Some time has passed since I came back to the states after my unforgettable time in South Korea and I have had the opportunity to reflect on everything we have done and how these experiences will shape the rest of my life. I didn’t think I would say so this fast, but I already wish I was back to enjoy my time in Korea once again. I miss how it felt to be surrounded by so many new and exciting things, and the feeling that came with getting familiar with the streets, foods, and culture in the short time we had. I want to revisit the places we saw and regrettably needed to pass over, but also explore what lies beyond Seoul and Pohang to keep seeing  more fresh places and experiences. Unfortunately for me (but thankfully for my wallet), I will need to be content with reflecting on the bounty of memories I could take home with me this summer. On the topic of this reflection, I would like to discuss some of the more impactful takeaways from this trip that I believe will shape the way I grow as a person and as an engineer in the future.

As is the nature of problem solving, engineers will face situations in which they must make compromises, accept trade-offs, and deal with consequences for how they decide to approach any given issue. This is a simple inevitability that attempting to sidestep will always end badly, so let’s discuss some of the potential ethical concerns I came across in Korea. The first example that comes to mind through the lens of smart systems and one that is gaining global infamy with the rise of AI is data security. Just about every service one can use nowadays collects some level of data about its users, but I was blown away by the sheer amount of data collected and put to incredible work at TOPIS (Transport OPeration and Information Services), the organization behind the modernization of public transit in Seoul. They put their data to work predicting and accounting for traffic, optimizing travel, predicting weather, unifying the transit systems under T-money, and keeping people safer, faster, and more informed. This is all valuable of course, but they can’t do this without collecting a staggering amount of data on the populace of Seoul. There are cameras on every street in the city, in the taxis, bus stops, under bridges, and every swipe of a T-money card is registered to track which service you use, and where. With so much information that could be used to monitor everyone in the city, how do they address the privacy concerns? The most important layer of protection is the separation of people and their information. Everything tracked about transit use is anonymized, with no connection to who went where; every swipe becomes a tally that they analyze for population statistics. Why waste the space and funds on personalized data when nothing about the service needs to be tailored to any individual? I believe this should be applied to more services in the US, because there is still a lot of benefit that can be derived from big data outside of the engagement and advertising focus that seems to be the only thing that some companies care about.

I learned so much on this trip that it’s hard to believe we only spent 2 weeks in Korea. As I have been telling people since I got back, it feels like we did 2 months’ worth of learning in 2 weeks. We learned about technologies and systems across several different sectors, all of which with their own unique interesting aspects and learning opportunities. I loved being able to learn about how water is treated to safely drinkable standards the Arisu water facility because it taught me both about the processes involved in water purification and how such a facility is run by the government. It was interesting to learn about how their processes are optimized to ensure that each step in the purification can happen as fast and effectively as possible considering the massive volume of water that needed to run through the facility. I also enjoyed the opportunity to see different kinds of private manufacturing plants, from the raw materials processing and preparation done at POSCO to the final product assembly and verification at the Hyundai Ulsan plant. The scale at both of these facilities was breathtaking, as were the strategies they implemented to make such an expansive system run efficiently. Everything at POSCO was larger than life, and I learned about the realities behind where the first steps in manufacturing take place. There were 40 story tall furnaces and huge trucks designed specifically to transport equally huge crucibles from building to building. The challenges to support the need for massive production were addressed through massive tools to keep up, and thus a massive network of pipes, conveyors, and transport vehicles were implemented to keep everything running smoothly. Learning about how the design behind how every aspect of the facility needed to be scaled up and function seamlessly was an amazing experience.

This trip taught me so much about engineering and developing as a more culturally experienced person, but that certainly does not mean that my education in this area will stop here. It is always vital that we continue to grow and learn as people, especially as an engineer who will need to remain informed and able to keep up with current problems. If anything, my wonderful experiences in Korea taught me to always be searching for more learning opportunities because I loved every second of it and I will always cherished what I learned here. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at POSTECH, and being able to tour their facilities like NIST, PAL and the quantum computing labs had me fighting the urge to jump with excitement. I plan on looking into a full semester abroad at POSTECH through the relationship PITT plans on building with them to gain a deeper understanding of Korean culture and learn more deeply about the topics I was only able to glance at on our tours.

Even considering everything we learned about the cultural, technical, strategic, and historical background of Korea, I would still say that one of the most valuable things I learned on this trip was how to work effectively in as a multi-disciplinary team. Every step of our journey, be it the travel, presentations, living together, planning, communication, and even the food, we did as a group. We spent every day from call time in the lobby to late nights writing blogs learning more about each other and how to make our time together easier for ourselves and those around us. I know that I made some incredible friends on this trip through this process, and every member of my group is wonderful to be with and work with. The process of becoming such a cohesive group taught me a lot about working with others from diverse backgrounds and the value of getting to know the people around you. Each of us came from different areas of academia, which one might assume would make collaboration more difficult with smaller overlap in our knowledge and interests. This was far from the truth however, because we all valued each other’s unique skills and areas of interest that allowed us to make up for each other’s weaknesses. For example, Jacob, my amazing roommate for this trip, was the only one out of the six of us who had the skills required to edit our final video. The rest of us then covered the presentation to give him less to spread his effort on, with each member focusing on covering the aspects of the trip that we took interest in. Our diverse interests allowed us to all do more efficient work because we enjoyed the topics we picked, as well as create a more comprehensive final project as a result. Not only did our diversity enhance the quality of our work, it made the travel and time spent in the city far easier. We explored together, ensuring to go where everyone wanted and not leave anyone’s ideas out. This made the trip better for us all not only because we could all see what we wanted, but because we could be exposed to new things that the others were interested that we would have never heard about otherwise. Not only that, but I know I felt heard and appreciated when my ideas were listened to and I know I am not the only one. Overall, I love how well we worked and lived together for those two weeks, and I wouldn’t rather have gone with anyone else.