Alumni Update
Christine graduated from Rice University in May of 2009 and is currently pursing a doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. She is a member of Prof. Younan Xia's research group which pursues cutting-edge research at three major frontiers: nanotechnology, materials chemistry, tissue/neural engineering, and biomedical research by harnessing the power of nanomaterials to develop a novel toolset for studying complex biological systems.
NanoJapan Overview
My time in Japan was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went to Shinshu University in Nagano City for my internship and had a blast. I worked for Prof. Morinobu Endo, a famous nanotube researcher. I worked with his graduate students on the electric double layer capacitor and the Lithium-ion battery, as well as learning how to use a lot of
characterization tools like SEM, TEM and RAMAN. The graduate students in the lab were really fun and took me to visit places in the Nagano prefecture like the Olympic stadiums, festivals, museums and Matsumoto castle.
I tried a ton of new foods that I never would have thought I'd enjoy such as octopus, cuttlefish and raw horse sashimi. My favorite thing was the shopping though... Japan is on the cutting edge of fashion! I learned a lot of Japanese while in Nagano because I was the only American student there at the time. I have continued to take Japanese at Rice since I've been back. As for the research, I have been working at the Carbon Nanotechnology Lab at Rice for over a year. I do more bio-related research, but still in the field of nanotechnology.
NanoJapan definitely exposed me to all the fields of nanotechnology as well as giving me vital researching skills that I still use at Rice.
Before I left for Japan I wish I had...
Learned the writing system (hiragana and katakana). I managed to get it down a few weeks into the trip, but it definitely would have been a lot easier. While I was there, I wish I'd had the time to do more traveling outside of the Nagano Prefecture.
My favorite experience in Japan was...
It's a tie between watching the sun rise from the top of Mt. Fuji and the IORI Origins Cultural Workshop & Machiya stay in Kyoto.
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