EECinsights - PhDs head to Stanford University, CA

This April, four PhD students from EECi, Max, Pat, Monty, and Nmeso, packed our bags and headed to sunny California for a month-long secondment at Stanford University. We went to join Ruchi, who is a Visiting Professor at Stanford while on her sabbatical, and we were lucky enough to be welcomed by the brilliant team at the Urban Informatics Lab, led by Professor Rishee Jain.

EECi in Stanford's Engineering Quad

From day one, we were thrown into the deep end of Stanford’s buzzing research scene. Whether it was meetings, seminars, or workshops, something was always happening. Over the month, we each found our rhythm and carved out space to connect, collaborate, and reflect on our research in new ways.

View from the Y2E2 building

The secondment was a fantastic opportunity for Max and Pat to share the findings of their research, and for Monty and Nmeso to develop collaborations and research themes to accelerate their PhD progress. We immersed ourselves in the culture of the Urban Informatics Lab and engaged with researchers across a wide range of disciplines, both on campus and beyond.

EECi and UIL presentations

Some of the highlights in engaging with US researchers from across engineering disciplines included presenting at the Stanford Sustainability Data Science conference, and visiting the Lawrence Berkley National Lab for a round table research discussion, chatting with some of the leading minds in the energy world on some key issues, and discussing where the field is heading.

Stanford's Arch-itecture

But it wasn’t all work! We also got a taste of the Stanford lifestyle outside of the lab, whether it was cheering on the Cardinals in Softball and Water Polo, catching the high-energy (and budget) production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, or watching Roman Holiday at Palo Alto’s iconic old-school cinema, there was always something fun going on. We also accidentally stumbled across a student-run festival, complete with live music and free food! On weekends, we made the most of our time in the Golden State with trips to Yosemite, Napa Valley, Redwood State Park, and, of course, SF.

EECi 'graduate' from Stanford