Engineering and Wireless Power Charging

Dakota Paxton, Verrazano Class of 2019, Completed Major in Electrical Engineering 
This capstone project based on Wireless Power Transfer was very challenging and rewarding. Throughout the process of completing this, I re-learned a lot of theories as well as new theories based upon wireless power transfer, and incorporated them into this project in order to obtain a final product. 
I wanted to choose this as my project because as smartphones are advancing, more and more phones are utilizing wireless charging as a standard instead of a special feature. I wanted to understand how energy could be transferred between two points efficiently. Additionally, I wanted to do this project to step outside of my comfort zone in order to grow as an engineer. Since I use wireless charging with my phone, I wanted to see if it was possible to not only understand how it works, but if it’s possible to optimize this process at all. 
When working on this project, there were multiple steps that had to be completed in order to obtain a working device. From understanding the theories, choosing the right values, creating a simulation, testing it, making it in real life, and repeating this cycle over and over, this project taught me to always double check your calculations before moving on to testing a design in real life. I accidentally ordered parts that later found to be useless because I performed one of the calculations incorrectly which set back the project about two weeks!

As the project progressed, I began to feel more comfortable simulating different coils in order to obtain a suitable outcome. However, there was always something in this project that was challenging that never made me feel complacent. All in all, I would definitely say that this project met my expectations. As I continue to work on this, I will try to work on making the LED power up at a longer distance, then move on to a light bulb and try to incorporate more advanced safety features for the user. This project made me understand how a device is actually created and the steps needed to make a working product. 
The Wireless Power Transfer system influenced me to maybe shift my career to focus on power transfer because this topic seems very interesting. Since an LED can get lit up at approximately a foot away, maybe one day in the future it will be possible to walk into a room and have your device start charging immediately!

Business Major Studies Effects on Rise in Minimum Wage

Jaclyn LaLima, Verrazano Class of 2018, Completed Major in Business Economics and a Minor in Business Management

Hello Verrazanish and other readers! My name is Jaclyn LaLima and I am a fellow Verrazano student majoring in economics. I say that confidently now (four years later) but truthfully, I was just an undeclared major with a love for math and a strong dislike for essay writing. Therefore, it is not surprising that a math-y subject like economics would steal my heart. It is even less surprising that the required 12-page Verrazano capstone project would effortlessly become my worst college nightmare. 
I sat in my rudimentary economics classes wondering what topics I could possibly investigate for my future research project. The topic of Okun’s Law (the relationship between employment and output) was the first to catch my attention. One day, my professor had briefly mentioned how automation in the workplace could actually alter Okun’s Law—then carried on with our regularly scheduled programing of Introduction to Macroeconomics for it to never be mentioned again. Unfortunately, three professors told me that this research could not be administered because the effects of automation were still too new to estimate. Maybe that research is best left to the economics majors of the future. Shout out to those folks. 
After some brainstorming, I thought it might be even more interesting and relevant to study the effects of raising the minimum wage on employment. So, no, I did not get to study what I had originally hoped to in my sophomore year. But then again, who would have thought I would be studying economics in the first place? Not me.
The beginning stages of my research were quite enjoyable. I learned how to append datasets and merge new variables into the dataset using STATA. This is something that had not been taught in my econometrics class, as the datasets we analyzed were prepared by the professor beforehand. 
I felt a sense of high achievement meeting with my mentor every week because I was able to complete the tasks he gave me, and things were moving along nicely. That all changed when we ran our first linear regression. The regression showed that when the minimum wage increases, employment increased greatly—contrary to economic theory. My mentor and I ran so many different regressions and did so many tests to try and figure out why this was occurring. 
The answer was found while I was preparing for the literature review portion of my paper. Another researcher had mentioned that those studying wages and employment often use what is known as a “lead” in the minimum wage because new minimum wage laws are usually announced before they are implemented—causing firms to adjust their employment levels prior to the change actually taking place. This drastically changed the outcome and the approach of our research. 
We really struggled to get it right, but I learned a lot about data analysis and how to eliminate bias hands-on (also something not emphasized much in my econometrics class) in the process. Given more time, I would have liked to better my research by examining how the minimum wage effects low-wage versus higher-wage workers, their age, how many hours they worked, and so forth. I would have also liked to understand other biases present in my research and how to correct for them. I may just do this on my own time, as I have really found a love for data analysis and econometrics. It is certainly a topic not to be underestimated!

Summer Research at University of Oxford for Physics Major

Gaia Fabi, Verrazano Class of 2019, completed major in Physics 

Last summer, I was one of the seven European students who were chosen for an Astrophysics research project at the University of Oxford. Although I was a little hesitant at first to spend the summer in yet another academic environment which I had never experienced before, I am really glad decided to work there. As soon as I arrived in Oxford, I immediately loved the place. I felt at home. Since we all shared the same dormitories, I had the chance to meet and get to know my colleagues who would work with me in the Astrophysics Department. Except for one American girl, the others were from Europe and we all felt bonded by our common cultural roots and professional interests and goals. 

When I arrived at the University on my first day of work, I fell in love with the campus. I almost felt like I was part of a Harry Potter film setting! I met my mentor, Prof. Leah Morabito, who introduced me to her colleagues and to the project on Radio Astronomy which I was going to work on during the summer. The project consisted on testing the theory which would unify different types of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) as a single class, predicting that they are not physically different but they appear to be different because we observe them from different viewing angles. AGNs are very interesting objects, since they are believed to be a result of accretion of matter by a supermassive black hole at the center of its host galaxy. 

For my analysis, I looked at the projected linear sizes of a selected sample of radio sources from the Lofar Two-Metre Sky Survey. This survey is provided by the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), which is a powerful radio telescope in the Netherlands. I found my project fascinating and I was extremely engaged with it. Thanks to this research project, I was able to give my own contribution to a better understanding of the physics behind such powerful object in our universe, that is AGNs. 

Although the working hours were quite demanding – I worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday – after work and on weekends I would meet with my fellow interns and we would have a lot of fun going to museums, movie theaters, pubs, and even punting. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to meet the astronomer Jocelyn Bell, the scientist who discovered pulsars and one the pioneers in engaging women in the STEM field. 

I feel that overall this experience has turned out to be a good preview of my future career and it has given me the chance to appreciate working in Europe. Through my project, I have learned some important research skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. I have also found out some things about myself and the tough skin I will need in order to stay in the area of astrophysics and pursue a PhD in this field. I can firmly state that working at Oxford has been one of the best experiences I have ever had.