Week Updates (07/11 - 07/15)

Hi!
I am here again to talk a little about what I have done during this week. In the previous week, I told that our team had to prepare the presentation (poster and PowerPoint) to the Inter Solar Conference 2016. On Tuesday, we went to San Francisco to attend this Event and try to learn as much as possible. So I am doing this post to give more details and explain how it was.
First of all, the ISE team was responsible for organize groups, each group was tasked to cover two sections in order to have all the exhibition explored. My group was composed by me, Marcela and the Korean guys.

From 10:00 to 12:00, we covered levels 1 and 2. I visited companies and talked to managers to get information about the services and products offered and introduce the Spartan Superway project. The two companies that I spend more time were Hyundai Heavy Industries and Fortune Energy.
Hyundai is the largest and longest standing PV cell and module manufacturer in South Korea. I realized that the company invest primarily new technologies to guarantee quality and efficiency.
In fortune energy, I talked to the Senior Account Manager and he could explain how the market of solar products works. As solar products are very expensive and this business requires a big amount of money to start, few companies can handle it. Moreover, I discovered that these companies act as intermediary between buyer and the manufacturer.

From 14:00 to 15:45, We had the project presentation in Inter Continental Hotel. There was one student per team, explaining the team goals and activities in Spartan Superway and giving a better idea of how it happens. Everyone made a great job and the presentations were really interesting.

Spartan Superway Summer 2016 interns

ISE Team

See you next week!

Week Updates (07/04 - 07/08)

Hi, everyone

For the last week, we had the 4th of July holiday. It was my second 4th of July since I've arrived in U.S. and it is nice realize how it is important to Americans. Fires and commemorations all over the country. I went to cheesecake factory with my my friend - Nayara. We had dinner and then we asked the famous cheesecake, of course. We chose the strawberry cheesecake and the Godiva chocolate cheesecake. We loved it, delicious!

Backing to work..
I could continue the team management tasks, as gantt chart and activities board. I could also help the new guys to get used to blog and routine activities in this project. Moreover, we focused on the conference presentation. We had to prepare the poster and the PowerPoint presentaion.

Week Updates (06/27 - 07/01)

Hey!

For this week, I have been working on the financial plan development. First of all, me and Marcela started an excel spreadsheet with costs for each team. We are trying to organize one table per team, including fixed and variable costs. We are counting on the supply chain responsible, working with him to get the products needed. We are also collecting general expenses, like food and water. By the end of this plan, we hope to obtain an estimate for the this and the next months.

Moreover, after out meeting with an ISE professor, We could understand better our mission in Spartan Superway project and realize that, as part of our goal, we should perform a constant routine of monitoring and helping other teams.

Happiness

I believe happiness comes when we are feeling good with ourself. I am pretty sure that I have never felt so good with myself like I felt during this year in United States. At the beginning, I had so much doubts and fear about the differences and impacts of this phase, and now it is incredible realize that it was the best year of my life. I could learn more about cultures and people. I could travel inside U.S. and understand the peculiarity of each place. However, the most important is that I could understand myself better. I am very proud of everything I could learn and proud to have pieces of so many people and places inside me. I can say that meet people and experience places makes me happy.

Chicago

New York

Philadelphia

Washington DC

WVU family

Past weeks Updates

In the past weeks, I started the facility cleaning with my group. We were worried about the work conditions, so we decided to move everyone to the working room. In my opinion, it was a great improvement, because efficiency and satisfactory results depend on good work conditions. I could also work with my team in the station design. I researched stations around the world and tried to get the ideas together in order to get a station that fits the project identity. We made a basic hand sketch that you can look below. It should be made all with glass and its format represents the pod car.

Hey, everyone.

Hi. My name is Thaina De Lizo Ribeiro Leite and I am 21 years old. I am from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and my major is Industrial Engineering. I moved to Morgantown last year in order to take Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 in West Virginia University as part of a Brazilian program. I am going to San Jose tomorrow to start working on the Spartan Superway Project. I am really happy with everything I could learn in U.S and I am sure I am going to learn much more during this summer. I am excited to start this new experience.