It's Engineering Week. News from Utah's Top Engineering School

Hello Troops,
It's Engineering Week nationwide. Engineering students from coast to coast are celebrating the only way engineering students can - creatively.

Julie Anna is a volunteer at the Space Center and an engineering student at USU in Logan. I asked Julie to send regular updates for The Troubadour, realizing many of you may choose engineering as your career choice, and might like a glimpse into the world of an engineering student. Please take a moment to read and appreciate the field of engineering. Engineering is an expanding field that needs bright students like you.

Thanks Julie for taking the time to keep our readers updated on USU's activities.

Mr. W.

Report on Engineering Week. Utah State University

By
~Julie of the North

This is Julie of the North, special on site reporter for the Troubadour, reporting live from Utah State University. Today marks the opening day of Engineering Week, and it has been fabulous so far. Free breakfast consisting of muffins, bananas and milk was provided for all the brave souls willing to venture up to the third floor of the Engineering Building.

Throughout the day, massive amounts of ferrous fluid were found in the engineering atrium for all the engineers to experiment with, examine, and play with. Ferrous fluid is liquid that is magnetic. When it is introduced to a magnetic field the density of the liquid changes. The surface of the ferrous fluid provides an almost frictionless surface for magnets, so it is possible to sling magnets across a table incredibly fast. When I squirted ferrous fluid onto a magnet it formed spikes and interesting patterns. It is also possible to gather the ferrous fluid together and form a sort of gel with it due to the magnetic properties. When I touched these gel masses, they felt like gummy candies. The one bad thing about ferrous liquids is that they stain really badly, so there are many engineers wandering through the halls with brown spots on their hands and arms. I feel like I got turned into a Dalmatian.

The next stop for the day was going to my engineering class. I am taking Thermodynamics and we started learning about what happens when a gas or liquid is pushed through a chamber with inlets and outlets, like a nozzle or a turbine. Although classes aren’t always as much fun as some of the more social activities of an engineer, they teach us the building blocks in order to do what we do best, create and imagine. My classes remind me that engineering is a way of life, not just something fun every now and then. After class, I was treated to free Aggie ice cream, once again provided by the College of Engineering, and I got my favorite flavor, Aggie Blue Mint! For all of you down in Utah County who have never had Aggie Blue Mint, it is worth the trip to Logan just to eat it.

The day continued with club competitions. Today the competitions were Paper Tower sponsored by ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) and the Edible Car sponsored by ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). My roommate and I participated in both of them. The rules for the Paper Tower are that you get two Statesmans (the on-campus newspaper) and a yard of tape and you get to build for 10 minutes. There are prizes for the tallest tower and the most aesthetically pleasing. We made a pyramid shaped tower, but we ran out of paper before we could complete the pyramid, so our tower didn’t really support itself. Later, there were some engineers on the floor who were analyzing the structure of our tower, and they decided that if we had more paper, then it would have been an awesome structure.

We were going to make our car out of rice crispies, but we didn’t make it to the store, so we made it out of materials provided by ASME. We made the body of our car out of a carrot. We also carved axels out of carrots, but they were incredibly flimsy and started bending so we switched to pasta noodles instead. We used cookies for the wheels, life savers for supports, and gummy strawberries for the wheel caps. Our car completed the race in 3 seconds (which is somewhere between 3^rd and 4^th place), but we were most excited that our car actually survived the race to the finish line! Another cool feature about our carrot car, lovingly named Han Solo II (Han Solo I was made during last year’s engineering week, and didn’t survive out of the freezer), is that it is equally good upside down as it is right side up.

Tonight will be the first episode of nerds vs. zombies, an epic battle taking place inside the engineering buildings on campus. I will be sure to let you know all about it.

Happy Engineering Week! Make sure that you all do something nerdy to celebrate!

Tuesday, the Start of a New Week.

Hello Troops,
Well, we enjoyed our two day weekend and now its time to uniform up, grab our weapons and reengage ignorance from the trenches. Having too many days off can lead to psychosis with unrealistic visions of what life should be like. No, we have to work for a living like everyone else. So, back to the battle and don't even think for a minute our enemy is taking a holiday. While we were closed for two days, Ignorance reclaimed hundreds in Pleasant Grove alone - taken by the dark forces of mindless hours of television, video games and Facebooking.

Another good week lies ahead, and to start it off correctly, we need to ponder a few things.
First, let me remind many of you why you're in school. Without a good education you will find the following event cancelled.

