Hello, my name is Matt Jaros and I am a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I was born in Richmond, Virginia but have moved many time across the country. However, I have spent the last six years living in Haddonfield, New Jersey, a small, suburban town outside of Philadelphia. Go Birds! My older sister, Emmy, is also a mechanical engineering major here at Pitt. My father also was in engineering since he served as a nuclear engineer in the Navy. I definitely come from a engineering-minded family but I choose it for my own reasons. I have always enjoyed working on engineering related projects from building miniature, but functional, trebuchets with my dad as a kid to building bog bridges in the Adirondack mountains. For the later I spent a week in the woods with a team of mostly volunteers cutting down trees, removing the old, rotting bridges, and building new ones to replace them with. The sense of fulfillment I felt after being able to walk across something I helped construct made me realize that I wanted to be an engineer. Outside of school I greatly enjoy reading, working out, and hiking.

I choose to go to Italy because of how unique it will be to me. I have very little knowledge of the fashion industry and was fascinated to find out just how involved engineering is involved with it. What I am most looking forward to learning about is how modern engineering practices have changed the way fashion supply chains functions. I am excited to see how all the different businesses we visit utilize these new innovations in their own unique ways. This is especially important with the recent push to make the fashion industry more eco-friendly. This problem is definitely something that I could see myself enjoying working on in the future. Its always good to put yourself outside of your comfort zone and gain knowledge on things you are not knowledgeable about and that is what I’m doing by learning about the fashion industry.

Outside of classes, I am very excited to explore everything Italy has to offer. I have visited a few European countries but never Italy so I am very excited for this trip. One thing that I have always loved about Europe is the older architecture. Seeing buildings constructed before the United States was founded next to modern buildings is awesome to me and I can not wait to see what Italy’s architecture has to offer. I also hope to find time to go on at least one long hike while in Italy. Italy has lots of beautiful natural scenario that I want to experience for myself. I have hiked extensively around the Pine Barrens in New Jersey and always love going on a hike when I visit someplace new. Some places I’m looking at are Val Trebbia, Cattedrale Vegetale, and Lake Maggiore, which are all close enough to Milan that it is possible it I have the time.