Ponghiran Interns with Intel

The summer of 2020 saw a shift in how students attended classes, performed research, participated in conferences, and even participated in internships. As remote working experiences continue in 2021, Wachirawit (Mint) Ponghiran would like to share his experiences working a summer internship remotely.

 

Mint spent the summer of 2020 working remotely in West Lafayette, Indiana with C-BRIC industry partner, Intel Corporation based in Oregon. Mint is a PhD student at Purdue University under the direction of Professor Kaushik Roy. His research interests are in algorithm design for spiking neuromorphic computing. During his internship, his work focused on the development of a neuromorphic algorithm for future neuromorphic hardware.

 

With virtual offices being a new standard during this time, there was a lot of uncertainty. Mint entered his new work environment determined to establish and maintain new connections with his Intel team. He was very pleased that he had the opportunity to talk with his manager and many other researchers routinely to explore ideas and forge new collaborations. He also said he "joined group exercise and game night with people from different Intel teams and both events turned out to be more sociable than I am expected." Mint was also grateful for his Intel experience as it "gave me a deeper understanding of the whole design process to develop neuromorphic algorithms and hardware, including the rationale behind every decision that the team made to push advancement in this field."