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

Transformers, the MMRI and Formula Hybrid Cars ~ A Love Story

Hello world!

Me Sitting in the Carpool

My name is Christen and I am the new, 'old' kid on the block! I am going into my final year of Mechanical Engineering and Society here at McMaster, but it has taken four years to come out from behind the scenes to say hello on this amazing blog. I am heavily involved with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) here on campus, and have been since my first year developing workshops, and helping to organize conferences to get students excited about being a globally-minded engineer.

Danielle and I at Fireball

Aside from EWB and being a full time engineering student, I somehow manage to find time for skiing, kayaking, silk screening, indoor farming, and reciting Shakespeare in parks. I could go on and on about my various other interests and passions, but I feel you get the picture; just like a Transformer, there’s more than meets the eye!

Now that all the awkward introductions are done, let’s get to it! Last week I had the privilege of attending a showcase at the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI). What is the MMRI you might ask? It is a huge facility on McMaster campus doing research in polymer, automotive, aerospace, tool, die and mold industries. 

Turner's Cube

I was starstruck! Imagine a room filled with million dollar equipment, machining parts that are strong enough to cut through steel. Not to mention, their Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines are so precise they can manufacture these cool Turner's Cubes in one go! It was a great time to chat with leading industry professionals and some of my favourite professors about manufacturing processes.

Also being showcased at this event was our Formula Hybrid Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) team sporting four awards from a competition earlier this May at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The formula hybrid car is designed by McMaster undergraduate and graduate students to compete in the Formula Hybrid International Competition. 

McMaster's Formula Hybrid SAE Team

Our team won several awards including: the 1st Place GM Best Engineered Hybrid Systems award and the IEEE Engineering the Future Award.  I am so proud to see our team rock the international stage in sustainability. I look forward to an encore performance next year!

That’s all for now folks!

Christen

McMaster's Formula Hybrid Car in Action (no, that's not me)

"The best weekend ever!" ~ Engineering Experience Weekend

Ciao everyone! 

May is a beautiful time on campus at McMaster University, and the warm weather arrived just in time for our annual outreach event for high school students considering our engineering program. As the coordinator for our Engineering Experience Weekend, I was pleased to welcome 66 prospective students for an overnight event that started just as our May @ Mac Open House wrapped up this past Saturday, May 11th. 

Along with my 18 undergraduate student leaders and five design challenge leaders, we greeted our guests with warm smiles and enthusiasm. The visiting high school students were assigned a team and a team colour, with each team led by two of our leaders. The weekend was off to a great start!

The orange team is hard at work.

On Saturday night, we held a design challenge, where the students had to build a bridge to span a 75 cm gap. But there was a catch! The bridge could only be built from one side and needed to extant over to the other. The teams were given popsicle sticks, glue guns, tape and string as well as a remote controlled car to help them with their task. It wasn't an easy challenge, but all of the students can up with fantastic designs! 

Sunday morning, three McMaster Engineering alumni came to judge the bridges build for the design challenge. It was great to have Mac Eng graduates come back for this event. Everyone enjoyed the design challenge presentations and some of the students’ parents came to watch them too! 

The green team presenting their bridge to the judges.

Congratulations to the red team for wining the design challenge.

EEW would not have been possible without my wonderful team of volunteers! They are all fantastic leaders and I cannot thank them enough for all their help! 

To all the amazing students who came out to EEW, I hope you had  as much fun as I did! I enjoyed getting to meet you all and I know the team leaders and design challenge helpers did too. I look forward to welcoming you in the fall!

Until next time,
Danielle

Some of my wonderful volunteers.

P.S.Here are some helpful links for new students:

• The McMaster Engineering Accepted Class of 2017 is a great Facebook group for meeting future and current Mac Eng students.
• If you want more information on how to register for courses, FAQ's on Eng 1 and living in residence, see our acceptance page.
• The McMaster Engineering Society runs a program called Ask and Undergraduate Engineer. If you would like to participated, email vp.academic@macengsociety.ca

Farewell to First Year: How I Survived Engineering 1

It's hard to believe that only eight months ago I was being greeted by Welcome Week reps for the first time. I had never entered the engineering 'BLUE' lounge before and had never lived in residence; I hadn't spent more than a few hours on campus at all! But here I am, a first year, getting ready to complete my finals, move into a house and prepare to enter level two in the engineering discipline of my choice. It can be a stressful and scary time, but looking back on my experiences so far makes me feel fantastic about how I spent my first year here at McMaster University.

