Yesterday was a very busy day but it was very rewarding. To start the day, we had our video interviews with Paul. I was not excited about this but I prepared well so I didn’t have to redo any of the interview questions. I was glad because I wanted to do it as quickly as possible. After that, we walked to the Union to set up for the symposium. I brought my laptop to show our prototype and a lab phone that we deployed the Unity version on. I really enjoyed the symposium because we got to finally show off all of the work we’ve done this summer. Some of my favorite parts were getting to show our project to … Continue reading →

This weekend, I chose not to do as much because we had a really busy week last week. Towards the end of the week , we had to present our projects to students from another REU at CUNY. I thought that it was fun hearing about their research on Thursday and it was interesting seeing how different their projects were than ours. For CUNY, they each had to do their own independent research project and they only had 8 weeks to do it. When we presented, we each had 15 minutes per group. I thought that all of our groups did really well but the CUNY group didn’t ask very good questions. They only had one or two questions per … Continue reading →

This weekend was pretty fun; on Saturday, we went to mini golf in the evening and then went to El Azteca afterwards for dinner. I had lots of fun at mini golf! We split into 2 groups to save time, so it was Andrea, Rodney, Angy, and I on our team. I think we did pretty good and it was funny watching Rodney and Angy try to beat each other. After, we played a couple of games in the arcade before going to dinner. I played a couple of rounds of Guitar Hero, which I really like, and a game of MarioKart. Harrison and I were bummed because neither of their basketball games were working so we couldn’t compete against … Continue reading →

Last night, I talked to my friends at home for a few hours while we played Minecraft. It was a lot of fun and I got to talk to some of my friends I haven’t talked to all summer. Later in the night, all of the girls got together and hung out and played with some makeup. It was a lot of fun and Harrison and Rodney joined in a little bit when they stopped by. This morning, we had an HCI class about interdisciplinary research. It was really interesting for me because I am always getting asked about how psychology fits into technology. To me, it’s hard to see how psychology doesn’t fit into technology and HCI, but hearing … Continue reading →

Last night, I didn’t do much with the other interns in the evening because I had a long meeting about marching band back at my university. Since I’m president of the band, I have to have a couple meetings over the summer to talk to the directors, exec board, section leader, etc. Later into the night, we finished watching the Elizabeth Holmes documentary for our Ethics class. I wish the one we watched went more into the legal battle, but it gave us a good understanding of everything leading up to them getting charged. This morning, I worked on standardizing the design of our app, while Angy added more screens and Chu Chu looked over the revisions on the Intro … Continue reading →

This weekend was lots of fun. On Saturday, we started the day early by getting to the Des Moines farmers market at 10 am. I didn’t buy much, but there was a really cool brass band there that me and Andrea listened to for a while. Afterwards, we all got food and went to Gray’s Lake to sit on the beach and go in the water a little bit. I mostly sat on the beach but went in the water up to my knees a couple of times. I definitely got burnt up, so I am dealing with that now, but I enjoyed it. Overall, it was super hot and sunny all day, but we still had fun. That night, … Continue reading →

Now that we are all busy working on our projects, we are having less time to hang after work. So, last night we didn’t do much but hang out and chat for a little bit before going to bed. This morning, we started working on a Figma prototype for our CommHEAT app. We decided on some features and sketches yesterday so we are recreating those in Figma. Chu Chu and Angy are working on learning app development in Unity while I am refining the design and researching our branding palette for the app. We have also started writing our paper, which I am taking the lead on since I have written the most in college. Later today we will keep … Continue reading →

This weekend was a lot of fun! On Saturday, my grandpa and 2 of his sisters came to visit me and bring me out to lunch. I showed them around VRAC and told them about all of the cool projects we are working on. We went to lunch at Sweet Caroline’s in downtown Ames and the food was really good. In the evening, most of us went out to a park and had a small bonfire. We made s’mores, which was really fun. On Sunday, most of us just did work in the morning and afternoon and then just hung out and chatted later in the night. This morning, we worked on our MCA projects more in the 3D printing … Continue reading →

Last night was pretty fun because we went swimming like I thought we would, but only me and Rodney ended up going. After that, I just did work and went to bed. This morning was a lot of fun! We had a lecture with Stephen about research in HCI and after he was our luncheon lecture speaker! In the first lecture, he talked about research methods in HCI, which was very similar to the research methods I have learned for psychology. Afterwards, he told us about his personal history, current research projects, and his time in Namibia. It was really interesting hearing about how he got where he is today and he used such a good storyteller. The overall message … Continue reading →

