Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels, for helping to draft Sabrina’s profile.
Hailing from sunny and beautiful La Jolla, California (we’re jealous!), Learning Life summer intern Sabrina Pines is a George Washington University student with a penchant for helping people.
This penchant has taken many forms, but starts with her family. “Coming from a big Persian and Jewish family, I have learned the importance of making time for family no matter how busy I may be.” She has for several years worked in her family’s law and jewelry businesses, and helps prepare healthy family meals at home. Beyond her family, Sabrina has assisted children at a preschool; fundraised for and engaged toddlers and teenagers diagnosed with mental and physical disabilities; counseled pre-teens in summer camps; aided patients at a surgical center; fundraised to send medical supplies to developing nations; and helped carry out medical research at a hospital. Throughout, Sabrina has greatly enjoyed “meeting and conversing with different people, helping those in need, and working as a problem solver.”
Sabrina is currently majoring in psychology at George Washington University. For many years, her penchant to help people inclined her to become a doctor. Yet Sabrina’s coursework at GWU and her experiences working at a hospital and surgical center turned her on to organizational psychology as a means to empower organizations to achieve their goals, and help their customers, employees and communities.
Interning with Learning Life this summer from her home in La Jolla, Sabrina helped gather well more than one hundred Twitter-sized “tweets” (messages of 140 characters or less) on everything from sleep disorders to the birthdays of famous U.S. and world figures past and present, each with a link to more information online for further learning. Learning Life disseminates 2-4 messages via our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin seven days a week. Most of these messages are educational, whether they be facts or questions inviting readers to learn more via our quizzes, five facts, or big questions pages on Learning Life’s website, or at other educational sites on the internet. All this educational content takes time to research, draft and edit, so we are thankful to have volunteers and interns like Sabrina to help.
Sabrina also helped increase Learning Life’s Facebook likes, gathered notable quotes about learning, and researched facts about the D.C. metro area in preparation for Learning Life’s (former) “Weekly Learn” email offering D.C. area residents a free way to learn something about the history, economy, politics or demographics of their metropolitan community every week.
When she’s not studying or helping others, Sabrina enjoys cooking, playing tennis and piano. Every year from 2000 to 2012, she participated in a piano competition of the National Piano Guild that required memorizing and performing challenging classical music pieces before a judge. Her excellence in those competitions over the years led her to win the Guild’s coveted Paderewski Medal and a scholarship.
Asked why she decided to volunteer with Learning Life, Sabrina responded, “I decided to work for Learning Life because I believe the public needs to be educated on important facts to gain knowledge about world problems that have occurred in the past and present day. Learning Life is so accessible and provides simple, clear statements that any person at any place on the map can understand to form an opinion and use that information to debate, evaluate, and/or reflect on. I also wanted to be a part of an organization that would teach me something new every day to better myself personally, academically, and professionally.”
Sabrina’s research for Learning Life this summer helped us all learn some new and interesting things on varied topics from health to history, and for that we are grateful. Look for some of Sabrina’s interesting facts on our Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin pages in the weeks and months ahead!
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Is there intelligent life beyond Earth?
As our technology has gotten better at scanning the skies so has serious study of the universe. In this newest addition to our Big Questions Series, Learning Life’s Craig Gusmanninterviewed three prominent astronomers — Dr. Seth Shostak of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Dr. Dick Carrigan of SETI and Fermilab, and Dr. Jason Dworkin, Chief of the Astrochemistry Branch at NASA Goddard — on the big question: is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, beyond Earth? Their answers below offer stimulating perspectives on the question and the nature of life itself.
Dr. Dick Carrigan: I tend to take the view that the environment around our Sun is not that unique. We’re not a particularly unusual place. In fact, it seems that we’re quite average. Other Solar Systems have planets, so we may eventually stumble on environments that are substantially better for intelligence. There are a lot of stars out there, a lot of galaxies, so there are many, many opportunities for life and intelligence out there. Further, in the universe, there are some things that run fast and some things that run slowly. There is probably a wide variety in the amount of time it takes for intelligence to evolve. There may be intelligent life in the universe that is evolving much faster, and if we make contact with such life, we could be dealing with a much higher brand of intelligence than our own.
Dr. Jason Dworkin: The universe is an awfully big place. So, throughout the past and future of the universe and all of time and space it seems likely. Now, is there intelligent life outside the Earth right now elsewhere in the galaxy? Maybe. Elsewhere in a ten light-year radius? Possibly, but the chance seems small. There’s no evidence for or against. Furthermore, if life does exist elsewhere it’s hard to understand how you would even recognize it unless it was microscopic.
Life is actually really hard to define. You know it when you see it, but a good chemical definition of life doesn’t exist. The best definition is a chemical-replicating system capable of Darwinian evolution. So that means you can only know it’s alive if you see it’s reproducing and evolving. There are a few cases where, according to that definition, it’s not clear if a virus is alive or not. Fire is not. Crystals are not, because they don’t evolve. But they do replicate and they do consume energy.
