I’m back

I finally made back into the Nati on Friday after being home for two weeks in Indiana. CO-OP went very well this year again. I had some fun and interesting experiences this summer while in Washington state. The weather wasn’t as good as it was last year, but it was better than what the Midwest had all summer. The big item of my CO-OP of course was the forest projects and when I left they were submitting fine reports to the DNR of our findings and suggestions. From my previous posts you can tell the project was very interesting in many degrees, but what doesn’t kill you (CSF tried) makes you stronger.

My parents came out for vacation and bring me home the first week of September. It was nice, I took them up to Mt Rainier, although I wasn’t climbing this year (unforuntately). We spent 3 days up there and even got some snow the first day. I wished the weather would have been a bit warmer (it was mid to upper 40s) and clearer, but the Mountain rules the weather. I did manage to hike up to about 7,000ft with a broken toe. It was nice to explore the park instead of going to the top, the surrounding forests had plenty to see. The mountain seemed to be a bit bigger this year than last year, which was weird. The snow levels were out of the normal, on my hike snow was in places that were bare last year. The view was still the same, amazing. My dad looked up at the top and said “you climbed all the way up there?” It was only 9,000ft up and then down.

After returning from the Mountain we spent a few days in Seattle seeing things we didn’t see last year. Boeing’s Museum of Flight was pretty cool. The zoo, well Cincinnati’s zoo definitely dominated Seattle’s. The plane rides home were nice, we got to sit in the same row next to each other.

While at home for a few days I pretty much went fishing everyday (I need food for college), went dove hunting and actually got one (first time dove hunting in about eight years), and hung out with the dog at home. I managed to do some engineering recruiting at my high school to get younger students interested in engineering. I also spent a few days working on the farm, and then fishing later. With the wind storm last week my grandpa, uncle, and myself spent about eight hours picking up sticks and cleaning up a pretty big oak tree that fell over.

Its nice to return to campus and get the new year started. I’m excited about finally being a Senior, but at the same time the light at the end of the tunnel is somewhat beginning to come into view. Getting back also means my to do list is getting bigger. But its nice to have a list of things to keep busy with. Most of my tasks are related to EA right now and I’m excited about the new EA year. An addition to my coming back means I get to see my friends for the first time in six months. With many of us all across the country and world we didn’t get to talk much except for emails and Facebook items. It’ll be interesting to see how all of us have changed over our CO-OP time.

I can add an EWB update as well. The group I’m in is finishing up our operations manual and it looks like we’ll be heading over during Christmas break to implement the system. So although things didn’t quite go as planned of the summer, its nice to have a new focus. I’m also interested in meeting face-to-face for meetings instead of my Skpye or email. A lot more gets done face-to-face than face-to-email.

Well, back to the to do list.

New Job

Hurray! It is almost the end of the quarter and that means I’m almost done with classes. This quarter has been extra busy as I was looking for a new co-op job. I had an interview last Friday and took a job with a company called Atricure. They are a really great medical device company in West Chester, Ohio. They commute won’t be great, but I’ll have lots of great coworkers coming with me from UC.  Co-op is great because it gives you some time to earn money and take a break from the rigors of an engineering schedule. I’d probably be insane by now without it.

Tonight I am holding a meeting with some members of the Society of Women Engineers here at UC to plan a mixer event for incoming freshman women. We have some really great ideas. I can’t wait! That’s the nice thing, Engineering has so many small niches and communities that once you are involved it is hard not to feel welcome. It is nice to have the opportunities of a large school without having to give up the support of a smaller group.

Have you been following the olympics, I have! I have been skipping a bit of sleep just to keep up with all the gymnastics. Crazy! I’ve been to two olympics, Atlanta and Athens. I’ll be honest, nothing beats being there in person and watching them on TV makes me ache to be there. Also, if you haven’t seen them yet, the mascots for this olympics are adorable!

Co-op Update and Quad accident

Well after a very cool/cold spring and early summer it looks like things are going to finally warm up out here. I think we’re finally going to be consistently over 75 for awhile. I don’t really care how hot it gets out here, I’m tired of wearing a jacket and long pants in the middle of July. I’m almost to the point of welcoming the Midwest heat and humidity, although 75 and sunny is pretty nice. Since my last post I’ve had some interesting things happen and been accomplishing a few things.

