I was selected to be a part of the RISE Summer Program. RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering. The goals of RISE Scholars are:
* to be introduced to female mentors and role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
* to apply their academic knowledge to real-world problems
* to strengthen and support professional development
* to be equipped with advanced training in team skills, interpersonal communication, and project management
* to be encouraged to continue their education by pursuing graduate degrees and exploring careers in science and engineering fields
* to provide high-quality opportunities for RISE Scholars to enchance their research and knowledge, skills, and ablilities
Today we had program orientation and got a chance to meet everyone in the program, if not only for a brief period of time. There are 15 girls and one guy participating in 5 different engineering related projects this summer. Most everyone seems really nice, though a few of the girls come off as having that nice female engineer attitude that I've noticed a lot of the female engineers at VT having (I hope I don't have that attitude). Having a guy show up to the program threw me off at first... he's even in the aerospace engineering team that I had put as my first choice.
Anyway, my project for this summer is: Measuring and Modeling Performance and Efficiency of Integrated Electronic and Optoelectronic Circuits. And I'm very lost at what we're doing so I'm not going to be able to explain it for a while. My faculty advisor/mentor is Dr. Pamela Abshire. She's incredibly nice and even went to Roanoke Valley Governor's School! :) Yet again, I'm shown that its a small world after all. Its looking like our hours will be 9:30 am until sometime between 4 and 7 pm.
Anyway... My personal goals for this summer's experience I think are to get a good base knowledge in electrical engineering (something that may or may not be helpful for me in the aerospace engineering field in the future) and to be confident and knowledgeable about whatever research, etc I end up doing with the project.
Well, that's about all for now.
