Still Movin' on Up

I have a job! It's great to finally have the next piece in place. (I know I used pretty much the same title for a blog recently...but I couldn't come up with anything better.)

On June 20, I will finally start my career as an engineer with Butler America in West Lafayette, Indiana. They are an engineering firm, and their primary customer out of this office is Sikorsky Helicopters. They do a lot of work with the Black Hawk!

I am not yet precisely sure what I will be doing. During my interview this week, I was told that help was needed pretty much everywhere in every group in the office, but it was not specified which group I would be working in. Once I know, I'll be sure to write about it! (At least, what I'd be able to share.)

It puts a thorn in my dad's side, however, that I will be making just as much money as he does. His quote: "I have been working for thirty years and am just NOW making as much as you will be." A piece of paper written in calligraphy from Purdue University can go a long way.

I am simultaneously excited, nervous, and horrified about entering the real world. Mostly excited about not having homework anymore. One thing is for sure, however; this month is going to be one of the biggest months of my life.

Science > Engineering

With my distaste of engineering manifesting itself recently, I thought I would take some time to list the grievances I have with engineering. Here goes.

• With science, there is only one answer. The world has many problems that need to be solved. If you were to give six groups of scientists the same problem, they would come up with the same answer. If you were to give six groups of engineers the same problem, you would get six completely different answers (as evidenced by my senior design class this semester), and there would be absolutely no rules or standards to determine which was the best solution. There is far too much ambiguity in engineering.
• Science is forever. If you make a breakthrough in engineering, you change the world for the near future. Somebody will just come along and make something better than your thing in a few years. The cycle never ends. If you make a breakthrough in science, it changes the world FOREVER. Besides, it's the scientists that are defining the work that the engineers are doing.
• There is too much pressure in engineering. Scientists have been looking for the Higgs boson for what, sixty? Seventy years? If it were an engineering problem, they would have given up after a month. Scientists can devote their lives to figuring out one thing that really drives them. If you can't get a problem figured out quickly as an engineer, the company loses money, and you're out of a job.
• Science is just plain cooler. I mean, this is probably pretty subjective, but uncovering the secrets of the universe is much more amazing than doing things like designing heat exchangers and high-lift devices with your life.

Another I have isn't so much a grievance as it is an observation. To be successful as an engineer, you MUST be 100% passionate about machines, especially the one you are devoting your life to designing. The only machine I have ever been 100% passionate about is race cars. I studied engineering because I wanted to design formula race cars. As I grow older and wiser (I know, a laughable claim considering that I am only 23), I realize the last thing I want to do is follow that dream. I love auto racing! And I would never be able to enjoy watching a race again if I were to actually work in auto racing someday. 

I'm sure there's more I will think of in time. I've only been pondering this for around a week now, but I feel this is a pretty good list for such a short amount of time.

Identity Crisis

Today I had my final presentation for senior design. Our design was getting ripped apart, and I finally had a moment of clarity. I don't want to be an engineer. And it's not because my team's design got ripped apart, either. Engineering is a sciency field, but I don't think it is concrete enough for me.

Our design was getting slammed mostly for inconsistency due to different values researched by each of us individually, but they were not cohesive enough when we tried to bring our results together. I don't want to be using science to create technology, I want to be creating science that in turn spurs technology.

As an engineering student, you don't realize the nitty-gritty stuff until you get pretty deep into your plan of study. At this point, I am only three weeks away from getting my degree. I might as well finish it out.

I'm just not passionate enough about making machines to do this the rest of my life. The shows that captivate me the most on the Discovery and Science channels all talk about the science itself. If there were a show outlining every individual system on an aircraft or spacecraft, I'd switch it off. Engineering is all about the teeny details, and I've always been more of a "big picture" kind of guy.

Somewhere down the line, I believe I'll be going back to school, but this time, to study science. Probably physics. I initially went into engineering because I thought I enjoyed the application of science into technology, but I have found that the science itself captivates me much more. I couldn't care less about the particular high-lift devices employed by an aircraft. The science of why those work interest me much more. I couldn't care less about specific chamber pressures on a rocket engine needed to generate enough thrust to get a spacecraft to a high enough velocity to maintain orbit, but the astrophysics involved in keeping the craft in orbit interest me greatly.

