Week 6 Prompted Post

For my week six prompted post I have to find a scholarly article about my profession. I found one called "Mechanical Engineering in the Information Age". The author makes a point that engineers have to constantly adapt to the new information and technology advancements. My engineering classes and the engineering sessions I have attended all say something similar if not exact thing. engineers need to be able to use the technology effectively and keep up to date with the constant stream of new information. the author argues  this point through out the article and I agree with them. I think engineers need to be able to use modern technology because our field deals so closely with it.

Resources: 

Bar-Cohen, Avram. "Mechanical Engineering in the Information Age." Mechanical Engineering 117.12 (1995): 66. ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Week 7 Free Post

My other free post is about a blog I found. I found this interesting article called "Solving Problems or Creating Solutions?" about engineering mindsets. Here's the link: http://blog.engineersimplicity.com/2009/06/solving-problems-or-creating-solutions.html

I thought it was interesting how the post went on to say engineers ways of doing things. The problem solving way or the more solutions way. The post goes on to say what both are and the positives and negatives of both. I think the post was right when it said engineers have one of the two mindsets when faced with a problem. I think it is hard to determine which mindset is best to use for various types of projects. What do you guys think is it better to have a Problem Solving mindset or a Creating Solutions mindset?

Recourses:

 

Duncan Drennan. "Problem Solving or Creating Solutions." The Art of Engineering Blog. N.p. 17 June 2009. Web. 22 Feb 2014.

Week 6 Free Post

This week is going to be a little different. This week I'm going to post two free posts and next week will be two prompted posts. I found an interesting issue on a blog that I wanted to share. It's about minerals regulation and how electronics companies have to make adjustments.
Here's the link:
http://www.engineering.com/Blogs/tabid/3207/ArticleID/6980/Many-Companies-Ill-Prepared-for-Compliance-with-Conflict-Minerals-Regulation.aspx

I thought it was interesting that a lot of companies have no plans for after the regulations take effect.
This affects many people because electronics are widely available to the public and these regulations causes engineers to come up with new ideas for minerals. It also could be seen as a bad thing too. for instance where are companies going to get the minerals they need after the regulations are put in place?

Resources:

 

Kyle Maxey. "Many Companies Ill-Prepared for Compliance with Conflict Minerals Regulation." Engineering.com Blogs. N.p. 17 Jan 2014. Web. 19 Feb 2014.

Week 5 Free Post

This week is based on ethics and I found this web site that has a detailed code of ethics for engineers and it basically explains how engineers are supposed to act. I realized that engineers have to deal closely with ethics on a daily basis. They deal closely with the public and have to be truthful and honest when on a project because the project will affect many people. They have to deal with ethical decisions multiple times every day and those decisions are heavily weighted because they will affect the public and/or the customer so the product needs to be the best possible solution. 

Who else has a field that deals closely with ethics?

here is a link to the code of ethics:
http://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics

Resources:

 

"NSPE Code Of Ethics For Engineers." National Society of  Professional Engineering. NSPE. 2014. web. 16 Feb. 2014

Week 5 Prompted Post

This weeks post is about ethics relating to our field. Ethics is big part of engineering. we as engineers have to constantly make decisions that affect a large number of people. Engineers have a code of ethics. My Engineering textbook, Thinking Like an Engineer, devotes a whole chapter to ethics. The chapter talks about how to make ethical decisions, consequences, perspectives, plagiarism, engineering creed, and social responsibilities. We deal so closely with other people and the goal for our products is to make the best possible product. It goes without saying ethics is a very important to engineer. The key points in the chapter corresponds almost exactly with my own set of ethics. They stress making the best possible ethical decisions. A few ways I make ethical decisions in college relating to my field are:

• Working on the robot
• Surveys in engineering 100
• Completing my own honest work

 How does your field deal with ethics?

Resources:

 

Stephan, Elizabeth A., Bowman, Park, Sill, Ohland. Thinking Like an Engineer: An Active Learning Approach(Custom Edition for Michigan State University). New Jersey: Pearson, 2013. Print

Week 4 Free Post

 I found this video on the CoRe program that I posted about last time and I really like how the video portrays the program and how hands on the program is. I feel as if others can get a better idea of how this program creates a community for first year engineers.
What do you guys think about this video?

Resources:

 

Michigan State Univeristy, prod. College of Engineering CoRe Experience. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Jul. 2012. Web. 9 Feb 2014. 

Week 4 Prompted Post

For this post I have to find a local organization that is based on my profession. I thought of the CoRe Program that I am in. The CoRe program consists of upperclassmen that are engineers and is for freshman engineers living on campus. This organization hosts a multitude of events like wacky Tuesdays and tutoring, and informational events to help students to have fun and gain more knowledge about engineering opportunities and new projects they can be apart of.

Here is a link to their web page:
http://www.egr.msu.edu/core/

I went to a wacky Tuesday a while ago and it was carnival night. I found out about this because they handed out flyers to our floor and they sent an email about it. At carnival night they had all sorts of booths for different activities like cotton candy, a cartoonist and a DJ. They also had booths about engineering scholarships, internships, and other helpful information.

The CoRe program focuses on first year engineering students and helping them succeed in engineering. they value academics and finding opportunities for freshman who don't have as much experience as a junior would. Personally I really enjoy this program and it does help not only find help and opportunities but find other students how are doing the same thing as you, which helps for making friend and creating study groups.

Week 3 Free Post

 

In my last post I interviewed a civil engineer but I'm major in mechanical engineering, so I thought I would find a video that gives an insight to what a mechanical engineer does.

This YouTube video is like an interview with a person in my specific engineering field. I learned quite a bit from this video. I learned that mechanical engineers can work on a variety of projects and work a wide range of jobs. I realized the constant theme through all of his work is new projects or designs are aimed to help others and in my engineering class we just started talking about why engineers do what they do. It was really interesting to see this principal into action.