I’ve made a blog post titled “Starting a Research Project” detailing my research project regarding testing home smart speakers under radiation. This summer I’ll have the amazing opportunity to test my speaker at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Didcott, England. This is an opportunity that I’m truly excited and grateful for. 

A few weeks ago, I went to a lab to open up the speaker to mark the different components on a slideshow. I was able to use cutting edge technology, like electron microscopes and heat sinks in order to be able to open the home smart speakers as much as I can. Here are some pictures of the open speaker! 

I didn’t realize how much I truly enjoy hands-on work. Being able to open the speaker with my own hands and a screwdriver made me feel like a little kid playing with legos again. I could never imagine that doing a research project would make me remember and reminisce on my childhood. 

I wanted to write this blog post to encourage more people to do research. Research has always held a special place in my heart, especially because of my experiences in Model UN. I think research is a great way not only to discover new things (which obviously is a big bonus), but also a way to get hands-on and see the things we learn in classrooms come to life. I had always thought that research was about learning more about the world, but truly, I’ve learned so much about myself while carrying out this research project. 

I’ll keep you guys updated on my predictions and data for my research project once I’m able to conduct the experiment this summer. Thanks so much for reading the post and I’ll see you next time!