Amidst the nostalgia, I am still trying to enjoy every minute of the next few days. Last week I presented my senior design project to a panel of three judges. This project was the funnest part of my academic career. The project required us to simulate two different power plants, chose the best one, and then do complete design of the more attractive option. I am really excited to continue this type of work in my career.

Even though I’m sad to leave I am super excited for the next chapter of my life. In June I will start working at Fluor Corporation as an Associate Process Engineer. I haven’t found a place to live yet but the plan is to move to Orange County next month. Before I start working, I’ll be spending some time in Arizona with my family and attending my sister’s high school graduation.

It has been a great 4 years and I feel so blessed to be a part of the Trojan family Hopefully you’ll get the chance to experience the same thing once you enter college. Good Luck!

-Stas

Dean Yates and myself at the Viterbi Award Ceremony

Super excited about winning the Center for Engineering Diversity Award

This summer I will be interning at the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) in Washington D.C.  OREC is a trade association that does lobbying on Capitol Hill for the marine energy industry.  While this internship is more in the policy arena than in engineering, it will give me the opportunity to dip my feet into the pool of renewable energy and get some experience with a different type of internship.  I am hoping to work in the field of renewable energy and sustainability upon graduation so this is the perfect opportunity to get experience in this area.   I am more than excited to have this opportunity, especially because I was awarded a stipend from the USC Dream Dollars program to fund my work at this non profit organization.

In addition to this internship I will be volunteering at ArtStream, a non-profit theater organization whose mission is to bring the arts to those traditionally underrepresented, such as people with disabilities, veterans, and the terminally ill.  I have worked with this group since I was a freshman in high school, so I have a lot of experience in the field and I know the teachers and actors quite well.  It will be nice to get back to working with ArtStream after quite a hiatus.  Check out some pictures below of my previous work with ArtStream:

Next fall I will be returning to USC for my senior year, when I will be applying to both job placements and graduate programs.  I haven’t yet decided what I want to do when I graduate but I’m trying to keep my options open.  Until next school year, have a great summer and fight on!

Welcome back! As you might know, 27 April was the last day of classes here at USC! Yep-on the semester system, you have 15 weeks of classes, and that’s it! A bit different from what you might be having in high-school. This Monday and Tuesday are what we call ‘stop-days’ …..a chance for you to collect yourself…notes, and study a bit before any finals you might have this coming week.  Finals go for a week from this Wednesday till next Wednesday. I have on Thursday, two Monday, and one Tuesday! Yikes! Wish me luck.

But whenever I think that all looks  grim in finals (and I am too guilty of this, given all the great buds and opportunities I have to relax around campus during stop/exam days), I think back to what one of my professors said in my sophomore year “there is life beyond exams” and funny enough, since it was a strength of materials class, he would say “I hope that this class has not stressed you out so much that you have left the linearly elastic region!”  ahahahha only engineers would laugh at this joke!

At any rate, wanted to quickly share with you what I’ll be doing this summer, so that you know where I’ll be reporting from!  I was lucky enough, with the help of some great friends who worked at Boeing last summer, to score an internship in the Aerodynamic Performance and Sales Support team at Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA) in Everett Washington! You might be familiar with The Boeing Company if you’ve ever flown in your life – and or if you are so much as thinking of going in to Aerospace engineering.
Ever seen the biggest building in the world?

      Well, now you have, and this is where I’ll be working!!!!!  Now, no pictures are allowed inside, but to give you a little perspective, there are full line assemblies going on in there, and the hangar doors allow for an almost 220 ft. wingspan to fit in between the pillars….in other words, fully assembled aircraft come out of there and head out to the completion facility.

I am really stoked to be working in my department because it will give me an opportunity to fuse my two diverse backgrounds that I have been talking about for ever- the hard analytical side of engineering as well as my (always growing) understanding of the markets and study of human interaction through economics.

I start on 18 May, if all goes smoothly, and will be up there for most of the summer, until some point in August, when I’ll return back here to USC for my final year!

Some of my goals for this summer are:

-To become a finer engineer- Through a more detailed understanding of my specialization within aerospace engineering.