To start off, I “got” to return to my nemesis, Capitol State Forest, to complete the sign inventory project. This time out I got a partner from our survey department and we each got quads to move around and individual GPS devices. So this sounded pretty good at the start and I figured we’d finish the job in the week we were given. Well, Monday went okay and we got a firm base started. Tuesday, well that’s when the Curse of Capitol struck me again and this time it was a bit more painful and personal. We had split up going opposite directions on the trails. This was my first time riding a quad on a trail, I’ve been used to flat land roads on my grandpa’s farm, so things were very stressful for me. Well, I made it down and around the trail, but the road I was going to take out had been washed away so I was forced to backtrack on the trails. Most of the trail wasn’t too bad, but the section where I started that morning was rather steep and I didn’t feel like going “up” it this time so I took a different trail. When I got to about 30 feet of where the trail crossed the road the trail was very narrow and uneven. I was making my way across it until the back wheel slipped and I couldn’t keep it on the trail and I rolled it. I bailed, but in the direction of the quad (damn gravity and momentum!) and hit the ground just as the quad was rolling over me! I was “lucky” enough to have crashed into a downed log which absorbed most of the quad instead of me. The quad rolled a few more times until it rested against a tree upside-down. I got up and did a quick medical check of myself, nothing broke or sticking through the skin, and looked at the damage. Thankfully the tree caught the quad, otherwise it would have kept going down the mountain another 1/4 mile or more. I regrouped myself, informed the necessary individuals and went about getting some help to winch the quad back up. My partner were lucky a road maintenance crew passed us about the same time our DNR contacts made it up. So we got the quad up and looked it over. All told I really only lost about 2 hours of work, not bad considering what had happened. The damage was pretty good to the quad with both front racks getting bent, a headlight broken, and one of the brake handlebars bent. However, there was nothing wrong with the engine or steering so we got right back to inventorying. My partner, Josh, decided he would handle the trails since he was a bit more experienced on trailriding. This fit me fine and I drove the roads the next 3.5 days. Wednesday and Thursday I drove at least a 100 miles each day on forest roads. A lot of the areas I got to see were pretty nice and the weather made it pretty good too. We finished the signs Friday afternoon, and all told I drove about 400 miles in the 5 days, so yeah I was pretty tired. So I finally got to leave Capitol State Forest, although it wanted to kill me this time, but it still hurt me. All told the quad accident left me with some cuts and headache, the quad got about $1,000 worth of damage. But finally, I never have to return to that haunted forest ever again for the DNR.

Well, being back in the office has got me back to doing transportation work. I’ve been working on a few different projects, from roadway layout to repaving projects helping where I can. Its been nice returning to the office, but I rather enjoyed my outside office, when wasn’t trying to kill me. Otherwise things at the office are good, we’ve got our Seattle/Kirkland/Everett Otak Picnic this Saturday, so that will fun and give me something to do on Saturday.

Aside from EWB and EA tasks I’ve been catching up on my reading lately. To say the least I’ve been destroying books lately. My recent finishes have been Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers and last week I read Into Thin Air. I highly recommend Into Thin Air it will keep you on the end of your seat the whole book. I’m kind of into mountaineering books now that I’ve crossed a few books from my to read list. I started No Shortcuts to the Top, Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks this week and hope it lasted longer than a week. So I guess you can see I’m into mountaineering, if you haven’t read my profile, and I’d love to hit the peaks this summer, but lack of a car tends to make things a bit difficult. So I’m suck somewhat to reading about future adventures I plan to take (no Everest or K2 at this time) on my journey of the highest peaks in each of the 50 states. Well, back to relaxing after a long day at work.

summer classes

So I really did not want to be in school in the summer, and it was all working out fine until after I accepted my co-op job they told me I couldnt double section anymore. Well, I was mad to say the least, but here I am in summer school, and it’s not that bad. It’s really easy actually, I’m doing way better in school than I’ve been doing lately. I’m actually ahead on homework, which is something I thought I’d never see happen to me. I’m actually surprised at the amount of free time I have, its great, I can still be lazy by the pool and work on my tan every day if I want to, and to me, thats what summer is, and if I have to take a few classes too, no sweat off my back (except on the walk to class). =P

Summer Days… Researchin’ So Fast!

The University of Cincinnati has a well-defined schedule for co-op and classes - the only unscheduled time being the summer between a student’s freshman and sophomore years. I had decided that I wanted to put this time to good use, so I went about looking for opportunities to build my résumé and advance professionally. I am interested in graduate school - with my goal being a Ph.D. and a career in research - so I began to look at opportunities which would be helpful in that career track. I soon found out about R.E.U.’s (Research Experience for Undergraduates), and I realized that these types of programs are perfect for me. I would be able to do research (my ultimate career goal), gain experience, build my résumé, and get paid very well at the same time! I was also hoping to take a class (or possibly two) over the summer to get ahead.

