Synthesis Post

Ten weeks ago I made this blog about engineering. I knew that engineering was a broad field with different categories and it was used to make a lot of things people use on a daily basis. However the blog requirements made me search deeper into the profession and when I did I noticed some pretty interesting things about engineers as a whole.

Problem Solving:

Frist as engineers problem solving is the central part of the profession.  I found from my research that all engineers deal with problems every day and at every moment of their work. The problems allow engineers to create new solutions. They are constantly challenged to think outside the box to create better more efficient solutions. In Week 10 Free Post Perfume companies had to come up with new ways to create popular smell after the main ingredient was restricted. The engineers working on the problem had to be creative and use unusual ingredients to attempt to make a solution.

Communication:

Communication is a very important part of engineering. Engineers have to take the problem at hand and use various types of math and science to create solutions. Then they have to take the data and final solution and present it in a way that a person whom has never seen the project would understand.  In my Week3 Prompted Post interview with a Civil Engineer she, explained the various types of communication she used and why she used it. For instance she explained her report on a water tower project. The report had to be detailed and clear so she could communicate what the project was in a way her boss and his superiors could understand what was going on.

Design:

Engineers also design a lot for their field. Engineers constantly go through some design process. In the video from my Week 9 Free Post, the IDEO video showed the team making multiple designs of the object/solution and then going back and changing or combining designs. They do this because to minimize materials used and get an idea of what the object/solution will be. Also they do this to save time because the project may have a deadline that has to be met.

Language:

Working on this blog has showed me that engineers have their own standards for the language they use.  Engineers have to use a detailed yet brief critical writing. They write reports, memos, emails, and more to a wide variety of people like bosses, concerned citizens, and press so; the engineer has to be able to effectively explain what’s going on in the project. Week 3

Week 3 Prompted Post I asked a civil engineer what they typical styles of writing is used by engineers and she explained that whatever she writes has to be clear concise and sometimes brief. Later that week during class our professor said almost the exact same thing.

This blog has allowed me to explore engineering in deeper detail. I feel I have a better understanding of what it is to be an engineer and I found some interesting facts about the field that I previously didn’t know.

 

Resources:

Courtney Humphries. "Engineering Replacements for Essential Perfume Ingredients.".21 Oct 2011 Wired. web. 30 Mar 2014.

 

Week 10 Free Post

I found this really interesting article about engineering and perfume. It said perfume ingredients are being "regulated out of existence" and companies are trying to find new ingredients to replace the old ones. Oakmoss was the main ingredient talked about and used by many popular perfume industries. after finding out it was an allergen it was restricted and led to the engineering of perfume that smell closely to it.

I thought it was very interesting that companies would go to such lengths to create the oakmoss sent using different ingredients because the sent was so popular. I also feel as though the engineers have a hard task of trying to make the smell almost exact because of article saying how people who buy the perfume will be very hard to trick because they are so familiar with the sent.

In many of my posts engineers are trying to create solution to problems at hand. They try new ingredients and try to modify or in this case replicate a product. I find that really fascinating and interesting that that people can create something almost exact to the original but they use different ingredients.

If you want to read the article here's the link:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_perfume/

Courtney Humphries. "Engineering Replacements for Essential Perfume Ingredients.".21 Oct 2011 Wired. web. 30 Mar 2014.

Week 10 Prompted Post

For this weeks prompted post I had to find a source like a website or brochure that used information and presented it in a new/useful way. Then evaluate it based on the RAIDS method. RAIDS stand for:
Revision
Arrangement
Invention
Delivery
Style
I found this website that was made for college students and I went to the mechanical engineering part and it had a bunch of facts and tips about the practice. The website uses a bunch of information that they must have gotten from surveys and other resources. Then took the information and put it into a website.
The website revises college students perception of the occupation and change the beliefs of the students about engineering.
The arrangement of a website is very  smart and beneficial to the college student because they can easily navigate for specific information about engineering.
The makers of the website used a lot of invention to relate to college kids with the color scheme and the arrangement.
The website navigations and the short paragraphs help with the delivery of the remixed information. It make the information more appealing and more people will read it.
The style of the website popular and middle diction which reaches the most people.

Here's the link the website:
http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/proft17.shtml

Week 9 Free Post

So in my engineering class my professor showed us a three part video on a group from the company IDEO that had to re invent a shopping cart in five days. The video was a little older but it showed the steps and methods used to accomplish the task of creating  new shopping cart. The group made a really cool shopping cart and completed the task given in the allotted time frame.

I felt I learned quite a bit from the video. The group working on the new design consisted on other majors than just engineers. They had business majors, psychology majors, a linguist, marketing, biology major, and more. That makes sense because you want other perspectives recognized in the design rather than just one view. Also I like how the group had no hierarchy the positions were filled based on how well the people did their job and how they worked with others, for instance the project manager only worked their for six years. compared to some of the others. He was chosen because we worked well with groups. Also I learned that you have to do a lot of research on the problem/ item and go through many designs in order to make the best fitting designs.

Lastly I loved the work area of IDEO. The group was encouraged to be out of their desk and surround themselves in creative environment.

Week 9 Prompted Post

This week I had to find a news article about engineering and its importance. Engineering is liked to many different fields. Engineering is important because an engineer solves problems using different methods and materials. Like my last post I found an article about the recently hot topic of engineers creating a new tissue that can keep a pulse out of different materials and methods to solve the problem of restoring damaged cardiac tissue in patients.

 The article explained the medical advances the engineers created and how the new tissue is very beneficial to the medical field and to people in general. They created a starting block for tissue that mimics the pulsing action of cardiac tissue. The breakthrough of the new tissue will greatly modify how doctors handle cardiac patents and the prospect of new tissue helps give hope to a lot of people suffering with heart problems and potentially other problems involving skin, organs, and even bones.

Resources:
 American Chemical Society."Building heart tissue that beats: Engineered tissue closely mimics natural heart muscle.". 18 Mar 2014 ScienceDaily. web. 18 Mar 2014.

Here's the link to the article:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140318154723.htm.

Week 8 Free Post

So this week I found an interesting video engineering tissue:

The video talks about how our modern way of finding cures for diseases are too slow, too costly, and tests on animals. then she showed a video of live cardiac tissue that they made in a lab. After the video talked about the benefits and possibilities of tissue engineering.

I thought it was very interesting how the engineers used a different skin cell instead of stem cell and were able to avoid the controversy of stem cells. I also liked how the organs grown for the patient are from the patients cells so there is little chance of the body not accepting the organ.
P.S. It also would reduce if not eliminate animal testing which I think is good.

The video makes tissue engineering sound very safe and effective. I think it would be a good Idea to look into tissue engineering further and maybe incorporate it into medical practices.

What do you think?

week 8 Prompted post

For this post I have to do a hands on activity pertaining to mechanical engineering. Today was actually the perfect day for this post because today in my engineering class we got to use the lab and go over all the skills needed for the lab and the safety rules along with getting our second project. In the lab all students had to complete hands on tasks as a quiz. We had to use various machines such the table saw, drill bit, and other equipment. these types of labs are used by other engineers students and professional engineers and for our second project will need to use the labs often. I feel as though I understood how to do the specific tasks better than if I would have by just reading about the machines in the lab. I feel it was more thorough and better explained the machines when they did the task and talked about it.