Summer Adventures on (and off) Campus!

The summer has just been flying by! I can't believe it's already the end of June!

Genna making a material to administer
drugs to the eye through contact lenses.

Once again I'm working in Dr. Heather Sheardown's lab for the summer, although not the same project as last year. If you're wondering what I was working on last year, check out a blog I wrote about my lab adventures in Keeping an Eye on Things! 

This year I'm investigating silicone contact lenses for drug delivery to the eye. We know that these contact lenses release the drug at a certain rate, but we don't know why. Is it a factor of the drug being trapped in the material, or is it because the drug is binding to the monomers in the polymer chain? That's what I'm researching this summer. Basically, I get to make a bunch of different materials (with different drugs and in different compositions) and test the amount of drug they’ll release in water. After a lot of complicated equations and statistical analysis I can determine which composition is ideal for drug delivery.

I'm so excited to be working in this area of research because I think the possible applications of these lenses are astounding. Imagine getting an eye infection or eye surgery and instead of having to put annoying drops in your eye, you can just wear your contacts and the problem solves itself!

Enough about work; let's talk about all the fun stuff going on around campus over the summer! As you can imagine all this rain has brought out the best of nature. Now, this may be terrifying news for you allergy sufferers, but for those of us who love going for hikes through Cootes Paradise it's amazing! There's nothing more relaxing than taking a leisurely stroll through the park with some good friends.  If you want to hear more about my exciting summer adventures, I've recently been featured in a video, Mac Eng: Reel Talk with Genna!

There are some other exciting things going on in Mac Eng as well. Last week, the Faculty of Engineering released a mini-documentary Women in Engineering: Our Global Future, that was shown to the delegates at the G(irls) 20 Summit in Russia. It highlights women in engineering and their potential career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math, known as “STEM”. Dr. Sheardown is interviewed and provide some compelling facts and insights about the pressing need for women in these fields. See if you can spot my cameo appearance :)

Anywhoo, I guess I should get back to work. These contact lenses won't make themselves!

Cheers!
~ Genna

Bombardier Aerospace: Taking my Education to New Heights

Back in Grade 12, when I first applied to attend McMaster University, I was skeptical about pursuing engineering. I wondered if it was really for me or if I was choosing a completely wrong path. So, I chose to enter the engineering co-op program so that I could begin to learn first-hand whether or not this career path was a good fit. As first year came to a close, I found out that I was successful in my application to the materials science and engineering stream and the engineering & management program. I felt ‘wide-eyed and bushy-tailed’ with excitement about my future!

My view walking into work every morning

I had applied for an engineering co-op position at Bombardier Aerospace in early January and was extremely excited and honoured to receive my offer letter in mid-April. I began my position in May and have been working Monday to Friday ever since. All of the student interns are given some sort of project to work on over the 600 hour period that they must complete over the summer.  My position is within the maintenance programs and planning sector, one of three sub-sections of the maintenance engineering department.

Editing PCTEL files at my desk

At Bombardier, we maintain computer records known as “PCTEL” files (parts, consumables, tools, equipment, labour). These files contain the information on the tasks required to adequately maintain different plane models, which is a very important procedure. This is where I come in! My job is to update these files based on the most recent revisions, and improve the automation of how they’re updated. I’ll be working with Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to complete this task.

So far, I’ve been extremely happy with the warm and welcoming environment around the office. Bombardier has nearly 5,000 staff members on-site and every single one that I’ve had the opportunity to interact with has been respectful and caring. I found that a lot of the staff are very unique and encourage humour around the office! When I’m not working away on the PCTEL files, I might be attending daily meetings featuring conference calls to Montreal, getting a tour of some of the 1.8 million sq. ft. of production space or learning the acute importance of building strong relationships with those you meet in the workplace.

Bombardier & WestJet celebrate the delivery of the Q400 planes

Just the other day, I got my first opportunity to interact with members of the materials and processing department. The people I met with were all so willing to tell me everything about what they do; they gave me amazing material to read (*pun intended) and offered me the opportunity to tag along with them in the labs and on site from time to time. I even met a woman who graduated from McMaster’s materials engineering program just a few years ago! This job has been an unbelievable opportunity thus far and I know it will just continue to get better as time goes on. Of course, I cannot possibly say that I know for a fact that engineering is right for me based on my three weeks of work, but I can say this much – I haven’t felt this passionate about something in a long time. I simply cannot wait to continue to learn and grow as an engineer. 
 ~Vanessa

School's out for Summer!

