My Summer So Far!

Hey everyone!

So we’re a few weeks into summer, and it’s already been an eventful one! I just got back a couple weeks ago from Korea, where I was finishing up the iPodia class (a global innovation class we can take with students from 4 other universities- PKU in China, KAIST in Korea, Aachen in Germany, and Technion in Israel). It was a truly amazing experience! After working on group projects with students from these other universities all semester, it was great to finally be able to meet them and talk with them in person.

We got to do a ton of awesome things in Korea, including going to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), going to the Hyundai Factory, and staying overnight in a Buddhist temple. Our Korean teammates helped us navigate all of these things (since only 2 of the 40 USC students spoke Korean), and I can truly say that I have friends for life in the students from the other universities.

When I got back I immediately began working in my research lab again. I’m still working on my woodpecker shockwave project, although for the summer I’m also taking on more work in testing piezoresistive gauges to measure shockwave velocity and intensity. Similar to piezoelectric gauges, these devices use a change in the electrical properties of the gauge grid in order to determine the overall strain on the device. By placing one device on either end of a cylinder and measuring resistance changes, we can determine both how fast the shockwave moves, as well as the force with which it propagates.

We’ve still got a lot of summer left, and I plan on enjoying the beaches and some of the great restaurants LA has to offer in my free time. Still, I’m pretty excited already for everyone to return in the fall and get my senior year (yikes!) started!