-To gain an appreciation of how government and professional industry interact in the arena of  commercial aircraft.

-To maybe even ride on a test flight!

-To become more productive and further improve my organizational technique.

-To learn as much about the company as possible!

-To meet loads of other cool interns.

-To meet John Cashman, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief test pilot and director of Flight Crew Operations.

On my way up to Seattle, I’ll be stopping in several places. From LA to Minden, NV, to visit the instructor that originally soloed me.  Then from there to Mt. Shasta, CA to see some beautiful natural sites. From there to Gresham, OR- an inside joke from a favorite movie of mine- Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino. Then from there straight up to Seattle!!  Here’s my map!

Be on the look out for Tweets as to my whereabouts during my drive up~ mid- May.

On a separate note, congratulations to all those Seniors who made their final decisions on colleges yesterday! You have worked hard and deserve it- if you are reading this blog, I think it is safe to assume you have chosen USC- so welcome to the family and FIGHT ON!

Be on the look out for updates this summer periodically to see more about what engineers at Viterbi do during the summer.

It’s been a great year with each of you and hope you all have the best of success on finals, and an excellent summer too!

Until soon!

As for this summer, I will be interning as I am eligible because I will be returning to school in the Fall. I found my internship through the USC Career Center, whom was helpful and ready to assist me throughout the job search process. They send weekly emails with info on available jobs related to your field of study and generally help out in the process of applying for jobs, readying your resume, and preparing for interviews. As for where my internship will be and what I will be doing…

That’s right! I will be doing consulting at Deloitte in downtown Los Angeles this summer. Specifically I will be doing technology consulting as a BTA (Business Technology Analyst) intern. Coming from an Electrical Engineering background with a solid grounding in problem solving skills, this internship will hopefully be another chance to apply my technical skills towards solving real-world problems. I enjoy studying engineering (don’t get me wrong, it’s the hardest thing around and prepares you for any career better than other majors), but I someday want to be doing marketing for electronics so I have been conjointly pursuing interests in business and emerging technologies throughout my time here at USC. This internship will hopefully combine the knowledge from all these experiences and apply it to the real-world.

Regardless of the project I am put on this summer, I am sure working at Deloitte will be an amazing working experience and a good judge of whether or not I would want to pursue a career in consulting upon graduating from USC. Internships are an awesome opportunity to pursue as an undergrad from Viterbi (or even as a grad student in my case) as they give you an idea of what the world is like in industry after finishing studying engineering at college. The possibilities are quite endless as to what you can do with an engineering degree so I would highly encourage everyone to pursue internships and “try out” the real-world to see if you actually like the job you want to get someday.

Other than my internship, I will be visiting some with my family in Northern California before moving to LA for good for the summer… I also will be seeing them all next week at graduation! I can’t wait to see some of my friends for the last time, as although the occasion will be sad in many aspects, it will be proof that we made it through 4 years of studying engineering and are heading onward to the real-world better prepared than our counterparts from other engineering programs. I may be biased, but that’s how I feel

Madrid

The two classes I’ll be taking are WRIT 340, the second undergraduate writing course required of all USC students, and HIST 195, a special topics course on cultural globalization and contemporary Spain. The writing course also counts towards my graduation requirement, which will free up more room in my schedule to take other interesting courses at USC.

Outside of classes, I can’t wait to practice my Spanish, explore Madrid and the surrounding cities, and learn more about the Spanish culture, not to mention eat lots of amazing food! The group has a couple of weekend trips planned, including to Andalucia and Salamanca, plus day trips to Segovia and Toledo. With the few free weekends we have, the group has talked about taking a trip to Barcelona, Paris, or Ibiza, but we’ll wait and figure out those details once we get to Spain. I also have friends studying abroad in Rome, Paris, and Belgium, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to catch up with them.

Here are some pictures from my last visit to Southern Spain with an exchange program through my high school:

After the trip, a big group of us are planning to go to Pamplona for the annual Running of the Bulls, as a part of the San Fermin Festival. We planned this trip as soon as we were admitted to the program, so this is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my summer. After that, my parents are joining me and we are going to Barcelona and Paris, before heading back home to San Diego.