There were (and are) R.E.U. opportunities in many amazing locations; I looked and applied for R.E.U.’s in Alaska, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts (Harvard), New York (Cornell), California (Stanford), and many, many others! One of the most attractive locations, however, was the University of Cincinnati. Although I was excited by the possibility of traveling, if I stayed at UC I would be able to take classes without worrying about transferring credits. Also, I have found that the University of Cincinnati and the city of Cincinnati are fun places to be around!

There are several R.E.U. programs, all of which I believe are NSF funded, at the University of Cincinnati: one in chemistry, one in math, one in civil engineering, and one in membrane science, technology, and bioapplications. (I should also mention that there are other summer programs involving research, like WISE, Women in Science and Engineering, and SURF, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship). The membrane science R.E.U. was my top choice as it appeared to deal closest with my major of chemical/materials engineering. I applied to it, and I was accepted into it (which meant I had to turn down some of the other REU opportunities).

I am now participating in the 10-week long program by working for Dr. Steckl in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I get to work with some great lab equipment (a fluorescence microscope, some microliter syringes, and a nice bit of technical software), and I have had the opportunity to learn a lot. The program also incorporates professional development and technical writing through seminars and writing assignments. The program is very well rounded, and it offers social events as well. One of the best aspects of the program may be the great friends I have made with the students from other universities (who come from the University of Texas, Notre Dame, UMass, etc.). I do not believe I can disclose much about the project I am currently working on because some aspects of it have not been published. The specific details are not too important, it is the experience and knowledge I am gaining now which will be useful in the future.

I guess I just want to say that I am having a great time, and I am becoming more of an engineer every day!

Awesome Opportunities to Travel

When I first started college at UC, I can remember having three main concerns:

1) How will I make it through engineering classes?

2) where will I live?

3) and who will I hang out with??

Now, nearly five years later, I honestly say that my thoughts about UC have evolved quite a bit. The main question that I’m asking myself in my last year of undergrad is: “What awesome and fun things can I do before I graduate?”

With many student groups and pre-planned events, there’s no doubt that I could keep myself incredibly busy on campus for several months to come. A part of me, however, is always looking to try something a little more “off the wall” or “outside the box” of the typical college experience. Perhaps, this is why I decided to study abroad for a semester in England last year and am constantly looking for more opportunities to take my engineering education to a more “international level”.

Surprisingly, there are many oppotunities to travel as an engineering student — international co-op, study abroad, or even just re-locating for an out-of-town co-op job. I myself decided to hop across the Big Lake and spend 15 weeks at the University of Surrey near London, England. Needless to say, studying abroad was an amazing life-changing experience. Rather than spending pages describing my experience here, I’d like to invite you to read about my semester in England on my travel blog. On this site, you’ll find funny stories, interesting perspectives, and links to photos of my European travels.

As my own college experience is coming to an end, I encourage you to look for ways that you can make your own undergraduate years memorable and exciting. Best of luck to all of the incoming freshman and Welcome To UC!!

Echo..Echo…

The first week of summer makes the campus feel empty. By the second week however, it is bustling with new students going through orientation. This is always really neat to see, parents and students knowing that this is big step in life.

I’ve found myself reflecting a bit. I can put myself back into those shoes of orientation and moving into the dorms. I feel like I’ve grown so much since that point. I feel like I could tackle most things that life could throw at me. Engineering itself has taught me a method of problem solving that is priceless, but being in the student groups and going through co-op has taught me to be a leader. Seeing this change in myself is remarkable and seeing it in others is inspirational. The university experience is one that is so useful if done correctly.

I’ll admit it, engineering is not for those weak in the mind or heart. It often takes many sacrifices in time, but in the end what you learn by making these sacrifices far outweighs a full schedule of the stereotypical student. Thus, it is worth every drop of time spent.

And so it ends

Last Friday morning we finished our scheduled field work for the trail mapping project for Washington Department of Natural Resources. The past two weeks we were in beautiful Tahuya State Forest right on the doorstop of Olympic National Park. The views in the park and in the surrounding area were great, snow capped mountain peaks and pristine lakes. This forest was A LOT easier given the great weather we had and the gently sloped terrain. Don’t get me wrong, we still punched in 11-12 hour days 5 days a week, so it wasn’t a walk in the park (no pun).  Tahuya was about a quarter the size of Capitol State Forest, more like a rain forest, and the trails were mostly 4×4 accessible which made biking a lot easier.

There wasn’t as much wildlife in Tahuya, but we managed to spot a mother black bear and her cub about 45 yards from us one evening. I also did a stupid thing with nature, while throwing rocks at a squirrel I missed the squirrel and got a bees’ nest. And we know the end of that story, but I only got stung once. As for biking well I went over the handlebars twice in one day which probably added up to about 8 bike falls in the two weeks there, so not bad for me. Most importantly I never had to go to the hospital, if you really know me that will leave you shocked.

