FIVE UPM STUDENTS AT MIT
During the academic year 2022/23, five undergraduate and master students from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) have been able to experience a research stay at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the United States.
Thanks to the fact that the UPM is one of the Spanish universities with more variety in internationally accredited engineering degrees, students with very different backgrounds have been able to come to one of the best universities in the world to collaborate on research projects about very diverse topics, such as batteries materials, deep learning devices, analysis of feelings through machine learning, urban planning or breath analyzers based on semiconductor materials.
Besides being an incredible academic opportunity, it is also being a very valuable life experience for us, already allowing us to experience other realities and understand the ways of working in other parts of the world.
Now each one of them will make a small reflection of what this experience has meant for us:
Pedro Carrero: I am Pedro, a student of the Materials Engineering degree and my stay is being carried out in the Laboratory for Electrochemical Interfaces group, which is part of Nuclear Science and Engineering. During my stay I will participate in two projects related to lithium batteries and solid-state batteries of composite materials. This opportunity is being amazing at a professional and personal level and makes me appreciate my past training at UPM. I would also like to encourage colleagues to make the most of being in this university, both academically and in terms of mobility grants and internships because it really offers unique opportunities.
Luis de la Cal: I am Luis, I graduated in Software Engineering and I am currently studying a Master in Software for Distributed and Embedded Systems, I am doing my internship at the Center for Collective Intelligence (CCI). This lab focuses on the role of technology in analyzing and improving human interactions in order to promote collective intelligence. I am collaborating in different projects applying Machine Learning to the analysis of plants as biosensors and creating multimodal human sentiment analysis systems.
This experience is giving me the opportunity to explore areas of knowledge that I had never thought of entering, offering me new perspectives and helping me to meet people from other fields that always offer a valuable point of view. Even if you don’t want to travel, I recommend everyone to get out of their comfort zone and talk to people different from them, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “A mind expanded by new experiences can never return to its old dimensions”.
Alejandra Encinar: I am Alejandra, a student in the Mathematics and Computer Science degree and I am doing my stay in a group called City Science. This group aims to improve the quality of life of people by designing spaces where to live and work while creating more sustainable mobility systems between these spaces. In this way, they are trying to achieve an environment that is both innovative and sustainable. So far it has been an incredible experience and I can say that it has been worth the effort invested during these years, so I encourage everyone to fight for what you want despite the stones you find on the way!
Pilar Martínez: I am Pilar, a student of the Master of Mining Engineering and I am doing research stay on materials characterization for Electrochemical Ionic Synapses (EIS) and modeling os EIS. I would like to leave a phrase of the actress, Toni Acosta, that for me means what it has been like to come to MIT: “Dreams are not fulfilled, like a birthday. Dreams come early in the morning, you work hard, you study, you work and one day maybe that dream will come true”. Coming to MIT is a dream come true, and working hard previously both academically and in scholarships at the UPM is what has led me to be here. I encourage everyone to strive to achieve their dreams 😉
David Morales: I am David, a student of the Biomedical Engineering degree, and the truth is that since I entered the UPM I knew about the existence of this program, as coming to MIT was one of my dreams since I was a kid. I’m not going to lie, it has not been an easy road to get here, but I can say that it has undoubtedly been worth it. Currently, I am working on a project to develop a breathalyzer that will help diagnose a variety of diseases just by analyzing patients’ breath samples, which will help achieve an instant, simple and inexpensive diagnosis of many conditions.
