About Me: Ava

Hello all! As is my nature, I am a few weeks behind An and Kate on the introduction post. Right under the wire, we leave in 2 days!!

For a quick self-reflective overview...

At MIT, I am studying Materials Science and Engineering (woohoo Course 3!). And am hoping to minor in Spanish and Energy Studies. I hope to use this discipline to aide in the global transition to a more sustainable energy system - specifically interested in photovoltaics and energy storage technologies. I am lucky to be able to participate in research related to this at MIT. Right now I am UROPing (Undergraduate Research Opportunity) in the Grossman Group, working on transparent photovoltaic cells. On campus, I am a member of the MIT Climate Action Team (MITCAT) and Women's Club Soccer (with Kate ! ).

In Santiago, I will be working at a summer training camp for the International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT: http://iypt.org/Home).

We will be helping high school students research, experiment, and prepare presentations on 6 of the questions that have been released. I loved my physics classes in high school and college and so can't wait to spread that passion through teaching.

I am incredibly excited to be traveling to Chile (Santiago mainly, but we'll also be visiting San Pedro, Valparaíso, and El Calafate in Argentina). Right now the majority of my knowledge of Chile (besides the last minute googling I've done in preparation for the trip) comes from one of my favorite books, La Casa de Los Espíritus (House of the Spirits) by Chilean author Isabel Allende. The novel spans from 1920's post-colonialism through the election of socialist President Salvadore Allende in 1970 and his overthrow via military coup in 1973. It's a great book, historical fiction interwoven with magical realism - I would definitely recommend it. I am looking forward to going to el Museo de la Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos to learn more about this portion of Chilean history and culture, as well as everything else there is to learn and see!

We'll be switching off writing about what we see and learn, and likely the travel and language mistakes we make as well :)