Marissa Verbokkem (B.Sc. Student from University of Amsterdam funded by ASci):
“I joined the group via the Aalto Science Institute international summer research program. During my time at Aalto, I worked on a research project studying non-verbal social behavior (specifically proxemics) in Virtual Reality (VR). I was involved in a number of different tasks surrounding the research project, such as designing an experimental protocol, testing participants, writing the scientific method, coding and analyzing data in R, and contributing to background research on topics involving proxemics, social anxiety and VR.
For me, the summer research program was incredibly fun; I have had the honor to work with especially kind and smart people from all sorts of different fields. I was involved in a broad range of tasks, which gave me the opportunity to expand many different skills, ranging from coding to collaborating with other researchers and even contributing to scientific writing. Although I was only in Aalto for a short period of two months, I look back on a very educational and exciting two months and I am very thankful for the unique opportunity and all the support and guidance from everyone in the group.“
Jasper Quinn (M.Sc. Student University of Leiden funded by Erasmus+):
“During the summer of 2023, l did an internship under Robin Welsch and his wonderful team. During my internship, l got to work independently on two fascinating topics: l got to study and work with the most cutting-edge autonomous agent AutoGPT, and was also given the opportunity to create a brand new questionnaire, the Technology Expectancy Questionnaire (TEQ). Throughout my time spent there, Robin and the group were always there to help me if l had any problems or needed their expertise to solve my problems.
The group had a warm, bright and inclusive atmosphere, which made me feel at home right away. My stay was filled with moments of laughter, joy, and laughter. Being able to work with and help out the two study groups was a lot of fun, and l got to experience first-hand what a future career in research could be like. Big thank you to everyone involved, l had a blast of a summer and l hope that l get to work with you all again in the future!”