GEARE Students Abroad in 2022 - Part 4

As the world begins to return to some semblance of normalcy following the pandemic, we are thrilled to have our GEARE students abroad this semester all around the world. On a weekly basis throughout the semester, I will be sharing some of the experiences of the students abroad. The goal of these posts is to highlight the accomplishments and endeavors of our wonderful cohort of students abroad in 2022. In this week’s post, Nicholas Mori and Smrithi Pranatharthi Haran have shared some of their experiences being abroad.

Nicholas Mori is an Industrial Engineering student currently studying abroad at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Nicholas has had a unique experience so far as he went abroad last year in the fall to the Netherlands, where he was an intern with Tesla. While there he “worked on the batteries for the Tesla Model SX and Model 3Y programs, creating new line designs, developing machine learning algorithms, and making process improvements.” Since he has already been abroad for a while he has been able to do a lot of traveling, visiting “25 cities and 10 countries in 3 months in Europe!”

Currently, he is completing the study abroad component of the GEARE program in Hong Kong. Later, he will return to the United States for the summer when he will complete his domestic internship working for Microsoft. One piece of advice that Nicholas has for current students is to “Be flexible! Great experiences and plans might turn up, but oftentimes require a little extra time commitment.”

Smrithi Pranatharthi Haran is a Mechanical Engineering student currently working abroad at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. She is currently working on “a test setup to measure the carbon dioxide and oxygen production rate of microalgae used in a Life Support System with potential applications in long-duration space missions.” The coolest part of her research is “the fact that [she] gets to work with some really cool people in the Institute of Space Systems in the University of Stuttgart, including a former ESA astronaut Dr. Reinhold Ewald” Outside of work, she has enjoyed “exploring Stuttgart with other GEARE students and visiting Berlin to meet [her] sister Shivani and future roommate, Allie.

She is planning on “continuing [her] summer semester at the University of Stuttgart by taking some courses that will count as technical and mechanical engineering electives toward [her] Mechanical Engineering degree at Purdue.” She is excited to “start taking some classes and hopes to travel more soon enough!” One piece of advice that Smrithi has for current students is “don't be afraid to take the first leap of faith and give yourself time to adjust!” She has only been in Germany “for a month and though things didn't always go as smoothly as expected, [she has] learned a lot about [herself] and the adventures are worth the wait.”

After the pandemic made global travel impossible in 2021, it is great to have GEARE students back studying and working around the world in 2022! I hope to continue to share student experiences like these throughout the rest of the semester, highlighting two new students every week.