Semi-finalist Reception

Yesterday, Deric and I put on our IRE polos and headed to the big city. We were invited to attend the MN Cup semi-finalist reception. The MN Cup is a statewide business plan competition. The students of IRE entered three of our projects into this competition, two of which are now one of the ten semi-finalists in their division. We arrived at the JJ Hill Reference Library with an hour to spare so Deric and I decided to check out St. Paul. It wasn't long before something caught our attention. Across the street stood a building with a magnetic like attraction. This building was none other than the Minnesota Science Museum. We quicklyacquired our orange wristbands and entered the museum. Inside stood three levels of interesting exhibits we couldn't wait to get our hands on. There were experiments involving statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, fluids and electricity. We played with every one we could but, due to time constraints, we sadly had to leave.

When we arrived at the reception we put on our name tags and mingled with fellow semi-finalists. The crowd was a mix, from important business people to students like us. We helped ourselves to hors d'oevres and talked to several people with very interesting ideas. We listened to speakers talk about the history of the MN Cup, the next steps in the competition and the success of previous MN Cup winners. Several previous MN Cup finalists now have multi-million dollar businesses. Next week there are a few seminars we are invited to attend. They will cover information on writing business plans. Overall the semi-finalist reception was a good experience, and we are excited to try our best to make it to the next round of competition.

Proofed by Deric

ASEE National Conference Louisville, KY

This weekend Nick, Alex, Erin and I will travel to Louisville for the annual conference of the American Society of Engineering Educators. Last year I went to the conference in Austin. There are two big take-aways that make this conference extremely valuable. The first is a wide exposure to new ideas and methods in engineering learning. There are literally hundreds of break-out sessions where educators from across the world share their innovations. I usually fill 20-30 pages in my learning journal during this conference. The second take away is networking. The leaders and innovators are there sitting next to you during presentations. You get to meet them, interact, and develop relationships that will be beneficial for years to come. I look forward to having one-on-one meetings with each of the talented members of the IRE advisory board. Look for reports from Louisville next week.

Ron

P.T.S.A.

Today, Al, Cory, Deric, and Erin went to Bigfork to meet with Dan Gebhart and Gebhart Construction. They are in the process of putting a basement under a home for a local customer. We installed our solution applicator on their power trowel to run some tests and see how well it fits. We were also able to get some first hand advice on what to improve from the trowel users themselves. We have a list of small changes and adjustments that we will work on until next W siteednesday, when the Power Trowel Solution Applicator will undergo its first trial run on the job.

With the help of our 3-D printer, the power trowel team came one step closer to completing a working prototype. The valve needed was a 3 way valve that would allow fluid to flow from the reservoir to two separate sprayers.

We also came one step closer to getting moved into our new space, the contractors turned in their bids yesterday for the physical walls, floor and lighting part of our remodeling project.

Proofed by Cory

Medtronic Visit

On Wednesday we had a visit from a scientist from Medtronic, Dr. Larry Mulligan. We discussed the current standing of the dyssynchrony project, and where it will go from here. I also found out that much of the data and information needed to move this project forward has already been published and accepted. I received the data and information from these experiments and I have a lot of reading to do. One of the other Interns, Erin, became more interested in the project during this meeting and will be coming up to speed over the summer on the project. We both have quite a bit of reading to do in the area of cardiovascular engineering, and it should be a fun and interesting project over the summer.

Proofed by Nick L.

Tuesday, June 8

Today Deric and I worked on a better prototype for the Spring Creek Project. Here we experimented with nylon bushings and collars to reduce friction between aluminum linkages. So far it has produced positive results. For the Power Trowel project we tested the battery holder we have been designing the past couple weeks. We were able to use our 3-d printer to make the part. This will be used on our test system. Changes will be made and a final part will be constructed for our field test which will be in the next few weeks. Here we will be able to see the system in action, find flaws, and make improvements.

Proofed by Deric

Monday June 7, 2010

Today, all five interns worked in Virginia. This worked well as two of the projects needed to purchase additional building supplies for the prototypes. It also came to be that a prospective student for next year happened to be in town on a visit. A group of the students took him out to eat and showed him around the city of virginia as well as the surrounding area. He also had an opportunity to see the on campus housing.

Prototype Progress

This week the interns made a lot of progress on the summer projects. We are getting close to having a few working prototypes. For Spring Creek we built a mock pedal system that we designed during the school year. It was semi-complicated, compared to the usual pedaling system, so we had test it to make sure it would work without binding. We played around with the mock-up and ran a few tests to prove the concept. Now that we know the concept is usable, we can start ordering parts to make an accurate, quality system to test with. For this, we will contact Chuck Newberg, Spring Creek owner, to get some of his material to build with. Also, we will order other materials and components for the prototype, including bearings, props, and square tubing.

IRE Improvements

This past week, we have been writing a few rough draft documents on how IRE can improve for next year. At the end of the year, each student was to write an assessment on what IRE could do better to make the program run more smoothly and excel. We have been compiling these documents and coming to a consensus on everything that should be taken into consideration for the next year. These ideas range from more organization of the books in our library to strengthening relationships with the ICC students as well as the Mankato students. We are also looking into how we can use our time more wisely so more learning can take place. Whether the increased learning comes through reinstating the teaching-learning, have more learning conversations, or a better understanding of the project time vs. learning time will be decided. Another concern most students had was the lack of space, and wanting more time available to be spent outside the same four walls every day, all day. This concern has already been taken into account. Next year we will be on the opposite side of campus with three times the amount of space as well as a clean lab to work in, and hopefully a dirty lab as well. Improving IRE is a very important part to make this program more appealing to students as well as excel within the education system.

 

Proofed by: Alexander Learmont

New Space for IRE

This summer there is a remodeling project at Mesabi Range to provide IRE with a much larger student office space and clean lab. This past year, with only 14 students, we were able to get by in our little corner of the campus. The great part was we had sufficient space for design. The bad news was we didn't have a place to put engineering laboratory equipment. Next year that all changes. Our clean lab will house lots of equipment and we will have excellent space for the returning generation one students and our new class - generation 2. Nick has been hard at work with architects to get everything done right and on time.

P.S. Today the power trowel group gave me a demonstration of their project -- making lots of progress!!