There’s no evidence of life outside of Earth yet. It may exist. There are environments where life could exist, but there’s no proof that life is there. We very much want to find it, but right now we only have one example of life and that’s terrestrial life. If we have a second example we’d understand life a whole lot better by being able to compare it against something. All life on Earth is intimately related using all the same biochemistry. You start to wonder, is that the only solution to making life work — using DNA, RNA, protein, carbon bonds, water, membranes, that sort of thing? Is that the only way to make life? Is that the best way it works or is that just the way the Earth makes it?
Dr. Seth Shostak:We now know, thanks to work of NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and others, that most stars have planets. In addition, roughly one in five stars will have a planet similar in size to Earth, and at a temperature that could support liquid oceans and an atmosphere. In other words, it could be habitable. That amounts to tens of billions of “Earth-like” planets just in our galaxy. It would be extraordinary if our world were the only one to have developed not just life, but intelligent life. Although just having a lot of planets with life is not sufficient to guarantee that many of them (or any of them!) also develop intelligent creatures, in the last fifty million years many species on Earth have become more clever. Simians, dolphins, some birds…and of course us. So, it seems that intelligence has some survival value, and in any Darwinian system, you might then expect intelligence to arise eventually.
ABOUT THE EXPERTS
Dr. Seth Shostak developed an interest in extraterrestrial life at the tender age of ten, when he first picked up a book about the solar system. This innocent beginning eventually led to a degree in radio astronomy, and now, as Senior Astronomer, Seth is an enthusiastic participant in the Institute’s SETI observing programs. He also heads up the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Study Group.
In addition, Seth is keen on outreach activities, interesting the public — especially young people — in general science, but particularly astrobiology. He has co-authored a college textbook on astrobiology and continues to write trade books on SETI. In addition, he’s published nearly 300 popular articles on science, gives many dozens of talks annually, is the editor of the SETI Institute’s Explorer magazine, and host of the Institute’s weekly science radio show, “Big Picture Science”.
Dr. Jason Dworkin began research into the origins of life as a high school intern with Professor Joan Oró at the University of Houston, where he helped to investigate the prebiotic syntheses of amino acids and co-enzymes. He completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of California in San Diego, where he investigated pre-RNA nucleobases. He then carried out postdoctoral research at NASA Ames Exploration Center, studying complex organics from UV processed interstellar and cometary ices in the laboratory. He founded the Astrobiology Analytical Research Group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to study extraterrestrial organic compounds relevant for the origin of life via analytical chemistry. He is currently Chief of the Astrochemistry Branch at NASA Goddard and the Project Scientist for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission, which launches in 2016 to return samples of primitive near-Earth asteroid Bennu in 2023. For further learning, Dr. Dworkin recommend’s NASA’s graphic novels that explain the evolution of astrobiology with clear prose and engaging illustrations.
Dr. Dick Carrigan is an active physicist and Scientist Emeritus in the Accelerator Division at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) pursuing an on-going physics program there. He is also interested in investigations of the possibility of life andintelligencein the Universe. His major technical interests have included channeling of high energy particles, hyperon physics, the magnetic monopole conjecture, high energy scattering, pi and mu mesic atoms, photo production, and facility planning. He has been associated with several joint USA‑USSR collaborations studying high energy particle behavior at Fermilab and in Russia.
Thanks to Learning Life intern, Dimitra Rallis, for helping to write Ehvyn McDaniel’s profile.
“Carpe diem” (“seize the day” in Latin) should be Learning Life summer intern, Ehvyn McDaniels’ official motto. A rising senior at Georgetown University, Ehvyn is majoring in sociology, minoring in psychology and French, working to improve the lives of children, and dancing with a passion in the United States and abroad.
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Ehvyn has spent her last three years at Georgetown seizing growth opportunities of all kinds. Besides maintaining a 3.5 GPA overall and a 4.0 in her sociology major, she has served as a research assistant studying the history of law, an academic peer advisor for incoming first-year students, an outreach coordinator for the Georgetown University Dance Company, a volunteer organizer with Relay for Life, and an active member of the Georgetown Speechwriting Advisory Group and Adelfi, an all-women social group aiming to connect undergraduate women and powerful female figures in various walks of life.
Last fall, Ehvyn studied abroad in Sydney, Australia at the University of New South Wales to explore a country she knew little about. While in Australia, she fell in love with everything about the country, and seized an opportunity to dance. “I have been dancing since I was three and it is a huge part of my life,” Ehvyn explains. “While I was abroad I tried out for the New South Wales dance team, got accepted, and so was also able to dance competitively in a foreign country halfway across the world, which was really exciting.” That fall, the New South Wales dance team won the national competition.
