About that opportunity . . .

After my awesome experience with Schlumberger, I returned to MSU for the summer to do research and take a summer class. This last spring I was doing research for a professor in the Cardiovascular and Tissue Mechanics Laboratory. Since I was in Indiana, the research was through email which meant that it was proofreading grad students papers. The professor seemed to like me and asked me if I wanted to work for him this summer and to apply for a program called EnSURE (Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Experience). However, I had to take this one class this summer in order to stay on track and keep my semesters from being cluttered by ....unimportant classes. Therefore I had to convince them to let me take the class while I was working. Hey, I'm Sara, I can handle it. (I actually have done it before, last summer to be exact, and I am never doing that many classes and an internship at the same time ever again)

So come to find out, this program is geared towards applying to and interest in Graduate studies. I did happen to be thinking about grad school when I was in Indiana because of all the engineers that had decided to go back for their upper level degrees. I am still not sure if I want to go to Grad school. I would like a another degree but the research I would have to do doesn't get me very excited. The other thing is that some of the Grad students that have only done research and never worked in the industry are missing some big skills. The industry teaches a lot of things that you cannot learn in a lab writing papers and reading books. I think I would like to eventually get a PhD, possibly skipping a masters. This program and job has made me realize once again, like I already had mentioned before, that I hate sitting in a desk working at a computer. So in some ways this job is driving me a little insane, which is making me question if I could handle doing it for 3 to 6 years to complete a degree.

Everyone works on their own, only on their specific topic, everyone (about 8 of us) sit in this tiny little room completely quiet all day long, and I never know what I'm supposed to be doing. It is lacking a little bit of collaboration and direction that keeps me interested, happy, and completely sane. The research topics are interesting, don't get me wrong. We are looking at the aorta and more specifically abdominal aortic aneurysms which are really interesting. My grandmother has recently been having a lot of complications with different parts of her aorta as well as her carotid artery, which we also look at. Besides aneurysms some of the topics explored are related to strokes and the relationship between the spine and a aneurysm.. In terms of the topic I am always interested, it's the research part that is a little slow.

You thought this would be easy, I'm sorry you are mistaken.

This summer, for the first class session ( first session - 6 weeks, second session - 6 weeks) I took ME 391 which is also known as Mechanical Analysis. Don't let the name scare away the non-engineers, it is only ....maybe . . calculus 4 1/2. In the range of mathematics in engineering it is a very basic and intro level class. Anyways, I did the usual where I asked my other ME friends how difficult they thought the class was and if it would be possible to take while I was working as a Undergraduate Research Assistant over the summer. All of them were like, "o ya, it's just like calc 4 all over again, except the end." (Calc 4 = differential equations) So I was like, alright I can do this....no biggie. Then I realize which professor was teaching my class.

The professor that was assigned to teach the summer session is known for being extremely challenging. The average final grade in his Thermodynamics course was a 1.5. (4.0 = A, 3.5 = B, 3.0 = C, 2.5 = D, 2.0 = passing most of the time). Now understand that I said AVERAGE FINAL GRADE not the average grade on the final exam. Ya, tell me about it. He is also known for having test averages in the 30 and low 40 percents.

Come Monday afternoon, first day of class, in walks Prof. W. After explaining who he was and the mission to be completed by the end of the 6 week semester, he holds up the book used for the course, Advanced Engineering Mathematics (2.5 to 3.5 inches thick)  and says, "While this book my bring you to believe that you are doing advanced mathematics, you are not, in fact nothing about this class is advanced. This course is a very small introduction to the mathematics that you will do in up coming classes but it is nothing close to the challenging mathematics you would do in Grad school or other higher education." He continued with "I don't believe that everyone is above average, therefore if everyone is doing extremely well in the course that reflects poorly on my knowledge and teaching abilities" This is the moment where everyone in the class, all 15 or so of us, gulps down hard and stares straight ahead thinking " what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

All engineers and engineering students know that quite often you ask yourself this question, especially in moments previously mentioned. Engineering is hard and in order to stick with it you have to continue even after asking yourself "what the hell am I doing? I could be a business major and sleep 8 hours a night, or even a week." (true story) (no offense to business majors) So I asked myself this question, and then brushed it aside like I have since I became and engineering major.

