Week 14

            Last week, I honestly did nothing for ISM because it has been the start of the new semester. I spent most of my time getting ahead in Digital Electronics. However, my mentor Justin Masias passed the background check, so now I can start the shadowing process. In the future weeks, I plan to meet with him, and to start the evidence of learn reports. The blog posts will also be fill with more content in the future weeks.

Week 13

            Over the last week and Christmas break, I have started to do the math behind the railgun. I found a dissertation from a person at the naval postgraduate school in 1996 that built and tested a similar designed railgun as me. With this dissertation, there were all his equations that he used. With these equations, I plan to put them in a program that will do the math for me. Also, after reading it, the amount of force that is required scares me. For an example, he used 20,000 amps in his test fires, and it only takes two amps to kill a person. Thus, I will be having an electrical engineer make sure everything is safe before I fire my railgun in the future.

            Last week, I also found out that a friend of mine is making an aiming program that he would like for me to put my railgun on. With the program, I could have the ability to type in coordinates and have the railgun hit that location. However, I am worried that the magnetic field that comes off railguns will ruin the computer that is running the program. However, I will cross that bridge if we decide to go down that route in the future.

Week 12

            These past three weeks between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break have been rather stressful.  In preparation for the research showcase, I have edited and finished all my research and interview assessment, built my display, and 3D printed my projectiles. I was lucky enough to be friends with an expert CAD designer to create and 3D print a working model of my railgun projectile. Also as a color scheme, I choose blue and grey/black because my blue suit and grey accents would match my display perfectly. Finally, with my display, portfolio, suit, and models I was ready for the showcase.

            The showcase itself was not as packed as I thought it was going to be. I only had two people I didn’t know approach me about my field. With this being said, I was actually able to talk with an engineer at Traxxas to hopeful get a sponsorship for engineering club. I was also able to talk with my mentor more about where I was headed for my original work, and our plans to get it made. Thus, these two conversations made the showcase a very important and helpful event for the future. After the showcase, I am now more excited to create the railgun and to show it off in the final presentation showcase.

Week 11

            This past week was rather eventful right before Thanksgiving break. I had my final interview with Tung Nguyen over the phone. At first, he was skeptical of me and by the end of the interview; I had a deeper understanding of how Emerson worked as a cohesive unit. At the end of the interview, Mr. Nguyen also was so interested in the interview that he even asked for the questions I asked him.

            With the end of my interviews meant the construction of my five interview assessment, which I also finished this week. To prepare for the research showcase, over Thanksgiving break; I need to make my presentation for the ten-minute speech I have to give. I have the layout of the Prezi in my mind, and now I just need to create it.

            Lastly, this week I have contacted Justin Masias, and asked if he would like to be my mentor second semester. He replied and said that he could, so now he has to go through our school background check and complete the legal paperwork. Hopefully, all of the legal paperwork gets finished in time so he can present with me at the research showcase on December tenth.

Week 10

            With the research assessments over with, the class work for ISM has decreased. However, with this decrease, I was able to have my fourth interview with Curtis Bagby. Mr. Bagby is the VP of sale of North America at Emerson, and although his is not an engineer, he still works for an engineering company. With this, he was able to show me a different side of engineering that I have never seen before. He also provided insight to what happens after the engineers make a new product. Lastly Mr. Bagby was able to provide many names of people I could potentially contacts for my next interview. Thus, with this information, the interview proved to be very informative.

            As my interviews with professionals come near to the end, I have also decided to contact Mr. Nguyen at Emerson, a contact that was given to me my Mr. Bagby. I hope he is able to have an interview with me before Thanksgiving break hits.

            Lastly, this week I have planned my display board and written invitations for the research showcase in December. Now I just need to deliver the invitations to the eleven people on my invite list. This thus proves this week to be a rather productive one.

Week Nine

            Last Wednesdays interview was a very interesting one, and probably the most useful information wise. Mr. Lehocky was super philosophical in his responses, and really spent the time to answer my questions thoroughly. He kept hitting on the same few concepts being school, and not being an average engineer. With school, he said to “never stop learning, and to ask questions.” He also said “in school you are taught to also answer the questions correctly, when in reality the smartest people are the ones that ask the great questions.” I found myself pondering what this statement meant for quite a while after the interview. Secondly, he said, “do not become a catalog engineer.” Meaning that many engineers do one thing most their life, and they do not see different sides of the business. He recommends that I go into manufacturing or something along those lines for a few years just to see what it is like. Lastly, he tided school back into not being a catalog engineer by saying “study majors besides Mechanical Engineering to see the world in a different way to help with my engineering career.” Overall, this might have been my favorite interview so far because it was not like the cookie cutter answers I have gotten in the past.