S T E P H A N I E    L A M P O T A N G

Facebook University introduced me to the most inspiring and passionate people this summer. Within my cohort, I found amazing friends, and the best teammates I could have asked for. Within the first three weeks, we ramped up from 0 to 100, and built three apps, just to learn some iOS basics. During the rest of the summer, I worked with my two teammates to develop a full-fledged app from start to finish. We chose everything from the big idea to every little feature, which was one of the coolest parts for me.

In some ways, the summer felt like a 2 month long hackathon, and my team's final product was "Fetch." Fetch is a map-based, item-sharing app. It's practical, and straighforward - it targets the pain-points of renting, but most importantly, it's something we had worked towards and devoted significant time to for 5 weeks. During that time, I was learning more than just technical iOS skills, I was also learning about how to organize a long term project. We created sprints, user stories, and git issues and branches for our project, and they helped us work well as a team and stay focused on our goals. After 5 weeks of development, we demoed to Denise Hernandez, and were ecstatic to find out that we were chosen to demo Fetch again that week, but this time, to Mark Zuckerberg. (Pic in the collage above!)

On my last day, it was so hard to say goodbye, but I knew I was walking away with new friends, new inspiration, and a new outlook that would stick with me long after the end of my internship. Thank you for the memories Facebook!

One month - Three hackathons...

It started with a web app for sharing and organizing internship opportunities. Then I switched to something more tangible by learning CAD to 3D print Baymax's head. Most recently, my own idea was brought to life as a web app for detecting where the most activity is on campus.

What can I say? After the first hackathon I was hooked. Not just the by technology though! The hackers, the mentors, organizers, my team members - they all made the sleepless hours so incredibly worth it.

I learned and accomplished more than I could've dreamed at each hackathon. I was working on technology for more than a grade and more than just myself. I loved bringing the team's idea to life and meeting new people with different skills, strengths, and personalities. By the end of the event, everyone comes out of the weekend with so much more than we entered with! We learn from each other, grow on one another, and create an app together, what more could I ask for?

^^ pretty accurately describes a hackathon

...was my favorite programming project. To think that this website was created with just some files of code blows my mind, and I hope that never changes. There's so much left for me to uncover in the world of computer science - and it truly is a whole other world, with its own languages, laws, and class divisions. This is my third time creating a website and each time I do, I get a better grasp on the concepts of HTML and CSS and a better idea of what my ideal website looks like. This time around I went for a minimalist and functional design. I got to call the shots because this website was all for me. Being able to research and then implement all of my "what if's" was beyond satisfying. I finished most of the website within 5 hours, but it was the extra efforts like getting the menu bar to stay at the top of the page, learning responsive design and creating hover images, where I had the most fun.

And now I not only have more experience in web design, but I also have my own blog. For me, this website serves as an outlet, a place for reflection, a reason to take more pictures, and something I can call my own. Like all art, it started as an idea, but with a little inspiration and a lot of research, it became something interesting enough for you to be reading right now. This summer I hope to feed my inner artist by creating and sharing everything. I want to write my own songs, program an organizational app, cook new dishes, design unique outfits, and write pieces just like this one. Here's to a summer of creation.

2/21/18 Update! I really like design so there are now hidden links all over my website, but you can see them all here :)
Photography website ~~~ Minimalist website attempt ~~~ JS practice website

Ding! I look over at my phone. "IT'S UP IT'S UP!!! One spot in Ballroom class just opened!"

Although this may sound like it came from an overexcited friend, it actually came from my web scraper through the Twilio API.

I use my webscraper for everything from snagging spots in popular classes to being able to watch Riverdale within 10 seconds of it becoming available online. I don't have check my favorite websites incessantly anymore, because my phone texts me when changes are made to them. It saves me little pockets of time in my day, which can add up in the long run!

It works just like ISR's we learned about in electrical engineering. At the beginning of the year, we had our software constantly checking on the status of all the hardware parts from a while loop. This is called polling, and as I soon realized - extremely inefficient. Later in the year, we programmed ISR's or interrupt service routines. Interrupts let the program know when a key change has occurred by interrupting the program, and this makes keeping tabs on hardware much easier - and time efficient.

The project was also connected to my ventures in web development. The same identifiers that I used to format my HTML could be used to target specific information on a long cluttered website. This parsing turned out to be pretty helpful for me and my friends this semester when registering for classes, and I'm sure it will continue to keep up to date with whatever life throws my way.

My Arduino board gives me the opportunity to blend my love for the tangible physics of hardware and the fluid computer code of software. Whether I'm creating a light display or pulsing the current through electromagnets, I love the new aspect of computer science that my board allows me to tap into.

I love the feeling I get when I see my code and Arduino replicate something I've seen in tech before. The real-life applications are what make each project so satisfying. With my Arduino by my side, I have come to understand more about the behind-the-scenes of everyday objects like MP3 players, LEDs, and video gaming consoles.

This summer I created a computer model of a six-star orbiting system.

Not going to lie, it was incredibly intimidating at first, but it proved to be just as fun as it was challenging. I had to use the Newton's Laws of Gravitation to dictate how stars reacted to the others stars nearby. On top of that, I had to use 3D trigonometry to ensure the stars all started in an orientation that would allow them to maintain orbit around each other. We wouldn't want all of them to be attracted to an abnormally massive star and collide!

The orbits turned out to be beautiful and I was even able to create a self-sustaining nine-star orbiting system (see above!)