Day 1 – Some First Impressions

My first day at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences started dramatically; as I was attempting to park in downtown Raleigh, a schoolbus ran into a police car, causing a large backup down the street. When I finally got parked, I ventured inside for my first full day of work in the Visual Investigations iLab of the Museum of Natural Sciences. Upon arriving at the lab – an impressive, glass-walled technological repository – I met with Mr. Poteate, my supervisor for the Work Experience Program. He put me to work immediately, giving me a checklist that I had to complete with different questions about different parts of the museum. I completed the 1-hour assignment with enthusiasm; as far as I’m concerned, running around a science museum and looking at the exhibits will never be work. When I got back, I completed some forms and learned my way around the equipment and various stations within the lab, experiencing it in a similar manner to those who it’s intended for. All this work pushed into lunch, so after my lunch break, I returned, and begun to work on my own project. In the lab, one of the centerpieces is the presence of a number of different robots, 3D printed knick-knacks, and other interesting technology-based attractions. As an intern, I would be involved in the maintenance of the existing products and responsible for the creation of new ones. Taking this task to heart, I began brushing off the dirt of my skills for Arduino programming, initially given to me by the Art and Design class, that would be the centerpiece of all the projects. By the end of the day, I had effectively re-learned all I knew about Arduino, and, in doing so, had created both the hardware and software for a morse code decoding machine (photos attached). This took me most of the day, and the final minutes were spent testing my creation, and reveling in the pride of a job well done. I had a great first day at the Museum of Natural Sciences, and I can’t wait to come back!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to toolbar