As strict and difficult as Prof W. was I did better in his class then all of the engineering classes I have taken so far at MSU. He is very, very, very (x10) smart and really knows the material for this class as well as many others. This class is actually really important in doing well in the rest of my classes that I have left, which is why I am glad I had him as a professor. Preparing myself for more difficult classes I have to take next spring will only add to my success and enjoyment of those classes.

Sometimes the more challenging the situation and the less the teacher b.s's the material the less I slack and am more determined to understand and work to get it right. I get bored very easily, especially when I am not challenged, and this can make learning the easiest things very difficult. I know many other people with this problem, it's most likely another way to describe "over-thinkers". If you look at the classes where I did well in high school and the teachers that taught those classes, the teachers that had a similar demeanor to this professor are the ones where I enjoyed their classes the most and worked the hardest at.

The last week of the course we had our final. I had been going to his office hours 3/3 times a week and started studying a week early (that's not me being nerdy, it really requires that much studying). I turned over my test, looked at the first question in which he asked for a "really simple" transformation before starting the problem. I could not see it and figure it out. I tried everything and the problem itself was easy but I couldn't start it without the Transformation. So then I moved on tried to complete the other 3 questions as much as possible only to run into some problems with them. After taking the final I was so mad that I couldn't figure out the transformation to start the first question, especially since I knew that it was simple. After the exam I wasn't even able to look at him, I was so disappointed in myself. A few days later, as a class, we received an email from Prof W. "The first question was one that I thought was really easy, however, not one person got it. All you had to do was  .blah, blah, etc. and there was your answer." I was like shit, if that's how the first question (the easier one) went, then I don't even know how the rest of the exam went.

I ended up doing well in the class regardless even after feeling like I completely failed every quiz along with the final exam. I also now have a professor with a very logical way of thinking that I am planing to ask some career related questions. Yes, it all ended up working out, but there was quite a bit of stress throughout those 6 weeks in order to get to that point.

You may kiss the bride :)

In between going to Oklahoma and my summer research internship starting, I started my summer class for the first session and went home for one of my good friend's wedding. I started class on Monday (MWF class) and left right after class on Wednesday to head to Colorado for the wedding. It was non-stop the entire week.

Wednesday night Timothy picked me up from the airport and we headed down to south of the airport to see his family in Kiowa. The next day we headed back up to Greeley so that I could see my family and go to bachelorette party in Loveland.

Thursday we went out to dinner (just the girls of course) and made shirts for the rehearsal dinner. That night we stayed in Fort Collins, and Tim and I had a date day there the next day before the dinner. Beaujoe's Pizza, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, and to Tim's dismay plenty of hippies to go around.

Friday was the dress rehearsal and that was when I realized how much people change while staying the same as time goes on...(if that makes any sense). It was really fun to see every one again. The rehearsal was the first time that I had seen some of my high school friends since high school and it was great. I don't go home very often so it was weird to see them after 3 ish years. I can't even imagine my future 10 year reunion.

Saturday was the wedding and the ceremony was really simple and pretty. Dana and Josh made everything for the wedding. Josh even sewed my bridesmaids dress together, and that is one of the best fitting dresses I have ever worn. Not to mention he did another dress and a few of the vests for the groomsmen. I was super impressed, Dana picked a good one. On thing that I thought was the greatest about the wedding was the couple getting married.

I have known Dana for a really long time and I have always wanted her to end up with the perfect guy; Josh is that guy. As she was walking up the aisle and they were looking at each other he and she both started crying. Now I'm not that emotional about that stuff like that, but after seeing them both tear up I realized that is one for sure way to know that the person you are marrying is the one. Dana and Josh where the first in our high school class to get married and I think they will be the only ones for a little while.

After a crazy weekend of a wonderful wedding, I headed back to MSU to continue my class and start my research job.

Welcome to Schlumberger

When I originally interviewed with Schlumberger I thought I was interviewing for an internship position. However, they tend to not give out internships till the summer before the year of graduation. Since I am not graduating for awhile they gave me a spot in their Field Camp instead.

The Field Camp is a week long camp where you can get a taste of the job in a real setting and from people with experience. In the oil and gas industry the work is hard, the hours are long, its dirty, you are outside in the elements, plus many more challenges that make it very different from the "average job."  Not everyone is up for a job with those elements, and because of that Schlumberger has a 20% or lower retention rate of new employees that head straight into the field. Ya, it is that challenging. So in order to help people see if they might like it before the company invests a lot of money in training, they started the week long Field Camp.