I don’t know if you guys know this yet, but in university, you get… wait for it… a FOUR MONTH SUMMER! (Cue cheering and fireworks) So, while you lovely people are finishing up classes and staring out the window while your teacher tries to fill the last weeks of school, we post-secondary kids are well into our summer vacations. (Sorry!)

Four months is a good chunk of time. What can you do to make the most of it? Here are some ideas to get you started:

1) Get a job

Last summer, I worked for the Government of Ontario.

Summer is a great opportunity to get some work experience. Co-op jobs are available for the summer, and many companies offer summer-long placements to take advantage of the student talent. As an example, I am working for the Bank of Montreal as an intern this summer.  Jobs also give you some income to pay for school.

2) Do active stuff

I don’t know about you, but my Facebook newsfeed is full of my friends participating in races, obstacle courses and other really cool exercising opportunities! Tough Mudder and Run or Dye are pretty common ones. Get some friends together and spend a day sweating! If getting covered in dye or swimming in ice cold water doesn’t sound appealing, you could try recreational sports or join a yoga class.

3) Get to know your city/town

Since the weekends are no longer full of studying, they are a great opportunity to adventure around your hometown or closest city. Try and uncover those “hidden gems”; whether that may be a restaurant, natural feature (like a stream) or just chat it up with some people who work in local stores. One cool thing to do is get on a bus and see where it takes you.

4) Pick up a book

This summer, I am determined to read the books I should have read in high school. In high school, we got a long reading list and I only ever read what was required for assignments. So far I have read Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. (I’m also making my way through Knightfall Volume 1, a Batman comic, but I don’t think it has ever showed up on a high school reading list)

Books, books, comics!

And most importantly…

5) Talk to current undergraduate students about what to expect at university

Summer is a great chance to learn about what to expect when you start at McMaster in September! We upper years have a little more free-time on evenings and weekends and are here to answer your questions. The Ask anUndergraduate Engineer program is run by the McMaster Engineering Society, and it pairs up incoming students (that’s you!) with upper-year engineering students via e-mail. Send a message to vp.acedemic@macengsociety.ca if you are interested!

When that school bell rings for the last time, make the most of your summer! Good luck on your exams! You'll kill it! :)

Later days,
Daniela

My Super Summer Jobs

Chicka Chicka Bow Wowww.

Done third year. Done classes, and assignments, and studying, and exams, and… work!
I thought I’d talk a little bit about working throughout your undergrad, since today is my last shift working with the Engineering I Outreach office, and in a couple of days I'm off to work a summer co-op position!

In my first summer, I was a Headstart instructor for two first year engineering courses. Headstart allows students to complete up to two first year courses before entering Engineering in their first year. I had a wonderful time working there but my favourite aspect is seeing where all my students ended up. I frequently bump into many of them, many of whom are now entering their third year of engineering, or starting their own co-op positions!

Posing with Deborah McIvor, May@Mac coordinator for the Faculty.

Last summer I worked for the office that posts these biogs: Engineering I Outreach. I've literally done a little bit of everything here from designing magazine advertisements, to learning bits about database management, testing and launching a new panoramic website, and a whole lot of event planning, and coordinating in between.  One of the events I helped with again this year was May@Mac Open House on Saturday, May 11, 2013.  I've had a chance to work on tons of interesting and diverse projects, and every day evolves into something a little different than yesterday. I started the position this time last year, and kept working throughout the school year. A campus job is amazing for students. I could literally walk out of my class, and down the hall to make it to my work shift. They’re super flexible around your academic schedule, and know that your school work comes first.

This summer, I've landed a co-op position with a well-known company in Toronto! In retrospect, all my non-technical questions from the interview were usually answered with my experiences from the past two summer positions I've held. And now, in the next few months, I’ll be using many of my learned skills to help me in building a business plan and launch a set of training videos for their technical products. I can honestly say I'm nothing but excited!

New people, new software, new skills; It’s going to be a fantastic summer!

~ Helen

Helloooo February!

With Fireball behind us, and midterm season around the bend, it’s time to pull our socks up, and retreat back to our favourite chairs in Thode Library. For all prospective students, your applications are out! Now comes decision time, and that dreadful waiting period when you check your email and mailboxes all the time to see if you've heard back from any schools.

My friends and I goofing off for the cameras! I'm third from the left.
The guys were being girls and the girls were being guys :P

True to my word though, I’ll first let you know how Fireball went. To begin with, I learned a very important lesson that night. I learned that my sister’s shoes (being a size too big) are actually kind of a big deal when you’re trying to run to catch a bus. I think I have a scar on my foot now. I will never wear shoes too big again. No matter how cute they are!

The 2012-2013 president on the left, Erin,
handing off the "MES president sword"
to next year's president Emily!

