CHART or PICTURE

CHART or PICTURE

CHART or PICTURE

CHART or PICTURE

CHART or PICTURE

2012 B.N. Duke Summer of ServiceETH Zürich, Switzerland

Brian Bullins ‘14

Project: CloudStudioCloudStudio, the project that I worked on this past summer, is an ongoing project in the Software Engineering department at ETH Zürich. Because of how ubiquitous computers and the internet have become, people everywhere are much more connected. Thus, the idea of CloudStudio is simple—to create a system where anyone from around the world can work together with others to develop software. One of the advantages of CloudStudio is that this can be done in real-time, without unnecessary latency. My contributions to the project resulted in a more efficient method of collaboration among the people using the system.

The City of ZürichZürich is a beautiful city located in the northern part of Switzerland, and it is home to ETH Zürich, also known as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich. ETH Zürich is a leading world university, famous for its focus on cutting-edge technology and research. A unique aspect of the culture in Switzerland is their daily language. Although they use German for reading and writing, they speak Swiss German, a variation of German, when speaking to each other. Although I was never able to fully converse in their language, I learned enough to navigate the city and feel as if I were immersed in the daily life. Overall, it was incredibly exciting and rewarding to explore the city and figure out what exactly makes Zürich tick.

I am fascinated by the many complex problems that are part of modern society, and I want to contribute to their solutions. I hope to serve others in the way that I believe fits best with where my abilities lie, which is to solve difficult technical problems. Thus, I feel that working on the CloudStudio project in Zürich, Switzerland was the perfect opportunity for me to better understand what exactly is necessary when working on a large-scale project that will positively impact how people collaborate.Being a member of the team in the Software Engineering department was also a rewarding aspect of my summer in Switzerland. All of the people that I worked with were helpful as I progressed on my part of the project, and they taught me so much beyond the technical aspects of the work.

Why Switzerland?

I would like to thank Sarah and Jenny for all of their help and support as I went through the process of figuring out how to make the most of my summer of service experience. I would also like to thank Professor Owen Astrachan for his time working with me to find the internship opportunity in Zürich.

Acknowledgements

Because my summer project coincided with the university department of software engineering, I was surrounded by others who were working on similarly interesting and meaningful projects. Many of the PhD. students and post-docs would discuss with me the topics they had chosen to research in-depth, and as I listened I would come across connections between areas that had never occurred to me before. My two advisors during my summer at ETH, Martin Nordio and Christian Estler, were especially important to helping me get the most out of my summer. They both provided a wealth of guidance as I determined how I could best contribute to CloudStudio, and even more generally, how I can continue contributing to further projects which help serve others.

People of Zürich

Although I improved my technical and problem solving skills as I completed my part of the project, this made up only part of my entire learning experience. Much of what I learned dealt with better understanding myself and my future goals in life. Because my colleagues were mostly PhD. students, I gained a better idea of what it would it would be like to attend graduate school, something that I have been considering as a possibility for my plans after Duke. I was also exposed to the wide variety of challenging problems that are a natural part of research. I feel that I have grown tremendously as a person, and that I am now much better equipped to use my abilities to tackle the toughest issues that plague the world.

My time in Switzerland will stay with me as one of the best, most unique experiences of my life, and I am incredibly grateful to all of my family, friends, and mentors who made this summer possible.

What I Learned