Growing Up

Image Courtesy of The Sweet Misery

I'm growing up. It's a fact. After dreaming to become an engineer for about 10 years, I'm almost here. In fact, I consider myself 'HERE'.

In Middle School, I aimed to get as-far in math as possible. And I did. 

In High School, my goal was to take Calculus and Physics by the time I finished. And I did.

In College, my goal was "To Do the Best I Can," get involved in Undergraduate Research, and have at least one internship. And I did.

Looking from the eyes of high school, there are some things I never would have imagined I would do:

• Work for NASA
• Work for a Fortune 500 Company
• Move to Dallas, Texas on a whim
• Live and work in Washington DC
• Live and work internationally (To be done, but planned)
• Present at 3 research conferences
• Go to Ebay and get sent to New York City for Free.
• Consider a PhD
• Take such pride and value in engineering

Now what?  To be honest, it's unnerving not to have a specific goal. Do I get my Masters in Engineering and MBA? Or do I go for my PhD? Or do I just wait and see?

For you youngsters: All of the above is possible. Work hard, have fun, and keep your dreams in sight.

-Serena

Who creates iPhone apps?

Image Courtesy of HouseofPR

Have you ever thought about who designs the apps for iPhone and Android?

Engineers and computer scientists. It's one of the best combinations of design and engineering/computer science.  I've met many younger girls who had never thought about it.


I know as girls, there are many of us (but not me, haha) who are often torn by both design/fashion and engineering. I've met many of you.

But have you thought about Product Design? It's the ability to communicate with both the engineers (practicality) and the marketing team (customer attractiveness). I know you aren't there yet, but often, many hold-ups occur as a result of the inability to communicate the practicality and customer attractiveness. (I said "inability," not "unwillingness," haha).

Engineers have one vocabulary. Marketing people have another. It's a dilemma in many industries.

So what can you do to get involved?

• Become well versed in 3D Modelling/CAD. 
• Take art/marketing/design classes.
• Join a design team. 
• If the product is an app, learn how to program. (I can expand on this if need be).
• Get to know people in the industry.
• Practice!

-Serena

The Top 10 Things that Women Invented

10: Circular Saw

In the late 18th century, a religious sect known as the Shakers emerged. Shakers valued living communally (albeit celibately), equality between the sexes and hard work. Tabitha Babbitt lived in a Shaker community in Massachusetts and worked as a weaver, but in 1810, she came up with a way to lighten the load of her brethren. She observed men cutting wood with a pit saw, which is a two-handled saw that requires two men to pull it back and forth. Though the saw is pulled both ways, it only cuts wood when it's pulled forward; the return stroke is useless. To Babbitt, that was wasted energy, so she created a prototype of the circular saw that would go on to be used in saw mills. She attached a circular blade to her spinning wheel so that every movement of the saw produced results. Because of Shaker precepts, Babbitt didn't apply for a patent for the circular saw she created.

9: Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is no doubt that many treasured recipes came about through accidental invention in the kitchen, but we must single out one of the most enduring -- and delicious -- of these recipes: the chocolate chip cookie.

Ruth Wakefield had worked as a dietitian and food lecturer before buying an old toll house outside of Boston with her husband. Traditionally, toll houses were places weary travelers paid their road tolls, grabbed a quick bite and fed their horses. Wakefield and her husband converted the toll house into an inn with a restaurant. One day in 1930, Wakefield was baking up a batch of Butter Drop Do cookies for her guests. The recipe called for melted chocolate, but Wakefield had run out of baker's chocolate. She took a Nestle chocolate bar, crumbled it into pieces and threw it into her batter, expecting the chocolate pieces to melt during baking. Instead, the chocolate held its shape, and the chocolate chip cookie was born.

Nestle noticed that sales of its chocolate bars jumped in Mrs. Wakefield's corner of Massachusetts, so they met with her about the cookie, which was fast gaining a reputation among travelers. At Wakefield's suggestion, they began scoring their chocolate (cutting lines into the bar that allow for easier breaking) and then, in 1939, they began selling Nestle Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. The Wakefield cookie recipe was printed on the back of the package; in exchange, Ruth Wakefield received free chocolate for life.

