Princeton 2013 Student Sharing

I am totally amazed by the extensive research I conducted and talented people I met in Princeton, where my horizon was broadened and my vision inspired. During my internship, I was working on the project “Optical Trap Assisted Nanoimaging” in Prof. Craig Arnold’s group. Basically, the imaging resolution of a conventional optical microscope is limited by diffraction to several hundred nanometers when using visible spectrum light which, prevents one from observing smaller features such as viruses or biomolecules. In my work, we demonstrated a new method, named optical trap assisted nanoimaging, which can observe full-field images smaller than the minimum feature size of conventional optical microscopes. Optical near-field techniques allow one to overcome light diffraction by positioning an optical element in close proximity to the surface of interest. In optical trap assisted nanoimaging, this optical element is a microbead (for example, polystyrene, with a diameter of 4 μm) optically trapped above the substrate in a liquid environment. The microbeads are trapped by a CW Bessel beam that can manipulate the microbead in a controlled way. This enables optical trap assisted nanoimaging to scan a full-field zone of interest instead of several scattered points as previously demonstrated in previous research. This work can open a new door to observe colorful viruses and biomolecules in real time.

The research itself is cool, but what I appreciated more is the considerate people and productive environment I experienced in Prof. Arnold’s group. It was the first time that I conduced laser research, so when I entered the group, I almost knew nothing about it. My advisor and mentors guided me along the way, from initial literature review to actual experimental implementation. The group meeting every week gave us the opportunity to make our work systematic and to communicate with each other. Through the process, I also learned how to conduct research from being helped by my mentors, to being capable of working independently. As a result, I have implemented the experimental setup and successfully resolved lines spaced 500 nm apart using high-speed microscopy with highest resolution of 1000 nm.

Nevertheless, HKUST-Princeton research program is more than just research. It is also an opportunity to build friendships with international characters and experience a different culture. Thanks to a series of activities, happy hours and gatherings provided by the Keller Center every week, we made friends with interns from Germany and eLab students. We also spent our free time together by eating exotic food and enjoying sightseeing.

On the other hand, there are several suggestions that I want to give for following HKUST-Princeton Research Program students. First and foremost, try to communicate with as many people as possible. I believe many of you who participate in this program perhaps want to pursue graduate study in USA. Then this is the exact opportunity for you to explore graduate life and applications tips. You can meet with professors to get a clear idea about their research perspectives, or chat with graduate students for obtaining practical advice. Secondly, make a plan before coming to Princeton. Princeton is a super junction which is very close to New York, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City. During weekends, you will probably want to visit those places, so making a travel plan before coming to Princeton would be awesome.

All in all, my experience at Princeton was memorable and exciting and all the joyousness could not exist without the support of HKUST School of Engineering and Keller Center of Princeton. Many thanks!

Besides the research work, I also had a great experience making new friends from different countries. The program provided participants many opportunities to socialize with people from different backgrounds in different programs, such as weekly seminars with lunch gathering and happy-hour gatherings every week. These activities provided a great chance to meet new friends from different programs. I also had a wonderful time travelling around with the members in my laboratory and other international students. We took short trips to nearby cities such as Washington D.C. and spent a wonderful time exploring different cities. During the trips I got to see more about the American culture as well as cultures from other international students. Getting engaged with research in Princeton University and making friends from different countries were one of the best memories that I got from this program.

I am very grateful to have gotten this chance to participate in this exchange program. The support from HKUST and the warm welcome and help from Princeton University made me feel at home throughout the entire program. I had a wonderful experience working in the laboratory as well as having fun with new friends. This experience will encourage me to get more involved in cross-cultural activities in the future.

I worked at an imaging center (Imaging and Analysis Center - IAC) which was under the Princeton Institute for Science and Technology for Materials (PRISM). I was supervised by Prof. Nan Yao and Gerald Poirier, who were the leading investigators in the laboratory. Working in his lab has enabled me to learn many different imaging techniques, one of them is learning how to operate the imaging devices, such as the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), the Raman Spectrometer and the Ellipsometer. These devices were utilized for analyzing materials that were studied in various research projects. Moreover, the experience has introduced me to a new interdisciplinary field, material science.

I worked on the projects along with another student from the Chemical Engineering Department at HKUST as a team, since we were both assigned to the same supervisor. The projects that I worked on were about studying the damping properties in abalone shell and Raman spectroscopy of carbon nanofibre. The first project was motivated by the structure and the excellent mechanical properties of abalone shell, which inspired us to compare the vibration damping in the shell and in ceramic. Whereas in the carbon nanofibre project, we used Raman Spectrometer to get Raman shifts that characterize the material and compared the shifts with the existing literature, and we observed some interesting behaviour of the Raman shifts.

