September 06, 2022
As the fall semester ramps up, I wanted to make a post about what I did this summer. Without too much more of a preamble, here we go (part 1 -- I forgot that my writing tends to go long, so breaking it up seems logical).
After finishing my electromagnetic engineering final (on a Wednesday), my mom picked me up, I loaded the car, and we drove home from Austin to San Antonio. I spent the rest of that week relaxing, driving my sister to her activities, and running miscellaneous errands (this is the best way to utilize a college student who is home for the summer). It was especially enjoyable to talk with my sister during the car rides after not seeing her the whole semester.
Almost immediately (ie, that next Monday), my internship with Intel started. I worked in The Numerical Hardware Group, an applied research consultancy within Intel Graphics working on challenging, interesting, and important problems in mathematical hardware design. I had a fantastic time working on hardware hashing (my main project) and optimizing some parametric datapath RTL. I also mentored two high school students who were working on a (non-IP) project to compute the probability of non-associativity in floating point addition.
The team was mostly based in Folsom, but my housing relocation rep recommended that I stay home in order to escape the extreme heat and save on rent money. With the two-hour time difference (already a huge advantage), and a boss who, just like me, enjoys working later in the day, staying at home meant working approximately 11am-3pm and then 9pm-1am (completely by choice). It's been a bit of an adjustment learning how to get up at 7am again this semester, but I'm making it work so far.
The one bad part about being online was that I wasn't in person -- I missed out on social interactions with a highly dynamic and creative team as well as spontaneous collaboration / sharing of ideas. (Not all was lost, as they set up a visit for me during my final week -- more about that later.)
One unique aspect of this job was learning about the workflow of an applied researcher. I'm in an academic research group, so it was neat to get the other perspective and compare the incentives and objectives of both systems (applied/corporate and academic). One of my teammates at Intel is simultaneously working on his PhD (joint/collaborative academic+industrial), so I had a nice chat with him to understand his whole program and his thoughts on it. I think it's an interesting option and I'm definitely going to keep it in the back of my mind.
On a related note, my maternal grandfather told me that his PhD took so little time because in the several years he worked in industry between finishing his MS and starting his doctorate, he had ample time to figure out (on his own) which research problems were compelling to him. I don't know if I necessarily want to wait after undergrad before starting my PhD, but that's another valuable perspective on what it means to have the intellectual maturity to successfully conduct research.
My Intel work schedule was also great because it allowed me to schedule personal events around the few meetings we had and then do the rest of my work when convenient. For example, I went on a bike ride with a friend on a random Tuesday from 8am to 11am. The previous day, I had met with another friend for Korean doughnuts from 2-6. And another night I met with a group of friends (cross country teammates from high school) for dinner and then just worked several more hours afterwards (I must have worked 10pm to 2am that night).
I felt like as the summer progressed I got busier and less able to commit to meeting anyone. But this was also because there were more moving parts / meetings / travel schedules to coordinate.
I used to be highly obsessed with sports (especially basketball). In elementary school I would read the sports section of the local paper every day and check all the basketball box scores, and during middle school I played fantasy basketball with friends and spent most of my free time on ESPN.
However, I've felt a little bit disconnected from the major professional sports over the past couple years. Part of it is COVID-related (everything was slow for a while).
In any case, I was excited about the Celtics as the playoffs approached. I watched the Celtics sweep the Nets and then defeat the Bucks in an epic seven-game series filled with clutch/exciting performances by players on both teams (on the Bucks side, mostly Giannis).
After my arrival from UT, my dad, my sister, and I intently watched the Heat series, a battle between two top defensive squads in which each team was held to under 15 points in a quarter at least once during the series and under 20 points several times. We all continued watching the finals, in which the Celtics faced Golden State and its perenially explosive brand of new-basketball. Although the Celtics were unable to win the championship, I wasn't upset. (I cried when the Patriots lost to the Giants in February 2008, but nowadays I just become slightly happy if the team I support wins and shrug and move on otherwise. Not sure which is better.) It was nice to be able to watch all of these playoff basketball games with my family.
And this fall I'm back to commish-ing a fantasy football league with engineering friends and playing in another league with high school friends. So I think my sports interest levels are back on track.
Chronologically I'm around mid-June now. Hopefully I can write about the rest of the summer a little faster but I'm just under 1000 words and it's time to go to bed.
Update: link to Part 2.