8: Liquid Paper

Bette Nesmith Graham was not a very good typist. Still, the high school dropout worked her way through the secretarial pool to become the executive secretary for the chairman of the board of the Texas Bank and Trust. It was the 1950s, and the electric typewriter had just been introduced. Secretaries often found themselves retyping entire pages because of one tiny mistake, as the new model's carbon ribbon made it difficult to correct errors.

One day, Graham watched workers painting a holiday display on a bank window. She noticed that when they made mistakes, they simply added another layer of paint to cover them up, and she thought she could apply that idea to her typing blunders. Using her blender, Graham mixed up a water-based tempera paint with dye that matched her company's stationary. She took it to work and, using a fine watercolor brush, she was able to quickly correct her errors. Soon, the other secretaries were clamoring for the product, which Graham continued to produce in her kitchen. Graham was fired from her job for spending so much time distributing what she called "Mistake Out," but in her unemployment she was able to tweak her mixture, rename the product Liquid Paper and receive a patent in 1958. Even though typewriters have been replaced by computers in many offices, many people still have a bottle or two of that white correction fluid on hand.

7: The Compiler and COBOL Computer Language

When we think about advancements in computers, we tend to think about men like Charles Babbage, Alan Turing and Bill Gates. But Admiral Grace Murray Hopper deserves credit for her role in the computer industry. Admiral Hopper joined the military in 1943 and was stationed at Harvard University, where she worked on IBM's Harvard Mark I computer, the first large-scale computer in the United States. She was the third person to program this computer, and she wrote a manual of operations that lit the path for those that followed her. In the 1950s, Admiral Hopper invented the compiler, which translates English commands into computer code. This device meant that programmers could create code more easily and with fewer errors. Hopper's second compiler, the Flow-Matic, was used to program UNIVAC I and II, which were the first computers available commercially. Admiral Hopper also oversaw the development of the Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL), one of the first computer programming languages. Admiral Hopper received numerous awards for her work, including the honor of having a U.S. warship named after her.

6: Colored Flare System

When Martha Coston was widowed in 1847, she was only 21 years old. She had four children to support, but she hadn't a clue about how to do so. She was flipping through her dead husband's notebooks when she found plans for a flare system that ships could use to communicate at night. Coston requested the system be tested, but it failed.

Coston was undeterred. She spent the next 10 years revising and perfecting her husband's design for a colored flare system. She consulted with scientists and military officers, but she couldn't figure out how to produce flares that were bright and long-lasting while remaining easy to use at the spur of the moment. One night she took her children to see a fireworks display, and that's when she hit upon the idea of applying some pyrotechnic technology to her flare system. The flare system finally worked, and the U.S. Navy bought the rights. The Coston colored flare system was used extensively during the Civil War.

Unfortunately, the flare system wasn't the best way for Coston to support her family. According to military documents, Coston produced 1,200,000 flares for the Navy during the Civil War, which she provided at cost. She was owed $120,000, of which she was only paid $15,000; in her autobiography, Coston attributed the Navy's refusal to pay to the fact that she was a woman.

5: The Square-bottomed Paper Bag

Margaret Knight didn't invent the paper bag, but those first paper bags weren't all that useful for carrying things. They were more like envelopes, so there was no way they'd become the grocery store staple that they are today. For that, we have to thank Knight. Knight realized that paper bags should have a square bottom; when weight was distributed across the base in this way, the bags could carry more things.

In 1870, she created a wooden machine that would cut, fold and glue the square bottoms to paper bags. While she was working on an iron prototype of the machine to use for her patent application, she discovered that her design had been stolen by a man named Charles Annan, who had seen her wooden machine a few months earlier. She filed a patent interference suit against Annan, who claimed that there was no way that a woman could have developed such a complex machine. Knight used her notes and sketches to prove otherwise, and she was granted the patent for the device in 1871.

That was hardly Knight's first patent, though. At the age of 12, Knight had developed a stop-motion device that would automatically bring industrial machines to a halt if something was caught on them, which prevented many injuries; all told, Knight was awarded more than 20 patents.

3: Windshield Wiper

At the dawn of the 20th century, Mary Anderson went to New York City for the first time. She saw a much different New York City than the one tourists see today. There were no cabs honking, nor were there thousands of cars vying for position in afternoon traffic. Cars had not yet captured the American imagination and were quite rare when Anderson took that trip, but the woman from Alabama would end up inventing something that has become standard on every automobile. During her trip, Anderson took a tram through the snow-covered city.

