C onexión IUE Boletín Institucional
Vigilada Mineducación
11 de septiembre de 2018 Edición 031 My summer ‘18 Internship at Institución Universitaria de Envigado Electronic Engineering Program culture’s foods. I was fortunate enough to work with IUE students in the two projects I was placed in. Just like the staff and professors who patiently and engagingly discussed concepts to me or their group, several of the students made special efforts to work with me, help me understand things, and get to know me. As an international student, I can honestly say all those gestures make such a difference and were very appreciated.
For my last summer as an undergraduate student, I decided to do an international internship in Colombia with the Institución Universitaria de Envigado, IUE. I had worked other internships at institutions closer to home in previous summers, and even though I genuinely enjoyed and learned a lot from those experiences, they did not focus on areas of research I was passionate about. Fortunately for me, this was not the case at IUE because they tried to accommodate me with my interests in mind. I still remember when I spoke with Jonathan Quiceno and Juan David Mejia over a video chat interview about what the internship entailed. They briefed me on the solar energy and precision agriculture projects they believed could captivate my attention based on my profile. I had mentioned I was interested in sustainability and renewable energies. After listening to their description of the program, I thought there were many goals shared in common. They asked if I would be interested in participating, and I said yes. Once I arrived to IUE, I remember my first day was guided by Jonathan, who showed me around the campus, invited me to breakfast, and told me about the student services they offered. I felt very welcomed by all of the IUE staff because everyone was friendly and seemed happy to let me and the other intern be there. If there is one thing I have always thought since meeting everyone at IUE, it is that the people are incredible. I feel especially lucky to have met so many people from the electronic engineering department, political science department, human resources, custodials, security, students, and even the school gym. They all went above and beyond to make me feel welcome. It was in the details of how they always smiled at me, took the time to teach me how to use a new software or research tools, explain how a thermocouple and luxometer function, invite me to skill-building workshops, or take the time to define a research question. I was invited to have breakfast or lunch and to have conversations to get to know my coworkers better. They all made sure I was not missing foods from back home by bringing me avocados or canned jalapenos, but they also made sure I could try their
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onexión IUE Boletín Institucional
As I mentioned before, I accepted my internship at IUE because I felt the program’s solar energy and precision agriculture projects had objectives that were relevant to my interests. That was important to me, and I was not disappointed. For the precision agriculture project, I worked with Professor Andrés Yepes. His work is really fascinating because it is innovative and he is very knowledgeable and optimistic. He is also very accomplished, hardworking, and very engaging. What I enjoyed most about this part of my experience is that it was very hands-on and inclusive for all the team members. Everyone played a role in the project and learned from one another. This project taught me how to utilize and understand motors, measurement instruments, and composting. In addition, I learned a lot about precision agriculture and they allowed me to be a part of helping build their compost area. One thing I really appreciated from this experience was being given the opportunity to go on a weekend trip with the group. We went to a farm where a biogas digester was built and utilized. This was a great experience because of my project back home, which is turning biomass into electricity. As expected, my 10 week internship was not enough time to finish my work with Yepes but will hopefully be continuing part of his experiment by taking data back home. For the solar energy project I worked with the well-respected professor, Mr. Ramon Del Cristo. I learned from him by going to most of his lectures twice a week. His classes consisted of reviewing and discussing basic electronic concepts and equations. In addition, we learned about solar energy as a renewable and alternative energy source. We also were assigned to work in sub-groups, in order to focus on assigned solar panel system components. Each week, students were to give a presentation on their component to help the rest of the team better understand how to build and operate solar panel systems. Unfortunately, I missed a couple lectures and was not able to participate on the more hands-on days of this project. However, Professor Ramon was also very kind, willing to help, a delight to listen to, and very knowledgeable. I feel he is approachable and his students spent time with me on several occasions to discuss any concepts I had doubts about. Because of that, I feel being in the project was fun and will be able to have any uncertainties cleared at any time, if I ask. My tutor, Juan David, was someone at IUE I was incredibly grateful to work with. He was my biggest support system and went out of his way for me on many occasions. He is the person who organized my scheduling, helped me understand my projects or taught me which questions to ask. In the beginning of my internship, he invited me to breakfasts to show me what was near the campus and to know each other better. Knowing Juan also helped me learn a lot about Medellin and the culture, which I think is important to include in an international internship. He also made sure my work progress was in order, while not hesitating to make sure my life outside of the university was going well. In regards to work, Juan also taught
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