 



Other than my shoes… Fireball was a blast! The food was delicious, the people were fantastic, and the outfits were glorious. Emily Au was named the new McMaster Engineering Society president (3rd female in a row I might add), and tons of awards were given out to some amazing students we have here at Mac! If you want to check out some of the photos from that night, they’re posted to the MacEng Society’s website here: http://macengsociety.ca/culture/events/fireball-2013/


Coming up next week is the Engineering Level II Info Fair. At McMaster, all engineering students take a general first year and then apply to the programs of their choice for second year. It is (in my opinion) one of the best aspects to the program. You don’t know how many of my friends changed their minds after first year! The Level II Fair lets first year students speak with professors and upper year students to get a good feel for the programs before they make their choice. We have seven engineering departments, some with different streams such as nuclear engineering (part of engineering physics) or electrical and biomedical engineering. You can add on our optional programs like co-op, management or society too. Check out our programs at: www.eng.mcmaster.ca/departments.html .

MacEng has got some great traditions and a rich student life. If you applied here, and you’re interested in learning a bit more from a student’s perspective, don’t be shy! We’ll be hosting an online chat session on February 25th: http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/future/chat/ . The site will be updated soon. I’ll be online, along with some other students to answer all your questions!

 ~Helen

How one work term changed all of my plans

As I said in my last post, I have post-graduation plans! After doing a lot of hard thinking and program-comparing throughout the fall, I've decided to return to McMaster this September for graduate studies, pursuing a Master's of Applied Science. I'm excited to share because I submitted my online application today, and I worked on the supporting documents over the holidays so now I just need to make sure everything arrives at the department. It's funny how much I've changed in the four and a half years since starting undergraduate...I entered with absolutely no interest in doing graduate studies, and now I can't think of anything luckier than being paid to learn.

The turning point for me - and, to be honest, one of the happiest surprises of my life - arrived while working in Ireland on a co-op term. I was participating in an undergraduate research program at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (part of Dublin City University) in the summer of 2009, and I helped a researcher produce micro- and nano-channels for fluidics testing (the interactions between surfaces and fluids change at scales this small). Eventually, the channels were to be used for carrying biological samples in a device called a lab-on-a-chip. I had to test different materials to find the best one for stamping the channels (i.e. good reproduction of dimensions), and even though I wasn't passionate about microfluidics, I still couldn't believe how lucky I was to just learn, and have that be my job!

What completely changed my perspective was seeing an institute with connections to industry; before, I had thought that research was only learning for the sake of gathering knowledge (i.e. material properties like hardness when you change the composition) and hadn't bothered to learn otherwise. As it turns out though, many research groups work with companies to make the best use of their engineering, production, and marketing knowledge. I have to admit that travel had been my main motivation in applying for the program, but in the end my first research experience ended up having a huge influence on my goals and post-grad decisions.

Ontario Universities' Fair

Were you at the OUF last weekend? I remember when I went (I can't believe I'm writing this) five years ago - it was an exciting mix of students, representatives, questions, swag and freebies, and piles of brochures. My dad tried to find out what the chances were that I could be a Community Advisor in residence (like a don) in two years before I had even applied to McMaster...but that's not what I ended up doing, and I'm glad. I'll tell you at some point about my house off-campus. The people in it are special; I have a hard time not talking about them, because they're pretty great.

Anyway, the point here is OUF. I usually volunteer as a student rep for Mac Eng but couldn't make it this year because of other things scheduled (i.e. a lab during the spot scheduled for me). But I have several friends who volunteered, and I wanted to clear up the questions that they got asked most often - specifically, what is co-op at Mac like, and what are all these different five-year programs about?

Co-op at Mac is super-flexible. You can enrol at any point up until your final year (I signed up halfway through first year), and work terms can be completed over 3 summers (4 months per work term), or 12 months after the halfway point of your program. One summer work term plus 8 months works, too. What this means is that if you like, you can spend a lot of time at a company and really integrate over a long internship - or, like me, you can change it up every summer, try new things and your degree length doesn't have to be extended. Co-op is also really helpful for applying to certain employers who only consider co-op students. This is not to say that you can't get a job without being a co-op student, but it does open doors. At any rate, even if you're not in co-op, Engineering Co-op & Career Services still has tons of resources and help for students, including mock interviews, workshops, networking events, resume critiques, and drop-in hours. If you're curious, go take a look at their website here.

This is getting a bit long (and a bit late) to cover the Engineering & Management, Engineering & Society, and Engineering & International Studies programs - I'll come back for those later this week. See you then!

P.S. By the way, I passed my driving test and got my full license - just before it was set to expire, too! It's a relief to have that out of the way.