Running of the Bulls in Pamplona

San Diego

Once I’m home, I plan on catching up on sleep and rest in the month that I have before returning to school for the fall semester of my junior year. It’s hard to believe that I’m already halfway through with college, but I can’t wait for this year to end so I can go to Madrid!

Have a wonderful summer everyone! See you in the fall.

The beginning of my summer is going to be super busy.  First, after getting approval and making some adjustments to my finals schedule, I’m actually leaving a week early to go to Taiwan for my Engineering iPodia class.  We’ll be in Taiwan for two weeks finalizing our final project, giving our final presentations, and touring a little bit of Taiwan.  From Taiwan I am flying straight into Houston, Texas for my Internship Orientation for my summer internship at Accenture.  I don’t know much about Orientation except that it will be a two-day event where I’ll get to meet other Accenture interns from around the country.  After the second day of orientation I will catch a late flight back to Denver, CO.  The next day will be my first day on the job!  I’m hoping I won’t be too jet lagged from all that traveling and plan on sleeping on the plane.

The week I finally get back home is actually my sister’s highschool graduation.  Several of my family members are flying out from California for the week.  I’m really looking forward to my sister’s graduation and I’m very proud of all the hard work she’s done the past four years.  Although she’s going to ASU instead of USC, it will still be fun to give her a hard time when we play them in football this upcoming season.

After my internship is over I have to be back at USC a couple of weeks early for RA training.  Before all the other students start classes, RA’s have to undergo about 2 and a half weeks of training.  During these next few weeks we’ll learn all about how to plan a program, safety protocols, and what other responsibilities we have as an RA. It will also be a great opportunity to get to know the rest of the RA staff before the year actually starts.  Since I’ll be at USC early, I will also be helping the new students move in so I may see some of you on move in day!

I have exactly one month off between graduation and the start of my job and I’m planning to enjoy my last summer break for a while. A few days after graduation, I’ll be taking off for Europe with my parents and brother. We will be exploring northern Spain and southern France, starting with one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. Last time I was in Barcelona it was on a weekend trip I took with friends from the Viterbi Overseas Program, so I’m looking forward to showing my parents and brother around, eating good paella, and enjoying churros con chocolate.

After I get home, I will have approximately 2 weeks to rest up in Los Angeles, get everything settled for my new job (read: learn how to dress like an adult instead of a college student) , and enjoy my last lazy days of freedom. Come June 11, I will be a real life civil engineer with KPFF Consulting Engineers in Los Angeles.

I know transitioning from college student to full-time working adult will come with its fair share of challenges, but I’m really excited for this new phase in my life. I’ve spent the last four years learning how to be an engineer, but I’m excited to start meeting with clients, designing real projects, and practicing everything I’ve been learning about. Between my experiences with group projects and my internship last summer, I’m feeling prepared for what I will encounter — not that I will know how to do everything (far from it), but that I will know how to learn how to do what I need to do. It’s also fun that I have quite a few friends who are staying in LA, so I will be able to stay in touch with them, while still meeting lots of new people.

I can’t believe that four years of college have flown by so quickly, but you know what they say — “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Well, I’m not there quite yet. I have two finals left, a paper, and a project BUT I am done with my classes (that includes mechop! Yay!). And I am able to get through all of this because this time in two weeks, I will be in Taiwan with fellow VSA’s Emily and Ashlyn for a trip through our I-Podia class. I’ve never been to Asia so I’m super stoked for the experience.

I WILL climb to the top of that building

Then, the day after I get back from Taipei I start my internship with SpaceX. While I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing yet, I’m excited to work for such a cool company that is trying to privatize spaceflight, something that I have wanted to be involved with ever since I was a child. So, I’ll be staying at USC and commuting to work which is about 20 minutes. That means I’ll get to still hang out with all of my friends at night and on the weekends.

One of the rockets I'll hopefully get to work on!

