VT MSE Undergrad Blog : 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 1^st place the past three years & 2^nd 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

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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.