Know-It-All's

What do you deal with those guys that seem to know everything?

Haha! I love this question! 

No worries. These people will always exist.  They seem to be more common in subjects I don't know anything.  (Probably because I know those who are in engineering are typically full of it.) 

My best advice: Ignore it and maintain confidence. You wouldn't gain admission to college if you weren't smart and hardworking...just like everyone else there.

Yesterday, I was reading that women often underestimate their abilities, for fear of being wrong or not being "good enough."  Don't worry, I feel like this ALL of the time....hence why I study so much, hahaha. But honestly, you shouldn't feel this way...example...

Last quarter, I had one of these guys in my classes. He went to every professor office hour, invaded the TA during every TA office hour (I think the TA got sick of it, lol), and looked like he had everything together. The day of the final, I walked into the engineering computer lab on campus.  He and another guy were studying for this final.  He comes over to ask me a question....and it was one of the most simple concepts from the class!  Like, he should have learned it like week 3 or 4...or even earlier with all of the office hours. 

It just goes to show: just because one may "seem" like they know everything, doesn't mean they do.

Now go out, and be confident. (Eat some chocolate while you're at it.)

-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

Things you should do during an interview

After my post on the obvious things you shouldn't do during an interview, here are a few obvious and not-so obvious things that you should do during an interview.

1. Give a firm handshake
Ladies (and gents), a firm handshake makes the best impression on an interviewer. As an interviewer myself, I am far more impressed with someone that gives me a firm handshake. I asked around to my superiors, and most said their first impression on me was stronger because I gave a good handshake. It's actually been proven that women do better in interviews if they give a firm handshake. (Seriously. Google it.) Remember though, there is a difference between a nice, strong handshake, and causing physical pain. Pain = bad.


2. If you can get off topic with the interviewer, do it.
Not saying you should talk about the weather, but if the interviewer states anything personal about themselves, jump on the opportunity to talk about it. This takes it from being just another interview to "Oh yeah, I remember that one." To get this position I got in a detailed conversation about ladybugs. Seriously. Ladybugs.

3. Ask serious questions
Don't ask generic questions like "What is this subject" or "how did that start?". If they are questions you can answer in Google or off of a company page, don't ask it. Instead, ask questions about things you can't find online. Here are some examples:

• Ask the interviewer what they like most about the job
• Ask the interview what they like least about the job (this is a very good one to ask)
• What is a day in the job like?
• Are there company outings / group activities?
• Is there opportunity for advancement in the company?

 4. Overdress
I know it sounds weird, but (men) if you are deciding about whether to wear a tie or not, do it. Ladies, instead of your favorite shirt, why not your nicest one? You may not be hired into a position where you need to dress up that much, but it makes quite an impression on your interviewer.

Things you shouldn't do in an interview

Everyone says that there are things you should and shouldn't do in an interview, but here are a few obvious ones that surprisingly still happen quite often. I'm making this list because this can be automatic disqualifications from getting a job that you'd love to have:

1. Do not lie.
I'm dead serious. This happens way more than you'd think. During the process of one interview, the interviewee was talking about how he had written a massive report on regulation codes and how a project fit it. It sounded quite impressive, until he mentioned that he had brought it with him. In looking through the report, it was clear that he could not have written a good portion of the report based on language and reference documents. When he was asked about it, he stated that he actually only wrote about 40% of the report. Lying during the interview got him automatically disqualified from getting the position that he would have gotten otherwise.

2. Do not show up unprepared
In an interview for the main project being worked on, the interviewee did not prepare for the interview at all. I ended up spending most of the interview explaining background than actually interviewing the individual. If you come prepared to an interview with questions, it shows that you've researched into the job and are actually interested.

3. Do not ask about other positions
The worst interview I had was with an individual who had a great deal of experience in the field relating to the position. When I asked what he was most interested in for the subject field, he stated something that was not related to the position at all. Keep in mind, this is not a bad thing. I asked him how he would handle the position available as it wasn't his big interest. The possible responses he should have had could have been:

• I don't have experience in the field of this position, but it is something that I am interested in pursuing. I am currently interested in (A) because that is what I have experience in so far.
• I feel that my drive in (A) shows my motivation to learn new things.
• I am interested in this position in spite of (A)

Okay, so the last one could use some spiffing up, but you get the idea. The response he had was this:
"Oh well, are there any positions available that relate to (A) or a division I could transfer in to?"

At this point I should have just told him "Thank you for coming, have a nice day." He pretty much stated he had no interest in this position, and had just wasted an hour of my life that I could have spent interviewing someone that actually wanted the position.

Please, do not do any of this things if you actually intend on getting a job. These were all college graduate engineers, and they could have used this advice ahead of time. Don't be one of them.

Vex Robotics Competition Part 2: Creativty and Costumes

Some of the costumes at the Vex Robotics Competition were truly proof that creativity and engineering does go hand in hand. Every group had custom designed t-shirts that [usually] one of their team members had created. In addition to this there were pins, wristbands, stickers, temporary tattoos, etc with these crazy logos too not to mention the crazy costumes the team mascots were wearing. I've attached a few of my favorites.

 The girl on the right was so sweet, she gave me T-Vex Wristband too :) Plus her shorts matched her shirt.

Not sure how much detail is on here but the guy on the rights hoodie was a bunch of chibis on gears one of their teammates drew it.

I wasn't able to catch this group from China for a good shot so sorry about the blur. The Purdue guys on the right were amusing. That horse head freaks me out though.

