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Spending your summer wisely

Physics World August 2021

Physics World

 
Careers Physics World  August 2021

Spending your summer wisely

As a student, you don’t have to spend your summer sunbathing on the beach or bingeing on reality TV. Laura Hiscott speaks to some early-career physicists who did summer internships in different places, from start-ups to university departments, and shares their advice for making the most of these opportunities

Skill-building Maria Violaris (left) and fellow interns work on a group project at quantum start-up Riverlane. (Courtesy: Riverlane)

When you’re a student, the summer holiday is a chance to recharge and recover from all your hard work during term time, but it is also an opportunity to gain some valuable experience for your post-university career. Through doing a summer internship, you can develop skills to boost your employability, while earning money and getting an insight into the type of work you enjoy. On top of that, internships can be a lot of fun too.

As the varied experiences of these former interns show, placements come in all shapes and sizes, and there are plenty of them out there if you know where to look. Go to your university’s next careers fair, ask a careers adviser, or simply search online. Don’t be afraid to apply for things and try them out, even if you’re not sure they’re right for you in the long run. An internship is only three months, but you never know what you might learn or where it might lead you.

Maria Violaris “I developed general research skills, which are useful in both industry and academia”

For Maria Violaris, who graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Oxford in 2020, the main motivation to do a summer internship was to find out what it’s like to work in industry. She went to a careers fair hosted by her university, where she met employees of Innovia Technology – a Cambridge-based science innovation consultancy that helps its client companies improve products – and found out about its internship programme.

Although Violaris didn’t know before the event that science consultancies even existed, she thought that Innovia sounded like a fun place to work because of the variety of projects it does, which meant she could learn about lots of different areas of physics. She applied with a CV and cover letter, followed by a video call in which she was asked physics-related technical questions. Violaris was then invited to an in-person interview where she had to look at a case study and come up with ideas of how to approach it. While this may sound daunting, it is an excellent opportunity to practise for post-university job applications and interviews, many of which follow a similar process.

After finding out she had been successful, Violaris moved to Cambridge for the summer of 2019, where she worked in multidisciplinary teams on several projects, including one looking at a cosmetic product made by one of Innovia’s clients. “We were trying to improve the texture of the product, so I was looking at the physics of how the fluid stretches, and the difference in how it behaves when tapped or rubbed onto skin. I worked with behavioural scientists who were investigating how people typically use the product, and with chemists who were looking at its chemical composition.” Over the course of the internship, Violaris also got involved in a project to improve surgical hammers to reduce their risk of being fractured, and a project to enhance the taste of a product for a food company.

Innovia encourages its interns to maintain a good work–life balance, which meant that Violaris had plenty of time for social activities, playing ultimate frisbee with her colleagues once a week and going to the pub together on Friday evenings. She even joined a yoga group at the company.

Having enjoyed her time at Innovia, Violaris sought out another internship for the summer of 2020. At this point she knew she was most excited by quantum physics. By searching online for quantum computing companies, she found the website of quantum software start-up Riverlane, also based in Cambridge, and discovered that it runs an internship programme, which she applied to successfully. “My project involved lots of coding. I put together some Raspberry Pis and circuit boards, and ran Riverlane’s quantum operating system on the circuit boards to create a model quantum computing lab,” says Violaris. “I used this model to create science-communication materials, including a video explaining how the system worked.”

At the time of Violaris’ internships, Riverlane was a start-up with around 30 employees, while Innovia was 20 years old and had 80 employees, so Violaris experienced working for both a new and a more established company. “The systems of work at Innovia were more established,” she says. “At Riverlane, there were more unknowns about how the company would develop, and there was more flexibility around how it collaborated with other companies.” However, both internships gave Violaris a positive experience of working in industry, and a useful insight for her future career. “I decided to do a PhD after graduating, because I really wanted to do research on quantum physics,” she says, “but I’m considering going into either research or industry afterwards. It was great to see a quantum computing company from inside, as that’s an area that I am keen to explore in the future.”

Additionally, she gained some valuable skills that she has already been able to draw on during her PhD at Oxford, which she started in October 2020. “I developed general research skills and learnt how to find out about a topic quickly, which is useful in both industry and academia,” she says. “It was also interesting to see the companies’ productivity systems and how they manage teams of people.” In fact, during her final year as an undergraduate, Violaris started a quantum-information student society, where she used her experience to manage group projects.

As for making the most out of an internship, Violaris’ advice is “Ask a lot of questions, especially at the start, because this will help you get going quickly. And don’t be afraid to contribute your ideas. You may think you don’t have enough experience in the area to have useful ideas, but actually the opposite is true. You have a fresh perspective, and in my experience companies value that.”

