Benjamin N. Duke Scholar Brian Bullins poster presentation describing his International Summer of Service in Switzerland

1. 2012 B.N. Duke Summer of Service
ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Brian Bullins ‘14
Project: CloudStudio People of Zürich What I Learned
CloudStudio, the project that I worked on this past summer, is an
ongoing project in the Software Engineering department at ETH Because my summer project coincided with the university department of Although I improved my technical and problem solving skills as I
Zürich. Because of how ubiquitous computers and the internet software engineering, I was surrounded by others who were working on completed my part of the project, this made up only part of my
have become, people everywhere are much more connected. similarly interesting and meaningful projects. Many of the PhD. students and entire learning experience. Much of what I learned dealt with
CHART or
Thus, the idea of CloudStudio is simple—to create a system CHART or
post-docs would discuss with me the topics they had chosen to research in- better understanding myself and my future goals in life. Because
where anyone from around the world can work together with depth, and as I listened I would come across connections between areas that my colleagues were mostly PhD. students, I gained a better idea
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had never occurred to me before. My two advisors during my summer at of what it would it would be like to attend graduate school,
CloudStudio is that this can be done in real-time, without ETH, Martin Nordio and Christian Estler, were especially important to helping something that I have been considering as a possibility for my
unnecessary latency. My contributions to the project resulted in a me get the most out of my summer. They both provided a wealth of guidance plans after Duke. I was also exposed to the wide variety of
more efficient method of collaboration among the people using as I determined how I could best contribute to CloudStudio, and even more challenging problems that are a natural part of research. I feel
the system. generally, how I can continue contributing to further projects which help serve that I have grown tremendously as a person, and that I am now
others. 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.
The City of Zürich
Zürich 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,
Why Switzerland?
they speak Swiss German, a variation of German, when
CHART or
speaking to each other. Although I was never able to fully I am fascinated by the many complex problems that are part of modern
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converse in their language, I learned enough to navigate the city society, and I want to contribute to their solutions. I hope to serve others in
and feel as if I were immersed in the daily life. Overall, it was 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
incredibly exciting and rewarding to explore the city and figure
out what exactly makes Zürich tick. CHART or
project in Zürich, Switzerland was the perfect opportunity for me to better Acknowledgements
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understand what exactly is necessary when working on a large-scale project
that will positively impact how people collaborate. I would like to thank Sarah and Jenny for all of their help and
Being a member of the team in the Software Engineering department was CHART or
support as I went through the process of figuring out how to
also a rewarding aspect of my summer in Switzerland. All of the people that make the most of my summer of service experience. I would
I worked with were helpful as I progressed on my part of the project, and
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also like to thank Professor Owen Astrachan for his time
they taught me so much beyond the technical aspects of the work. working with me to find the internship opportunity in Zürich.