Outside of work, I hope that I can finally get my scuba certification, go hiking, go to the beach A LOT, and maybe take a trip to Vegas or San Francisco (or both!). Have a wonderful and relaxing summer!

After my freshman year, I spent the summer at home in Wisconsin teaching tennis and being a camp counselor. It was great!

Leadership camp skits are the best. Later in this same skit, I was eaten by a shark.

This is what high production values look like

Last year, I studied abroad in Rome with the Viterbi Summer Overseas  Program and it was AMAZING.

I WANT TO GO BACK!

You can read about my experiences at www.viterbistudentsabroad.usc.edu. Pretty soon that website’s gonna be filled with posts from this year’s study abroad students, and I couldn’t be more jealous. I can’t even read through Lauren’s post about going to Florence this summer because it will make me too nostalgic. You should probably read it though, haha.
Anyway, this summer I am embarking on a whole NEW kind of adventure. It’s the kind of adventure where I get great, real world engineering experience and learn more about what I want to do with my life. That’s right, cats and kittens, it’s INTERNSHIP time.

This summer, after heading back to Wisconsin for a week, I’ll be back in beautiful Thousand Oaks California working at Amgen, a large biotech/pharmaceuticals company.

I’ll be working as an information systems intern, not a biomedical engineer, but I will still be learning a ton about the biomedical industry and broadening my skill-set.

This is the Amgen Campus! I'll be living and working here!

Next year, I’ll be co-president of the Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering, and though I won’t be president, I’ll be continuing my involvement with Colleges Against Cancer and Relay For Life, which I inexplicably never blogged about so you bet you can look forward to that post next fall! I’ll also be a Freshman Academy Coach again. I’m also taking sailing, so that will be fun!

I cannot believe I’m about to be a senior. Part of me is not ok with that. Oh well, at least I’ve got my Progressive Degree Program to keep me around Viterbi for an extra year.
See you next fall! (Unless you come to the On Campus Admitted Student Reception this weekend, then I’ll see you Saturday!)

http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/pdp/

Although tomorrow is the last day of classes, I still have a number of things to wrap up before school is over, including 4 large projects and 2 finals!!

However, I am kicking off the summer by traveling to Taiwan next saturday for the conclusion of the Viterbi Ipodia class that I’ve been involved in. We’ve been meeting jointly with Peking University in Beijing and the National Taiwan University in Taipei for the semester, and once I we get to Taipei, my group will be putting the finishing touches on an innovation to make bike transportation on campus more safe and efficient. Here are some of the students in Taiwan that we will be working with!

Then I’m coming straight back from my 2 weeks in Taiwan to go to work at Boeing! Last summer I was working in the Satellite Integration and Test department, and I’m coming back this summer to the same facility, but in the Spacecraft Definition, Design, and Development team. I specifically asked for this opportunity, because I really enjoyed my Spacecraft Design class last fall and want to see how I might like it as a profession. Therefore, I will be staying here is sunny SoCal for the summer!!

In the beginning of July, I’m traveling back home to Indiana for my sister’s wedding! She’s been dating Kyle for all 4 years of college, and they’re tying the knot! I’m the maid of honor, so right now I’m working with our friends back home to arrange a good bachelorette party! It will be good to see the whole family and to be there for my sis, I love her alot, and we’ve gotten even closer even though I’m thousands of miles away.

Finally, I’ll be doing a few projects over the summer. One is a potential opportunity to compete for money with my mad nerd skills, and I won’t say anything more than that for now. Also, I am hoping to work on the website for the Society of Women Engineers, or maybe make another scrapbook like I did last year.

Apart from that, I’m going to take advantage of the area! Beaches, mountains, forests, rivers, hiking, tanning, food, music, celebrities, etc. etc. etc.!! I can’t wait to see what else I can do here!

Let me know if you have any questions about my summer, and have a good one yourselves! I’m already thinking about my life in the recent future when “summer” won’t be synonymous with fun, free-time, and general laziness, so I plan to make the most of it while I can (I have like 15 books from the book fair ready to be read under a baking sun