Amy Xu

Hi everyone! I’m Amy Xu and I am currently a senior at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, North Carolina. Tomorrow I will be traveling to China for the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition (BYSCC). I’ll be going with the North Carolina Science, Math, and Technology Education Center (SMT) as part of the USA delegation, and I know the other three students (Dhruv, Forrest, and Edward) who are going well. They’re a lot of fun, so I’m incredibly excited and way too awake for my own good.

While I’m in Beijing, I’m most excited about making friends with people from all over the world and learning about their lives and their research. My goals for trip are to learn about both the sciences and different cultures. I also want to try some new things and get better at reading Chinese.

The research project I’m presenting is entitled “Electrodeposition of Group IV Chalcogenide Thin Film Solar Cells,” which I have worked on with my mentor, Dr. Linyou Cao at NC State University. The goal of my project is to make thin film solar cells cheaper by using less expensive materials (SnS and SnSe), simpler deposition methods, and super-efficient nanostructures.