She noticed that the driver had to stop the tram every few minutes to wipe the snow off his front window. At the time, all drivers had to do so; rain and snow were thought to be things drivers had to deal with, even though they resulted in poor visibility. When she returned home, Anderson developed a squeegee on a spindle that was attached to a handle on the inside of the vehicle. When the driver needed to clear the glass, he simply pulled on the handle and the squeegee wiped the precipitation from the windshield. Anderson received the patent for her device in 1903; just 10 years later, thousands of Americans owned a car with her invention.

2: Nystatin

Long-distance romantic relationships are often troubled, but Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen proved that long-distance professional relationships can yield productive results. Both Brown and Hazen worked for the New York State Department of Health in the 1940s, but Hazen was stationed in New York City and Brown was in Albany. Despite the miles, Brown and Hazen collaborated on the first successful fungus-fighting drug.

In New York City, Hazen would test soil samples to see if any of the organisms within would respond to fungi. If there was activity, Hazen would mail the jar of soil to Brown, who would work to extract the agent in the soil that was causing the reaction. Once Brown had found the active ingredient, it went back in the mail to Hazen, who'd check it against the fungi again. If the organism killed the fungi, it would be evaluated for toxicity. Most of the samples proved too toxic for human use, but finally Brown and Hazen happened upon an effective fungus-killing drug in 1950. They named it Nystatin, after New York state. The medication, now sold under a variety of trade names, cures fungal infections that affect the skin, vagina and intestinal system. It's also been used on trees with Dutch elm disease and on artwork affected by mold.

1: Kevlar

It was just supposed to be a temporary job. Stephanie Kwolek took a position at DuPont in 1946 so she could save enough money to go to medical school. In 1964, she was still there, researching how to turn polymers into extra strong synthetic fibers. Kwolek was working with polymers that had rod-like molecules that all lined up in one direction.

Compared to the molecules that formed jumbled bundles, Kwolek thought the uniform lines would make the resulting material stronger, though these polymers were very difficult to dissolve into a solution that could be tested. She finally prepared such a solution with the rod-like molecules, but it looked unlike all the other molecular solutions she'd ever made. Her next step was to run it through the spinneret, a machine that would produce the fibers. However, the spinneret operator almost refused to let Kwolek use the machine, so different was this solution from all the others before; he was convinced it would ruin the spinneret.

Kwolek persisted, and after the spinneret had done its work, Kwolek had a fiber that was ounce-for-ounce as strong as steel. This material was dubbed Kevlar, and it's been used to manufacture skis, radial tires and brake pads, suspension bridge cables, helmets, and hiking and camping gear. Most notably, Kevlar is used to make bulletproof vests, so even though Kwolek didn't make it to medical school, she still saved plenty of lives.

This article was written by Molly Edmonds, courtesy of How Stuff Works

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/10-things-that-women-invented.htm

Engineering Pranks

Being an engineer should be tons of fun when you are one, so why not spread the joy by pulling engineering-style pranks in the computer lab?

1. Flip the screen! If you see someone forget to lock the screen, hit ctrl-alt-arrow key. Holding control-alt and an arrow key (any direction but up) will rotate the screen that way! (it usually only works on older OS, which is perfect for most computer labs.)

2. My desktop doesn't work! Take a screen shot of the desktop (make sure nothing is highlighted and you can't see the mouse!) Paste it into Paint and save it. Move all icons from the desktop into a folder, then set your new background. Everything will look the same, but none of the icons will work!

These are the easiest pranks that involve no downloads and wont do any damage to the system.

To prevent these from happening to you:

ctrl-alt-del to get to the menu prompt, then hit "Lock my Computer". You will just need to enter your password to get back onto the system, and will be safe from pranksters!

*note, this is only for PCs. Sorry Macs!

Things I wish I knew in college

College was probably the best time of my life. I know everyone says it should be, but it isn't until you aren't there anymore that you realize it. There are things I wish I'd been told while I was there that would have been extremely useful to know before I started my career, so I though I'd try to share some wisdom and help out those of you that are still there:

Why staying awake in class is important
We've all been there... long night doing homework, early morning trying to print, then you forget your coffee/energy drink of choice at home on the counter. Class starts and five minutes in you are starting to pass out. Unfortunately, this doesn't end after college. Eventually you will be in meetings and conference calls where the conversations are just as uninteresting, but it's even more important to stay awake since you are being paid to be there. You absolutely must find a method of staying awake in class, and no, not on your cellphone. Find out if you need more sleep or if you need to have some sugar or caffeine in your system. Maybe you just need to read up on the class ahead of time to stay awake. Whatever it is for you, you need to practice it in class. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to go to a meeting and to see someone starting to doze off. You do not want to be that person.

