"What I did this summer"

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Think summer break means nothing but rest and relaxation for College of Engineering students? Think again! Many Buckeye engineering and architecture students spent the summer soaking up amazing experiences, including conducting independent research at home and abroad, inspiring future engineers, and even enjoying an out-of-this-world internship. Here are a few of their stories.

A dream takes flight 

Kelly DeRees
Materials science and engineering major

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Kelly DeRees, shown here in the Robotic Operations Center at NASA Goddard, realized her childhood dream of working at NASA this summer.
After applying to every NASA internship that she was eligible for since she was 16 years old, aspiring astronaut and Eminence Fellow Kelly DeRees realized her childhood dream of working at NASA this summer.

As an intern with NASA Goddard’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, DeRees spent 10 weeks working with three fellow students to design and build a scale model of a spacecraft’s payload deck with a robotic arm.

Part of the Restore-L project—a robotic spacecraft equipped with the tools needed to extend satellites’ lifespan by servicing them in orbit—DeRees’ work will help engineers quickly test robotic arm positions and determine which ones they want to analyze further using computer models. The model could also be used for outreach activities.

“It was an incredible experience. Everyone there loves what they do. They all are willing to stop and talk to you, answer questions, tell you what they do and how they got there,” she said. “I learned a lot not just about being an engineer, but the kinds of questions to ask, who to ask to answer those questions, plus networking lessons.”

The internship—part of the award DeRees received as a NASA 2015 STEM Education and Accountability Projects (SEAP) Scholar—not only confirmed the rising sophomore’s ambition to be an astronaut, it also helped her decide what initial career path she wants to follow after graduation.

“I got to talk to a lot of materials scientists that work at Goddard about what they do and it confirmed that materials science is what I want to do once I graduate,” she said. “I’m hoping to find a career at Goddard, but I’d be open to working at other NASA locations as well.”

Bringing light to Panajachel

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Teaching preschoolers about force by showing them how to build catapults was just one of the service projects Naji Chaar tackled during a weeklong trip to Guatemala.

Naji Chaar
Biomedical engineering major

Naji Chaar, along with 12 other Humanitarian Engineering Scholars, spent a week in Guatemala last May working to bring light to the people of Panajachel.

“It was my first time traveling with the goal of resolving an issue within a community rather than tourism and I really loved it,” Chaar said. “It felt great that we were investing our education into something that’s really helpful and impactful.”

At the request of Mayan Families, a non-profit organization that serves the indigenous Mayan population in the region, Chaar and his solar group teammates researched and analyzed affordable commercial solar kits for area homes. Using the concept screening and scoring method they learned in their first-year engineering courses, the team ultimately recommended a $100 system that includes a solar panel, four lightbulbs and multiple charging solutions such as a USB adapter to charge cell phones. The system could provide lighting for families who lack electricity either due to cost, availability or the unreliability of the current network.

“If our recommended product is put to use, people would be able to effectively manage their light-dependent daily activities and it would eliminate the small-scale pollution that stems from the use of kerosene lamps,” Chaar said. “The cell phone charging capability is also important where no landline phones are present, because it connects people to emergency lines, job opportunities and family members.”

After presenting their recommendation to Mayan Families, Chaar also helped interview local families to gauge their interest in having a residential solar system and how it might improve their daily life.

During the remainder of the trip, he helped other student teams teach preschoolers about force by showing them how to build a catapult and instructed 50 middle school students on the engineering design process by hosting a building competition. The Buckeye engineers also installed 12 cook stoves in 12 different community members’ homes.

Inspiring girls in STEM 

Alexis Burns
Biomedical engineering PhD student

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Alexis Burns helps WiE RISE campers build light up LED circuits during a session about electrical engineering.
In between teaching fitness classes, graduate teaching assistant duties and her doctoral research, Alexis Burns spent many hours this summer helping inspire future women engineers.

As a graduate administrative assistant for Ohio State’s Women in Engineering program, Burns led the coordination and planning for WiE RISE, a six-day residential camp sponsored by the GM Foundation and Shell. Thirty-six high school girls from across the Buckeye state and beyond attended the camp to learn about the wide range of engineering majors offered by Ohio State, related careers and college life.

“It’s always rewarding working with the campers,” she said. “You can just see them soaking up all of the knowledge.”

Burns welcomed the challenge of reviewing applications, talking to parents, plus scheduling and supervising six action-packed days of lab visits, hands-on activities and programming challenges with Sparki robots.

