Nathanael Jenkins had at all times wished to check aerospace engineering, he simply hadn’t fairly discovered the proper place for it. He had explored choices near his dwelling in Hampshire, U.Okay., however had by no means thought of finding out in the US. That modified when a household trip introduced him to the MIT campus in 2018. “MIT felt thrilling, high-energy, and really totally different from my small highschool again dwelling. My lasting reminiscence was the truth that that they had a nuclear reactor in the course of a bustling metropolis,” he says.
But after weighing monetary, journey, and household issues, he opted for a prime science and engineering college a bit nearer to dwelling, at Imperial Faculty London (ICL), majoring in aeronautical engineering. Nonetheless, he by no means took his sights off MIT — and he didn’t must.
Since 2019, MIT’s Worldwide Science and Expertise Initiatives (MISTI) program has labored with Imperial Faculty London to alternate college students from eight MIT departments in search of a worldwide training expertise, and has seen eight Imperial college students spend the 12 months at MIT’s Division of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro). When Jenkins discovered concerning the alternative, he was decided to take one other shot at an training overseas. He and his colleague Timur Uyumaz, who had by no means been to the US, utilized for the alternate and had been accepted into Course 16.
“I used to be positively very excited,” says Jenkins. “The prospect of touring to the U.S. nonetheless felt fairly surreal till we’d really landed in Boston.”
Educational pursuits, first-hand and hands-on
Jenkins joined the Aerospace Plasma Group, the place he labored on lightning strike simulations for plane fuselage security. Uyumaz turned a member of the Computational Turbulence Group, increasing his work on high-fidelity fluid simulations. The research-focused atmosphere allowed each to dive into their research with out the worry of a high-pressure examination looming on the finish of their programs.
“At Imperial, 90 % of my lessons are exam-focused,” says Jenkins. “At MIT, I’m working laborious on a regular basis, studying extra actively each week, and there’s no terror on the finish.”
One of many tutorial highlights for each college students has been the power to take lessons with consultants and pioneers in science, engineering, and aerospace. “In my first semester, I took 18.C25 (Actual World Computation with Julia) — taught by Alan Edelman, the precise co-founder of Julia,” says Uyumaz. “It was a privilege to be taught by innovators inside their fields.”
Final 12 months, Jenkins took a 16.891 (House Coverage Seminar) class led by MIT Media Lab Director and former NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, and Professor Daniel Hastings, a former chief scientist on the U.S. Air Drive. “You’re studying from the individuals who had been a part of these enormous milestones in house analysis. They’re not educating as in the event that they had been there — they had been really there,” says Jenkins.
Having consultants working collectively in a single place provides infinite prospects for collaboration, and Jenkins has taken full benefit of MIT’s labs and state-of-the-art services. He has even carried out an experiment within the nuclear reactor that piqued his curiosity years in the past.
Scaling new heights with out of doors adventures
Outdoors the classroom, each Jenkins and Uyumaz have turn out to be energetic members of the MIT Outing Membership (MITOC), taking the chance to go on out of doors climbing adventures throughout New England. “We thought it might be like British climbing — rain and low altitude,” they snigger, however instantly discovered that the group was inclined to tackle a tougher trek.
They first tackled Man’s Slide, a steep Adirondack-style climb on Mount Lincoln in New Hampshire. “This climb has locations with ‘no-fall zones,’ which simply means ‘significantly, don’t fall.’ The chief for the journey requested us ‘are you positive’ a number of occasions earlier than we signed up, figuring out we had been new climbers. As soon as we talked about our limits, we bought cleared to go.” After the four-and-a-half-hour climb to Mt. Lincoln’s 5,089 foot summit, the pair had been hooked. “Our factor was being exterior from then on.”
They climbed Mount Washington final winter as each contributors and leaders of the expedition, with different alternate college students, employees, and even alumni from throughout the Institute alongside for the climb. “There was plenty of snow, and views for miles.” Inviting different alternate college students has helped them construct connections with different college students from ICL, MIT, and universities around the globe.
Onward and upward
Whereas Uyumaz has returned to ICL to finish his research, Jenkins is wanting ahead to formally becoming a member of Course 16 as a graduate pupil within the fall, nonetheless within the Aerospace Plasma Group. “I’m eager on — adamant, actually — that I’ll do a profession in engineering, in all probability in fluid simulations,” he says. He acknowledges that having a spot like MIT on his resume, with robust business collaborations and well-connected school, will profit his profession within the brief and long run.
“I’m grateful for the hospitality we obtained from MIT — from AeroAstro, MITOC, Baker Home (and resident home canines, Biko and Louie, who at all times added pleasure to our day). This system enabled one thing I by no means thought doable.”
Within the coming years, Jenkins appears ahead to spending much more time outdoor with MITOC throughout his time as a graduate pupil. “I am hoping to run some stand-up paddle boarding journeys on the Charles [River], and proceed exploring the White Mountains. In some unspecified time in the future, I am planning to enterprise additional west to discover some even larger mountains in Colorado.”
Uyumaz is wanting ahead to utilizing his new cross-cultural connections to strengthen partnerships between ICL and MIT and inform his tutorial journey. “Though it was a one-year alternate, I’ve been supplied with perspective and alternatives for a lifetime,” he says.