Taking notes
Now that you have successfully found a way to stay conscious, you need to find a way to take good notes by hand. Yes, by hand. Sorry to all of you laptop users, but in meetings laptops are usually not allowed as the typing is annoying to hear when someone is talking. Think of every office meeting you have seen on any TV show; everyone has a notepad and there is never a laptop. This isn't the only reason though. After important meetings, more often than not as the new person you will be the one to send out the meeting minutes. Which means you need to have been awake and been taking accurate notes. You will need to be able to pick out the important information and be able to use it correctly to tell everyone what you heard. Also, it's easier for you to remember what you need to do and who is important in the office.

Get a planner
In college I never had one and still managed to get all my homework done and turned in. When you get to the point in the office where you have 10-15 things that need to get done and all have deadlines, you need to remember when it all happens. Getting a planner, or at least making a To Do list is the best things you could possibly have. I don't think I'd be able to make it through a day any more without one.

Get good at public speaking - fast
In my first week on the job, I was leading conference calls and was fortunate enough to be decent at speaking in front of a bunch of people I've never met. It's extremely nerve wracking, but you absolutely must be able to voice your opinion and ask questions, which is something most students forget in college or just try to avoid. It is the people that are confident and will speak out that will catch the attention of recruiters, and it is those people that will get the jobs. Don't be shy; being shy won't get you work.

I'm sure I have more advice I would have loved to have been told in college, but this is what I have for the moment. I'll be sure to include more in my second segment of Things I wish I knew in college

Working in the Male Environment

Ladies, I'm sure you are used to spending countless hours in classrooms, computer rooms, labs, and a good portion of doing homework being around guys. Let's face it - engineering is a male dominated major. However, that's what makes us awesome as women for "fighting the system" and showing the guys we are just as good if not better. Unfortunately, it's something you will probably need to get used to, as being an engineer means you will be working in a male environment.

I work as a nuclear licensing engineer at a nuclear power plant, and on a daily basis have interacted with two other female engineers. It is not common to have women around in such complicated environments. Multiple times people have been surprised in meeting me at conference calls and in person, assuming that my name was "Daniel" instead of "Danielle", or mistaking me as a new secretary. These mistakes are small things I let roll off my shoulders, and use them instead to motivate myself to be recognized. In allowing my motivation and strengths show, I've been recognized for my work more so that some others. After being at this job for still under two months, I am now the lead project engineer on a high priority project, and will be defined as the site expert on the subject in a few months. I've realized that the men can look down on me or treat me different for being female all they want, but it hasn't stopped me from furthering myself more in two months than they have.

I've come to realize it is important to build a thick skin against these things if you want to be able to succeed in this type of working environment. Sure, you will be oogled at my men (I mean, it is their nature and sometimes it just happens) but it doesn't mean that they are going to go all creepo and harass you. Sometimes these guys are so used to being around guys all the time they forget to censor some comments they make when women are present. You don't need to be one of the guys, and you definitely shouldn't be a vixen in the workplace. All you need to do is be understanding, look professional, and act in a manner that will have people give you the respect you are working for.

Some things to be cautious of though:

1. Remember that they are your coworkers. This isn't college anymore. Don't flirt with the people you work with, since usually companies have policies against dating and it never ends well. Think about it... how would you feel being stuck in a room with someone that dumped you, every day in your career?

2. Learn how to write professional emails. Every email you send is an important one, regardless of the subject. Do not use slang, curse, be rude, and always use proper punctuation and grammar. Also, don't use a big word when you can use smaller ones instead. Just because you know what fission or thermofluids means doesn't mean they do.

3. Never ever throw your coworkers "under the bus" so to say. You will be in an office with them, and you will need their help over time, so don't burn your own bridges.

And most importantly, as long as you dedicate yourself to your work, there is nothing you cannot accomplish.

