Meet Michael

Hi everyone,

My name is Michael Xu, and I am currently a 3rd year EECS major, also currently pursuing a minor in IEOR.  Long story short, I was born in China, moved to Brazil when I was 7, and finally moved to LA when I was 15. Over the years, I grew a passion for traveling, learning new languages, soccer, and of course, technology.

Because I still travel between the United States, Brazil, and China, I get to see the varying levels of technology development in these countries. I am grateful for having the opportunity to be exposed to different environments. And this also contributes to why I am taking IEOR 190G: I am looking forward to broaden my horizons about technological advancements and patents.

As an EECS major, I want to have a good understanding of the CS and tech industry as I join the workforce next year. Because whether I work for a company or decide to develop an app or program on my own, I want to know what is currently available in the market, and what isn't. If I develop something that is not currently on the market, but has great potential future, then I would definitely consider patenting my product. After all, I see patents as a great way to keep your products safe and give yourself a competitive advantage. Intellectual property is huge, and ideally I would be able to patent something that will force my competitors out. Or on the contrary, I am also interested in the possibility of licensing a certain product or feature after I patent it.

When learning about patents, I want to focus on things like a general trend that these patents are part of, and how these patents will affect me. There are other developers out there like me, who will patent something that they think is useful. And as I use these information to my advantage, I hope I can also create something that can impact the world.