Hi! My name is Ellen O'Rielly and I am going into grade twelve at Colonel Gray High School. I have been interested in engineering since I was in grade eight. I am honored to take part in ProGRES. I applied for this program because I believe it is the perfect path into studying engineering in university. My ProGRES research project is the characterization of the properties of metal components designed using 3D metal printing. I will be designing, building and testing samples to compare the properties of additive manufacturing (3D metal printing) and subtractive manufacturing (traditional machined components). To do this, I will be testing the tensile strength and hardness of stainless steel. There will be two kinds of samples: a 3D printed one and a traditionally machined one. My mentor is Dr. Amy Hsiao and I am very excited to get to work with her.

Interesting articles about my research:

The strength of 3D printed stainless steel:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/3d-printing-doubles-strength-stainless-steel

I like this article because it shows why the research I'm doing is important.

We started our second week of ProGRES by starting a SolidWorks design. It was rocky at first, but I got the hang of it. I ended up designing a dog tag for my dog. I also designed a test specimen for tensile testing. We spent the majority of our week working on these designs. I discovered I love computer design and I will pursue it at some point in the future. On Tuesday, we had the chance to attend a seminar with Dr. David Burton. He talked about how soil health is way more important than most people think. What impacted me the most is the fact that if soil deterioration continues, farming won't be possible in 60 years. On Wednesday, we got to hear Dr. Amy Hsiao's presentation. It is very inspiring to see how much she has accomplished. After that, we heard Dr. James Moran's presentation. His story is also very inspiring. On Thursday, we visited Diversified Metal Engineering Limited. We toured the facilities and learned more about the different jobs within the process of creating the products. The rest of the week consisted of working on our project. I now understand the ASTM Standard and all the new terminology it introduced. i am also starting my research on the different properties between additive and subtractive manufacturing. My next task will be finalizing my test specimen then printing it. Within the next week or two, I will start preparing the subtracitve specimen. By week four, I should be testing them.

This week has been very busy. During my project time this week, I worked on the design for my tensile test specimen. It unfortunately was deleted, so I had to recreate my design. On Tuesday, we went to Engineers PEI and had lunch with female engineers. I love getting to meet other female engineers. We talked about their experience in engineering, what they do day to day and why they went into the field. I was given a small wind turbine that was printed out of inconel 718 in the 3D metal printer. My task was to measure it and draw it on SolidWorks. This has been very difficult because it is quite small and not symmetrical. On Thursday, I worked in the machinery lab with Andrew to machine the tensile test specimen that will represent the subtractive method of manufacturing metal. We used the lathe to create the shape we wanted. I actually got to use the machine and I found this very interesting and fun to do. On Friday, we met a group of Japanese students. We used our teamwork and communication skills to create a windmill with them. It was a rewarding morning. It's crazy how much you can learn about each other even when you don't speak the same language. To finish our week, we had a photo shoot. I can't believe this experience is more than half over! I plan to make the most of the next two weeks. I love what I've been doing and the girls I have the pleasure of working with make it even better.

Week 4 has easily been the most busy. This week, I printed my part, tested and compared the hardness of the subtractive parts with the additive part and checked the measurements of all the samples. Unfortunately, the printed part did not turn out as I hoped it would. The diameter of the gauge length is larger than I had designed it to be. Also, the powder that is used ran out before the top of my part was finished, so it is missing 75% of its grip length. Watching the print is probably one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. I also had the chance to look at both types of parts under a microscope. I looked at the surface texture and took pictures. It is very interesting to see how vastly different the textures are even though they are made of the same steel. We had the opportunity to either create a second iteration of our first SolidWorks design or design something new. We decided as a group that we were going to make a puzzle. It has eight pieces, one for each of us to keep. I have inserted a video of the puzzle below. To finish the week, I got to do my tensile testing! I did one Steel 1040 dog bone, one of my machined stainless steel dog bones and I attempted to test the 3D printed dog bone. Unfortunately due to the missing grip section, it slipped out of the grips. We did get some results, but we decided to print another sample. I fixed the design on SolidWorks so the diameter is the correct size. I also made it smaller so it will fit inside the print zone better. The other two tensile tests went well and it is very cool to watch.

Wow! Our final week of ProGRES! I can't believe this program is over. It's been an amazing 5 weeks. To finish up my project, I've been plotting my data on graphs and comparing the first tests we did. I had the chance to do a second iteration of my dog bone sample and it came out with the correct dimensions. Our ProGRES puzzle turned out great! The pieces fit snugly together and all our names and designs look great. On Monday, we had the opportunity to talk to one of the most inspiring women I know: Alisa Sacrigic. I've known her for my entire life, but never really had the chance to talk with her about her career and her experiences. Her story is amazing and I loved getting to hear what research she has done at Maritime Electric. On Wednesday, we visited Sandy Rae farm and got to learn about how all their systems work. The biggest thing I learned this week is how much we take things for granted. We switch on a light, and the light turns on. We take that for granted. Most people don't understand what actually goes into that. It's the same with our dairy products. There is an immense amount of behind the scenes work that goes into everyday things. On Thursday, we did interviews with CBC and had the opportunity to use MatLab. I loved computer programming and I am super excited to study it farther. During our CBC interviews, we talked about our projects and gave visuals. Doing the tensile testing was not what we expected

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who hosted us, those who inspired us and those who helped us. A huge thank you going out to Dr. Amy Hsiao. The work she has done is incredible and she has inspired us and will go on to inspire many others. We could not have had such a success with ProGRES 2018 without all of you. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet the seven lovely ladies that also took part in ProGRES. You all made this program even better. I will take everything I've learned here and apply it to my day to day life. I hope to inspire others like I have been inspired here.

