Andrew Brownlow traveled to Tongji University in China during the summer of 2014 as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) program. The Ministry of Education in China co-sponsors the program with the NSF, and sends approximately 40 graduate and PhD students to China each year. The program lasts six weeks (56 days), and Andrew was in China from June 9th to August 3rd. A little under two weeks were spent in Beijing—one at the beginning of the trip and one at the end of the trip. The first week was spent as an introduction to Chinese culture, language, and history. The last week is reserved for the “Closing Ceremony,” in which the students from the program were given a chance to present their research to colleagues and discuss their experiences in the program. The rest of the time was spent in Shanghai at Tongji University, researching robust maintenance of subway tunnels, and working with a Chinese PhD student to analyze his data from subway tunnel monitoring equipment using random field theory. Ultimately, a new method was validated to interpret the data and create guidelines for the optimal spacing of monitors to acquire accurate readings.