It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever encountered. The week long trip was paid for including our plane tickets. The "camp" was hosted at the Schlumberger training site in Kellyville and we stayed at the Schlumberger housing site in Tulsa. This company is huge and very nice to their employees from what I could tell. They owned an entire apartment complex and ran it somewhat like a hotel but with more features. There was 19 of use, 10 girls and 9 guys (more girls than guys - very surprising for engineering) We were from schools from all over the US and Canada. There was a few people from MSU, and a few from Ohio State, but majority of everyone else was the only one from their specific school.

Every morning we were on the bus at 6 am and taken out to the training site. UTH (up the hill) had classrooms and training rooms and DTH (down the hill) had a fully functional rig site set-up, cementing and fracturing operation, wireline, mud-engineering, etc. (For those of you not familiar with oil, it was an area with plenty of opportunity to get hands on and very dirty). Yes, they really called it Up-The-Hill and Down-The-Hill.

All day long we had training on different topics that we had to later present on at the end of the week (If you have any controversial questions about Fracturing or Oil I can answer them - I know it all (kidding but I do know a lot)). Therefore, you had to pay attention no matter how tired you were. Every bus ride, to anywhere, almost everyone was asleep. After training all day, we would come back, have an hour of free time and then have to work on our presentations and complete team building challenges. On that Friday we presented on our topics, and were thoroughly questioned by the field engineers on the material. It was the hardest presentation I have ever given and some of the hardest questions I have ever been asked on the spot.

I loved the people I met and I ended up making some great friends. As for the job ....I think I want to be a field engineer. Why? well...

You are only a field engineer for about 3-5 years
The job is a challenge which I am always drawn to
You move or change location about every 1-2 years
The job is hands on
No desk
No business causal (Blue FR's all day, everyday)
I can live almost anywhere in the world
Money (I have ....too large of loans and I would be able to pay them off very fast)
And after I finish my 5 years I can stay with Schlumberger and go pretty much anywhere or I can go to any other industry.

For right now, my hope is that I get an internship with them, work for them out of school for 5 years ish, and then later on I can always go back to Bio-medical or any other industry that might peak my interest at the time. I still love Bio-medical and am planning on working in the industry but in the meantime, I think I found a slight detour.

Change in plans, I'll see you in Oklahoma

So last fall if you would have talked to me about career paths I would have given you my traditional answer that I have been using for the last few years; one could say, "my dream." Those that know me well and have heard about this dream a million times are aware that it consists of working as a mechanical engineer in the Bio-medical industry. I have also wanted to take that "dream" a little farther and work more specifically in prosthetic devices for veterans. While this has been my plan for ....well forever, it has been changed slightly. I was able to work for DePuy last spring in the area of Orthopaedic implants, which gave me a good taste of the medical device industry.

I loved it, but not as much as I thought I would. DePuy is a great company to work for, don't get me wrong. However, I realized at this job and in the past job that I had in the Automotive industry, that I can't stand sitting still at a desk. IT DRIVES ME INSANE. Literally crazy. Remember that Autoclave sterilize project I was working on? As boring as that was, it was an excuse to get out of my desk. Based on all of my experience I realized right away that I need something more hands on in the manufacturing side of the engineering world.

Then one day the fall engineering career fair was upon me and I was talking to different people about the different companies I was going to approach at the event. I distinctly remember saying, "I will never work in oil and gas." (keep this in mind). So, I was walking and talking to some of my selected 300+ companies at the fair and I was trying to decide who to choose next; that was when I stumbled across Schulmberger.

Schulmberger, pronounced Sh-lum-ber-jay (it's french), is one of the largest or perhaps THE largest well services company in the world. Companies like BP own the oil, and companies such as Schlumberger are the main part of the drilling, fracturing, cementing, measurement, etc. processes. At the career fair they wear their bright blue FR's (fire retardant work coveralls) making them hard to miss and causing a pull at the hands on part of my personality. I had a moment of "what the hell," got myself an interview and got a spot in their Field Camp. I finished my work semester on Friday, May 2nd, moved back to East Lansing (EL) on the 2nd and 3rd, and headed out to Kellyville, Oklahoma on the 4th.

