Hello everyone! I’m Emma Brister, and I’m from York County, Pennsylvania. I’m a first-year industrial engineering student at the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I’m super excited and honored to be a part of Plus3 Korea this year as a group leader for Group C!
At Pitt, I haven’t been quite as involved as I would like to be thanks to scheduling conflicts, but this year I have been involved in Women’s Self Defense Club and USITT (United States Institute for Theater Technology). Next semester (when I don’t have as many evening classes at the same time as club meetings), I plan to join IISE (Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers) and SWE (Society of Women Engineers). If I find that I do have plenty of extra time (especially in the evenings) I would also like to get involved in a full theatre production with Pitt Stages as part of the stage crew. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music, reading, playing card games, doing logic puzzles/games, and, when I’m home, playing with my dog, Henry.
As soon as I first heard about Plus3 during one of my first visits to Pitt while I was a senior in high school, I knew I wanted to participate. I don’t travel a lot in general, and I’ve only been out of the United States one time, but that one time was incredible. It was a school trip to Costa Rica, and I had the best time exploring and experiencing the unique culture. I’ve even had a fantastic time learning about the city life and culture in Pittsburgh as someone who grew up in a small town (and had previously been terrified of busy cities). I know going to South Korea is going to be just as wonderful, and I’m looking forward to experiencing Korean culture firsthand (and also eat lots of amazing Korean food)!
South Korea was my first choice for Plus3 because of the culture, food, and the focus on smart systems. As an industrial engineer, I will work a lot with optimizing systems and processes. Smart systems are so interesting to me because they are highly technical systems that include so many working parts. Although I don’t know if I want to work with smart systems for my career, I am interested in learning about how each component of the smart systems work together, and how the overall processes work and can be made better and faster. I think this will be a great introduction to my studies as an industrial engineering student.
I know Plus3 Korea is going to be one of the most rewarding and exciting adventures I will ever have, and I’m so excited to be traveling with such a great group of people! Stay tuned for updates along the way!