Civil Engineering Lab

We visited the civil engineering lab today. I found it incredibly fascinating that everyday cement withstood loads of around 6 kip and yet here in this lab they were developing cement that could withstand 26 kip. That is an incredible increase in how much the cement is able to withstand. Imagine what could be built on a foundation that could be that strong. It was truly very interesting to see the going-ons in such an incredible facility, and makes me wish that these sort of lab experiences where available at my college. Our labs consisted mainly of rolling balls down hills. On another note, I believe the group has become fairly familiar within itself. I like to see that we are generally smiling more, laughing easier, and organizing our dinner times so that we all eat together. The more of this the better.

Analytical method

The analytical method was a slight variation to the simplified method, adding only a couple equations for when the structure is irregular. Still much of the work is in interpreting charts. I'm somewhat baffled by how simple the procedures have been so far. Its interesting just how much is accomplished by technology these days, especially when you consider how much MORE will be accomplished by technology on a day to day basis fifty years from now. I'm not entirely sure if I want to claim that this will result in an enormous decrease in overall human understanding. If history has been an example the loss of a previously manual labor has always benefited the human experience, thinking of the printing press. However, it certainly is stunning how much is learned and how much becomes obsolete by the time you learn it.

Studying

Today I worked on understanding shear force, shear stress, and bending moment. My professor mentioned that these would be essentials to structural engineering and I did my best to teach myself the basics. This was helpful since at the very least I was able to understand the terminology used in class. It would have been nice to have had some experience with structural analysis before this REU but I have yet to be seriously handicapped by it. Most of what we do still just concerns interpreting charts correctly.

Simplified Analysis

Today was our second lecture by Md Istiaque Hasan. He began with a short lecture on civil engineering as a whole and the different careers that this broad field can contain. He then described the academic path of becoming a structural engineer which was extremely useful to hear his description since he had been through it personally. Then began the real part of the lecture where we learned about simplified analysis. The concepts where interesting because it put such a huge array of variable into readily available charts. The ideas where simple enough and I didn't find the process difficult to follow. Also Istiaque was exceptionally clear at explaining, often reiterating ideas so we could follow with ease. It also helped that the subject he was cover in particular was Loads, in particular Wind Loads, which I had familiarized myself with earlier that morning. On the whole I thought the topics covered far more interesting than the previous lecture and thoroughly enjoyed learning the new material. 

First Weekend

With my homework done and no social events I had a lot of the weekend free. I felt as though the group grew a little more used to each other after playing cards and a couple visits to the pool. The temperature is increasing a little so the pool was a wonderful alternative to the fiery sun. I think that the group participating in things together is essential considering we are often split into our separate projects for the majority of the time. We are all pretty new to internships so it important to hang together. Tomorrow I look forward to the next stage in my project.

Homework

I met with my professor today to clear up the confusions about the homework. The exact reasoning being statistical analysis still escapes me, but I feel as though I have grasped the concept well enough that I can continue with the rest of the REU. The amount of work I'm doing is still relatively small, so I am hoping the REU will pick up in its activity next week. I certainly do not feel like I am earning the 3000 dollars by honest work. Likely the instructors are trying to bring everyone up to speed, even so I feel as though me and my partner in the wind project would not mind a little more academic rigor to occupy our time. I don't want this REU to end with simply a fancy thing to put in on my resume and some cash, I definitely want to have gained something more substantial then what I have experienced within the last week.

A day of homework

I began working on the homework assigned by my Wind Project today. While I was able to understand parts of it I found that despite vigorous note taking, pieces of the calculation escaped me. I paid my first visit to the civil engineering library in the bottom of Nedderman Hall and fully expect I will be back repeatedly. Especially since I wasn't able to check out the book I wanted because I have yet to obtain an UTA Id yet. I might insert a reflection of Abraham Lincoln at this point, "Get the books and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing."So while I have yet to understand all the concepts, I will heed his advice given the wealth of knowledge this enormous university can provide. My project has been a little slowly, I must wait for books and I have some free time, so I'm considering exploring the possibility of auditing a class in Architecture. When I went to registrar it turned out I might be able to simply email the professors and ask for a seat in their class, which surprised me since this is such a huge university. Some other participants in the REU have been attending some computer programming classes to sharpen their skills and I believe attending some architecture classes will be an excellent and entertaining supplement education to my Wind Project since both deal with the structures.  

Introduction to the Wind Project

The day began with a campus tour provided by the admissions office. This was pleasant enough and the questions I asked were well answered. The MAC, a recreation center here on campus, is very well provided with basically any activity a person might wish, even including video games which is a little absurd. I was glad to find that the tennis racquets, climbing harness, and climbing shoes are free for REU participants. This evening I attended my first lecture meeting about my Wind Project. The concepts were pretty simple and even though I hadn't learned them before I grasped how to use the equations properly. I would have liked to have a little more explanation behind the statistical equations but at the very least I can make the ends meet. I suppose rather than plow through logical proofs I would rather move onto the modelling with RISA. At this time I'm slightly worried about how conservative Civil Engineering looks to be. The ethics certainly strongly advise against forward thinking it seems and today's lecture on statistics definitely seemed to paint a very dull picture of Civil Engineering of following what has always worked basing the future on the past. However I remain confident that before getting to the exciting stuff we need to trudge through the gunk. You can't just hand fledgling physics student a laser gun without instructing first that it is a very dangerous tool capable of vaporizing people into smudges of carbon smeared on the sidewalk.

First Day of Study

First and foremost I would like to express my gratitude for being selected as a participant in this REU. I am a sophomore and this is my first research experience plus this is my first trip to Texas which so far has been excellent, humid, reminiscent of the tropics minus the ocean. People have a great personality down here and my suite mates, both Texans, have been absolutely awesome and incredibly friendly. Its incredibly green here on campus stunningly beautiful. Gigantic brick fountains are everywhere coupled with green parks, leafy trees, and tremendously tall buildings that rise like spires into blue skies. This is far different from my mountainous culture in Washington where we live in valleys surrounded by snowy peaks that trump any building built by man. I'm still trying to find my way around here and get lost regularly which is entertaining at times except I've missed two dinners. The orientation was straight forward and the group was very shy, not much conversation to be had. I would have appreciated a little more encouragement to engage with each other but I suppose in time that will come. The orientation was excellent and I was fairly impressed my particular project, the Wind Project, headed by Dr. Yazdani and Istiaque Hasan PhD Student. It looks like it will be challenging and hopefully stretch my understanding physics to the greatest potential. We were also encouraged to present at conferences with our project and publish our results. I would be astonished if my project drew that much attention but I will certainly give this project my all. Today we explored research and professional ethics. This was a little dry at times however on the whole I found it engaging, mostly due to the good humor and quick smile of Dr. Weatherton. I learned more about ethics than I thought possible. Before the lecture I understood ethics as principals governing right and wrong. By the end I had learned there are specific principals which frame the actions of researchers and professionals, depending on the setting. My personal reflection was that in the end we need to follow our own judgement and use the ethic rules as guidelines. Its too easy to follow a rule and justify actions by what is written down by authority. Remember always what principals guide the rules and you should be able to sail straight.