Aren '24 participated in the highly selective University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Engineering Junior Engineers Summer STEM Experience (JESSE) program.
As a high school junior, this incredible opportunity allowed Aren to dive into the world of engineering and gain hands-on experience with exciting projects and cutting-edge research at the college level.
Throughout the program, Aren had the privilege of working alongside brilliant minds, passionate professors, and fellow aspiring engineers who shared his love for STEM. Together, they tackled challenging problems, designed innovative solutions, and explored various engineering disciplines.
"Every week we go on our weekly field trips to different engineering firms," said Aren. "I've heard how some employees started as interns at those companies and then, later on, get hired by them."
Aren performs his research at the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory. His project is to re-design a deployment system for the NASA Artemis rocket CubeSat. The CubeSats are small satellites with sensors, an infrared camera, computers, radio communication capabilities, an electrical system, and other gear.
"One thing that I learned in the program that will stick with me is to take opportunities and experience those opportunities and learn from them," Aren explained. "The more experience you have in different things the more knowledge you'll have for future tasks. My favorite part of the JESSE Program is the ability to be hands-on in a research Lab working with undergraduate and graduate students and building connections within the engineering field. I also like that the JESSE program gives me a chance to experience what it's like being on a college campus."
Aren presented his research experience at the 2023 JESSE Research Symposium on Friday, July 14, 2023 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.