So much for never wanting to try oil and gas.

Do 10 pushups, 20 sit-ups, 30 lunges, and then run 100 miles

Warsaw, Indiana is not that big with a population of about 10,000 people. While I don't mind small towns considering I live by much smaller ones in Colorado, because of the slightly chilly winter I wasn't able to get out much. Then I got some kick in the butt inspiration. A friend of mine told her story later on last year about how she had been super self conscious about her body and those feelings had drove her to become bulimic. This was crazy news considering that I had always looked up to her in high school not only for her looks, but the confidence I thought she had, her smarts, and her athleticism. Since the start of college my self confidence had been lowering drastically due to many personal relationships. Her inspiration led me to walk in to Anytime Fitness my first week in Warsaw and begin some serious self transformation.

There I met Mandy, my personal trainer and now awesome friend. Mandy has a work hard,or go home attitude like myself, which I was able to adapt to perfectly. I told her I wanted to bulk up and that's exactly what she helped me accomplish. In 6 weeks, I gained 6 inches in total (volume not height) and 6 pounds. Not only was I stronger but I had the muscle showing to prove it. In the following 6 weeks, I gained another 6 inches and another 4 pounds. I changed my diet and was at the gym working hard 5 to 6 days a week.

It was the confidence boost that I needed and I am not planing on stopping anytime soon. I am planing on gaining another 10 ish pounds in muscle this summer. After working with Mandy and developing a love for the gym and taking care of myself, I have decided to study to become a personal trainer. By the end of the summer I plan on being certified and would like to start training once I head back to Indiana in the fall.

Biomedical Engineering at its finest

 Last fall I accepted a co-op position with DePuy Synthes, in Warsaw, Indiana. For those of you that don't know, a co-op is an internship during the semester where you go and work for more than one semester. So for example, I worked there for the spring semester, then I have the summer off, then I go back and will work there for my fall semester, then I come back for school next spring semester, and finally I work there again next summer. Altogether, I will complete 3 rotations (3 semesters = 1 year) of work with a better chance of getting hired after I graduate. While my graduation is now delayed till Spring of 2016, the more rotations the better and I am not in a hurry to start working for the rest of my life.

So rant/background information aside, I worked there this last spring in the Hips Research and Development group. DePuy is a Johnson & Johnson company so the atmosphere was incredible. There was a gym in the building with personal training and everything, a cafeteria, and a group of people that were the most relaxed adults I have ever seen while working. Overall it was good. At first I was very bored, however as I started to express how bored I was to the other engineers, the more random projects I was given.

Random was a good thing, in which I was able to work on many different things. I did some motion simulation where you take all of the 3D models of each of the hip components on the computer, put them together, and move them in order to determine the range of motion for each combination. As engineering-like and wordy as that sounds, it is actually super cool and I am one of very few people that actually know how to do it on NX (hence why I was hired). I also did some sterilization testing which is the opposite; sounds really cool but isn't really. All you do is take parts and put them in an Autoclave (steam and pressure sterilizer - hospitals use), take them out after 45 minutes, let them cool (parts@140 ish degrees C), check them for rust, and then throw them back in for another cycle. Lame, I've literally done it 500 times, and by literally I mean actually; again lame.

After feeling like my brain had melted slightly from Autoclaving my life away, one day that I met this engineer named Frank. He is one of the greatest engineers to work with. Now he gives you a lot of crap (in a joking/good way ---sometimes), but because of him I got to work on some pretty interesting projects. We were trying to mold the acetabulum and the femur of cadavers accurately (haha - sarcasm because of the difficulty of the task). Therefore, I completed my first cadavar lab. Granted it was a little weird at first, but I found the intricacies of the body amazing. It is crazy to think that once it gets damaged it can never be the same; no matter how great the engineering.

Ketchup

 Since I am starting this blog about half way through the year I thought it would be good if I caught you up on some of the main events of my spring. Be prepared it was somewhat of a busy time. I usually have to explain more than once because people have problems keeping track. That, however is the beauty of it being written in a blog. Rather then explaining it over again very fast in my excited voice (most of you should be familiar), you can just re-read at your own pace. Engineer here :)