know what you have learnt!

But for the meantime, happy proposal writing! 

SLAC is where I wanted to carry out my experiment and where I submitted my first ever proposal too.