Life After School

When first looking at going to engineering school, four years seems like a long time. But before you know it you're a couple months away from graduation and you look back and wonder where the time went. Many of us are feeling the anticipation of getting done with school and "out into the real world", if we are not there already. I have spent my last 3 months as a full time employee at Cliffs Hibbing Taconite Company, while still in process of finishing my degree. I have two messages to share from my experience- one being how easy the transition was from school to work and two a little reflection of my work life in relation to my school experience.

When coming into my role as a reliability engineer I was scared that I was not going to know anything (even though I had been here the 6 months prior), and I would just look like the typical fresh graduate. I want to tell not only my fellow student colleagues, but also all of the external sight visitors that I am amazed, now being out of the everyday school life, to see that the program sets each of us up very well to be able to perform the problem solving and communication tasks of a real engineering job.

My other message is to take what you learn seriously, I know I didn't do the greatest job of it while I was there, but every experience is an opportunity to learn. And in the first few years on your new job you will be doing a lot of it. I remember saying rather frequently "when am I ever going to use this, and why do I need to know this" and I now realize that although the material may not have always been the most important, the process of learning was. As much as it is not enjoyable to reflect on what you learned and how you learned it, it is something that will be very beneficial down the road.

Another life at work lesson is value every encounter. Every person has the ability to teach you something, and you never know when you may need them someday. So learn to communicate with the technicians, the different types of engineers, the operators, etc... they are the ones that will determine your success as well as the hard work you put in everyday.

So in conclusion, keep at it and value every experience. Whether you are still in school or in industry there is always something to be learned.

Wikispeed

IRE WIKISPEED team members visited the main WIKISPEED shop in Seattle last week. Team members Adam Geisler, Nate Quinn, Matt Sjostrand, and Dan Marshall, along with mentors Jim Boyd and Dan Ewert learned firsthand from volunteers at WIKI headquarters. The group came back with information that will help us on the design and building of our car. We looked at different components of the car including the steering and suspension so that we know how to set it up with our car. The IRE team helped the volunteers at the WIKI shop with the layup of the interior module of the car that consisted of fiberglass, fiberglass mat, a honeycomb board for support, and carbon fiber. Below is part of the group taking the interior module out of the mold.The IRE WIKI team currently has a rolling chassis in the new shop and bought a wrecked Honda Civic for the motor and was finished being torn down earlier this week.

Proofread by: Elizabeth McBride

Posted by: Matt Sjostrand 

Bendtec

On Thursday, February 28^th, ten IRE students and two instructors toured the facilities of Bendtec, a pipe bending and manufacturing company in Duluth, MN that has been in operation for over 90 years.  The students were taking competencies in either Mechanics of Materials or Materials Science, and this was a great opportunity to see some of the theories and applications of each subject up close and personal.  The facilities were impressive due to their sheer size.  The students were briefed on a number of interesting facts about the company, including its history, the breadth of services performed, industries served, and technologies developed.  What I found most useful as a student was to see some real world applications of what I have been learning about in materials science.  Viewing a tensile strength test in person, as well as seeing the stress-strain curve generated by an accompanying computer program did a fantastic job integrating theoretical knowledge and practical application.  At another lab station, students were able to view grain boundaries and the structure of a weld under a scanning electron microscope.  Other points of interest on the tour included Bendtec’s systems for heating and cooling metals to change their material properties, their sandblasting room able to accommodate pieces up to 66 inches in diameter, and their machines that actually bend pipe of that size.  Equally interesting was to hear one of the project managers and the company’s owner express great interest in the Iron Range Engineering program.  The emphasis on hands on learning, professional development, leadership, and communications drew high praises from both.