The DOE NNSA LRGF program significantly improved my graduate experience. Specifically, the support that the Krell Institute and the LRGF provided me helped focus my thesis research, granted me greater exposure to the national laboratories, and improved my confidence in reaching out to experts in the shock physics field. Once I joined this fellowship, the burdens of being a teaching assistant were removed from my schedule, increasing the amount of time I could spend on my thesis research by 20 to 30 percent. I used this time to add an additional project to my thesis, which I believe significantly helped in obtaining a staff position at Sandia National Laboratories. The LRGF stipend helped alleviate the various financial worries that come from being a graduate student. In addition, the LRGF allowance provided funds to build a high-performance Linux server that mirrored one node of the Los Alamos National Laboratory high-performance computing systems. The LRGF helped expose me to the national laboratories through a variety of venues, such as the 10-week laboratory residencies, networking at the summer SSGF/LRGF program reviews, and travel to NNSA-sponsored conferences like the Stewardship Science Academic Programs (SSAP) Symposium. I believe that these factors helped me confirm and obtain my dream job: a staff member at an NNSA national laboratory. This talk will cover my experiences throughout my tenure as an LRGF fellow and how it impacted my career aspirations and trajectory.
