June 28, 2017

This program allows students and researchers to collaborate together and experiment on very specific hands-on projects overseen by seasoned persons.The students will intern with us for a duration of two months and in the meantime discover the lively Philly.

Georges Nail who is passionate by renewable energy and cleaner energy production, is from the University of New Mexico, majoring in B.S. Mechanical Engineering. Henceforth, he works with Luisa Gomes, another undergraduate student from NPI, on the characterization of MAX phases (Ti2SC) to MXenes (Ti2C) by using microwave plasma and atmospheric pressure plasma jet. The objective is to produce an acid-free etching technique of MXenes and reduce the cost and long run hours associated with the current method of characterization.
At his arrival, the level of serious academic ambition that flows in and out of Drexel University impressed Georges. “I have understood thus far that it is the priority of the faculty and students here at Drexel University to be working among-st a well-rounded and diverse group of individuals from varying professions and backgrounds on projects that focus on developing issues, impacting people on a world scale, like those of food scarcity, medicine, energy, and clean water availability.”

Mario Rodriguez is from Miami Dade College, he also majors in Mechanical engineering. At the institute, he will be working on the Plasma Hybrid Hydroponic Farming Project with Gary Nirenberg and Mykola Kovalenko. He chose the Plasma Institute because it has projects ranging from Biology to Mechanics and he was also driven in by the fact that using the lesser known fourth state of matter as a means to treat different substances is a fairly new technology.
Mario was actually surprised about how diverse the campus is. He loves the fact that he is able to walk around wherever he wants and he also thought the place is very clean which is even more welcoming.
After this internship Mario plans to transfer to the University of Southern California and hopefully keep in touch with the people at Plasma Institute in order to be able to have similar opportunities to work with them in the future. Mario definitely seeks to be able to work as a Computer-Aided Design Drafter.