{"id":1431,"date":"2025-09-30T11:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/?page_id=1431"},"modified":"2025-09-30T14:07:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:07:30","slug":"a-high-school-students-research-experience-at-best-lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/a-high-school-students-research-experience-at-best-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"A High School Student\u2019s Research Experience at Best Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This summer, Best Lab had the pleasure of hosting Arin Kulkarni, a high school student eager to explore the world of research. During his time with us, Arin was introduced to our ongoing projects and gained firsthand experience of what it means to work in a research environment. He explored foundational concepts of biomechanics applied to occupational, rehabilitation, and sports contexts, as well as basic principles of human factors engineering relevant to healthcare and aviation. Guided by our research team, Arin was encouraged to continually ask \u201cwhy\u201d- whether in relation to the questions we investigate or the methods we apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, Arin shares reflections on this unique opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was lucky enough to spend a part of my summer here, at the Clemson BEST lab. Coming in, I had little experience on research, human factors and ergonomics \u2014 some of the core values of this lab. My background revolved more about design, inspired by the countless years I\u2019ve spent participating in robotics. This and the fact I was joining as a high schooler had me initially a little nervous. However, each day I spent at FreemanHall didn\u2019t feel like I was making co-workers \u2014 it felt like I was making a family. Whether it was going out to lunch together, cracking jokes in the lab, and listening to hilarious stories, I found myself part of the culture which encouraged both hard work and camaraderie. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this internship, I gained knowledge and experience which I don\u2019t really think I could find elsewhere. I learned not only what research is, but how it is conducted \u2013 from brainstorming ideas to designing methods and collecting data. I explored topics including usability heuristics and sepsis care to gait analysis and ergonomics, and I concluded my internship with a presentation on golf biomechanics, focusing on the \u201cX-Factor\u201d of hip-shoulder rotation. Along the way, I was guided by incredibly generous PhD and postdoc students who took time to help me understand concepts and answer questions. This internship has not only expanded my knowledge but also given me an authentic glimpse into academic research and campus life \u2013 an experience I will carry forward with great appreciation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional details from Arin\u2019s internship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internship period<\/strong>: From July 7 to August 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internship location<\/strong>: Industrial Engineering, Best Lab<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty\/staff responsible<\/strong>: Professor Divya Srinivasan, Dechristian Franca Barbieri, Kristi Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate students\/postdocs involved<\/strong>: Vishwajeet Ransing, Rahul Narasimhan, Tianke Wang, Yindong Wang, Duleepa Subasinghe, Ananya Nagabhushana Rao, Vignesh Sompur Gopalakrishna, Zeinab Kazemi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dechristian Franca Barbieri<\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, Best Lab had the pleasure of hosting Arin Kulkarni, a high school student eager to explore the world of research. During his time with us, Arin was introduced to our ongoing projects and gained firsthand experience of what it means to work in a research environment. He explored foundational concepts of biomechanics applied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1431","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1468,"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1431\/revisions\/1468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ergo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}