Vienna Native Interns At Germany's Albert Einstein Institute

VIENNA, VA—A student hailing from Vienna is accomplishing stellar things during her time studying abroad.

Hannah Griggs, a rising senior at Bryn Mawr College in the Philadelphia suburbs, is studying abroad in Hanover, Germany over the summer. A physics and math major, she is interning at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, also known as the Albert Einstein Institute.

Her research centers around studying black holes, objects with strong gravitational forces formed when a star collapses. That includes measuring things like masses of the black holes and their distances from Earth.

Griggs learned about the internship opportunity at a physics colloquium given by the institute's director. The lecture sparked her interest in finding opportunities abroad. Little did she know she would end up at the same institute.

Like Vienna Patch on Facebook.

"As a double STEM major, going abroad is difficult, so I loved the idea of not only doing great research through the Max Planck society, but also being able to do it while in Germany," she wrote in a blog post for the college.

But she is expanding her horizons even beyond picking up new computer science skills. Despite her busy work at her internship, she has been able to visit other areas of Europe, such as Barcelona in Spain. She arrived in Germany not speaking any of the language, but she has been making progress over the summer.

"I have found the people in Germany to be very accommodating, however, and willing to help me learn. Overall, I am already very glad that I decided to take this risk and it has been paying off since the moment I got here," she said.

Griggs is expected to graduate in 2018.

Image courtesy of Hannah Griggs