Alex's Musings
A Window Into My Soul….Just trust your instincts
Haven’t written in a while. Thought I’d update. We have moved our experiment to the solvent shed rather than the lab roof because we actually have access to it. So, because the drain is the same size, the calculations were altered and the plants are being ordered. The only negative is that our professor is leaving for vacation for the next two weeks so we will have to be on our own. That can prove to be both good and bad. On the one hand it will help me develop my research skills but on the other I really don’t want her coming back and being unsatisfied with what I have done so far. So..I have mixed feelings. ..we’ll see how it goes
patience is a virtue…
so i’ve been slacking on this blog thing a little, I’m going to step it up in the coming weeks. I went home last weekend but this weekend I’m going to stay put and observe how Delaware does July 4th. Planning to travel to Philadelphia and Baltimore to broaden my intellectual horizons. Look for future posts to update this experience…
This week I presented my findings and preliminary design of the flow measuring device and have just finished constructing it with the help of Mr. George Whitmyer. It looks just like my predicted design and I am excited to put it into action either tomorrow or next week. Yes, I may be the only person to actually come in on July 3rd. I’m just that dedicated I guess. I need to get a camera so that I can pictorially demonstrate my creations. I’ll work on getting one this weekend….
The week was almost entirely sprent on designing the flow measuring device so that’s why I don’t have that much to report otherwise. It is 9 inches high, with a 25 degree angle, and symmetrical on both sides of a 3-inch PVC pipe. Thats the best I can describe it without showing it to you…
Decisions…decisions
okay so papers done. next? design proposal for the device. done. Done? Yes, done. Powerpoint presentation for next monday’s meeting? Almost done. Why so productive you may ask? Idk. i kinda wanna go home, kinda dont. Dont have any special plans for the weekend. How has the my week been you may ask? Well we have two new additions to our team, Kathleen and Mike, teachers from St. Georges Technical High School. They’re both very down-to-earth people and I think that we are going to have no problem communicating or working together. I’ll admit though, it’s kind of weird adressing them by their first names when just three/four years ago I could have been sitting in their classroom learning math and biology….
So…home for the weekend? Not sure. I’ll think about it as I’m watching the new Transformers 2 Movie tonight. Anyone else wanna come? We got a good group going. Should be a good time…but then again any movie with Megan Fox in it can’t be too terrible from an aesthetic point of view…
Most of week 3 in review….
So, i finally finished the paper last night. I think I have finally adjusted my writing style to one that Professor Shine likes/will approve of. I have attached a copy of it if anyone out there is interested. I haven’t made much headway with the project this week because the rewrite was very time consuming. That being said, I had a meeting with Professor Shine on Monday where she explained what is expected of me in far greater detail and with far more clarity. I now FULLY understand the project that I am working on and look forward to modeling the runoff system. I am actually gonna spec out the proposed design for it right now so I should go. Hope to have the final design by end of weekend, or at worst, by start of next week.
I’m going home to the place where I belong…
So, after I finished my afore mentioned paper, I went gome for the weekend. I promised I would post the paper, and i will, but I got it back with some corrections yesterday…so i’ll jsut post the finished copy once I am finished with it.
Home was nice. I mean it rained the entire time and it took me 4 hours to get there cause of bumper-to-bumper traffic in NYC, but other than that….I saw some friends that I hadn’t seen in a while. I studied a little bit. I drove my uncle to the airport and spent time with my little brother. Overall, very productive. On the drive back Sunday night (also in the rain), I almost hit a wall on a turn because my windshield was splashed with rain water from a nearby car..other than that, the drive was uneventful…I think the two weeks I spent away from home definitely made me appreciate some things that I never have before about the things I left behind.