Vanessa - in pink - at the Fireball Formal

Ever since Welcome Week, the upper year engineers have been nothing but kind and welcoming! They helped me to find my place and feel at home very quickly. First semester for me was all about hitting the books and figuring out how to adapt to the academic side of things. But once I started going out to more events that the faculty was hosting, I began to really feel like a part of the community...a part of the 'Mac Eng' family.

Daniella & Vanessa volunteering

Some of my favourite memories from Engineering 1 would be getting to wear my prom dress again at the Fireball formal, giving back to the neighbourhood by helping to clean up Westdale, laughing my butt off at all of the jokes in the Engineering Musical and wearing a pink baby onesie for 5 days straight in my successful attempt to earn a Redsuit.

I originally decided to attend Mac because everytime that I visited, I felt this really strong sense of belonging between all of the people that I met. As a grade 12 student, I desperately wanted to know that feeling for myself. And now, I can confidently say that the way to get to that point is to seize the numerous opportunities to get involved and put yourself out there as often as you can. It may be scary at first. I sure felt that way at the beginning of the year - but now I get to look back on my first year and be proud of everything that I have accomplished.

 To all of our high school followers, I hope that you get to enjoy your first year of university like I did. And if you end up at Mac one day, I hope I get to meet you! ~ Vanessa

The Redsuits help clean up the local community - Westdale

A tradition continues during exams: fun yet...salty?!

Well, it’s that time of year again…final EXAMS.

Although you may shudder at the thought of writing 4 to 6 three-hour exams in the span of two weeks, exam season is a very exciting time around campus. For example, McMaster's upper year engineering students will get together and hand out saltine crackers to the first years as they enter their exam sessions in order to calm their nerves and settle their stomachs.

It’s so much fun cheering them on and getting them pumped up to write their exams! And the University provides lots of support for students who need a little extra help. You can always visit the Student Success Centre or Student Wellness Centre for counselling, academic and peer support.

Check out some photos of all the goofy Redsuits in their element, handing out crackers. We all remember how it feels to be an 'Engineering I' student going through our first set of final exams. As you can see, our Redsuits are here to greet new students arriving in September, but they continue to welcome the new members of our Mac Eng community throughout the year. This is just one of the many established traditions we value and continue to bring to life! Check out our McMaster Engineering Society website page dedicated to our traditions.

 

Happy Thoughts...

With the end of exams comes the beginning of summer! The sun is shining and the weather is (finally) clearing up. I can tell you that makes it very difficult to study indoors.

However, I’ve got to power through and study for these last few exams in order to enjoy my summer. Then it’s nothing but fun and frolicking all summer long! Maybe I’ll have time to get some work done in there…

Hope everyone has an amazing summer.
Cheers! ~Genna

Engaging Education at the Global Engineering Conference

Hello all those in cyber space! I hope you are enjoying March so far!

One of the cool things about university is the plethora of opportunities that present themselves. The biggest piece of advice I got in first year was “get involved”. I bet many of you have heard that in high school too. Experience is very important for engineers, and all students for that matter. In the working world, engineers in particular wear many different hats and have to fill many different roles. From efficiency calculations, to financial reporting, to presentations, we are expected to be adaptable. There is a new concept for this type of engineer: the Global Engineer.


On March 2, the Engineers Without Borders chapter at McMaster hosted a Global Engineering conference around re-framing your education. We brought in speakers and facilitators from Hamilton to Kingston, to give students an opportunity to see how approaching problems from different perspectives and how engineering fits into things outside the technical realm. Engineering problems benefit from an understanding of business, law, history – you name it!

Students from McMaster, as well as some from the University of Waterloo, University of Windsor and the University of Toronto, participated in learning sessions that provided ideas and tools around engaging their education through experiences. There was also a panel discussion between the Dean of Engineering here at Mac and York University, a representative from the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board and an engineering professor/motivational speaker.

If you want to learn a bit more about the 2013 Global Engineering Conference, check out the website at http://mcmaster.ewb.ca/gec2013/index.html. Hope to see you at next year’s conference!

Global Engineering is one of the venture areas of Engineers Without Borders Canada, an organization that works towards social change in an effort eliminate poverty through accelerating development in rural Africa and policy change here in Canada.  We have chapters in universities, cities and companies across Canada! To learn more about Engineers Without Borders, click here: http://www.ewb.ca/

Later days,
Daniela