And that means spending the rest of your life in jobs that won't fulfill you. Remember, you only live once. Make the most of what God has given. Get an education, then find someone that will pay you to follow your dreams. No small task indeed.


And finally, something amazing from the Imaginarium. This is a one man show extrordinaire.
You know, I'd bet with a bit of computer help from a friend or two you could pull this off.

Enjoy, and I'll see many of you in the trenches. I'll be the one hunkered down in the mud, next to the fire enjoying a can of pork and beans. Oh, and remind me to clean my glasses before we get orders to go over the top.

Mr. W.

Sunday's Sum Up

Hello Troops,
It's a snowy Sunday and I'm good with that because we have a two day weekend! You might be thinking my stating we had a "two day weekend" was odd considering most people have two day weekends (or at least two days off from work each week). Well, two day weekends are odd for those of us that work at the Space Center. We work six days a week, with Sundays our only dark day. So, those Monday holiday's that roll around once a month or so are blessings for us. They are reminders of how most people live. Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy what I do or I wouldn't be doing it, and I'm grateful I have work - especially work I love, but it is nice to experience life with two days off a week.

We had a fantastic overnight camp with awesome fifth graders from Cedar Ridge Elementary School. The kids were generous in their post camp survey praise, awarding perfect scores of 1 to the Odyssey and Galileo. Congratulations to the Odyssey for taking the much coveted "Director's Trophy" for the camp (the trophy given to each week to the simulator with the best scores from the campers). Adam was shocked to the point of shouting during our post camp meeting when the results were posted on the Discovery's white board. He thought he'd bombed.

And we also praise Christina and her staff of the Galileo. Although the two ships tied with perfect 1's, the Odyssey took the trophy because it takes 8 campers to the Galileo's 6. I'm compelled to apologise to Christine for the method used in posting the scores. I put the Galileo's scores on the board first, leaving all believing the Galileo took the trophy. I put the Odyssey's scores second to last. Adam shouted in disbelief as many cheered. Others booed because I'd led them to believe the Galileo had taken it. What can I say but "guilty".

I want to officially welcome Ashleigh to the Space Center. She is our newest volunteer. I also wanted to congratulate Jason F. on doing an awesome job as 'doctor' in the Odyssey on one of the Odyssey's Saturday missions. His character was played brilliantly.

The only bad news to report is the death of the Odyssey's new printer (new might not be an inappropriate term, I bought the printer on Ebay - hoping to save a buck or two). The printer gave up the ghost Saturday morning. It kept messaging that it was too busy to print the papers being fed to it from the Odyssey's Control Room. We checked the network cable - ok. We turned it off and on again, we reloaded the software, we did everything possible to bring it back to purpose but nothing worked. Its now been given a proper reward for its services. It sits in the dumpster at the back of the school. Another couple hundred dollars tossed down the gullet of that dumpster. I'll think twice about ordering printers from Ebay. Sometimes it isn't worth trying to go cheap. A lesson to be learned.

How about something cheerful? I'm not one for video games, even though many classify what we do at the Space Center is an elaborate video game. But I confess a weakness for Mario Kart. I tried other games and failed. Take Halo for example. I played it once in multiplayer mode. There were too many buttons on the controller to push and I got confused. My opponents took advantage of my handicap and took delight in slithering behind me and shooting me point blank in the back of the head as I struggled to back away from the rocky cliff. I just gave up.

Mario Kart is my one true video game weakness. I've played it on every system and became proficient enough to hold my own and occasionally come in third or fourth. So, imagine my delight when I found this new version of my beloved game.

I'd pay good hard earned American money to play this version of the game and have just the opponents in mind I'd like to play against.



And how about these selections from the Imaginarium?


This might be something to take to heart. Remember, the vast majority of people you interact with on a daily basis (except your mother) are not interested in your ponderings, so in a social situation remember the poster above. Think more and talk less.

This will help the next time you immerse yourself in that piece of fantasy. I'm wondering where we would find the Imaginarium. Suggestions?
The only other thing missing from this poster is Clovershire, home of my home away from home - Cloverdale.
Oh, I can't find South Dakota either. Yes, its my home state and deserves Fantasy status (I'd be careful if you're tempted to voice a contrary opinion, especially if you've never been to South Dakota - home of Mr. Rushmore, the Black Hills, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Devils Tower and the number one attraction - the guided tour of Mr. Williamson's childhood and teen haunts).

Finally, someone the dictators in the Middle East wish was on their side.

I'll see you in the trenches Troops. Enjoy your day off from school and try to do something constructive.

Mr. W.