Hi, my name is Felix Diaz-Tafel and I am a rising sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh studying electrical engineering. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh just fifteen minutes away from Pitts main campus and was always amazed by the strength of a school so close to home. When being accepted I was excited to see the number of opportunities that Pitt had so I immediately began looking into clubs that fed my interests. I looked for a group that supported my Mexican heritage as well as groups supporting my musical and athletic goals.
Going into my sophomore year I plan to stay a part of the groups that I have joined such as SHPE the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and FSAE the Formula Racing club. Additionally, I was accepted into Nordenberg’s Music LLC where I have had the chance to play music with my fellow students, and I have found groups that play pick up soccer occasionally.
I chose to go to Seoul Korea because its thriving technology seemed like the perfect fit with my academic interests. My dream is to make a virtual technology so advanced that it is indistinguishable from the real world. I have taken steps to do this by looking into Brain computer interfaces during my first-year engineering paper and now am taking a big step by going to the world leading city in terms of this technology. Research companies in Korea are currently looking into haptic technology that allows users to sense things in the real world that they are interacting with virtually. I would love to get a peek into some of these companies and possibly find connections abroad to provide me with future work and research opportunities.
Not only do I want to visit Seoul because of my professional and academic interest, but I also love to travel. I have been to countries abroad before, such as Peru and the Dominican Republic but I have never had the chance to go anywhere in Asia. I love to learn about culture and interacting with people who have completely different lifestyles than myself. This trip to Korea will help me expand my mind not only in terms of my engineering mindset but also in terms of my cultural perspective.
