Katia

My name is Katia Hughes, and I am extremely lucky to be participating in ProGRES 2017! I am currently an IB student going into my final year of high school at Colonel Gray, and I am excited for what the future holds. After high school, I am interested in going into science, and I hope to study it more in the future and focus my interest in the very broad but interesting field. Engineering as a discipline appeals to me because it requires creativity and skill, and it is a field that is forever changing, so I would never be bored! Biomedical, environmental, and chemical engineering are of great interest to me, and I hope that through ProGRES I can learn more about what it takes to be an engineer, and to grow my interest in pursuing Engineering in the future. As a prospective engineering student, I hope in the future to be able to develop solutions to problems that have a real-life significance and make a positive impact.

Renewable energy technology has been undergoing lots of development in recent years and is a competitive and sustainable industry that lots of people are interested in and participating in. One popular form of renewable energy on PEI (and in the world as a whole) is wind energy, and wind turbines are commonly used to harness the wind's energy to power cities and businesses. Therefore, the life of a turbine is important, as companies cannot afford to be constantly replacing and repairing turbines, specifically blades. When a turbine blade is damaged, its aerodynamics change, thus reducing the amount of electricity produced as more powerful winds are needed to turn the blades. Thus, the condition of the blade surface, particularly the leading edge, is instrumental to the function and efficiency of turbines. Oftentimes the leading edge erodes due to environmental factors as the coating or tapes applied cannot withstand the harsh conditions. Furthermore, if a blade can no longer be repaired, it is taken out of use, and is not able to be used, and often not even recycled. This is obviously a concern, as renewable energy should be renewable, not a landfill and waste contributor!

In my project I've been analyzing drone photos of WEICAN turbines to look for where damage occurs on wind turbine blades, and which types of damage are most common for these turbines. After collecting enough data, I can pool together weather conditions and damage type to correlate the environmental conditions with the type of damage, and hopefully come up with a proposal or suggestion for how to better protect the blades.

One very exciting thing that I have been able to do through ProGRES is create my own design using CAD software, specifically Onshape. I have never 3D printed anything before, and this technology has always seemed surreal to me, so I am very happy to be able to make something that is hopefully useful! I decided to make a desk organizer for myself, and through much trial and error, finished my CAD file.

My first iteration didn't turn out as I expected, as the 3D printer wasn't working properly and the only way to print my design was to make it much smaller than I intended. Even though it is very miniature, I am still proud of it as the design was good and it functions like I wanted it to! (It's also very cute). I think for my second design I'll do something completely different, and something that is smaller to avoid the sizing issue. (Update: my desk organizer works great for earrings and jewelry, so maybe the mistake was a good thing!)

My second CAD design is going to be a fun little toy called the Archimedes' trammel. This device will have moving parts, perhaps proving more of a challenge to design. I've found some online tutorials that will hopefully help me with making my design a success! It has five parts to it so it will definitely be more of a challenge than my first design. (update: after many printer failures, we finally got my trammel to work! Yay for perseverance!)

Throughout ProGRES, I had the opportunity not only to meet and collaborate with so many great people, but I also had many memorable trips and experiences along the way. Here are some photos from the five weeks!

In the future, I hope to pursue my love of a challenge, particularly in a scientific way. Throughout this program, my exposure to Engineering has shaped my interests and I am definitely going to apply for Engineering when I apply for university! I hope to incorporate my many interests into a degree, and I now know that an Engineering degree leads to many different jobs and provides a perfect baseline to build any career on. I hope to learn more about where I can go with engineering and to jump at every opportunity to learn and grow as a person. I also wish to hold on to my curiosity and to keep wondering!

This experience has been one that I will never forget, and has shaped how I see my future in the sciences. Without this exposure to Engineering, I may never have been brave enough to pursue a career in the discipline, but I have learned so much and will hopefully continue to learn about Engineering throughout my future education and career. This program has encouraged me to take the challenge to pursue sciences and to follow my heart, and to say yes to opportunities that can be challenging but potentially life-changing.

I would like to say thank-you to Dr. Amy Hsiao, who worked hard to give us the opportunity to experience Engineering with UPEI SSDE this summer. I am appreciative of the time she put in to encourage young women to pursue engineering.

I would also like to thank the Engineering Students at UPEI SSDE (particularly Wyatt, Tiff, James and Haley -- who took me in even though I had no student mentor) as they were very kind and encouraging throughout the process, and were there to help us have fun and enjoy our work this summer. Whether it be soccer juggling outside or elaborate political card games, they showed us that summer research isn't all work, as you can enjoy time with your fellow research students. I definitely feel that the friendships I made here have shaped my view of UPEI Engineering as a whole.

Finally, I want to thank the other ProGRES girls, as we stuck together throughout this process and worked extremely hard to achieve our final goals. Although we all had different projects, we all got to share in this amazing experience with UPEI SSDE. We not only made friends but made memories, which are priceless.

I would like to end by saying that I hope others are inspired to pursue Engineering or to apply for ProGRES next year, as for me it was truly a life-changing experience, and one I wouldn't have given up for anything. Engineering to me is now much more than a word, but an entire world community that I may be fortunate enough to be a part of in the near future.