Last week I had an excellent conversation with Patrick Weathers about being a graduate student here at GTL! This is his first semester in graduate school towards getting his Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering; he’ll be graduating next year in 2019, likely in the fall as he’s planning to do an internship during the summer semester. I first met Patrick at the student cafeteria, CROUS, where we bonded over our shared major and our shared tendency to resemble lobsters if we don’t apply enough sunscreen. I also learned then that he had gotten his undergraduate degree in materials science and that he had been working with semiconductors for a few years before deciding to return to school.
When I asked Patrick why he chose Georgia Tech-Lorraine, he talked about how he had done lots of lab work during his undergraduate experience, so a big part of his choice was the partnerships that GTL has with French research organizations. “I had worked in Grenoble one summer previously, and when I worked there I saw the strength of partnerships within France, especially within their research. Part of the benefits from that are not only diversified expertise and resources in terms of equipment, but also how the problem-solving approach when you unify a lot of different organizations becomes richer and more powerful. GTL stood out to me as an example not just of the research that Georgia Tech is capable of, but as a bridge to a previous life of mine working in France.”
One of Patrick’s favorite aspects of Georgia Tech Lorraine far is the degree of involvement that one can achieve both in terms of academics and in terms of exploring applications of those academics. The closeness of all GTL’s resources, the proximity of facilities like the Institut Lafayette, the small classes, and the availability of the professors all contribute to the ease with which he can deeply dive into the topics he’s passionate about. “Between academics, applications, and the world that is immediately around us outside of GTL – all of it is kind of laid out in front of us, meaning that the limitation is really only your own commitments, your own time management, and your own prioritization in terms of what you want to get done while you’re here.”
In a similar vein, he’s most excited about taking the things he learns from his classes and not only connecting the concepts between courses (for instance, comparing numerical analysis methods between his machine learning and image processing classes), but also about applying these things in the lab. “Going into the lab and microfabricating LEDs, microfabricating solar cells…those kinds of resources are as available, if not to some degree more available, here than they are on Tech’s campus. The exciting part, to kind of connect this back with the first question, is that there’s the connection and the resources of the expertise within professors and coursework, but then there’s also the ability to go and try to see it work out in real life in the lab.”
Patrick appears perfectly poised to get the most out of his semester here at GTL and to take full advantage of the amazing resources available, and I can’t wait to hear about the awesome things he learns and creates during his time here!
but be thrilled at this new level of entertainment. Music, food, 
in-state tuition, effectively saving money by moving to France. This spare cash can then be allocated to your daily pastry budget instead of the debts that you can ignore since you go to a top school and are just waiting for your offer from Google to come any day now. If you are in-state, like me, you get to complain about how you now have to pay for traveling every weekend and there’s no loan for that while your out of state friends loudly remind you of how the sandwich they’re eating costs more than your tuition.
anyone. This really is the most opportune time to drop everything and live in Europe for four months. Vienna lived up to all expectations as the city that is the pinnacle of so many of my long-standing interests. The Spanish Riding School (named for the Spanish roots of their Lipizzaner horses) was the highlight of my trip, despite a hindered ability to breathe given that a decade of daily allergy pills was apparently not enough for me to remember that I’m allergic to horses. My one regret: not following suit after wondering why both people in front of me at Manner chocolate spent 50 EUR on this exclusive treat.
facility was quite vast. Built up the side of the hill boasting a beginner slope, intermediate slope and terrain park, two ski lifts and a friendly staff, it was crazy to imagine that all of this fit inside a warehouse. The beginners headed to the bunny slope and the old timers headed toward the intermediate.
My favorite experience was watching the beginners try the intermediate hill for the first time. Their friends went right behind them to make sure they were all right. Teeth bared and leaning forward they traveled slowly down. Their faces full of determination, and pride at what they had accomplished. I think everyone shared in the excitement of these newbies learning a new skill. It was also really awesome to see some members trying out the terrain park, going over massive jumps and grinding on rails.