My name is An Vuong, a U3 student majoring in Physics, a recipient of the Science Undergraduate Research Awards 2019. I am grateful to have a wonderful summer doing research here at McGill University, all thanks to you and your generosity. I would like to sincerely thank the donors for providing me financial support to make my research possible and would love to tell you more about my incredible experience this summer.
Before getting to the main part, I would love to briefly introduce myself and explain the reason McGill is the place for me to pursue a degree in Physics. 3 years ago, I came to Canada for the first time from Vietnam with high hopes for a life-changing experience with amazing opportunity to let my passion for Physics and science thrive. I chose McGill University because of its renowned reputation in academic and research. During 3 years studying here, McGill University has exceeded my expectation!
I worked in professor Cooke lab from the beginning of May up until the end of August. I was assigned a project in designing and setting up a terahertz pulse laser. This project can be summarized as designing, monitoring and writing a program to control the laser system for any further usages. My contribution to this project was to set the system up, calibrate the signals accordingly to any given materials, and write a program to control and analyze any data collected. Throughout the course of 4 months, I was able to successfully set up the system and finish up the program with multiple test runs on 2 different samples. From the success of this project, the system now can be used for further study of different materials and as a tool to familiarize students to the field of ultrafast spectroscopy.
Thanks to your generosity, my life in Montreal this summer has been one of the best I have ever experienced. I was also able to travel home for 2 weeks to visit my family in Vietnam in early June. This summer has changed me both personally and academically. Venturing around the city through different gorgeous neighbourhood, I learned the beauty of this city and the hospitality of its people. I had the chance to talk and interact with locals and learned more about Montreal from the point of view of real Montrealers. I also got to experience the vibrant and dynamic atmosphere surrounding Montreal with its fantastic festivals. All of this was made possible, thanks to the donors.
Coming out of SURA this year, I grow more as a scientist. This award has helped me find a new passion that I would eventually venture on for the upcoming years in my research and potentially be the career I pursue in the future. This milestone has done so much more than what I could possibly imagine. I learned a lot about lasers as well as programming in Matlab. I have become more professional in carrying out research and got to know the amazing environment that all physicists in the world are living in everyday.
To conclude this letter, I would like to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to have an amazing summer doing research at McGill.
Sincerely yours,
An Vuong