Presentation Time - Explaining the details, with very few details.

When participating in Mid-SURE, as required by the EnSURE program as well as others, the student presenters were asked to evaluate 4 other posters outside of their presentation time blocks. The goal was to to give everyone a chance to present their research and to fill up the hour long period with constant talking. Due to the size of the event, there was many different science fields showing their research such as some social science, biology, microbiology, all of the engineering disciplines, etc. Therefore, it was not surprising to be asked to evaluate a poster from a science discipline that was different from your own. It was however, challenging.

If there is one thing that always confuses me about the science world is criticism from groups with little to no understanding of your topic of research or study. I understand the importance of collaboration and how cool it is to learn some new things in different areas. However, I have a hard time evaluating the effectiveness of ...lets say research on flies and their reactions to spiders if I have no background in the topic. Sure, I can learn some information from the presentation I might not be familiar with, but as far as grading it to see how well the research project was conducted .... it is not very easy for me to form an opinion let alone an accurate one considering my background is not biology.( I did have to evaluate a presentation on flies and their reaction to spiders as one of my four evaluations. Not easy for a mechanical.) 

Another main difficultly in judging someones research, besides lack in background knowledge, is visualizing the big picture surrounding the research and its role. It can be difficult in your own field, let alone a field that is unfamiliar. Part of the research I completed this summer was creating a website that hosts a user manual for a software particular to the cardiovascular field. While the website seems simple (it really is), it is actually very significant to the field. I published another method of using the software that other researchers can not only use, but modify and build upon. This big picture, being the important part of my presentation, was really difficult to describe to those evaluating me. It wasn't hard for me to explain, but because of their background I felt they got caught up in the wrong details. Thus, it made it hard for them to understand how the project I completed fits in the cardiovascular field. 

After the event we received the evaluations written by the evaluators and I was shocked by my results. I thought that my project was fairly straight forward. The areas where I was the most surprised were those related to that big picture idea I mentioned. One of the judges gave me a 1 out of 5 (5 being the best) in my explanation of future works and contributions. This was confusing because I know I talked for about 10 minutes as well as having my poster mention that the website will be used in classes at MSU. I also mentioned how they are hoping to add a discussion forum on the site or link it to one so that researchers that use the software can share their implementation ideas more easily. However, like I mentioned before I think the reason behind the score isn't that I mentioned it or not, its the amount of background understanding of the audience and trying to absorb everything about the topic in order to make a judgment.  

Not all my scores were bad, most were average or above. I personally felt I did better, and was disappointed that it wasn't reflected. But I took my scores with a grain of salt. I concluded that for a decent amount of understanding of anything, a poster and short presentation just wasn't going to cut it.  

Presentation Time - Just a little voluntary exercise beforehand, no need to worry.

My research experience this summer came to an end the last week of July. In order to complete the program all of the undergraduates in EnSURE had to participate in Mid-SURE. (Someone likes acronyms) Mid-SURE is the Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experience that takes place at the Breslin Center at MSU. For those not familiar, the Breslin Center is the MSU basketball arena located on the far west side of campus.

The event hosts 300 (ish) undergraduate research students from about 9 different institutions from around the country to present their summer research. There are also quite a few programs represented; those 300 students aren't all from the EnSURE program.

I was sick the last 2 weeks of work. (Literally sounded like a man when I talked) Therefore, on the day of the event, my first plan of action was to look as professional as possible so that I could somehow fool my audience into thinking I wasn't really that sick. It was time to pull out my suit. If I couldn't be a 100% on top of my game at least I was going to look like I was. After making the effort to appear professional, I arrived at the Breslin in order to set up my poster before the presentation time. I retrieved my poster from the front desk and unrolled it only to find that it was the incorrect and unedited version. Since I was sick, I really didn't want to care, but I was forced to to because I was to be graded on how perfect the poster was organized. So I headed back to the front and tried to explain where they went wrong. The lady in charge, promptly handed me her phone to call DECS. (DECS is the engineering computer support division, and because of my 3D printing project this summer, they know me well)

Background on why the poster was the incorrect version: (the week and a few days before the event)

There was an original deadline for the poster so that DECS could print all 300 of them in time. The deadline then got moved to 2 days later because DECS said that they worked at lighting speed. So I turned in my poster by the second deadline. That following Friday I received an email saying that they (EnSURE) didn't get my poster and couldn't send it to DECS to be printed. I then sent them an email saying I turned it in, and then sent them an updated copy of my poster just in case. I never heard back, so the next week (week of the event) I went to DECS and asked if they had received my poster. At first they were like "I'm sure we have it, and that it is just with all of the others." I then asked them to check and then found that they didn't have it. So the guy that was helping me offered to print it right then. I got on the computer, created another updated version and was told I was good to go and that it would be at the event. From that point on I thought I was in the clear.