As I worked at an imaging center, I met various people from different background fields of study. It is because the imaging center is very useful and crucial in many fields, for instance, in studying elements in geological rocks, in imaging devices for microelectronics, or in developing new materials for biomimetics. As a result, it enabled me to learn wide varieties of subjects as I also worked with people from different backgrounds, from Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, to Mechanical Engineering. Therefore, it gave me an opportunity to learn how to communicate with people from different backgrounds of study and how to communicate ideas in general. Working with people from various fields has enabled me to expand my knowledge in those fields of study as well, because interacting with them made me learn about many things that I have never heard of before in my undergraduate study in Computer Engineering. Furthermore, the topic of my research was a completely new field for me, such that I had to learn to teach myself an unfamiliar field of study in such a short time, which provided me a training for research in the future.

Other than academic exposure, I also experienced an exposure to the international environment, as the program consisted of a community of international students: 3 students from Germany and 6 students from Hong Kong. Since I moved to a new place, I had to learn to adapt to the environment, which means adjusting to a new culture, new people, new systems, etc. In communicating with others, we had to overcome cultural and language barriers, especially because for most of us, English is not our first language. We also met the diverse Princeton students from the activities organized by the school, and from those activities, I learnt how to build connections with other people. I made a lot of new friends from different parts of the world during the program, and by communicating with them, I believe it could broaden my knowledge and teach me to view things from different perspectives.

In conclusion, this program has enabled me to experience a multicultural working environment that made me learn a lot just by interacting with the people in the program. I believe I have also made a good use of my summer, by participating in a research project in a world-renowned research and educational institute, I have broadened my views in both academics and cultural aspects. The summer exchange program has let me experience an unfamiliar field of study that I have never thought of before, so that I gained more breadth in terms of knowledge. I have also met new people, polished my communication skills, and experienced how full time research is like. I believe that this is a very rewarding experience and I hope that this program will continue in the future.

The reaching out activity that I was involved in this summer was the Princeton REACH program. It is a program where a few students from HKUST, who are interested in making research their life, are given a chance to experience working in a top-notch research laboratory. Along with the research, this program gives students the opportunity to broaden their cultural horizons as the program is set in the US at Princeton University. The duration of this program was 2 months and it took place in the Princeton Township, the city where the wonderful Princeton University is set up. Being selected to represent my university in this program on such a wonderful platform was a privilege and at the same time life changing.

Princeton was neither my first exchange experience in the US, nor was it my first research experience. It was a mix of both research and exchange, and it was this deadly combination that changed my life forever. I arrived at Princeton with the aim of doing some work that would bolster my chances of going to a graduate school in the US. I left with not just scoring that goal, but celebrating much more.

From the moment I was introduced to my faculty advisor, Dr. Nan Yao, until the final celebratory lunch session with my supervisor, Gerald Poirier, I was made to feel that I belonged. It was this feeling that helped me shed the fear of being an international student and work to the best of my abilities.

Once I got accustomed to the stunning instruments at the Imaging & Analysis Center (my second home at Princeton), I was given freedom to explore their use on ‘Red Abalone Nacre’ samples. Eventually, with the consent of my supervisors, I began working on the ‘Damping effects of Nacre’. I worked with another student from HKUST, and together, we obtained data that suggests that the Abalone shell is definitely a better mechanical dampener than ceramic of similar composition. Conducting a frequency analysis of the vibrations in the samples, we watched when a marble ball in a pendulum setup struck them to prove this. In addition to this project, I did a Raman Spectroscopy analysis of carbon nanofibers. A unique peak intensity switch was observed with different lasers that will be studied further. The results of both these studies were so promising that our advisor gave us the opportunity to ratify them into publication works. This outlandish outcome is beyond any expectations I had before starting and will definitely bolster my career.

In addition, I became really close to our German counterparts in the REACH program. I ended up travelling to New York almost every alternate weekend and even went to Boston and Atlantic city. This made my summer not only productive but also proactive. These trips meant that there was a nice balance in my routine and also helped me become indulged in the local culture.

In addition, the lab that I worked in was very multicultural, and being the imaging center meant that professionals from all fields came to use the facilities of the lab. This meant that I got the amazing opportunity of interacting with so many people, from so many fields and from so many backgrounds. Such an opportunity helped me see firsthand the frontrunners of research in almost every field which helped me not only become more aware but also fascinated with the promise and change these researches could bring about. Through this I realized that we must not only dream big, but also try to work towards achieving these dreams as the world has enough and more scope to turn them into a reality.

In addition to these multicultural interactions, there were several meet-and-greet events organized by the Keller Center at Princeton (the department that took care of their international events). These events were not only attended by the participants of the REACH program, but also by students from Princeton and several other universities that were working there during the summer. The interactions with these people helped me adapt better to the new environment, but at the same time allowed me to understand what it took to be accepted in these top universities for graduate studies. This helped me recognize the exact path that I need to pave in order to fulfill my dreams of going to graduate school. All in all, this experience helped me become more focused in my aims and at the same time more determined to achieve them.