 

Networking Constantine Pelesis (right) made useful contacts at medical-devices firm Adaptix. (Courtesy: Adaptix)

Constantine Pelesis “I built up my network and got an understanding of how a whole company works together”

Before looking for an internship, Constantine Pelesis already knew that he wanted to go into nuclear medicine. “I was studying part-time for a Master’s degree in medical physics with the University of Surrey, while also working as a teaching assistant there.” In the first summer of his MSci course he was looking for something that would give him some experience, help him to broaden his network, and provide some extra income. He therefore contacted the South East Physics Network (SEPnet), an organization that works across nine universities in south-east England to support physics students in finding placements.

Although SEPnet didn’t have any vacancies, it put Pelesis in touch with Adaptix, a company in Oxfordshire working on medical-physics devices, and he sent an e-mail to express his interest. Adaptix later called him when an internship position came up that was relevant for him, showing that it’s always worth expressing your interest. Even if there are no internships available at the time, situations can change and new opportunities are always emerging.

“Adaptix sent me a job description with the different projects it had available, and I applied with a cover letter and a CV,” Pelesis recalls. “I was invited to an interview with the chief science officer, who then became my supervisor when I was offered the internship.” After learning he had been successful, he moved to Oxford for the summer. “I loved getting to know Oxford and I did a lot of exploring while I was there,” he says. “I visited many places where they filmed Harry Potter, and I also explored the countryside around the city. Adaptix is just outside the city and my commute was a walk along the river every day.”

During the internship, Pelesis worked on computational modelling of X-rays. “I learnt how to use a new software package to do Monte Carlo simulations of electrons interacting with a metal plate,” he says. “ These simulations predicted how much energy would be deposited when the electrons generated X-rays, and how this varied depending on the set-up of the equipment. It isn’t as good as doing a physical experiment, but it gives you some initial signs about which set-ups look most promising, so that fewer need to be tested experimentally.”

Pelesis emphasizes the importance of the soft skills he developed while he was there, through working as part of a team and giving presentations on his project. He recommends speaking to lots of people across a company to get a broader view and make the most out of an internship. “I talked to people from different departments about their roles and got an understanding of how a whole company works together. It’s also good for building up your professional network.”

After his internship, Pelesis stuck with his plan to go into medical physics, and now works for the National Health Service as a nuclear medicine clinical technologist at Singleton Hospital in Swansea. This involves carrying out various procedures, such as administering radiopharmaceuticals to patients and using gamma ray cameras to image their internal organs, to see if they are functioning properly. As a next step in his career, he wants to become a clinical scientist, which would involve more work on quality control of the medical machines and radiation protection, and less patient-facing work.

Pelesis advises prospective interns to not only ask their university departments about opportunities, but also search widely online and get a LinkedIn account. “It’s another way of finding opportunities and seeing what jobs are out there,” he says. “It also enables you to make the most out of your internship by keeping in touch with the people you meet there.” Pelesis is still in contact with his Adaptix supervisor, who has introduced him to other people who work with the NHS in Wales. “An internship is a great opportunity to learn from people and build up your network,” he says. “You never know where it might lead.”

 

Fun and games During Marion Cromb’s placement at software company Metaswitch, they created a Pokémon Go-inspired game during a hackathon. (Courtesy: Marion Cromb)

Marion Cromb “I learnt good coding practice, and the code was actually sold to customers at the end”

While the summer can be a nice break from studying, three months can feel like a long time to have nothing to do. After an extra-long summer between finishing a one-year art foundation course and beginning a physics degree at the University of Birmingham, Marion Cromb “never wanted to have another summer without much to do”. So they sought out internships to keep them occupied every summer throughout university.

Cromb had mixed experiences of internships. The first one was at a 3D-printing company based in London, and was unpaid apart from travel expenses. “I learnt a lot about employment law,” says Cromb, who ended up negotiating an early end date because the work was repetitive and not very interesting. “You should make sure you’re getting something out of it, and don’t be afraid to quit early if you’re not” they say, “especially if it’s unpaid.”

Despite this negative experience, Cromb searched online for internships the following year, and had better luck when applying to Metaswitch, a telecommunications software engineering company headquartered in London. The application process involved aptitude tests around basic maths and reasoning, as well as an interview. “You didn’t need specific coding skills. Metaswitch was going to train us, so it was just about making sure I had the fundamental skills and would be worth training.”

During the internship, Cromb was based at Metaswitch’s Enfield location, and built code designed to send manufactured data packets across a connection to see if there was any loss, which is a standard networking protocol. The code was built in the programming language C, and had to meet company standards. “That was great experience of learning good coding practice, and the code was actually sold to customers at the end, which was cool.”

Cromb was one of many interns at Metaswitch, and the company arranged lots of social activities for them to get to know each other. “It was 2016 – the summer of Pokémon Go,” they say. “The company organized a hackathon week, and we made a rip-off of Pokémon Go, called Metaswitch Go, where we used facial recognition to capture the faces of Metaswitch employees that you could put in your Metadex.”

Cromb did two further internships, both in academia. The first came about after they asked a professor at Birmingham, who was going to be their MSc supervisor the following year, about any potential projects they could do. The professor arranged a summer project in which Cromb investigated using laser light to improve the accuracy of particle tracking. Quantum uncertainty was the key: by increasing the uncertainty in the amplitude of the light you can reduce it in the phase, or vice versa, a trick known as “squeezing“ light.

