For this column, I had the chance to catch up with my friend Ben Squarer. Ben and I have grown close since we took “Physics 15” together freshmen fall, and although I have admitted defeat in the face of higher-level physics classes, Ben has always talked about physics with passion.

After completing Dartmouth with a major in physics and writing a thesis on nuclear plasmas, Ben headed across the pond and started his internship in Oxfordshire, England. He noted that the internship required fixed hours in the office, but he had to manage his time just like he did in college. The hours were more structured but less structured at the same time, which followed naturally from the thesis project.

He interned at a nuclear fusion company, where technology related to fusion energy is developed with the aim of inventing a world’s first commercial power plant. Ben’s field of academic interest fits into the company’s core research, and the internship has provided him with more clarity and direction on going to graduate school for physics. Ben’s passion for math and physics has always come from a pure academic perspective. I’ve always been inspired by how Ben can immerse himself in a 500-page textbook full of theories and Greek letters to extract information and how much he enjoys solving difficult problems even if it means being stuck for hours and days. The internship gave him a glance at the impact of research beyond theories, and he realized that having an industry perspective helps motivate more abstract work and bridge it with what makes sense in the real world.

He still wants to study more pure physics, but now with an industry application in mind. Fusion, as a field, requires discoveries in physics and solutions to engineering problems, where physicists, mathematicians, and engineers simultaneously contribute to the building blocks of a project. Ben admits that he first imagined grad school as independent work and solving problems that he finds interesting, but now he is inclined to work on larger projects. His close friends who also completed theses in physics, Owen Eskandari and Henry Prestegaard, worked on projects within a larger goal under their professors, and Ben now understands the motivating richness that comes with working on larger projects.

Every time Ben and I facetimed after graduation, he was in a different time zone. He was visiting family abroad and traveled across the United States to see friends from Dartmouth. Ben enjoyed spending time with people in their new “homes,” and seeing his college friends adjusting to new places and forming new circles allows Ben to meet people exactly where they are. He’s happy to be around Dartmouth people and excited to see where the next step takes him. If you ever catch him in your city, please give him a hug for me!

—Louisa Gao, 279 E 44th St, Apt 3L, New York, NY 10017; louisa.gao0922@gmail.com