​T. NINA PITTAS

Engineering in Crisis

The first project was to build one earthquake proof house and one that would fail (our materials were sticks and marshmallows...). Both houses survived the quake... The second project was to build a levee (our materials were coarse sand and fine sand; the bare minimum). Our levee survived the water! The final project was to clean up a (canola) oil spill.

spring

First semester of college is done! Only 7 to go. Time flies. During the pre-orientation 5-day trip, I joined 9 other freshman and two leaders (a junior and a senior) to canoe around Maine. It was an amazing experience. Below are some photos from the trip. Then life as an engineer started. I took four classes (Expository Writing, Multivariable Calculus, Physics 11, and Engineering in Crisis), which does not sound like a lot, but believe me, the University knows to limit the load to 4 classes in the first semester. Fortunately, many of my friends are engineers so we are able to work together through these difficult times. Engineering in Crisis was my favorite class where we learned about crises around the world, and how when engineering fails, common people have to pick up the slack. Throughout the course, we completed four projects to better our understanding. Below are some photos from our project! 

And that's a wrap! First year of college is all done. This year flew by! For the time in between semesters I went to D.C. to visit Zohar (a friend from high school) doing city year, Sophie (a friend from Tufts), and then Sophie and I  went to Chicago to visit Harsh (another friend from Tufts). Nice thing about college is you meet people from all over! Below are some photos from the trip. Then after the nice collegiate 5 week winter break I returned to my studies. This semester I again took four classes, Physics 12, Differential Equations, BioEthics, and Matlab. A bit heavier, but nothing I couldn't handle. Below are some various photos from the spring semester. In other news, my friends and I applied for a suite and we got it! So next year i'll be living with 9 friends. 

FRESHMAN YEAR

fall