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SPIRE-EIT 2025

Summer Program for Interdisciplinary Research and Education – Emerging Interface Technologies

Author Archives: Nathan Phillips

Test early, even when you’re not ready

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on July 16, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJuly 16, 2025

I’m definitely somewhat of a perfectionist, and I don’t really want to show someone what I’m working on until it’s in a state I’m happy with. But throughout the last few weeks, I have been really happy with the feedback … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Reply

Remembering the Important of Exploring with Drs. Wilford, Barakat, and Gilbert

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on July 15, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJuly 15, 2025

Over the last seven days we have had three amazing guest speakers at our luncheon lectures who all reminded me the importance of exploration in my learning. The first was Miko Wilford, a professor in Psychology focused on the behaviors … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | Leave a reply

Defining Success

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on July 7, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJuly 7, 2025

I started creating engineering projects about four years ago now, and in that time I have learned a lot about what it takes to actually make a project come to life. Some things I have learned include how to research … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Reply

The Middle of a Project is Always the Hardest

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on July 1, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJuly 1, 2025

Now that we are in week six of the REU, we are finally starting to develop our interface for the experiment for NAVI. This is a really exciting moment, but it’s also super hard and frustrating. With personal projects, I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Reply

How do you deal with not knowing the unknown?

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 26, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 26, 2025

When starting a new project, how can you know what tools to use, how long it will take, what roadblocks you will run into, or if your method is even close to the most effective way of solving the problem? … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 2 Replies

Weekly Luncheon Learns

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 19, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 19, 2025

The weekly luncheon learns that the REU organizes are a super incredible opportunity, and I’m so thankful that the team has organized them for us! Besides the free food (!!!) the luncheon learns are a great way to have some … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Reply

Staying on Top of Things (or failing to)

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 19, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 19, 2025

What’s the best use case for AI? Maybe it’s figuring out where all my time disappears off to 🙁 For the past about 2 weeks, I’ve felt like it has been really hard to stay on top of our research. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 3 Replies

History, Stories, and Wisdom

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 15, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 15, 2025

For a long period of my life I found history to be completely useless. I didn’t understand why I should care learning about these situations that are outside of my life. I thought that for the most part they were … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 4 Replies

How is being an intern?

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 11, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 12, 2025

Being an intern is super great, you get to learn a bunch of cool stuff while getting paid. Especially at the start of the program there seems to be a lot of flexibility on what you are working on at … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 7 Replies

How do we prioritize what research to work on?

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 3, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 5, 2025

I think people generally hold the notion helping people is good, and that time is a scarce resource. So when choosing research to work on, how do we choose the most important project. Given the potential for research to impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 4 Replies

Red Bull Soapbox Fun!

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on June 2, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 5, 2025

On Saturday after our escape room, we went to see the Red Bull soapbox race that was going on in De Moines and it was super cool! Although it was hard to see the actual races, it was a great … Continue reading →

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Initial Thoughts

SPIRE-EIT 2025 Posted on May 30, 2025 by Nathan PhillipsJune 3, 2025

After a few days here, I’m kind of upset that everything is so nice compared to KU and that it seems like there is so much opportunity for good quality research. Maybe my view is just biased because I’ve very … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Reply

Posts by Intern

  • Jacob Becker
  • Johann Chen
  • Alexa Hatcher
  • Madeleine Korver
  • Aidan Link
  • Jacky Sierra Lopez
  • Vanina Joyce Nguemsop Feutie
  • Nathan Phillips
  • Jake Shaheen

Recent Posts

  • Stephen and Eliot shoutout
    by Madeleine Korver
  • Meetings and ethics talk
    by Alexa Hatcher
  • Test early, even when you’re not ready
    by Nathan Phillips
  • Last Few Weeks
    by Jaqueline Sierra Lopez
  • Remembering the Important of Exploring with Drs. Wilford, Barakat, and Gilbert
    by Nathan Phillips
  • Iowa University
    by Jacob Becker
  • Breaking the Chain
    by Jake Shaheen
  • University of Iowa
    by Aidan Link
  • Cross Program – University of Iowa Presentations & Des Moines bike ride
    by Madeleine Korver
  • University of Iowa Presentations
    by Jaqueline Sierra Lopez
  • Presenting at U of I
    by Alexa Hatcher
  • Project Progress
    by Johann Chen
  • Luncheon Lecture & assorted thoughts
    by Madeleine Korver
  • Presentation
    by Johann Chen
  • Luncheon with Miko & Team Progress
    by Vanina Joyce Nguemsop Feutie
  • 4th day weekend
    by Jaqueline Sierra Lopez
  • Debra Kumar & Miko Wilford + student
    by Jaqueline Sierra Lopez
  • 4rth of July and Luncheon Lecture
    by Madeleine Korver

Recent Comments

  1. Madeleine Korver on University of Iowa
  2. Madeleine Korver on Cross Program – University of Iowa Presentations & Des Moines bike ride
  3. Madeleine Korver on Last Few Weeks
  4. Jaqueline Sierra Lopez on Test early, even when you’re not ready
  5. dtang on Cross Program – University of Iowa Presentations & Des Moines bike ride
  6. dtang on Project Progress
  7. natashal on University of Iowa Presentations
  8. Madeleine Korver on Luncheon with Miko & Team Progress
  9. Madeleine Korver on 4th day weekend
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