Last night was pretty fun. I got my MCA project pretty much nailed down after talking with Alex for an hour or so! At home, I talked with my friends from home for a while and then we watched yet another episode of GoT. This morning, we had a Craft of Research session about blogging and plagiarism. Yvonne talked about how it is important for us to blog everyday for a number of reasons and gave us tips on blogging. In the afternoon, we had lunch with a former REU intern, Holly, who eventually ended up going to ISU for the HCI masters and is now working in industry. It was really interesting hearing about her experience and how the … Continue reading →

Last night we watched Spirited Away in the big auditorium here in Howe Hall. I already knew I liked the movie, and it was fun to see the others’ reactions. I think most of us really enjoyed it and we are talking about also watching Howl’s Moving Castle sometime soon. Today, we had our first Deeper Dive session. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about 3D printing and additive manufacturing as a whole. We talked about why 3D printing is sometimes called “rapid prototyping”- which is because you can create models faster than with traditional methods (rapid) and those functional models can be used as a prototype (prototyping). We also got a cool demonstration and explanation of the different … Continue reading →

Last night, we did Zumba as our extracurricular! I thought it was fun but it was hard for me to match the instructor’s hands and feet at the same time. I liked getting to be active together and enjoyed the songs we danced to. Today, we did more in Unity and eventually made our Blender models into simple, but functional, games! In my game, you walk around a small amusement park to eat all of the cotton candy you can find. It is not a complex game, but I am still proud of how quickly we made the game. At the end of the day, we were assigned our Deeper Dive groups. I am excited because I got put into … Continue reading →

This weekend, we went to the farmer’s market in downtown Ames! It was raining the whole time, but we still had lots of fun. I got two loaves of bread, a cupcake, and a book from the local bookstore. I enjoyed getting to talk to the people and get some good food. That night, Harrison, Lydia, and I laid in the grass and looked at the stars. I made more banana bread last night and had some for breakfast this morning. Today, we started putting our Blender models into Unity. It’s cool to get to see our models at all angles and I’m curious what we’ll do later today. Tonight I think we will watch more Game of Thrones and … Continue reading →

Last night, most of the interns hung out at our apartment and just told stories and gossiped. I liked getting to know people better and hear some of the funny stories! Today we are doing even more Blender. I am still finding it difficult, especially because a lot of the tutorials have a different version with different options and buttons. I have made some simplified shapes for my project but I still have a lot to go. I am currently writing my blog as we are sitting under the water tower in the sun I’m not sure what we’re doing tonight, but I’m sure we’ll have some fun. Here is a picture from right now:

Last night, we did light painting with Paul in the photo studio! We created some really cool pictures and had some fun messing around. After that, most of us just did work independently and then we watched Game of Thrones at night. Today, we started the day with more Solidworks and put together the parts we made yesterday. I really enjoyed this because it was like putting together a puzzle! I experimented with some weird textures and backgrounds after it was assembled. After that, we started working on Blender for the first time. We had to try making a cat face out of a sphere. I think this went okay but it is definitely harder for me than Solidworks. Tonight … Continue reading →

This weekend, we got up early on Saturday to do some physical bonding exercises and do a high ropes course. These activities were very intense. We had to pick each other up, Lydia stood on Harrison and Chu Chu’s shoulders, and lots of people got at least a little sore or injured… Sunday morning, I made French toast for everyone that was home! I made banana bread the day before so I used that and some chocolate chip brioche I had in the pantry. That evening, there was a picnic where we got to meet lots of other REU interns and got some good BBQ! Today, we started learning Solidworks. I don’t think it is that bad, but the homework … Continue reading →

Last night was a lot of fun because Harrison, Lydia, Rodney, Chu Chu and I went swimming in the state gym pool for the first time this summer! We played in the whirlpool, watched Harrison jump of the high dive a few times, played lots of water basketball, and relaxed in the hot tub a little bit. It’s been a long time since I’ve been swimming so I had lots of fun and am excited for the next time we go. This morning, we went around campus with Paul to take pictures for the website. We all got matching shirts with the vintage mascot to wear for the photo shoot. After we got back, we had our next lunch & … Continue reading →

Today we started with the 2nd lecture in our Craft of Research series. We were able to work together in our research teams to come up with short project statements for our respective projects. This will help us in the future with our writing and it will also help us explain our research to other people. So far, I am enjoying the craft of research series, but a lot of it is stuff I am already familiar with. Later in the day, we got to have lunch with Dr. James Oliver. He had lots of great stories about his career and research where he gave us 3 things to remember: 1) under-promise and over-deliver, 2) don’t be a wallflower, and … Continue reading →