Senior Design Materials

As some of you know, I'm having my Senior Design Project Sponsored by NASA GSFC. Basically, they pay for most of the materials.  So my team's job is to create an "Ultra-Stable Thermal Enclosure"...basically we have to maintain a temperature of +/- 0.1 Celsius.  Never mind the difficulty, look at the toys we got! 

So last week, our mentor sent us a SparkFun Inventor's Kit in order to control the temperature.  "Unlease your Inner Inventor" as it says on the packaging.  Haha. 

So I was reading the website for this product, and it says it's for kids 10+....Let's just say I feel like a little kid again!!!!

Okay, material List. :-)

1. Breadboard. For those who don't know, a breadboard is where you connect your circuit.  Pretty simple, actually.  Look how tiny it is!!! 

2. This thing is pretty cool. You can use it like a touch pad! 

 3. This piece was used in the Nintendo Flex Glove.  Basically, you flex the material, and it changes the resistance, similar to the piece above.  (It works just like a strain gauge, which I used in the Material Performance Lab...I'll have to write about them sometime...)

 4. LEDs! Aren't they cute?

So I totally didn't mean to put these one my homework....it just helped there to be no reflection in the photos...But now that I look at them...I think it's a nice touch...(The math in the background is courtesy of Shigley Hauler Design Work)

Shigley Hauler

So I currently have a Mechanical Design class.  Our final project consists of creating a "Shigley Hauler", where Shigley is the author of our textbook. It's gunna be great! (Our team's goal is to haul at least 4 textbooks, each about 4.5 lbs per each).

The first day of class, our professor (who is absolutely crazy and awesome) gave us some materials.  Shall I introduce them? Of course!


I shall first introduce the MOTOR.  This little motor is supposed to be able to output a ton of torque with 2 AA batteries! Now we'll see about that :-/

The next component: gears! We have 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 tooth gears.  These should enable our team to take all the speed from the motor to carry a couple books up a ramp.  It's also great to note that these are made in CANADA :-)

 Okay background: our group is made up of 3 our of the 6 girls in our class (okay, there may be 7...I didn't quite count).  When we got the gears, Leann pointed out "Oh! Look at the Baby Gear!" ...Only the girls would say this, hehehe. However, I would argue that it IS small...

I'll be sure to update when we create our gear box....I'm so excited! Did I mention that we have to also write poems for this project? Talk about being well-rounded :-)

Neopets

So I don't know how many of you played Neopets as a young kid, but I definitely DID. 


For those of you who don't know what Neopets is it's a virtual world where you are given a pet and you are in charge.  The majority of the game deals with your shop, obtaining Neopoints, and figuring about cheap ways to feed your pet (if at all).:-)

At this point, your probably asking..."Serena, how does Neopets even remotely resemble engineering?" I'll give you 4 ways:

1. This game is about commerce. The world of ours revolves around commerce and the economy.  You own a shop, and you need to do everything in your power to sell your stuff/ not get it stolen from the ghosts.
2. Finance skills. You set up a bank account and collect interest.  I think it's a great way to show kids how their money grows in the bank.  Also, you build a shop, where you can sell things.  I would often undercut the market price to ensure that my items would sell... That is called business. :-)
3. Programming skills.  I learned how to program HTML for my shop.  I started doing this because was jealous of other kids whose shops would overflow with backgrounds and icons.  All I really remember is <img src= " ">, but it was definitely a start.  What kid site teaches them how to program?!
4. Efficiency.  You name the game, but my goal was to get as much money as possible.  This means that you don't play the games that give you only 50 neopoints per play...You find that game, and you dominate!

I was talking about this with other SWE girls, and we all talked about our slightly coy childhoods of ripping people off and finding the best ways to deal with a "free market." I think it's the closest thing to real life that kids can get involved in....The sad thing now is that they have commercials for the games :-(

Ingenious Inventions Part I

So one of my life goals is to die with at least one patent.  There are some inventions that are so simple that I wish I came up with them by myself....but I didn't.

This post gives credit to the inventor of the air bag for your shipments, like the things that replaced styrofoam peanuts. (I'm not talking about bubble wrap....because that process is a little too complicated for this post.)

Think about it! The box that contained your textbook for your Heat Transfer class is made up of plastic and air.  They are selling you air....


Let's think again: What do you need to create this bag-o-air? A compressor (for the air), and plastic....well you might need a sealer and labeler...THAT'S IT!