A three-time veteran with the camp, Burns loves being able to show girls what engineering is all about and introducing them to other female engineer role models.

“What I like about working with this camp is showing them that there are so many options and that they’re capable of doing them all,” she said. “It doesn’t take some ridiculous amount of talent to do it, it just takes hard work.”

The passion that Burns and all of the faculty and students involved in WiE RISE show for the field is a major reason the camp continues to receive rave reviews from campers and parents alike.

“I got an email from a parent, thanking us for having the camp and also telling us that his daughter came 75 percent sure she’d be an engineer, but not really knowing,” Burns said. “She returned enthusiastic about being an engineer, 100 percent sure that’s what she was going to do and excited to apply to Ohio State.”

Thirst for Knowledge

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Jonathan Staker
Jonathan Staker
Landscape architecture master’s student

Jonathan Staker drove nearly 7,000 miles across the western United States this summer studying how population growth and climate change are impacting the Rio Grande and Colorado River watersheds, and the tens of millions of people who depend on them. Together, these watersheds support both agriculture and daily life in expanding metropolises like Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles (Colorado River watershed) as well as El Paso, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and in Mexico; Cuidad Juarez, Ojinaga and Ciudad Acuna (Rio Grande watershed).

Staker met with ranchers and farmers who have always experienced issues with water management and rights. While these issues are currently under control to some degree, Staker said, as population growth and climatic change increases serious problems will arise.

“The issues today are foreshadowing what we may see in the next 10 to 12 years,” he said. “If there is a huge drought, how are farmers going to survive? How are people in the city going to survive? Is there going to be equal distress on both or is one side going to be better off that the other and how can landscape architecture address these issues before they happen?”

Funded by a Knowlton School of Architecture Research Travel Award, Staker’s project focused on how the landscapes of both watersheds have been naturally crafted and manually engineered to optimize water availability. He also examined how water is utilized in the region and the role landscape architecture is playing in addressing water scarcity and quality.

In October, he’ll present his project during a public presentation at the Knowlton School. But that could be just the beginning.

“The reason why I’m excited and why some of the professors that I have are excited is that I’m using this as my preliminary research for my thesis,” Staker said. “So it’s kind of the beginning of something bigger.”

Diving into the deep 

Achal Singhal
Mechanical engineering master’s student

13 members of the Ohio State Underwater Robotics team pose with their autonomous underwater robot
Team leader Achal Singhal (pictured bottom right) and the Underwater Robotics Team show their Buckeye pride during the 2016 International RoboSub Competition in San Diego.
As the team leader for Ohio State’s Underwater Robotics Team, Achal Singhal helped steer the Buckeyes to the semi-finals and a Best Technical Paper Award during their first appearance in the 2016 International RoboSub Competition.

Looking for a challenge that would showcase the talents of engineers from many disciplines, the team of 24 engineering students decided to enter the RoboSub Competition last year and quickly began working to design, build and program their sixth underwater robot, dubbed Riptide

“This year we did a one-year design cycle,” explained Singhal. “A lot of the vehicle was actually machined, as well as developed and programmed, in-house.”

As the team’s first foray into autonomous underwater vehicles, Riptide features ten underwater thrusters, three cameras that map its surroundings and monitor the pool floor, and two inertial navigation systems. An i7 CPU provides computational power, while a modular printed circuit board assembly serves as a power distribution and communications hub.

When they’re not at the pool or the workshop, Singhal and the team mentor middle and high school engineering club students and have been a fixture at the Ohio State Fair, where their marine engineering display has won the Best Technology Exhibit award.

A six-year veteran who joined Underwater Robotics while he was still in high school, Singhal is proud of the progress the team has made. From building a very low budget PVC structure in 2010, coined the Buckeye Boulder, the team moved into building increasingly more complex remotely operated underwater vehicles.

"Our growth has been an amazing aspect of this team,” Singhal said. “We have an environment where making mistakes is encouraged, and I think that is why our team has been able to diversify and include majors from electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, computer science, environmental science, chemistry and engineering physics. This has allowed us to push ourselves to greater challenges."

Although he’ll be graduating this fall, Singhal is confident in the team’s future.

“This was our first year competing in that particular competition, so we definitely learned a lot. I think next year we should be able to do a lot better,” Singhal said. “We won first place in our technical documentation so now it’s just about taking those ideas and concepts and applying them better.

by Candi Clevenger, College of Engineering Communications, clevenger.87@osu.edu

Category: Students