Random Mascot costumes. The one on the left was created by a team member of a previous year, completely out of soda cans, pretty cool. The guy on the right's cape had his group emblem on it.

This girl was crazy amazing! I got her name so I'll have to tag her in this once I find where I placed it. She worked on it throughout the whole competition. Their team name was Digital Storm and the area that's written on she drew out the background in green as binary. Pretty cool.

This little guy here was my personal favorite. Apparently a team member of the Vex-Men had created it, it's all completely hand machined. Sweeeeet.














That's it for now. Enjoy.

Cheers,

N. Riazi

My First Day at NASA

Last Fall, I interned with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  Totally exciting...it was a life-long dream of mine. However, my first day was much different than most first days....

I lived in Downtown Washington DC and had to commute to Greenbelt, Maryland for the extent of my internship.  I had thoroughly researched my route to and from work, and knew it was do-able with a single Metro ride and a single bus (I call this bus the NASA bus, because it stops at 2 NASA stops and 1 other stop.) As you should do, I gave myself plenty of time to get the base, and I planned my arrival for at least 1 hour prior (I know how unpredictable public transportation can be). I put on my professional looking work attire, and headed out of the building.

I hopped onto the Orange Line in Washington DC, taking the counter commute to New Carrollton, Maryland. (Locals call this stop "New Carl-ton". Newbies call this stop "New Carol-ton." I was already at a disadvantage, lol). This part was easy. I made sure I was heading in the right direction, no problem, especially for Nav (this was my Girl Scout name for "Navigator").

So I made it to "New Carl-ton." I had missed the 15X (aka "The NASA bus") and had to wait 40 minutes for the next one. Being the Nav Serena, I looked at the different bus routes. The local transportation district had even marked the extent of the NASA property. I said, "Hey! This bus (12) goes there! I'll just hop on it and get there earlier than expected!"  Did I also mention that I own a "Dumb Phone"?

I hopped onto bus 12. I'm followed the map provided on the bus (total newb here!), and we turned left on Greenbelt Rd, when my destination was on the right.  I ask the nice old lady next to me..."Do you know where the Kmart is?" I knew the front gate of GSFC was right across the street from Kmart. 

"Oh yeah!" (I knew older ladies like to go to Kmart...I know I do.) " Get off here, and take Bus 16 going in the opposite direction." I thanked her, and rushed off the bus.   

I looked across the street, and I saw Bus 16 pass. Great...So I start walking toward the base. What to do...What to do...I guess I'll walk and try to find a ride along the way. I start walking toward a bank, and I see a lady security guard leaving. "Do you know where the Space Center is?" 

She said, "Yeah, it's about down that way.  I would give you a ride, but I'm heading in the opposite direction." Okay. Let me chill and try to find some other honest looking person. I saw an older couple, and asked them for directions.

"Yeah, it's down that way!" He pointed in the same direction as the security guard.

"Do you think I could walk?" I tried hinting for a ride.

"Well, it's about a mile, but there are buses that run every 20 minutes or so."

"I could walk a mile in about 20 minutes." This couple was obviously not offering a ride, so I took off walking.

About 5 minutes later, I get a whistle. "Hey baby! You want a ride?" Nope, I'm just gunna clutch to my cell phone and pray to God that the emergency phone number in Greenbelt, Maryland is 9-1-1.  He took off. I obviously did not want to give him a "ride"...Goodness.

The clouds were warning me that it was about to rain. I didn't have a raincoat nor an umbrella. God was definitely with me that day. I got to the base in about 15 minutes.

I got a text from my mentor at NASA. "What is your ETA?"

"About 5 minutes," I texted back. I was set up for my badge before he even arrived to show me around. It was now 10 am.

Moral of the Story: 

If you are brand new to an area, do the following:

• Find multiple ways to get somewhere, especially with public transportation.
• Learn what the emergency phone numbers are BEFORE you get there. 
• DON'T BE COMPLACENT WITH YOURSELF! YOU'LL REGRET IT.
• Be very careful when asking for directions/rides...notice I never actually "asked" for a ride. I just hinted that I was without transportation...and I WAS wearing professional clothing. Where else was I going? (I also should have called my mentor and asked for a ride.  Admitting you are wrong is much better than putting yourself into danger.)
• Learn how to read people. For example: the older lady who knew where Kmart was, the older couple at the bank, the lady security guard, the train operator who showed me that locals call New Carollton, "New Carl-ton." You'll fit in much sooner.
• Bring an umbrella. You never know when it's going to rain.

-Serena

Vex Robotics Competition Part 1

Hello,

So last week I was in Anaheim at the Vex Robotics competition representing Autodesk and not gonna lie, it was pretty dang cool. There were groups from all over the world and every team had their own team colors/shirts/costumes/mascots/chants. It was like the Quidditch World Cup...but for techies.

Over at Autodesk we had our own cool little booth set up where we did presentations and walked kids through the process of building be it coming up with ideas, figuring out what your constraints/limitations are, modeling, etc.

We also were giving out a ton of free stuff. Fun fact: glow sticks=being mobbed by children, and children at heart.

But I honestly have to say it was an amazing experience, I have never met so many people from so many different places at once. I met kids from Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Japan, New Zealand (I am so in love with that accent), and well as kids from all over the US. While there were a lot of people my age as well (it was 6th grade through college I believe) it was really great seeing the little ones getting into this sort of thing from such a young age.

I have the tendency to get long winded with these so you'll be seeing my other posts about the conference over the next couple weeks so keep checking back!

Cheers,

N Riazi