This is why I consider Bag-O-Air to be one of the most ingenious inventions.  It's too simple to not be credited....

Freshman Advice

Freshman year is tough.  You don't understand where you fit in the scheme of things, especially academically, socially, and emotionally.  Academics is often sacrificed for social activities, and you never know when to reach a balance.  So my advice:

• Do your best academically. Some people are 4.0 driven, which can be good.  But not everyone can get a 4.0....it's very difficult.  Do your assignments, ask for help, and do your best on the tests.  At the end of the 1st or 2nd quarter, you'll find where you rank and whether or not to up-the-ante...you'll probably have to, but that's okay :-)
• Still have fun, especially if it's Friday night. Don't be afraid to get soaked in the rain. Or get lost in a city. Or microwaving CDs...actually I don't condone this. All I can say is, it wasn't my idea.
• Socialize. This is NOT limited to your peers on your dorm floor.  Find clubs where you can meet upperclassmen (and valuable advice). Get a mentor.  Maybe find some graduate school friends? Finally, make small talk with your professors; they are people too! You might find that these actions will pay off early on. 
• Look forward. Similar to my "Maintaining Foresight" post, be sure that you start building your resume early on.  Create a resume...even if it has High School stuff on it.  Attend to career fairs*. Talk to employers. Hand out your resume. See where your degree will take you.  It's better to find out these things very early on than getting 6 weeks to graduation and realizing you will be staring into a microscope all day (and you abhor it).

*Be prepared to be shot down because you are a "freshman."  It's okay. It happens to the best of us.  These recruiters don't realize that these same "freshmen" will be speaking to them in like...two years? And they don't forget things, haha. 

Maintaining Foresight

After telling someone my major, I usually get the following response: “Um, Wow.  So why did you pick engineering?” Sometimes I’m dumbfounded, but then realize that not everyone is me.  It can be difficult for others to comprehend why engineers chose what they do, especially in these wondrous years of college.  This can even lead to you pondering the choice, especially after the countless all-nighters and numerous ounces of caffeine consumed over the years; “Why didn’t I just pick Psychology?”

Well, I have an answer: Maintain Foresight.  It’s useful regardless of situation.  Why did YOU choose this major?  The following reasons should NOT be the main reason why you wake up groggy every day.

1. The money.
2. My parents told me to do it.
3. I like math.

Okay, now don’t get all controversial with me.  Let me tell you why these are not good reasons.  

1. You can make a ton more money in other professions.  The hefty paycheck is a nice incentive, but should not be the ONLY incentive.  
2. It’s your life, live it!  Your parents want what’s best for you, but if you truly aren’t into the-whole-I’m-doing-math-all-the-time thing, you are probably are in the wrong major (If you can use your abilities to your fullest, I would go for that…most parents just want to see their kids to be successful).  Also, I never want to get out of bed saying, “I’m learning heat transfer because my mom-told-me-so.”  Sorry, Mom.  
3. Math is the basis of engineering principles.  However, MATH does not equal ENGINEERING.  Again, an incentive, but shouldn't be the main reason.

So I’ll admit.  I’ve used these answers a time or two.  To be honest, these answers do not maintain a strong argument with you or your inquirer.  Here are the questions I ask myself:

1. What inspired you?  Machines?  Astronauts?  The Shuttles?  I always dreamt about being in the flight room during shuttle takeoff;  I would probably start smoking if I took that job, haha.  My other dream job: the packaging engineer who makes it possible to get everything inside a 2x2x1 box….but never back in once you take it out…  I always know that person is semi-genius.
2. Who do you look up to?  I often refer to the JPL engineer as my reference.  But there are certain faculty in MAE, where I say, “I want to be in her place in 15 years…”

These two questions have helped me maintain foresight during a set of homework problems.  Where did you come from and where do you want to go?  Keep these questions in mind, and nothing will sway you from your dreamsJ. 

Network, Network, Network!

One advantage to being a female in engineering....everyone knows who you are.  They simply pick you out of the crowd.

Now that you have this information, you have two options:

1. Get to know everyone
2. Shy away, and be known as that-weird-girl-who-doesn't-talk-to-anyone.

I'm not trying to scare anyone away! However, networking has its advantages (and disadvantages, but we're not going to talk about them here.). 

