Xavier Quintana
Name: Xavier Quintana Name of lab and location where you interned:Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM Lab where I interned:LANL LANSCE Lujan Center Description of summer assignment:Study neutron diffraction data of a metal-organic framework for applications in ionic fuel storage. What did you like about the assignment?I was able to use knowledge from my field as well as learn a lot more. Did you have a mentor? If so, describe your interactions with your mentor.I would regularly discuss the progress of my project with my mentor. What did you learn? (Both technical and professional skills)In addition to expanding my knowledge of neutron diffraction I also learned about crystallography and data analysis as well as laboratory procedure and the experimental process at a large Lab. Advice for other students about interning:I would advise other students to be as open as you can to learning new things and don’t be afraid to expand your horizons. Describe the hiring process you used to get the internship:I completed the NNSA Consortium Application and was contacted by both the Lab and the Program Office upon receiving the internship. What was your biggest challenge and how did you handle it?My biggest challenge was trying to resolve a problem that arose when I applied the data to a new analysis technique; although the problem was never completely resolved I was able to make a structural model from the data. |
