It’s the first time I got to experience the wonderland that is the Product Realization Lab (PRL). That space is one of my favorite places on campus because you walk in and you’re surrounded by all types of different tools, the smell of machine oil and the sound of all the machines whirring, and a feeling of communal excitement where you know that everyone is there because they are passionate about building something cool.
One of my favorite memories was working on my ME203 project, which was a pretzel shaping tool. I remember spending an entire day in the PRL, working continually to finalize a single, seemingly simple, part. There was blood, and there was sweat; I don’t recall if there were tears, but there was a lot of stress. In the end though, I was very proud of my project because of all of the work I had put into it. It was more than a kitchen tool to me; it was a physical representation of the confidence I had built in my ability to design and actually make an idea come to life
PhD candidate
Bioengineering
I was always interested in how the world worked, and looking back now, I can see my interest in performance optimization developing over time.
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