Cromb heard about the second internship through an e-mail from their university, advertising a placement at Cardiff University. For this project they built a Michelson interferometer to be used in outreach demonstrations.

Comparing industry with academia, Cromb found that the industry placement was a lot more structured, with more guidance. “In academic placements, you often have less formal supervision, but you should ask for help if you need it. At one point in the project at Birmingham, we realized we’d spent a few weeks trying to do the wrong thing.” Another difference they found between academia and industry is that industry generally pays better. “Well, some industry pays better. Some doesn’t pay at all.”

Cromb advises prospective interns to apply to as many things as possible, “because you’ll probably get rejected from most things”. But there are lots of options out there, so it’s a numbers game.

Once you have a placement lined up, there are things you can do in advance to make for a smoother start. Cromb e-mailed their supervisor the week before to let them know what their pronouns are, and to explain what it means to be non-binary. “There are some things you can get out of the way before you arrive” they say, “to make sure you feel welcome when you get there.”

Of the four internships Cromb has done, three were positive experiences, but even the less helpful one was a good learning opportunity, and they still got something out of it. “I got to keep some of the things we 3D-printed,” they say. “I still have some miniature replicas of museum statues and a wobble toy of BB8 from Star Wars.”

 

Practical practice Claire Houghton ran experiments on real equipment at vacuum-products firm Kurt J Lesker. (Courtesy: Paul Stead Photography)

Claire Houghton “I got to see real scientific experiments, where no-one knows exactly what’s going to happen”

While immersed in your studies, it can be hard to see the bigger picture of what physics is used for beyond academia. When Claire Houghton was studying physics at the University of Sussex, she decided that she wanted to use her physics knowledge in her future career, but she didn’t want to do a PhD, so she started looking for internships to discover what options were out there.

“I signed up for SEPnet, which the University of Sussex is part of, and I got a booklet with project summaries and profiles of companies that wanted to recruit interns for the summer.” Houghton sent a CV and cover letter to the companies that she was interested in, and was invited to an interview at Kurt J Lesker, a company that makes vacuum products for research equipment.

After being offered an internship, Houghton moved to Hastings for the summer, where the UK branch of the company is based. She worked on a project looking at vapour deposition to create thin films of material, and investigating how the quantities of material deposited would affect the properties of the end product. “That was really exciting because I got to run experiments and learn to use real equipment.”

The following summer, she did another placement through SEPnet, this time at Adaptix (the medical-physics company in Oxfordshire that Constantine Pelesis also interned at), where she worked on a design for a portable 3D X-ray machine. “I was looking at the percentage of electrons that were lost depending on the set-up, to find the electric field that would maximize the number of electrons getting to the place where they would generate X-rays. At university you always talk about the theory of things, but actually seeing the application of the physics that I’d been learning was really exciting.”

Working in the real world comes with its hazards though. While running one experiment, Houghton began to hear sparks, and see flashes like lightning, indicating that the electron paths had gone wrong. “It looked like the beginnings of a fantasy movie where someone’s going to get hit by X-rays and turn into some kind of superhero,” she says. “We had to press the big red emergency button to stop the experiment. It was one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done. You always see these big red buttons and think it would be terrible to have to press that. Luckily we switched it off in time, so nothing got broken.”

For both internships Houghton moved to a new place. “That was exciting as I got to explore a new area and it made it feel like a real job.” She also joined in with social activities. “At Adaptix we would go out for drinks together some evenings, and we had a sports day with other companies that were based at the same site as Adaptix, which was fun. Watching all these very smart scientists doing three-legged races was funny.”

Houghton now works at Diamond Light Source, a synchrotron facility in Oxfordshire, and she uses many of the skills she developed during her internships. “I really enjoyed the mesh of theory and practice, and my current job has both elements. I work on diagnostics, using experiments and simulations to understand the reason for something going wrong,” she says. “Often at university you don’t see things go wrong in experiments – or if you do, then you already know the reason. The internships gave me an idea of real scientific experiments where no-one knows exactly what’s going to happen, so things might not work perfectly, and part of it is working out why. I really enjoyed that problem-solving aspect.”

As well as helping Houghton decide on her future career, the internships also proved valuable when it came to applying for jobs. “At the end of both internships I created a poster or a report on my project. That’s something you can take with you to an interview and show as concrete examples when they ask about when you’ve used problem-solving skills or worked in a team. It also shows that you’ve thought about what you want to do, rather than just applying for any jobs you see after graduating.”

To find an internship, Houghton suggests going to your university careers office, because they will know about opportunities in your area, and also signing up to a mailing list for internships and graduate schemes.

“Apply to everything that interests you, even if you don’t think you have enough experience. A lot of places looking for interns know that people won’t have experience, but they know that you have gained a lot of skills while studying physics, and you should trust that you have too, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Both internships were really useful in seeing how I could use those skills in my career.”