WEISS Summer Placements

WEISS has welcomed several interns this summer, including undergraduates Sergi Kavtaradze and Donny Liu. The Multimodal Interventional Sensing and Imaging (MISI) group has welcomed Donny, who will be working with Dr Erwin Alles and PhD student Fraser Watt to, amongst other things, optimise the fabrication of optical ultrasound generator membranes. Sergi has joined WEISS as the Public Engagement Student Summer Intern.  Sergi is working with the MISI group to create new tabletop activities for them to use at public engagement events.  He will premiere some of his activities at the Fitzrovia Fete on 13^th August. As Sergi and Donny are halfway through their placements, we asked them how they are getting on.

Sergi: “I am currently developing a PE activity for events like Science of Surgery. The idea is to let the participants experience information gathering through different 'imaging' tools - IR camera, UV marker + flashlight, and touch - so that they understand that all modalities are used for specific circumstances. We hope audiences will understand the need for multimodal imaging to get the full picture. I wanted to undertake the PE internship to be a better communicator, which is an important skill and one I want to develop. Fortunately, the experience has already helped me improve, but there is still room for improvement. I am also glad to be completing my internship at WEISS because everyone is so supportive, and they don’t mind taking time out of their busy schedules to help and educate me.”

Donny: “I'm reaching the second half of my internship and have gained some precious experience and knowledge. I'm working with Erwin and Fraser on optical ultrasound membrane characterisation. I have made and tested the performance of multiple membranes and also tried some other fabrication processes. It is a great opportunity for me to take part in real research. I have designed and run an experiment and explained the data. I'm thankful to Fraser and Erwin for their help and for giving me a great amount of lab time and a high degree of freedom.”