The cool thing about being social is that you have a ton of engineering friends.  I bring this up for a couple reasons: two days ago, I had a younger engineering friend that needed help with some class....(I have little shame in doing this) but I emailed my friend (who is extremely smart and could definitely help my younger friend) and asked if they could help.  And they did. 

I know a large number of my friends (people in my class) are willing to help other people.  A couple things happen though:

• the more-senior students don't socialize with less-senior students
• the less-senior students are afraid to ask
• the less-senior students don't socialize more-senior students

So there! It breaks the connection, and all student miss out. So three lessons:

1. Have no shame in asking for help (unless you're being annoying....but chances say you haven't asked yet)
2. Join Clubs! Get involved in a mentoring program. Eg. Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has a great program to create those connections between more-senior and less-senior students.  It doesn't cost any money to network!
3. Really get to know your peers. They will start to respect you, and you will respect them.  Help them when they need help.  But make them feel good (and smart) by referring them to other people.

Hope this was helpful! 

When you're feeling blue...

There are times where you are just feeling down. It could be related to school, life, work, or maybe nothing! Often your productivity gets shot, but you still gotta push on.  

My Go-To's: 

Coffee: Usually good if my productivity is down, and I need something to get a jump start.  I started drinking coffee lately, and my sad times have definitely decreased. Maybe they should start prescribing coffee for depression...

Saturn Rings/Peachy-O's: Just enough sugar to get me going, and think about how I got to NASA.  You look up at the stars and wonder, "Who am I in this vast universe?".  Just don't eat candy while you are hungry: It can cause major sugar crashes and headaches, which are never good.

Working Out/Dancing: Getting your adrenaline going often helps you to worry about something else.  I love coming back from my modern class feeling better and ready to tackle my homework problems.  

Chilling with Friends: Another diversion technique.  Resist the urge to rant about your classes or he or she.  Just sit around and watch stupid youtube videos.  Or watch a movie, and make fun of the characters.  Do something to get your mind off of school.

Sleeping can be evil sometimes.  I'll lie awake, worried about everything. And in the morning I'll feel even more anxious than I am now.

What are you favorite stress relievers/pick-me-ups?

New York City, New York

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

It got me thinking about the huge marketing advantage that Macy's have. The city was absolutely packed.  Basically, if you can sell the idea of Christmas, you can make some money.

What are the balloons filled with? Helium! After my internship this past summer, I was able to know the politics with Helium.  Basically, the US has the largest reserves of Helium in the world, and the world is running out....quickly.  You're soon gunna see all of the Helium skyrocket in price! 

So what's going to happen with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Three things can happen:

• Macy's will pay for the expensive helium
• Macy's will get rid of the balloons (this would greatly damage their image and marketing power)
• Macy's will fill the balloons with Hydrogen...which we all know....is flammable (this may also destroy some of the supporters of the parade).

According to Wikipedia (I know...what a source.), 2006 saw a helium price increase.  So the organizers decided to reduce the amount of balloons.  Still...I don't know what they are going to do...

Making Things Look Pretty: Formatting

One of my favorite things about the computer is the ability to format. As you can tell, I love italics.  It makes everything stand out. :-)


Formatting becomes very important in many instances: papers, posters, presentations, resumes, this blog...So here are my tips!

Pictures are worth 1000 words.  I don't care if you are an English major or not: people do not like to read. Use your text to describe what your pictures are saying.

Make your own graphics! You don't need to be a graphic artist to do this.  Paint is awesome...and the new Windows 7 Paint is even awesome-r.  Take advantage of the zoom tool. If you hate Paint: use MS Word/Powerpoint and create a "New Drawing Canvas".  If you are able to, maybe take a look at Photoshop; my last lab had the program, and I started to use it for precise calculations on our drawings.

Empty space is your best friend.  Empty space is a sign of cleanliness, organization, and intelligence.  Imagine Einsteins's home office. Is it a mess? Or is it pristine with books surrounding a big comfy chair with a simple lamp in the middle?  Intelligent people are seen as clean (whether or not they are).  So keep your publications and works of art clean.

Use fonts, bold, italics, and underlines.  It helps to make things standout, similar to what I do here.