It is true. I am a scientist, not an engineer. I wish I would have realized that a few years ago, though. I have received training in something I am somewhat interested in, so it shouldn't be TOO painful to work for a few years and repay some debt before attempting to go back to school to get a degree in physics. Unfortunately, I believe that my lack of interest in engineering resulted in such a low GPA that I may have to start from the beginning with a bachelor's degree, I probably won't be able to get into a master's program...

Crossing Guards? REALLY?

Today, I had my first encounter with crossing guards on Purdue's campus. Five students were hit by a car the first four days of class this semester, and the university responded by training and hiring crossing guards. When using the "services" of the crossing guard today at 1st & Russel, instead of feeling safe, I felt ashamed. The university responded to five students' inability to cross the street into making anyone that crosses a street with a crossing guard feel totally alienated and incapable of doing something as mindless as crossing the street.

This is going to sound horrible, but, really, isn't it just natural selection if someone can't take their nose out of their phone for ten seconds to safely cross the street and gets hit? We're supposed to be one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. Purdue is considered an Ivy League school by many (and its reputation grows the further away you get), yet we can't assume that the students that were smart enough to get into this school are intelligent enough to cross a street?

I'm not discounting the fact that some of the intersections on campus are very dangerous, because they are. However, I feel it would have been a better investment on the part of the university to redesign these intersections with the help of West Lafayette, among many other options than the empty and non-permanent expenditures on crossing guards.

The Real World is Calling!

This week saw Industrial Roundtable come to campus here at Purdue. IR is a two-day career fair that sees nearly 300 companies, 11,000 company representatives, and 10,000 students. I'm graduating in May, so I had to go find a job!

This was the first year that IR actually went well for me. The fact that I am a graduating senior meant that companies had more interest in me, it seemed. Aerospace has also been real down the last few years, and it is finally picking back up, and most companies had the general consensus that they'd be able to hire more people this year than in years past.

I don't want to reveal any information specifically, but I feel confident I should be able to find a job by the time I graduate! I'm excited to see what the "real world" has in store for me!

Laying the Foundation

I know I have had a lot of IndyCar related posts lately, but lots of news has been spewing from the world of IndyCar.

Randy Bernard, IndyCar CEO, spent the first week and a half of September in Europe, talking to potential engine manufacturers and F1 teams trying to garner interest in the series, inviting any and all manufacturers to supply engines and/or aero kits for the new spec coming in 2012, as well as introducing himself. From the sounds of things, people were very receptive and welcoming of him and his vision for the new IndyCar. Hopefully good things come from this, and we will again have several engine suppliers and several aero kit providers! Brief article about his trip can be found here.

Also, Tony Cotman, the man who is in charge for writing the technical details for the 2012 car, has also been working very hard. He started a blog on Racer which will encapsulate his work and give details as they are announced. His first blog states that they need to get the size of the engine compartment specified in the next 30-45 days, that way, potential engine suppliers will have plenty of time for development. Cotman is hopeful they can begin on-track testing in September 2011, which means Cotman will have his work cut out for him.

Another thing I found interesting about his first post is that he has his mind on driver comfort. The current cars are fine for the short drivers such as Danica Patrick (5'2") and E.J. Viso (5'5"), but the tall drivers like Justin Wilson (6'3") and Graham Rahal (6'2") really have to fold themselves up and pack themselves into the current cars. Justin often reports bruised elbows and knees from being packed into the current car and being subjected to 3+ G's for a substantial period of time. Cotman notes that next month, they will fly drivers out to Italy (Dallara, the company manufacturing the standard IndyCar safety cell, is based in Italy) to ensure that all drivers will be able to fit into the new car. That's a true engineering mindset, thinking about more than the obvious! Cotman's first post can be found here.

Just two months ago, the 2012 IndyCar was nothing more than a few computer models. I am very excited to see the project actually gaining momentum with some actual facts, figures, and photos arriving in the coming months!