I won’t say we didn’t have any setbacks, we endured my companion breaking her bike on the second day and it took us until the fourth day to get it fixed. But all in all it wasn’t like two flat tires and pouring down rain, but it was still something to overcome and still find a way to stay on schedule. We both learned that scheduling ahead of time is not always going to lead to a easy job. Its like baseball, pitchers and batters are always adjusting to keep up with the competition. Fail to adjust, and well you get demoted to AAA or get traded. I still tell people climbing Mt Rainier was easier than biking Capitol State Forest.

Right now we’re in the process of reviewing our data and using ArcGIS software to edit some of our data to we can present it to our client this week. Essentially, we’re preparing an overview of what the client will get from us in our final report. Meeting with the client at this phase is beneficial in many ways. They can offer suggestions now that can be changed easily, it allows them to know our progress in each forest, and helps keep both sides completely in the loop.

What’s going on

Aside from my work update, I’d figure I’ll share a little about what else is going on for me right now. I’ve been in Seattle for about 2 1/2 months and time has gone by very quickly. This feeling is mostly because of how much extracurricular tasks I’ve been doing. From EWB to EA my free time is spent mostly getting update and helping along in projects. However, my newest task has been getting familiar with my new computer and learning about Microsoft Vista. So far Vista has been pretty easy to get along with, I pimped my computer out so it would have an easy time with all the graphics Vista uses.

As for the Engineers Without Borders project I’ve been working on, well our implementation trip got postponed due to funding. So if you’ve got an extra $10,000-$12,000 lying around let me know. Our project was named June’s Project of the Month from EWB-USA so that’s an honor for us. I’m hopeful we get to go sometime in August before school starts up. The current status is that we’re ready to give our contractor the nod to order materials and start construction of the tanks (very exciting for me). In the mean time we’ve all been very busy working on operations manuals and specifications to make sure every group is getting to the same point before we head over. I think the next two weeks will be very busy updating files and assembling documents. The village is also very eager for us to arrive and build their water system for them. This past raining season was not very good for them as they did not get the rain and their food crop suffered badly. This has also created famine in the village, so the sooner the better. Seeing how this is the first chance many of us have had at applying skills we’ve learned on COOP or in the classroom, we’re all very eager to get the construction portion rolling. At the same time we will begin to get those other mixed feelings that construction brings.

And on to Engineering Ambassadors, well I’ve got a lot more on my plate now that I’m the new President (as of mid May). Being on the other side of the country does make things difficult, but my stand in VP at UC is doing a great job so far. I’m always in the loop and our veteran members know what it takes to keep things rolling. To be honest, its kind of cool to have started as a freshman and then finally progressing to President as a Senior. I never would have thought about that my freshman year, but as I’ve matured in the CoE I continue to see my duty as to offer my wisdom and knowledge about the CoE to our prospective students. Each EA has their own story(s) to tell and that’s what families and students really enjoy hearing. You can give them all the ratings and class schedules you want, but they ultimately enjoy hearing about our COOPs and outside activities. I’ve been very lucky to have worked in North Carolina and Seattle and many other engineering schools can’t offer that to students as a guaranteed opportunity choose from. But, ultimately our COOPs are about letting us individually learn about something we have a desire for. For me finally working in a field that I’ve been waiting for since I was 6 is the greatest gift COOP at UC has offered me. You can learn all you want from a textbook, but its how you perform in the field that gets noticed. So if we go back to sports, practice is like COOP and your career is that big game. Practice hard and surround yourself in a winning environment and you are set for creating a personal dynasty.

And now a short Senior moment, it is beginning to hit me at the magnitude of what my college experience has created for me. In a little under a year, if all goes as well I well become the second person in my family to graduate from UC’s College of Engineering. I will be joining my grandpa, Mike Vogt, Sr. over fifty years after he graduated as Vogt Bearcats. Not too bad for a hick from southern Indiana.

Moving!

I’m so excited!  Senior design is beyond done, Fundamental of Engineering test scores are in (good news there!) and I’m 100% graduated!  Tuesday I get to fly out to Long Beach, California to look for my first grown up apartment.  Some of my friends think I’m crazy for moving so far away- I’d like to know what’s crazy about wanting to live somewhere with a beach.  Besides that it’s 2000 miles away from all my friends and family.  Oops…  I probably wouldn’t be as okay with the idea if I hadn’t co-oped out of town, but since I did I’m kind of used to the idea of living away.  Especially if that somewhere never gets snow!  Now I just have to find an apartment on a low enough floor that I don’t have earthquake issues.   Oh yes, and clean up a little more before the movers come to assess my stuff tomorrow.  Now there’s an eek!