And for your papers/publications: Use EndNote! A few graduate students told me about this program.  I initially blew off their advice until I had about 20 sources.  You usually can download the program for free from your school's website.  However, it takes a little getting used to.  After a full semester of writing about 6 extensive papers with figures, tables, and (not to mention) sources, the program was able to organize them very neatly.  You can also look up a book/journals ISBN from the Library of Congress, and it'll format the Bibliography for you! Final tip: look up a journal using Google; usually you'll be able to download the citation STRAIGHT into your EndNote Library...talk about a time saver.


Hope this helped :-) If you have any questions, feel free to write in the comments or email me.

How To Succeed in Engineering: Dimensional Analysis and Tables

There have been too many instances where people in my engineering classes do NOT understand dimensional analysis or tables.  Sure, you may know how to do these things, but you need to be AWESOME at these things.  Some of you may not know what I'm talking about.  So let's have an introduction:

Dimensional Analysis

 I’ve loved dimensional analysis since middle school!  When I was 13, I could recite a TON of conversions (shows you how nerdy I was).  Here are some examples:

Convert 12 miles to meters.

If you buy a sweater that is $24, but 35% off, how much is the sweater?

Most people don’t know how to do these problems, at least not easily. 

Tips for the trade:

A dimension is a unit, which is like a number.  You can reduce the following: 5/5=1.  Well you can also do the following:  or  .

Think about other possibilities.  For instance,  .

Think about the unit actually represents.  Like area is just a two-dimensional length.  Volume is three-dimensional length.  Acceleration is the time derivative of speed which is the time derivative of length.  Okay, sure that was a little confusing.  But think about the bigger picture.  Here is a cool video to show you what I mean: Imagining the 10^th Dimension.

TABLES

Now about half (yes ½) of my upper division thermodynamics class was spent teaching us how to read tables.  And still people failed that class.  Sure, thermo goes beyond reading tables, but if you can’t read a table accurately, you are going to make silly mistakes on your tests.  And tests are your entire grade!

Tips for the trade:

Read lots of tables!  Like train tables!  I love sitting down and just looking at all the different times and thinking of different possibilities.  Another lame thing I like to do: read tables in the backs of textbooks.  It comes with surprises!  For instance, I found the specific heat for chicken and cake in the back of my Heat Transfer book.  Now, you can’t tell me THAT’s not interesting.

Use two pieces of paper to track your points.  Use one horizontally and the other vertically.  It’ll also help so you don’t strain your eyes.

Mark your point lightly with a pencil.  This has saved me many times.  Sometimes I’ll look back over the test and realize 1) my pencil point is in the wrong spot 2) I wrote down the number wrong.  It honestly helps you.

This whole blog post may seem like a "well, duh Serena."  But I'm telling you! Even my supervisors at my internships have converted wrong!  Be awesome at conversions, and then you can worry about the real "engineering."

The Next Mars Land Rover- Curiosity

So I don't know about everyone else, but I'm totally excited for the next edition of Mars Discovery- Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. It's five times as large as the previous rovers and contains ten times the instruments.   It is mainly looking for the ingredients for life:like methane and microbial life.  Launch is planned for Saturday, and it won't land on Mars until NEXT AUGUST!!!  If you are doing nothing on Saturday, make sure to watch the launch! For more information, click HERE.

National Academies

So I don't know how many of you have even heard of the US National Academies.  Yeah, me neither until I came to Washington DC. BUT! through my research of trying to find a job in DC, I realized how awesome the academies are!  Here's an overview:

There are 4 Academies: National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

They are honorary service organizations. Basically, you need to be nominated to get into the "club."  Isn't that cool?!

A main point of the Academies is to educate the public.  It's great that there's an organization with 300 Nobel Laureates (that's right! 300!) to come together and get other people excited about science.

They help to consult the US Government on matters involving science (with means pretty much anything). So those people within the academy have a duty to show their view on the scientific matters.

The Academies publish about 200 reports every year. These reports help to influence public policy.  Think, you could write a report on, say, obesity, and the it's possible that this would get the attention of the media and Congress.  If interested in the up-and-coming trends of engineering, this may be a good resource.  


For more information, visit the National Academies.  Check it out, there may be something that peaks yoru interest. I'm also thinking of a field trip in the near future. :-)

After College

College is all about preparing you for the "real world."  A graduate student once described to me that the engineering classes that you take is a "new tool for your toolbox."  I love this interpretation!!! Again, engineering is able solving new problems...not having them solved for you in school.  From one of my favorite bloggers, here is a link to what you don't learn in college. Check it out. :-)