Week 1: July 9th - July 13th

Our reading this week was about Julie Payette and Dr. Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons. It is so inspiring to see Canadian women accomplishing so much! I aspire to accomplish a fraction what these amazing ladies have. My dream when I was younger was to be an astronaut. Unfortunately, I won't be getting to go to space, but I still love to imagine being there. I love to see great women doing so many great things.

Week 2: July 16th - July 20th

Week 3: July 23rd - July 27th

During our third week of ProGRES, we were given an article and a video to reflect on. The article was about 17 sustainable development goals. I absolutely loved this! These are all extremely important to me and are exactly what I stand for. I believe with this mindset we can better our beautiful planet and the amazing people who live on it. If I had to pick one goal that was the most important, I wouldn't be able to. All 17 goals are incredibly important and we need to implement them in our everyday lives. Our second reflection this week was a video of an inspiring speech by Abby Wombach. I loved her message about empowering women and I wish everyone had this outlook. My favourite aspect of this program is the message about equality and empowerment. I plan to carry this message out into the world,

Week 4: July 30th - August 3rd

For our second last week of ProGRES, we had three reflections: an article on emotional intelligence, an article on how six women created a life changing device in less than a day and a video of J.K. Rowling speaking at Harvard. The first article on emotional intelligence (EQ) really sparked my interest. 90% of the top workers have high EQ. They also make an average of $29,000 more annually. This means those with a low IQ but a high EQ can succeed. This is reassuring for those who may not be considered smart in the conventional way. The second article was about six women creating a device that translates printed text to braille. It is women like this that will change the world. I am so excited to see that happen. J.K. Rowling is an inspiring individual. She has one of the greatest imaginations and she encourages everyone to use theirs. She also explains how failure can be a good thing. Failure teaches you things you might never have learned if you succeeded. Her closing statement, "As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters." really touched me. I love the meaning behind it: it does not matter how long you live, what matters is what you do with your life.

Week 5: August 6th - August 10th

For our final week in ProGRES, we read two articles on peer pressure. The first was on why we should stop using the word "nerd". I 100% agree with this and the idea behind it. Why would we discourage our peers by insulting their interest in STEM or school? They are trying to learn and apply themselves and they are scrutinized for that. I would consider myself and have been considered by others as a "nerd". I have never been offended by that word or the implications behind it. If I'm being honest, it is a compliment to me. I have always loved school, especially math and science. I was not and still not ashamed of that. Unfortunately, a lot of children do see it as social death. We need to change that and have them encouraged to pursue their field of interest. The second article was about girls being discouraged from going into a STEM career. TechGirlz is a program for middle school girls who may be interested in STEM. It is important to reach out to the in middle school because that is the time in their lives when they are deciding their careers. I am so fortunate to have had a program like this called Girls Get Wise. This program is one of the main reasons I became so interested in engineering. It was a pivotal point in my life, and all girls (and boys) should have that opportunity. It is programs like TechGirlz, Girls Get Wise and ProGRES that are making a huge impact on young girls lives. I cannot voice how thankful I am to have been given I touched on before, I don't really care what my peers think of me. The only time I do care is when they are genuinely trying to help me or give me advice. Then I will think about my actions and how I present myself and re-evaluate. If I hear something bad said about me, I brush it off. If people are not nice to me, why should I care about their opinion of me? I feel as though my speech and how I behave are not what people expect of me. Typically, if people get to know me before they know my marks or my future career, they are shocked when I tell them. I think that is because if I am relaxed around people, I don't speak with "intelligent" words and I have been known to ask the odd stupid question without thinking. Once again, this doesn't matter to me. If people are surprised by me I say let them be surprised. Before ProGRES, I knew maybe two other girls my age that were thinking of engineering. I am the only one in my friend group that is going into engineering. In my classes at school, the amount you study or care about school isn't judged. This, I think, is rare. Maybe it is silent judging, but I have never felt like I study too much or too less. I however, do not share this belief. I think education is extremely valuable and should be taken seriously. It is not to say there is only one way to take it, but I personally believe you should study as much as you can and be as involved in the information as you can. I do love the judgmental free zone that is in a lot of my classes. I hope that continues because people should feel as though they can do whatever they set their minds to. I think positive peer pressure is a great thing. I positively peer pressure my friends all the time to study harder because I know they can do better. It may not be exactly my place, but I'd hate to think back to a time I could've helped someone, but didn't.