Today I got lost on the road of life.

Work experience

Nelumbo

Test Engineering Intern

As a test engineer, I was in charge of creating new tests to measure material properties such as heat flux. I automated the tests and was able to use Python to quickly assess the collected data to produce relevant graphs and videos of the process. At Nelumbo, metamaterials with high droplet ejection are created. Droplet ejection is when two nucleating drops of water touch each other and eject off the surface. One of the most interesting experiments was to measure the heat flux of the surface. Once filmwise condensation forms on a surface, the thermal resistance is increased and the total heat flux decreases. If a surface is able to continuously eject droplets, there will never be an onset of filmwise condensation and theoretically the heat flux is very high.

• Designed, executed, and improved tests to gather repeatable data.  Control samples showed heat flux, temperature, pressure, etc. to fall within 2% of each other across experiments.

• Used Python to interface data acquisition devices with sensors to collect real time data.

• Automated tests with Python and created scripts to analyze test data, saving 1 hour of time.

NAFLD Research Center - UC San Diego Health

Volunteer Lab Assistant

My first and foremost responsibility as a lab assistant was to process patient samples for cutting edge research. Currently, the only way to guarantee a diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is to have an invasive liver biopsy. Hopefully a non invasive procedure can be found by analyzing patient samples. 

A note on the database in Excel: Patient samples are stored in -80 C freezers. The previous database only specified which freezer the samples were located in. To find samples, dry ice was poured out over a table and the racks with samples had to be pulled out and manually inspected. The new database is a cutoff where all the new samples that are processed are stored in a freezer, labeled rack, and finally a box within each rack. This allows for an operator to reference the database and quickly take out the sample without risk of the cells thawing and degrading.

• Prepared over 5 patient samples a day  for lab testing by separating plasma and serum cells through centrifugation.

• Created a new database in Excel for efficient organization and quick location of samples. Time to find samples reduced from 5 - 10 minutes to less than 1 minute.

• Trained new volunteers on safe and efficient lab techniques.

Torrey Pines High School

Peer Tutor

I peer tutored Japanese for the Japanese National Honors Society. I also peer tutored the underprivileged community at the Encinitas Library. My favorite memory from peer tutoring at the Encinitas Library was with a girl named "Zoe." Zoe was struggling with math, and after backtracking a couple of concepts, I found the root of the problem. I studied Khan Academy and created custom worksheets to bridge the gaps in her current knowledge and catch her up with the rest of the class. The change in her confidence when approaching new problems was astronomical and I could not be happier for her growth.

• Worked one on one with students in algebra, calculus, English, and Japanese.

• Created personalized worksheets and lessons to enhance problem solving skills.