Name: James Salvador Niffenegger
Year: 2019
Concentration: Mechanical Engineering
House: Mather
Q: What program are you in, and what lab (location of the lab) are you in/ what research are you conducting?
A: I am doing PRISE working at the Aziz lab in McKay for SEAS. The electrochemical flow battery lab is researching more efficient batteries for green energy using them to store energy for things like solar plants
Q: Describe your research in a few sentences
A: I am adapting electrochemical flow cell technology to capture CO2 using different solutions. However, CO2 is difficult to remove from a solution which we want to do so that we can reuse it. So basically we use a basic solution to capture CO2 and then when it goes into the battery the solution becomes acidic which CO2 is not soluble in allowing CO2 to be released
Q: How has your summer been? (compare to term time?)
A: I think it has been great because I have had the opportunity to do a lot of fun things but also get a lot of work done
Q: What has been your favorite memory so far/what was your favorite outing?
A: Archery Tag, not just because I planned it but because it was a great success
Q: What is something you have learned during the summer, whether it be academic, social, or personal?
A: I learned that there is only a two word difference between the boy drinks and the bunny gets trashed in Russian
Q: Something you found interesting/ funny?
A: So I went to the Boston Pops rehearsal with a group of friends and when we got there, they were sending people away because of a thunderstorm that was coming so we left. Then we saw people getting back in line and we figured that people were just checking out to see what was going on and then everyone just followed, you know like herd mentality. Well turns out they were actually letting people back in because the weather news was fake and we ended up being at the back of the line. So remember to always follow the herd when it comes to fake weather news.
Q: Something you want to accomplish this summer?
A: Complete my research and go hiking in New Hampshire
Q: A place you want to visit this summer?
A: The islands, I’ve been to two so far and want to visit the rest
Q: Favorite hobbies/ clubs?
A: Latin dancing (Candella), engineers without borders, archery tag, running and exercising with really awesome music like alternative rock that is also motivational
Q: Interesting talent?
A: Can only snap with my pinky
Q: If we gave you a million dollars to spend at Target for only ten minutes and you had to fit all your purchased items in a small car, what would you buy?
A: I would buy all dairy free ice cream, ALL OF IT, and an industrial sized fridge so that whenever someone wants to get ice cream I can just grab some of my dairy free ice cream, gotta have that stocked up. I would also buy some dairy free cheese and see how far I get with that