Week 1: Sensor Installations!

Hi everyone!

I started my internship this week and on Tuesday I went to Beverly Farms Elementary School in Maryland to install indoor air quality sensors. Montgomery County Public Schools requested that there are sensors placed in every classroom, so in total there are over 10,000 sensors that need to be installed in the whole county! The type of sensors depends on what type of classroom they are being placed in. For example, the art rooms need sensors that can detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and the classrooms near the boiler room required carbon monoxide sensors. Every other classroom gets sensors that detect CO2 and fine particles (PM2.5 and PM10). Let me be the first to say that drilling through cement walls is painful! I could feel my muscles aching after each sensor installation, but the process was still super exciting and fun!

I also started some marketing projects for the company, such as creating LinkedIn posts and infographics, which will be the brunt of what I am doing next week. In terms of my independent research, I have been consolidating a lot of different sources and taking notes on what will help me answer my question. There are a lot of overlaps between what I am doing in my internship and what I am researching which has been super helpful. A huge thank you to my advisor Anna for helping me out with my research and giving me more insight into indoor air quality. Can’t wait to update next week!

Till then,
Anjali J.