This summer, I had the opportunity to explore a new city: Pittsburgh! I participated in Caltech’s 10-week Summer Undergraduate Research Program, or SURF (which you can read more about here), a fully-funded summer research experience, off-campus at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). At Carnegie Mellon, I worked in the Biorobotics Lab—housed under CMU’s Robotics Institute—on a project related to snake robots! Multiple versions and iterations of these snake robots have been designed and built in the lab over the last 15 years, with their main application being search and rescue applications. One of the snake robots was actually deployed during the 2017 Mexico earthquake, where it was sent into a fallen building to check for any survivors. Over the 10 weeks I was in Pittsburgh, I was able to focus on my research during weekdays, and on the weekends, I made new friends, visited different landmarks in the city, and explored new hobbies. Follow along to see my summer (shown through my iPhone gallery!).

In the Lab

Every day, I was typically in lab from 10 am to 6 pm. In those hours, I had meetings with my grad student mentor, ran experiments with the snake robots, and built a modular testbed to test new snake robot gaits. I also tried my hand at coding, simulations, and controls for a week, but I think I would rather stick to the mechanical and hardware side of robotics (I’m studying mechanical engineering).

After Lab

Every day, I would get home from lab at around 6 pm. This summer was my first time living in an apartment by myself (I was subletting a one-bedroom apartment from a Caltech alum near CMU), so I had to find ways to keep myself busy when I didn’t have other people to yap to. My evenings were often filled with binge-watching TV shows on Netflix, cooking (a big difference from relying on Caltech Dining Services), going to the gym, and FaceTiming my friends and family.

This summer, I also decided to try something new: running. I have always hated running my entire life, probably stemmed from the infamous mile run in elementary school. However, I was determined to change this. Inspired by one of my friends at Caltech, I downloaded Runna, a running training app, and signed up for a (free) 8 week plan to run a 5K. I’ve never voluntarily ran more than a mile, so this was a big step up for me. I ran almost four to five times a week (either at night on the treadmill in the apartment gym or around a large park near CMU campus), and by the end of the summer, I was able to run almost four miles on a single day. This might not sound that much (I have a really slow pace), especially for experienced runners, but at least I don’t hate running anymore!

Cooking

The apartment I was subletting came with a cute little kitchen and cabinets full of pots and pans. I was determined to make some delicious food this summer, from making Indian food (comfort food!) to trying new recipes from Instagram to baking. Here are some images of the meals I’m most proud of!

Farmer’s Markets

To enhance my cooking addiction, I needed ingredients. I visited a couple farmer’s markets with a friend from lab, and my best finds included sweet blueberries, juicy peaches and nectarines, focaccia bread, and pastries—not exactly cooking ingredients, but a nice sweet treat after a hot summer day.

Restaurants and Cafes

When I got tired of cooking, I liked to explore different restaurants in the area. One of my favorite hidden spots was a small Indian street food cafe that was only a 10-minute walk from my apartment; they had a lot of great fusion items on the menu. I also ate warm liege waffles with ice cream, tried honeycomb bread at a Yemeni cafe, and ate bagel sandwiches at Pigeon Bagels (a local Pittsburgh spot known for their bakery items that my friend introduced me to), amongst many others.

Museums

When people hear about Carnegie Mellon University, one of the first things that comes to mind is probably the Carnegie Museums. CMU is surrounded by the Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which were also conveniently a 10-minute walk from my apartment. Additionally, because I was affiliated with CMU, I was able to go to the museums for a subsidized price (and the second time, I got in for free!).

I’m a big fan of art and drawing, so one weekend when it was rainy and my outdoor plans were cancelled, I decided to go to the Carnegie Museum of Art and draw on-site. I had a lot of fun sketching some of the sculptures at the museum, and I would definitely recommend this for people who like art.

Downtown Pittsburgh

Downtown Pittsburgh is about three miles from where I was staying, so one Sunday morning, I decided to take the bus (PRT, or Pittsburgh Regional Transit, is the city’s bus system and has really great connectivity) to walk around the area! On the drive there, I was able to see a beautiful view of Pittsburgh’s yellow bridges overlooking the river. Once I arrived, I started by going to La Gourmandine Bakery and eating the best croissant of my life—it was so delicious. I then went to the Heinz History Center, one of Pittsburgh’s history museums. Pennsylvania is known as the birthplace of Heinz ketchup (amongst many other things), so there was an entire section of the museum dedicated to ketchup and how the Heinz company began. (And yes, I did ask a random lady to take a picture of me next to the giant ketchup).

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

One weekend towards the middle of the summer, my dad visited me in Pittsburgh. Since he enjoys photography, I took him to the Phipps Botanical Gardens, which has beautiful seasonal exhibits of local and international plants, flowers, and other flora. Here are some pictures of the garden!

Bookstores

Throughout the summer, I also bookstore-hopped a lot. I also visited the Carnegie Library quite a few times, as it was really close to where I was staying. Did I read a lot of books? Maybe not that many (oops). But I definitely enjoyed the vibes of looking at new books, buying a couple of them, and drawing in the store.

My summer in Pittsburgh was honestly one of the best summers, especially since I could explore and solo travel a new city all while pursuing research I’m passionate about. I’m really glad I chose to do an off-campus Caltech SURF at CMU, and I would really recommend looking into SURFs if you are a Caltech student!