Weekly Report - 07/11 to 07/15

Hi, guys!!

This week started with us getting ready to the Solar Fair, one of the biggest conferences in the world, that happened on Tuesday (July 12th).
Each team had a spoken person who gave a short presentation showing all the work we  have accomplished during these last weeks. The ISE Team spoken person was Gabriel and our presentation was focused on how communication and organization can lead your project to success and also how we've been working to improve these two areas.
Before the presentations, we walked around the fair divided into groups in order to do as much networking as possible. My group covered level 1 and 2, to get more involved with the following topics: PV Cells, Modules and System, Batteries, Energy Storage System, and Charging Technologies.
Sharing what I've learned there, one of the first companies I contacted was Fortune Energy and I had a really good conversation with the Senior Manager. I found out there are very few companies that sell solar panels nowadays.  He told me the reason for having a  kind of monopoly is the high initial investment and capital to sustain this business. He has been working in this sector for 4 years and he said, in the beginning, there were no companies selling solar panels, what means this market increased a lot in a short period of time.

In sum, I really enjoyed having had the opportunity to go there and know more about Solar Energy!

See you in the next post.

ISE Team

Weekly Report - 07/04 to 07/08

Hi, everyone!

This week started with a day off on Monday due to the July 4th. Me and my friends chose Los Angeles to spend the holiday. We arrived there on Saturday, in Santa Monica and we could see the sunset from the Pier, what was totally amazing! Then, we went straight to the hotel  and on the following day, we went to the Six Flags We had so much fun there! The park wasn't crowded, what intrigued me, because I have always heard about how the park is full, mainly in this period of the year. Maybe we got lucky! I can tell it was the best amusement park I have ever been! I highly recommend everyone who likes roller coasters to go there!

Now talking about work...

Past the holiday, I've worked on the following activities:

-Monitoring the Modeling Team
-Helping to create Templates
-Developing the Presentation/Poster for the Solar Fair

That's all! See you in the next post.

Weekly Report - 06/27 to 07/01

Hi, guys!

Today I am going to talk about what I've done this week.
Last Wednesday, we, the ISE Team, had a meeting with professor Suprita and I can tell it was very helpful because before it, we were kind of lost here, and she helped us to establish our main goal for the summer, which is support the other teams to reach their objectives and also improve the communication among the team members in order to get a more efficient workflow.
Aiming that, each one of us started to follow one team individually, helping them to create work plans, to follow schedules, to prioritize tasks and to communicate with other teams. We also started to use an organizational tool, the activity board, which I believe will help a lot the teams.
I am going along with Modeling Team. They are working on the 3D modeling of buildings, tracks and also on the shadow analysis.
I also have been working on the Financial Plan.  Me and Thaina are putting the individual budgets  together to get a final budget in order to find out how much money will be necessary until the end of the summer.
Basically, those were the activities that I've worked on the past week. Looking forward for the next weeks!

What makes me happy?

Definitely the answer is TRAVELING!

I found a new passion during this year I've been in U.S. I always liked to travel but I never had gone to many places before coming here. In the past year, I have been in places I had never imagined going so early. The first trip I took was to California, on last Summer. I went on a Road trip for fifteen days and I visited such amazing places like San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego. The place I most liked was Laguna Beach, LA. because I really love beach. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, so it explains where my passion came from. I feel so good when I am at the beach and for me there is nothing better than the combination of Sea, sand and sun. I also have been in Denver, CO during the Thanksgiving holiday and I loved that place! The city is so charming and cozy and even tough it was freezing I had so much fun with my friends. Then, I went to Miami for the winter break and I can tell you was the best trip ever. Me and all my friends from Brazil were together there and we had a really nice time! After that, I traveled to Cancun, Mexico for the Spring break and that place is incredible! The color of the sea is out of this world! I was especially happy because I just had passed through the Michigan's Winter, so I really needed a warm weather that moment. Finally, I came here to San Jose to be part of the Spartan Superway team and last week we had a vacation so I decided to go to Las Vegas to visit a friend who is studying at UNLV. I took the opportunity to go to Grand Canyon and it was the most beautiful sight I have seen in my life. I felt so small in comparison with that immensity of rocks.  Unfortunately I couldn't enjoy the clubs with the other Brazilians because I am underage. But it was a nice trip anyway!
I guess that's it.. I hope I can travel as much as possible during my life! Nothing is better than discover yourself on each place you visit!
Ps: I selected some pics of each trip  I mentioned above to illustrate better what I was talking about :)

Laguna Beach - CA

 Denver - CO

 Miami- FL

 Cancun- Mex

Grand Canyon - AZ

Introducing me!

Hi, everyone! My name is Marcela, I am a 20-year-old Brazilian exchange student and I've been in the U.S. since June 2015. I first attended Western Michigan University, where I did two months of English Course and then two semesters of Industrial Engineering. It was the most amazing experience of my life because I learned so much both personally and academically. Now, in a few days I am coming to SJSU to be part of the Spartan Superway Team and I have very high expectations. I hope I can help as much as I will learn! I know there is a lot to do, so let's make it happen! See you soon.