Our goal (Fall 2022-Spring 2023):

The Accelerate 3D consultancy project was a continuation from the previous semester, and the product we were designing/prototyping was a smart filament storage unit. Most plastics used with 3D printing are hygroscopic, meaning that they tend to absorb water if they are left in humid environments. I have personally experienced this with my own plastic filaments, and such absorbed water can render a spool of filament unusable. Rather than using any regular box with bags of silica gel, we set out to design a more permanent solution. 

The 6 of us spent about 2-3 hours per week working on this for a semester, and from that, my biggest takeaway from this (besides getting to know and work with 5 great engineers and friends) was my reintroduction into the Arduino platform. In the PLTW capstone project (EDD), I bought an Arduino kit, but did not have the research skills to figure out how to use it. Now I am thankful for this opportunity that enabled me to have a proper introduction into the world of Arduino and electronics. 

Our goal (Fall 2023):

The SRF4 Team is working on a proposal for hybridizing racing cars. More specifically, one of our members, Mark Snyder is affiliated with a racing organization that was looking for a group to create a proposal for converting a preexisting car into a hybrid. I'll keep this brief since this is an ongoing project as of Spring '24, but I led the team in creating a scale model to demonstrate the potential for regenerative braking and usage of capacitors as energy storages. Thanks to the work of myself and the rest of the team, we were awarded with a $75,000 grant from the university during winter break to accelerate further development. 

Where things are spring '24 & onward:

TL;DR - I quit Aggies Create to focus on personal projects

At the same time as our group receiving the grant (mid Jan, 2024), I made the difficult decision to leave this group and Aggies Create as a whole. This decision did not come lightly, and I did it for a multitude of reasons. The biggest reason for moving away is that I felt as though I would be more productive spending time on projects I was personally interested in. I have found that giving 100% effort to a project comes significantly easier if there's an element of urgency, or personal investment. Urgency can come from things like the potential to change my grade in a course, or a requirement from a professor or parent, and personal investment is to describe things I find novel or, well, interesting! 

I also had just accepted a student technician role at the Rapid Prototyping Studio (RPS) with the MEEN department. I was informed that the job requires a lot of active time, and, 3 months in, I can confirm that fact (I have been loving it so far!). With this in mind, and the desire to work on my own personal projects growing, I decided to reassess the way I spend my 'free' time (the time that is not spent on academic work). Going onward, I've devoted 2.5 hours on MWF to spending time at the RPS working on my own things, while discontinuing my membership with Aggies Create. 

Each group in Aggies Create being student led is a double edged sword. On one hand, it's liberating to work with a group of true peers on a common goal, it makes the organization unique, and I have been provided with numerous friends and/or acquaintances thanks to Aggies Create. On the other hand, our group was so large, and our project so diverse (requiring dedicated mechanical/electrical sub teams), that it was difficult to coordinate the tasks to be done. More specifically, I found myself at meetings where out of the 11 people in our group, only 4-6 would show up, and most of the time would be spent idly chatting. We didn't have an active lead for the electrical sub-team, which put me in that position. While I am interested in electronics as a side hobby (as hopefully demonstrated in this portfolio), my major is in mechanical engineering, and I don't have the knowledge (practical or theoretical) to be in any position to help lead a sub-team with stakes this high. I managed to do enough research to enable the scale model to work, but I don't have the ability to safely or confidently scale that up, nor would I be willing to invest the time required to do that. 

The problems mentioned above were specific to the hybrid race car group, but for the spring and fall '23 semesters I had started to think about putting my time elsewhere (in personal stuff). It was something I was on the fence about for about a year, and I couldn't quite make up my mind until I got the job at the RPS & I talked to people who had previously been in Aggies Create. If I reach a point where I have the time to rejoin Aggies Create, then I may consider it, but for now I'm taking a break & focusing on things I find interesting.