Hello, my name is Alex Taylor, and I am a freshman engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh in the Swanson school of engineering. As an engineering student, I will be entering the civil engineering program in the fall semester where I will be focused on building and analyzing infrastructure and other public works. At the university, I am a part of multiple clubs into the engineering clubs ASCE and ESC as well as chess club, pickup soccer, and math club.
This May, during the summer semester, I will be travelling to the Republic of Korea which is also known as South Korea. South Korea is a country slightly smaller than the state of Pennsylvania and is home to more than 53 million people. Korea is located on the Korean peninsula in East Asia to the south of its neighbor North Korea, to the east of China, and to the west of Japan. The country is one of the largest in the world in terms of exports and economic production and is considered to be one of the most advanced as a society.
The Plus3 program in Korea will involve learning more about the Korean culture as well as their technological advancements in smart system technology, how the smart system technology helps the Korean society function on a day-to-day basis, and how their society and lifestyle is different from mine here in the United States. As a group, we will visit cultural locations to learn more about the history and beliefs of Korea and we will visit different companies and universities to witness and examine the smart system technology at work.
I have chosen this location to study at due to the fact that South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Compared to the United States and from what I already know, Korean society is the future for cities here in the United States. As an engineering student, I will be tasked in the future with finding new ways to solve problems and find ways to make society better. Additionally, I chose Korea because I wanted to explore the world that I live in. I have never been outside the country before, and I sought a new opportunity to learn.
As an engineering student, I hope to gain a lot from this unique opportunity. I hope to learn more about how other people in the world operate and how their culture and beliefs are different than mine. I hope to also learn more about the engineering processes that arise in other parts of the world as well. Most of the smart system technology that we will be examining does not just stem from business and computer engineering standpoints but civil engineering in addition. I hope I can apply this new understanding of smart systems so that I can apply it back here at the University of Pittsburgh as I work towards my degree.
