I actually managed to get lost on campus on the last day at RTI. Following is the thrilling story: It was 1:20, we had just returned to our office from the cafeteria, and I realized I was still hungry because I hadn’t packed enough lunch. So, I grabbed my wallet and decided to try to run back to the cafeteria and buy some sweet potato fries before it closed at 1:30. Despite literally JUST having walked from the cafeteria to our office I could not find my way back. So, at 1:28 I realized I was not going to make it, I returned to my office, dejected, hot, and sweet-potato-fries-less.
The rest of my day was much more fulfilling though. It was all about commercialization: we sat in on a commercialization meeting for the sensors we observed the making of yesterday, and we presented on our findings for the mini-commercialization project we were assigned at the beginning of the week. It brought everything back to the idea that RTI is all about putting science into real practical applications. Even though there is cool research going on, without commercialization, there would be no way to get that research to market and bring about change for the better.