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Grad School Trip

I have been toying with the idea of going to grad school ever since I started my undergrad at VCU, and the time to make a decision is upon me. Sonya has made it her mission to put the many pieces of the process together on a spreadsheet. She has organized the next few months of our lives in order on a handy checklist. Sign up to take the GRE - check! Find out application fees - check! Mark the application deadlines on my planner - check! Figure out where I want to go to school -check, check, and double check!!!

My friend Rachel and I have been on a mission to narrow the grad school options to a more reasonable list. We've been researching the research, and I've got my list narrowed enough for Sonya and I to take our campus-visit road trip. We're hitting The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, The University of Wisconsin - Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN, and I just added the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL. U of I is on our way home and is highly ranked, so it would be foolish to drive past it without a visit. These schools all offer excellent programs in alternative transportation and energy, and they are not in California or Texas. California and Texas are over-represented in the list of top 50 schools, and I neither like endless heat nor the periodic shaking of earth, so the Midwest is my focus. There are a couple interesting programs in New York, but I really want to get back to the Midwest for a while - even if only for a few years.

Summer Research

I'm lucky enough to have a paid internship this summer which should cover the difference in tuition since it was raised by 20%. This will be my foray to CAD modeling and using the Stereolithography Rapid Prototype Machine. Here's a picture of my design:

I wish I could describe the purpose of this design, but my boss might hang me out a window by my fingernails. The rest of my time has been spent learning some new software and reviewing Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics. Fun, Fun, Fun.

I do feel privileged to be receiving a paycheck, for there are a bunch of students doing this garbage for free.

Senior Year

I have registered for my senior year! Here it is.

Gadzooks!

A week from today I will be registering for the first semester of my senior year. However, I should stay focused on this semester because I am struggling. My grades haven't suffered too much, but I am just physically and mentally spent. I'm not sleeping, my confidence is struggling, and I'm finding myself sensitive to dumb comments. I have heard from multiple sources that the junior year of Engineering School is the toughest. I pray it's true.
As for next semester, I am truly excited about the classes. I remember when I first looked at the curriculum, I was most intrigued by a class called Mechatronics. The description seemed cryptic, but now I'm getting ready to register for that class and I know exactly what it's all about. I'm also taking Vibrations, Sensors and Measurements, and Senior Design. One more semester, then I'll need to find a job. Crud.

The US (and maybe Canada) is my oyster .

The time of graduation is rapidly approaching, so this summer will be my last summer in which to find an internship that could lead to employment. I first visited the VCU's Engineering and Business Career Center and was highly disappointed to discover that the title of that office is somewhat of a misnomer. In fact, the Career Services Office merely helps you with your resume and then directs you to a website. The school is nice enough to provide a password for what would otherwise be a pay-service site. I'm glad I did not pay for that garbage because half the internship links are filled, over, dead or misidentified as engineering.

The next avenue I ventured down was to contact professors for advice. Just to be clear, professors do research and have very little idea of how to find an actual job. After that fruitless endeavor, I started asking friends and family. This seems to have been the best option.

The Atlanta family has found several interesting leads for me, my dad has sent an email to my brother's godfather (an engineer in Salt Lake City and dad's best friend since childhood), and I could always go back to NASA (a friend here in Williamsburg brought the LARSS program to my attention last year.)

Some may wonder, "why not just go back to NASA?" The answer is I'm not really sure what NASA is all about anymore. I'm not sure people really want NASA. I direct you to this news story. At any rate, the free market folks are very excited at the prospect of letting private companies take the lead on manned space-flight; however, I would suggest that if there was immediate revenue in such a venture, we would already have McDonald's on the moon. Private companies already do all the engineering, so I would have to go get a job with Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman anyway. Of course, with the Constellation program cut, and no other plan for returning the US to space, the private firms won't be working on this stuff either.

So, there you have it. I'm looking anywhere and everywhere for internships. Ford, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and friends and family all have my resume. Hopefully I'll find something really great this summer.