Project Update
So, I promised to elaborate on my last post and provide a more detailed explanation of what’s going on. Also, I realize this is a little delayed but I had to write a huge paper, a copy of which will be attached in the next update. Anyway…
Monday morning I requested the services of Mr. Whitmyer to examine the internal piping and draining systems of the Colburn building to determine the structure and dimensions of the pipes. After getting the necessary data, i met with Professor Shine to plan the next course of action. We decided that we need to construct a lab system design to mirror that of the roof’s drainage system. The design we agreed upon consisted of a 3 inch PVC pipe inside a 4 inch PVC pipe, with the 4 inch pipe being representative of the drain. Why do we need to create a mock up of the system instead of testing the actual drain you may ask? Well, due to very stringent restrictions on roof access, I would need to acquire clearance from many different groups of people to be able to step foot on the roof. Because some of these people are very important and busy, and worried about the roof’s safety, odds are I would not get permission to access the roof. This is frustrating because even though I was able to acquire some of the measurements from inside the building, they are nowhere as thorough or concise as they would be if I had just five minutes of roof access. I just need to insert the pipe to determine the vertical distance of the drain and measure the pipes’ diameter. The measurements I obtained with George’s help only give me details about distance of roof to tile; I have no way of knowing how thick the ceiling is. So, instead we are setting up the system in a lab and testing it. If it works, then once the green roof project is well underway, we will be able to apply the calculations to the real thing…I just hope the measurements are credible…
On Wednesday, I was finally introduced to the staff that has been working on the green roof since last year. After Jenn and I were formally introduced, there was a short presentation about possible designs and the staff discussed possible monetary issues, grants, needs for further improvements, and future projects. I did not realize how much cooperation and effort went into a project of such magnitude. It was truly shocking to see how many people approval had to go through and how much time all this took. Project such as this really test an engineer’s ability to cooperate and work well with others…
I also got started on the lab system by going to Lowe’s for the necessary supplies. We bought PVC, PVC cement, screw caps for the pipes, etc…Looking forward to starting the lab part of project soon…
Greenroof…1 week later
Hey all,
This is my first ever post on my first ever blog of my first ever research experience; that’s a lot of firsts. So if i were to give a brief synopsis of my first week, it would go as follows:
Sunday- moved in to dorms for the first time (yes I know, another first), met my roommates, relaxed, walked around campus
On Monday we met with Professors Buma and Barner. They discussed some of the things that we were to expect and then we received safety training and right to know as a group, getting to know some of the professors in each department along the way. At the end of the day we had a chance to meet with our faculty advisors. My advisor, Professor Shine of the Chemical Engineering Department, seemed friendly and eager to get started on the project. She briefly explained the project we will be working on, as well as what I should expect to get from this summer’s experiences.
Tuesday through Thursday was basically introductory week. Professor Shine explained that there were two projects available: sensors for disease management and the Colburn Greenroof Project, and that we were to select one. After explaining both projects to us, my partner, Jennifer Dunn, and I both chose the latter and began becoming acquainted with what a green roof is and what a project like this entails.
On Friday there were burgers on the green in front of Evans and some people played frisbee. I then went into the lab, did some more research on the green roof (mapped out schematics, planned next week’s activities, etc.) and called it a weekend.
For information on what a green roof is, I have included some photos and general information pages.
http://www.mynewplace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/green_roof.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/green-rooftop-1.jpg
http://www.duluthstreams.org/stormwater/toolkit/greenroofs.html
As far as how far along I am in the project, I’d say it has been quite a productive first week. I became acquainted with green roofs, weirs, the complexities of research, independent work, etc. I looked at floor plans of the building and went into the piping to determine how to measure water runoff and drainage. I have worked with Professor Shine and Mr. George Whitmeyer to determine what type of devices can be used to measure all the necessary parameters before such a roof can be built. I also feel that I have begun to understand what Professor Buma said most of us would need to learn: to extend our research skills and develop aspects of the project independently and without instruction.
That’s all for now…hopefully this second week will be as productive as the first week was, but currently that seems unlikely…future updates will explain why.
What’s Going On?
This is my first post…My theme is not what I want it to look like…I’m upset.
