During my internship, I observed the ability of my mentor and colleagues to instantly come up with successful solutions to problems. In particular, when my mentor encounter an unforeseen engineering problem, it takes him only couple of minutes before he becomes a veritable fountain of potential solutions. (I think I've mentioned that before, but it's so impressive that it bears repeating.) I've more or less decided on a mechanical engineering major in college at this point, and watching those I'm working with solve problems seemingly effortlessly with solutions that actually work makes me realize that I need to look for a college that features design in its mechanical engineering curriculum, through design classes and/or design projects.
In addition, the things I've seen my colleagues do has inspired me to become an engineer. I have observed the work of two of my colleagues in particular, both mechanical engineering majors, one who just graduated and one who is going into his fifth year: Alex hands them problems, gives them a few pointers to get started, and then essentially turns them loose to come up with solutions. It's amazing how quickly they're able to do so, and it seems like fun work. What I've observed them doing is extremely similar to what I do every robotics season.
Of course, I'm woefully under-prepared for an engineering career in terms of math and science skills; that's what college is for, right? I will say, though, that the collaboration I've done at High Tech High, and especially the peer reviewing process, can be translated directly into the DIII-D workplace. In addition, while I haven't had much opportunity to use my SolidWorks knowledge during my internship, I see my colleagues using it extensively almost every day, and I feel like if I had the same math and science knowledge, I could do what they're doing in CAD. I can say with confidence that the CAD skills I've gained from robotics will more than come in handy in college and in my career.
Finally, to answer a couple of questions from comments on my photo essay: we finally managed to get SolidWorks working around the end of my third week at DIII-D, so I've been able to make some use of it then. I also used it for a couple of days at the beginning on a different, temporarily unoccupied computer. The NBLCS5, once completed, will be part of the control system for the neutral beams. (See my 5/26 post for a description of this reactor system.)
In addition, the things I've seen my colleagues do has inspired me to become an engineer. I have observed the work of two of my colleagues in particular, both mechanical engineering majors, one who just graduated and one who is going into his fifth year: Alex hands them problems, gives them a few pointers to get started, and then essentially turns them loose to come up with solutions. It's amazing how quickly they're able to do so, and it seems like fun work. What I've observed them doing is extremely similar to what I do every robotics season.
Of course, I'm woefully under-prepared for an engineering career in terms of math and science skills; that's what college is for, right? I will say, though, that the collaboration I've done at High Tech High, and especially the peer reviewing process, can be translated directly into the DIII-D workplace. In addition, while I haven't had much opportunity to use my SolidWorks knowledge during my internship, I see my colleagues using it extensively almost every day, and I feel like if I had the same math and science knowledge, I could do what they're doing in CAD. I can say with confidence that the CAD skills I've gained from robotics will more than come in handy in college and in my career.
Finally, to answer a couple of questions from comments on my photo essay: we finally managed to get SolidWorks working around the end of my third week at DIII-D, so I've been able to make some use of it then. I also used it for a couple of days at the beginning on a different, temporarily unoccupied computer. The NBLCS5, once completed, will be part of the control system for the neutral beams. (See my 5/26 post for a description of this reactor system.)