Prior to working with Learning Life this summer, Ehvyn fostered a passion for working with children. Throughout her high school years, she worked with infants and toddlers as a teacher’s assistant in a daycare, where she organized a number of activities designed to develop basic motor skills and constructive interaction. In her time at Georgetown, she has taught Pre-K at Shaw Public Charter School, an inner city school in Washington, D.C. As Ehvyn describes it, her experience at Shaw has been “incredibly rewarding and eye-opening.” She explains that “It was rewarding to see pre-schoolers grow before my eyes, and eye-opening to see what they’re struggling with and what their lives are like at home.” Ehvyn plans to continue working with children in her career either as a family therapist or as a teacher.
Learning Life’s mission to inform and empower more people by spreading knowledge on everyday surfaces, drew Ehvyn to intern with us this summer. As she explains in keeping with her passion for helping kids, “there are far too many children who fall through the cracks of our nation’s education system, and as a result face an extreme disadvantage. By working with Learning Life to spread free knowledge, I am working to reduce the education gap and empower others.”
With Learning Life, Ehvyn has tackled a number of challenging projects, including gathering research and expert insights on two “Big Questions.” Learning Life’s Big Questions series, launched in 2013 with three Big Questions on terrorism, offers facts and resources as well as brief answers from experts on questions of broad public relevance. Ehvyn gathered evidence and reached out to experts for answers to two Big Questions: how and why is economic inequality increasing, and what can students do to get the most out of their education? In addition, Ehvyn has developed significant facts for social media dissemination, drafted several profiles of other Learning Life summer interns, helped grow our fan-base on Facebook, improved and expanded our database of potential fundraising sources, created a list of relevant educational websites, and co-produced inequality infographics (coming soon to our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter,Linkedin and Pinterest!) with fellow intern, Dimitra Rallis. She did all these things with her characteristic cheerfulness and earnestness.
We fully expect Ehvyn will continue to seize the day, and in so doing, she will surely help make the world a better place for children.
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Intern Profile: Lila Gonzales
Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels, for helping to write Lila’s profile.
If you’re into IT (information technology) or gaming, look out for Lila Gonzales. Lila is a rising senior at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia majoring in IT, with ambitions to enter the gaming industry. In the meantime this summer, she is helping to improve Learning Life’s website and conducting online research for us.
Born and raised in Bowie, Maryland, Lila is forging her path in the IT world, starting at Marymount, where she has taken courses in web development, networking, databases, graphic design, and other areas. Most recently, through a software engineering course, Lila and two other Marymount students were charged with creating a software engineering plan for an airline company’s website. Lila was able to lead her group to success as they not only met the project’s objectives but also created case scenarios mapping the course of different user actions. Lila went on to write an 11-page paper explaining the tools found within the Apple IOS Software Development Kit that are used to create IOS applications, earning an “A” for her work. (IOS is an operating system for Apple mobile devices, like Apple cell phones and tablets.)
Keeping up with her intensive IT coursework is not easy, but Lila still finds time to pursue her passion for Manga, a Japanese cartoon style the most popular forms of which are turned into animations, movies and video games. Lila’s IT work was born in her passion for Manga starting in 4th grade. “I have always had a curiosity for the coding behind the gaming software” she says. “In fact, one of my biggest goals in life is to work for a large gaming company like Nintendo or Sony.” Manga has also inspired Lila to produce her own Manga artwork. Lila posts some of her artwork on Facebook and on her page at deviantart.com, and has sold some of it at Otakon, an annual anime convention.
Lila also finds time to volunteer. Through Marymount, she has helped with community gardening, and organizing an annual Halloween party for underprivileged children in Arlington, Virginia. She has also served as a visitor guide at the Newseum, a museum about the news in Washington, D.C.
At Learning Life this summer, Lila has employed her IT experience to better integrate our website and social media. Lila installed the Facebook and Twitter feeds in the right sidebar of each of Learning Life’s website pages (the homepage excepted) as well as floating social media sharing buttons. She has also helped grow our Facebook audience, created a list of places online where we can get answers to website-related questions, gathered amusing and clever uses of surfaces like napkins (some of these images are forthcoming on our social media pages!), researched the use of sales receipts to inform and advertise, and more.
When asked why she chose to intern with Learning Life, Lila responded, “I decided to volunteer at Learning Life as a way to help improve my experience in the IT field. As an IT major, I was given the task to help improve Learning Life’s website through editing and installations. Though I am very new to this, I feel that I am broadening my knowledge in computers through Learning Life.” Lila’s broadening knowledge is happily benefiting Learning Life, and we hope will help her on her path in the world of IT and gaming.
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Sabrina is currently majoring in psychology at George Washington University. For many years, her penchant to help people inclined her to become a doctor. Yet Sabrina’s coursework at GWU and her experiences working at a hospital and surgical center turned her on to organizational psychology as a means to empower organizations to achieve their goals, and help their customers, employees and communities.
