Sandia National Labs - You've been great

This summer, I called Albuquerque, NM home, and Sandia National Laboratories work. I can honestly say that it's the best job I've ever had. Sure, it was a good because it paid well and it will look great on a resume, but it goes beyond that. I'm getting at those things about a job that you can't really know until you work there. The people are good, the atmosphere is laid back, but not lazy or non-professional, my project was open for me to explore, but not too vague either, and best of all, the work has been really interesting the entire time. So yeah, I liked the whole package.

It would be really fun if I could say something like "I would tell you what I do at work, but I would have to kill you," but that's just not the case. SNL is home to a great deal of classified information, but I didn't get security clearance, so I wasn't authorized to deal with any of it. I actually work on simulating grain growth in metals. I'm focusing on abnormal grain growth, a generally undesirable phenomenon, and ways to attempt to prevent it. The big result of my research is that using particles to try to inhibit abnormal grain growth may not work as well originally hoped. In fact, I found that particles can cause it.

Desert life isn't as bad as you might think actually. In fact, I like the summer weather here more than Pittsburgh's. Albuquerque has some advantages that make it more tolerable than Phoenix, for example. As it turns out, July and August are the rainiest months of the year. It's actually very common that a thunderstorm rolls through in the afternoon, bringing cooler temperatures, a bit of humidity, and wind. Locals call it the monsoon season, considering the (relatively) heavy rains this time of year. Also, because we are about a mile high, the nights usually cool down quite a bit, and we don't get the 110F days you might expect. In fact, the high back home in Sheridan, WY so far this summer is essentially the same as what Albuquerque has had so far.

As Ashlee has shared in earlier posts, she'll be flying here in about a week, and then we'll drive the 800 miles home. My summer here went fast, but it's been great. I'm even considering coming back next summer for another dose of SNL.