Rahim Leung (Department of Physics), MIT Summer 2017

My IROP experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this summer has become one of my fondest and most treasured experiences.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my working experience was that I had a lot of freedom into the direction of the project. My supervisors often asked me which parts of the physics I found interesting at various stages of the project, and guided me towards exploring them. During the eight weeks at MIT, I never once felt like just a student helping out the PhDs and Postdoc, but rather, they made me feel as though I was one of their collaborators. This gave me an improved understanding into the life of an academic researcher, which convinced me to apply for a PhD position after next year. In fact, at the end of the program, my supervisors asked me to write up a report on what I have accomplished, and see whether they can incorporate some of my graphs into a paper.

I was the given the opportunity to work alongside people from different countries, and experience a new research environment. I was also able to travel around Boston and Cambridge, and took a road trip to Cape Cod with my fellow IROP students from Imperial. I have never been to the United States before, and it was during these trips that I was truly able to experience its culture.

All in all, the IROP programme was an amazing experience. I got to learn new techniques, experience a new working culture, make new friends, and have a more concrete idea of what I want to do in the future. It is an experience that I heartily recommend, and one that I will cherish in my life.

"I was the given the opportunity to work alongside people from different countries, and experience a new research environment."