Friday, April 28, 2017

Darth Vader's Head

I'm going to dispense with my weekly insight and tidbits because we have a lot to cover ... Darth Vader, Senior Design Presentations, Honor Presentations, Pot Luck Picnic, Moves and end of semester ... did I forget anything? So much in such little time. 

Senior Design Presentations
 
Tomorrow, our senior undergraduate teams will be presenting the results of their year-long projects from 1 to 5 PM in Kelly Hall.  This year, with 21 teams in all, we are trying a new "mini-conference" format in which eight teams have been pre-selected to give formal talks and the remaining teams will present a poster session to conclude the day.  These presentations will run in three sessions with brief (10 min) breaks in between, as follows:
  • Presentation Session I (310 Kelly Hall)
    • 1:00 – 1:20 PM, Team Hendricks 1: Trey VanHout, Trent Strickland, Joel Zilke & John Lones
    • 1:20 – 1:40 PM, Team Tallon: Joey Griffiths, David Henderson, Jesse Dubrowsky, & David Hicks
    • 1:40 – 2:00 PM, Team Staley: Katie Clark, Haley Sylvester, Robert Gaus & Nizar Zahed
    • 2:00 – 2:20 PM, Team Yu: Mackenzie Jones, Seba Pereira, Matthew How Yew Kin & Son-Nam Nguyen
    • 2:20 – 2:30 PM, Break
    • 2:30 – 2:50 PM, Team Clark/Lu: Peter Loomis, Jason Tolley & Charles Ritchie
    • 2:50 – 3:10 PM, Team Moore: Chris Berger, Sam Snyder, Kaitlyn Leary & Christian Anderson-Schoepe
    • 3:10 – 3:30 PM, Team Whittington: Wyatt Surbey, Daniel Eynisfeld, Casey Clark & Kayla Jurkouich
    • 3:30 – 3:50 PM, Team Druschitz 1: Mattie LaPrade, Ken Benson, Karl Freitas & Ian Lim
    • 3:50 – 4:00 PM, Break
  • Poster Session
    • 4:00 – 5:00 PM, Remaining Teams 
Refreshments (coffee & other drinks, snack items, etc.) will be provided.


MSE Honors Presentations

MSE seniors completing Honors degrees this semester in association with their senior design projects.  These talks will take place in 142 Randolph Hall, Thursday, May 4 from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.  The presenters and topics will be:
 
Mackenzie Jones, "Strain Mapping of Architectured Materials"

Hailey Sylvester, "Impacts of Interfacial Adhesion on Mechanical Properties of a Filled Thermoplastic Vulcanizate"

random FACT: 
It costs 6 cents to make a nickel.

Missing: Darth Vader's Head

If you are in the MSE Facebook group you probably saw that the Darth Vader head Andy Ondek made for me is missing from my office. I have looked around and asked my sons if they misplaced it & they didn't. Which leaves me to believe that someone else has it.

This Darth Vader head has limited monetary value but it is special to me. If you have it please return it. If you know who has it, please obtain it from said person and return it to me. I will not interrogate or prosecute who ever returns it.

I. WANT. MY. DARTH. VADER. BACK. 
MEPS NEWS
 
Movie Night with your Adviser @ the Lyric. 7pm tomorrow (4/28) to see Get Out.

Annual Pot-Luck Picnic on May 4, Reading Day in the MSE Lounge from 11-2. We are doing it up this year - Star Wars Theme, May The Fourth Be With You. 
Important Dates
May 03: Last day to course withdraw & Last day of spring 2017 classes
May 04: Reading day, no classes & MSE Pot-luck Picnic
May 05: First day of exams
May 10: Last day of exams
May 12 & 13: Graduation
Senior News
Run your DARS

Tomorrow is the last chance to RSVP for the reception.
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Friday, April 7, 2017

No Experience Required

No experience needed. You don’t hear that very often. We want your lack of experience to help shape the next winning team, because we need open minds and fresh ideas.  In the fall, we will send design teams to the MS&T conference in Pittsburgh, PA to compete in three student design competitions: The Ceramic Mug, The Ceramic Disc Golf, and The Geodesic Dome.

For the Ceramic Mug competition, your team will design a ceramic mug and drop it from an increasing height trying to design it in such a way that it will resist breaking.

For the Ceramic Disc Golf competition, your team will design a golf disc out of ceramic material and throw it towards a disc golf goal from increasing distances designing it in a manner that it won’t break.

Lastly, the final team is the Geodesic Dome team. Virginia Tech is most proud of this team because we have won 1st place the past three years & 2nd place the past 2 years. You will design a dome out of metal, similar to that massive thing on your elementary school playground but much smaller, in such a way that it will resist an immense amount of compressive force.

Design teams are great ways to get hands on experience, meet new people in MSE, and have a fun while learning. Again, experience is not required to start or join a team. Teams work alongside instructors and other MSE students to aide you in your design process and build of your project. Do not hesitate to email Justin Yon if you have any questions or would like to start a team!

Other competitions at MS&T include the Undergrad Speaking Contest and the Undergrad Research Poster. Both of these contests include a cash prize emphasizing the importance of communication as an engineer. Oh yeah, we also won the Speaking Contest last year … Last year VT MSE ruled MS&T with more wins than any other school.
 

Helpful Tools / ECP
Meetings are unavoidable: team, design, presentation, pre, strategic meeting … whatever they are called it is coming together to share ideas and work together as a team to complete a task. As undergraduates working in teams you are entering this phase and will continue until you retire. Sorry, no getting around it. The only thing you can do is learn how to have an effective meeting instead of an ineffective meeting or a pass the blame meeting. You can have a successful meeting by using these 7 ways to communicate effectively in meetings
  1. Be on time: Nothing says that a meeting is not important more than turning up late to it. Not sticking to the allocated time schedule in a meeting also shows a lack of respect for other people’s time. Be aware of the message that you are sending.
  2. Stay on topic: An agenda should be driven by action and sent to attendees in advance. If an item comes up for discussion that is not on the agenda make a note to discuss it during General Business or schedule it in for another time.
  3. Voice of success: The energy in your voice can give clues to the message that you are sending. Are you delivering your point with confidence? Does your message sound positive or negative? What feeling is your tone of voice reflecting?
  4. Choice of words: Your choice of words and language in a meeting can sometimes persuade opinions to go in your favor or do the reverse. Be mindful when choosing your words and avoid language that makes assumptions or discriminates.
  5. Watch body language: Body language is just as important as verbal communication. It provides clues to your attitude and state of mind – be conscious of the message that you’re sending with your body language.
  6. Engage active listening: When you are not speaking make sure that you are practicing good listening skills. Actively listening to your colleagues can help you to better understand and communicate with them.
  7. Avoid all distractions: Following the agenda and staying within the time frame of each action point will help you to stay focused. Have water at hand to remain hydrated and put your phone away to avoid external distractions.  
Outreach / MEPS Events
There will be a Settlers of Catan tournament between the undergraduate students and the graduate students. There will be two days for the first round of undergraduate play to determine who will play against the graduate students. The first day is this Friday play will start at 2pm the second will be Wednesday at 4 pm. If you are interested in playing please sign up at here.

random FACT: 
The Bible is the number one most shoplifted book of all time.

UT Prosim
MEPS NEWS
Settlers of Catan Tournament

Movie Night @ The Lyric

End of Year Picnic
Important Dates
April 14: Last day to reschedule final exam
April 15: Fall Drop/Add Opens
May 01: Change of Major Opens
May 03: Course Withdraw
Senior News
Get your cap & gown now @ the bookstore.

RSVP for reception.
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