Capstone Conclusion
As the year came to an abrupt end our hovercraft project also saw its last workdays. As a group, Nate, Corey, and I could not fix our issues on our hovercraft. As a result it does not work how we originally saw in our head. Although there was still some great success, Everything inflates and the board floats, it is just not strong enough to hold any passengers. As we reflected on what went wrong we found a few points throughout the process that could be improved. The first was in our design. We could have had a more detailed approach in this area which would create a smoother building experience. The second is prototyping. While this is hard to do on a small budget it would have benefited us greatly if we could test different designs to find the best setup. Overall it was a great capstone experience as we learned how to improve our mechanical design processes and ideas.
Update Post 2
Since my last post Corey, Nate, and I have put the hovercraft together. Everything is going as planned although some modifications need to be made. Right now the hovercraft does not glide well and cannot support a person. We are hoping that with some slight adjustments both of the problems can be addressed. Once those problems are fixed we plan on getting some photos and videos along with starting the presentation part of the project.
Update Post 1
From my last post we have made some good progress towards building our hovercraft. We have sketched out design and have even made a SolidWorks model. We have also gone out and bought supplies for our build. We are planning on starting to build everything within the coming weeks. Overall the project has been going well so far.
Planning Post
As mentioned before me and two of my peers are planning on making a hovercraft for our capstone project. We now have a preliminary plan that we want to follow. We first want to make some drawings and 3-D models. After we come up with an initial design we are going to make a list of parts that we need to buy to complete this project. Then we will go out and buy these products and start the building process. We plan on putting the hovercraft together but then making adjustments as we go along. After all of these are completed we will start to make our presentation for this project.
Project Proposal
As a 2nd year STEM EE Scholars student we were tasked to complete a capstone project. This project could be numerous different ideas. Corey Dennis, Nate Cathell and I, Alex Borla, decided that we were going to try to build a “hovercraft” for our project. Our initial goal is to be able to slide across the ground and support a person while doing that. As we researched and thought more about how we were going to accomplish this we came up with a preliminary plan. We were going to use a leaf blower, a sheet of wood, a shower curtain, and some PVC pipe to build our hovercraft. We will get into our design stage soon and start to build our hovercraft.
Freshman Year in Reveiw
I have just completed my first year at Ohio State and overall it went much better than I thought it would have. At first, I was homesick but everyone is when they first get there. I eventually felt more and more like Ohio State was my home and I started to find my group of friends. I also started to settle in and find out what works best for me in terms of studying. As I started to get more and more comfortable living on campus I started to be happier and happier with my college decision. Even though my classes weren’t directly related to engineering I am really excited about it and I think I made the right choice for my major! Overall freshman year went pretty well but I now can’t wait for next year to start.
Artifact 3
This Spring semester of 2019 in my fundamentals of engineering class we did an AEV project. AEV stands for Advanced Energy Vehicle and the purpose of the project was to make a small scale design that could be used to transport people around the city of Columbus. We were in groups of 4 to complete this project. My group spent a lot of time and effort on the prototyping aspect of the project because we want to optimize our design as much as possible. We went through many prototyping periods and tested many parts. In the end, our design was one of the best in the class and our group worked really well together.
Current Event Discussion
One recent scientific breakthrough that has happened recently the went relatively unnoticed was the discovery of possible life-extending drugs. A few researchers from Mayo Clinic’s Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging found that treating mice with senolytic drugs extended their lifetime by about 36%. These drugs eliminate senescent cells which help stop cells from dividing. This scientific breakthrough could literally be life-changing and be a huge improvement to our human life.
My First Semester
As I was preparing myself for college over the summer I went in with a plan on how I was going to accomplish all of the tasks that come up. Well, that plan didn’t last longer than 5 hours. Now that is partly my fault because of my procrastination but I’m somewhat glad that I scratched that plan. As I started college I was doing just fine with handling all of the work, but then it started to pick up. I quickly realized that I was going to fall behind and not enjoy my time here what so ever. I then took it upon myself to find a plan and different strategies to use to accomplish my work on time and even get ahead on my work. I planned a meeting with an advisor to help me develop a plan and also to get some advice on some strategies. I found that having a regular schedule helps me stay focused and also taking breaks while studying helps. I was glad to hear this because I know myself and I would never be able to stay focused and study for more than 45 minutes at a time. Although I didn’t use all the stratifies we talked about I was able to find what works best for me. This includes writing down what homework I have that week and crossing tasks off as I went. My optimal study plan also included not studying in my room and also if available to go into a room by myself and pretend I’m teaching a class over the material the exam is on. I am glad that I was able to figure out what study plan before college got too difficult. I am now able to get ahead in my classes and stay focused for longer periods of time.