Starting college is exciting and frightening at the same time, especially if you’re the first in your family to attend. You are not really sure of what to expect or know exactly what college has in store for you.

San Diego State University (SDSU) offers several summer programs for incoming freshmen, especially for first generation and minority students. The programs help incoming freshmen get an idea of what college is like, such as taking a college course, living in the dorms and meeting new people.

Last summer, Alberto Perez Jr. participated in the Research Academy Jr., a program that introduces sensorimotor neural engineering and research methods. Alberto was so intrigued by the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering presentation that he changed his major from physics to mechanical engineering.

Alberto took some time recently to discuss how the Research Academy Jr. and CSNE changed his career choice. He also described his experience to date being part of the CSNE. An edited transcript is below.

Read the transcript at the CSNE website.