Going back to the day of the event. I was on the phone with DECS and it was mentioned that there was still time to print the poster before the presentations started. In my suit and all, I walked as fast as possible without breaking too much of a sweat to the Engineering building. (0.6 miles east) I arrived at the DECS office, said "hey, I was just on the phone with one of you and I came to print my poster." Then one of the very polite DECS guys that I has helped me quite a few times this summer asks " Alright, Do you have an engineering account?" Even though I have gone in there almost every day all summer, they still can't remember me, let alone that I am a fellow engineering student. (Maybe it was the suit) So after the nice guy helped get my poster loaded and printed in about 10 minutes, I headed back to the Breslin. (0.6 miles west) I arrived at the event center with 15 minutes to spare before I had to present in which I spent each minute putting my appearance back in order before judgement time.

BAM! In the first 4 hours before the event started I had already walked mile or two, managed to undo half of work I put into getting dressed that morning, and was still sick. But hey, my poster was on the stand 15 minutes ahead of schedule without any flaw.

Research . . .how it really happened (Part 2)

Besides making cool models and 3D printing them, I actually have a research project this summer. It is not the biggest project, nor the most challenging, or anything I consider "real" research, however, that is the task I was given. My mentor gave me the job of writing a user manual for this new software that we use for simulations. I first had to learn the software, which wasn't easy considering it's open source. For those that don't know (I didn't before this project), open source anything is technology or ideas that are open to the public to change. In the world of software that means programs that you can alter to improve or adapt to what you need. There is even open source soda where the recipe is public. The point behind it being that collaboration is powerful and that everyone has the chance to take open source ideas and use them to better things around them. Pretty cool stuff. So anyway, this program that we are using simulates blood flow through the arteries. The more specific arteries we use are the abdominal aorta and the carotid; some of which have aneurysms or blockage. With patient CT scans, one for every year over the last few years, we look at the change in blood flow from scan to scan. Most of the patients have abdominal aortic aneurysms, and from scan to scan we can see in what direction they are growing and the chances of bursting at each stage.

In regards to the manual, I had to learn the software using the process that we use in the lab to look at the patient scans. Since it is open source like I mentioned before, other people use different features of the software and their own unique processes. In order to make writing this manual more  . . . innovative lets say, my first thought was to publish it on a website. Because I am a visual person and also learn by example, I also added color coding, GIF's (those short videos that replay on Facebook and whatnot), pictures, and lots of examples.

Example of Sara Creativity

I basically went all out Sara creative, making the website awesome. Now not only is it informative but it is also easy to understand and follow. I was going to create my own website by learning HTML  . . .but that proved to be difficult in the time frame I have. Instead I used a MSU template and then focused on making the content more effective.

After this project finished I have to present at the research symposium with all the other undergraduates. Until then, I have some work to do.

Research . . .how it really happened (Part 1)

This summer I am working in a lab at MSU that does Cardiovascular research. We look at patients CT images of primarily the aorta and the carotid arteries. One of my main projects included using MIMICS®  to segment the CT data from which we create 3D images. Basically in non-engineering terms; CT scans take about 1000 pictures in each direction (head to feet, chest to back, and shoulder to shoulder) and we look at each picture in one of the directions mentioned and color what we want to keep. By coloring I mean almost (but not really) what you would accomplish in the program Paint. the next step is to add all of the colored sections in each image together and create a 3D model. We then use the models to primarily look at growth in aneurysms from scans at different points in time. the models can also be used for running different simulations where we can look at the flow through the artery in a healthy patient and compare it with that of an unhealthy patient. The goal is to figure out how aneurysms are caused and if there is a way to tell how soon they will burst. It gets much more complicated, especially when it comes to math, but you get the point.

As part of the EnSURE (engineering summer undergraduate research experience) program we participated in Grandparents University where we taught kids and their grandparents the process mentioned above. It was really fun and cool to show people what we work on; making it interesting to people that know nothing about engineering is a challenge. For the event I segmented the heart and aorta using MIMICS®, created a 3D model, and had that model printed with the 3D printers downstairs. After cleaning up the printed objects by taking off the support material, I created a stand that the model would be displayed on. Since these were for the kids I made the model and the stand so that they would come apart and the kids could look at the model by itself. Then, because I'm somewhat awesome and creative, I made the words on the models different colors, which I found to be very popular with kids ages 8-12. Who knew that adding a color choice would make it that much cooler. However, if I was 8 I would most likely want a green one rather than a red one.

                                                                                    

The picture to the left is how the models look after printing is complete.

The center picture is after an hour or two of peeling off support material leaving only the model. 

The picture to the right is the model assembled with the stand. 

I think they are really cool and I am very proud . . . until someone asks me what science fiction movie it's from. 

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.