...and we're back (sort of)

Sorry for the radio silence there; these last few weeks and the next two have been and will be insanely busy (ROBOTS).

I asked my friend Evan (also in Engineering Physics) a few questions about his final year inquiry, a research project that students in the Engineering & Society and Engineering & International Studies programs undertake in their final year. I'm presenting my own inquiry tomorrow, so time to work on that some more! Feel free to leave a comment or question below.

1) How would you describe your inquiry project?

I am proposing an analogy which says that the e-reader is related to the book like the mp3 player is related to the song. I am using a comparative approach to try to show how my findings are consistent, or inconsistent, with that analogy in an attempt to better understand my central question.

2) What is your central question?

Why has the adoption of e-readers into the consumer market made so little an impact compared to mp3 players?

3) Who are you working with to learn more about your research?

My supervisor is Dr. Qiyin Fang, who is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Physics. The inquiry topic that I wanted to pursue reminded me of a project that I completed in a course on optical instrumentation, which he taught.

4) Why did you choose the Engineering & Society program?

Throughout high school, I often thought of my communication skills, especially public speaking, as one of my weaknesses. I elected to complete the Engineering and Society option because I thought it would improve my aptitude in this area. I am very satisfied with my decision.

Photo time!

So we had a snow day this week! On Wednesday, too, which was awesome and made it feel like a Sunday in the middle of the week. In Hamilton we got about 30 cm of snow overnight, which is unusal for the area.

However, snow day or not schoolwork goes on (I actually only missed two hours of class that day because I have so many self-directed courses this term) and this weekend is still pretty busy. I spent Saturday in the lab soldering up a circuit for my final year design project and working on an assignment for my solar cells class wtih a partner. Later this afternoon I'm performing with the McMaster Concert Band, so I'm just going to keep it easy with the writing this week and share some photos with you. :)

Here's the Concert Band in rehearsal in University Hall, where we also perform:

  

Here's a photo of the snowman (and mini-snowmen) the eng phys students made in front of our worklab windows. He's wearing "plaid" because our project is to design a "lumberjack" (robot) that moves to stay on top of a log (rotating cylinder). We modeled it in snow:

Finally, here's my optics lab from this week - it's a setup to measure the thickness of films only a few hundred nanometres thick, using interference from reflections.

Exam time!

Exams can be pretty stressful and this year is no exception, especially since I dive right in without much of a break. My last day of classes was yesterday, and my first exam (Semiconductor Devices) is tomorrow. I have four in total this term. I have mixed feelings about exams - on the one hand, I like that I get to focus on studying and learning on my own time, without worrying about assignments due. On the other hand - they're exams! And it can be hard to settle down for a study session on a subject that I find difficult or not very interesting (Electromagnetism being a case in point. I like the cool stuff it does; I just don't like studying it).

After my exams end on the 16th (pretty early this year for my schedule), I'm staying around in Hamilton for another week to do some work on my year-long courses that don't have exams. I'm still learning how to model my engineering design project in an advanced software program, and I need to get caught up on a lot of research for my society inquiry paper. Finally, I need to prepare my report for a lab course, which is due the first week of next term. It's an engineering physics course with different modules according to your stream, and mine was the fabrication of a silicon solar cell! It was pretty exciting because my group produced the highest efficiency in the class, so I'm trying to leverage that for a summer opportunity that I'm sending an application for soon.

Speaking of applications, the next time I write I'll have some exciting news about my post-undergraduate plans! Nothing's official yet (I need to submit the application first! Happening after exams) but I'm excited to have a goal and an idea of how to get there. In the meantime, good luck with the end of classes for the year! And if you're in Southern Ontario and getting snow feel free to send some of it this way; I love the stuff and we've only had a sprinkling of it so far.

P.S. I'm a size 4 for my Kipling ring. :)

Happy Hallowe'en!

Hey there!

Not sure really what to write today - this weekend was a nice one, and a good break after a really intense week including a final exam for a course I was taking online! Loads of music stuff coming up in the next while, as the Concert Band is performing on Sunday November 14th, and the a capella group that I'm part of is working on Halo. I cleaned up and readied my wall calendar for November this weekend, and although it feels exactly like two months of school have passed now, I know by the start of December it will still feel as though only two months have passed except it will be time for exams then!

Time management has been on my mind lately, and I have to say it's taken me all of university to get a system that I'm completely happy with and that works with the unusual hours of university schedules (more so in upper years when there are fewer hours of class but a higher independent workload). I managed a lot of extracurricular activities in high school, but once you start having to take care of all the domestics on top of that yourself - grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning (oh, the dishes) - it takes a while before you balance things out again. This year though, I've got some powerful extra motivation in the form of graduation! It's exciting stuff. :)

That's really all for now I guess; I'll see you in a week!

P.S. Yes, that's right. Liz and I carved a fireball jack-o'-lantern!

Hamilton

Hey there,
I've done a lot volunteering with engineering outreach, and one of the things I like to share most is how beautiful is here. I have been asked many, many times, "Isn't Hamilton kind of...industrial?" from people who have whizzed by on the Skyway (the more direct bridge when driving from Toronto towards Niagara Falls or the U.S.). But if you come in along the other bridge, on the 403, you'll see a whole different view of Hamilton.

Yesterday I took a 15 minute bus ride out with my friend Liz (one of my housemates, and a biochem engineering student) to go hiking. It was good to get a bit of a break from studying, and I really love the leaves at this time of year. After about 45 minutes on the trail we got to Dundas Peak, an open area of the escarpment running through Hamilton which has a spectacular view.

Facing towards the southeast, I could see downtown Hamilton, and the McMaster campus a little closer - including the new engineering building (the green building, closest to the right). You can see how the escarpment winds its way through the city before continuing along all the way to Niagara. The steel plants are further in that direction, beyond the downtown core.

Looking directly south, there's the residential part of Dundas (a historic town now part of Hamilton), and then further away the Dundas Valley Conservation Area. It's a really nice area to cycle or walk during the summer - I haven't actually gone at other times but I'm sure it would be nice! 

The steel industry is really central to the history of Hamilton, and is very much a part of the community. I experienced this myself during a one-month internship in high school at Dofasco (Dofasco and Stelco are the two steel foundries here), and I know first hand what is like to work in an industrial area with its own docking harbour and transport trains. But that said, there is a lot more to Hamilton than can be seen from just one bridge.