How to get a job through networking, according to an undergraduate

#ILookLikeAnEngineer: Adrienna Yan

Meet Adrienna, the next student of our #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign!

Name: Adrienna Yan

Major: Aerospace Engineering

Graduation Date: June 2017

Why did you choose engineering at UC San Diego?

I want to inspire other girls to pursue a career in engineering, because I want to prove that women are just as capable and can be just as successful in this field as men. Moreover, I want to show that there is nothing to fear in a (currently) male-dominated field. I think it helps tremendously to have female role models in the field and to know that you aren't alone - I want to be that source of inspiration for other females.

What are your career goals?

I haven't yet figured out which industry I want to work in, but I do want to hold a leadership position at some point in my career. This may be a role in corporate management, or one such as the project lead of a group of engineers.

Do you have a favorite quote or mantra?

Yes! My mantra is "The only person you should strive to be better than is the person you were yesterday."

What are three things that are unique about you?

a) I am a great listener.

b) I love baking.

c) I have a (sometimes corny) sense of humor.

What does the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign mean to you?

This campaign strives to break down the traditional stereotypes that are associated with engineering majors. One stereotype would be that all aerospace engineering students are caucasian males. However, the aerospace engineering student body at UC San Diego is made up of individuals, including both males and females, who come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

Another stereotype is that engineers are often quiet, shy and boring. However, I know a great many who are sociable, friendly and outgoing. Not all engineers like hiding in their rooms - we like to go out and can mingle and associate with the rest of our peers as well as anyone else!

The problem is, stereotypes may deter some individuals from pursuing this major, even if it is something they are interested in, for fear of being different from everyone else and/or for fear of feeling isolated. By raising awareness about the different types of people that make up UC San Diego's engineering student body, we may convince those who are interested in a career in engineering to pursue it, and pursue it here!

The future of drones: Jacobs School alums weigh in

When Radley Angelo, class of 2015, spent weekends building and flying RC planes and helicopters with his dad and brothers, he never thought he was already building a foundation for his professional life. Angelo went on to become the CEO of Spark Aerial, a systems integration company that focuses on aerial robotics--meaning drones.

His path from freshman at the Jacobs School to CEO is documented in the latest issue of Triton Magazine, the university's alumni publication, in a story titled "Life Among the Drones."

During his time at UC San Diego, Angelo joined Engineers for Exploration, an organization designed to bring cutting-edge technology to the fields of archaeology and exploration. E4E, as it is also known, is led by Jacobs School alum Albert Lin and computer science professor Ryan Kastner. Members investigate digs anywhere from Lake Tahoe, to the jungles of Guatemala, to Mongolia.

Lin needed someone to drive the $20,000 drones he was using to try and find the tomb of Genghis Khan.  He recalls is the Triton story:

We were in a very remote location and had really great access to satellite imagery, but I wanted to be able to get a bird’s-eye view in areas that were more tree covered,” says Lin. “I found Radley, who was really into remote control helicopters, and took him with me.”

 The story also includes a section about the effort of Jacobs School alumnus Jay Guan to improve FAA regulations for drones. He says:

“On the surface, it seems like the FAA is a little squeamish about this,” says Guan. “But from what I’ve seen, the FAA doesn’t have anything against drones or commercial drones. It’s just that safety has always been an overriding concern, and right now there is no good way to ensure that drone operations won’t compromise that.”

Make-A-Thon 2015: Hack-A-Thon Takes on 3D Printing

Recently, I had the pleasure of stopping by UC San Diego’s first annual Make-A-Thon. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I should expect, but I was excited and knew I would be amazed. Upon entering the room, I could feel something special—you know, that buzz and energy only a room full of driven and tenacious people working with grit could create.

The student organization Triton 3D-Printing Club (T3D), new since January of this school year, arranged a 3D printing hack-a-thon event with the hope of encouraging students to learn how to approach problems in a team setting and exposing them to experiment with 3D printing. The competition was split into two categories: novice and advanced, with participants ranging from first years to graduating seniors. I had the opportunity to speak with winning advanced team.

Shake and Bake's award-winning design

The four members of the winning team, Shake and Bake, were awarded their own 3D printer for their design, which resembled the pod racer from Star Wars. The team consisted of graduating seniors Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Victor Long and Glen Padilla, all studying either mechanical or aerospace engineering, and most of them had no prior experience with 3D printing. It took the team about thirty minutes to brainstorm, and four to five hours of pure design before they were ready to print. They each made their own individual designs before reconvening to take the best aspects of each idea and build prototypes until they knew each part was entirely functional and efficient. They described their experience as a “very enjoyable process,” and praised 3D printing for its rapid prototyping ability. As one Shake and Bake member said, “You rarely have the ability to build an entire device out of scratch in one sitting.” And I believe the event’s lead coordinator, Andy Kieatiwong, would vigorously nod his head in agreement.

Andy Kieatiwong

I also had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Kieatiwong at the event. He is a third year aerospace engineering student, and, as one of the co-founders of T3D, he is no stranger to 3D printing and the many opportunities it offers. He described 3D printing as a “new way to solve problems in scientific fields” such as aerospace engineering. For example, 3D printing enables engineers to make lighter materials, lower manufacturing costs and “democratize the act of making things.” For the future, Kieatiwong says he and T3D will mostly likely collaborate with other organizations to expand the event to twice its size, moving from fifteen available printers to thirty or even forty. As for the future of 3D printing, he said, “3D printing is not an answer within itself. It’s just a tool, but a very powerful tool.” 

The novice team's design

For some of us, this tool is still very new. I also spoke with one of the novice teams; the group consisted of freshmen Zenas Heng, Emilee Kang, Kasey Li, and Joe Wong, all students pursuing – or at least interested in – some form of engineering. None of them had any experience with hack-a-thon-type events, nor did they have much experience working with 3D printers. They learned a lot – miscommunication and technical errors prevented them from printing on time, leaving them with very small models. Despite the drawbacks, none of them regret having participated in the event. As a freshman myself, I agreed with them that the Make-A-Thon is one of the many opportunities that contribute to our above-average engineering experience here at UC San Diego.

Beyond the grandeur and promise 3D printing holds, the Make-A-Thon offered experience to those without the means of obtaining it. Furthermore, the event was less about competitive feelings and more about having fun. The novice team I spoke to chose to participate in the Make-A-Thon after having heard about the event from their friends. One of the Shake and Bake members even called his group the “all-star team.” Perhaps he said that because they all had extensive experience with modeling software, but I’d like to believe it was because the accomplished something else – they simply made memories with friends.

Some 3D printers!

This event was sponsored by ARRK, Forecaset 3D, Pixologic, Polymaker, and XYZPrinting. ARRK and Forecast3D attended the networking event. As prizes, Pixologic donated ZBrush licenses (software for design) and XYZ contributed a smartwatch and lanyards. For the competition Polymaker donated filament (PolyFlex, PolyMax, and Plywood), and XYZ loaned printers. Also, special thanks goes to Adrienna Yan and Joe Wong for photographs from the event.

Shake and Bake
(From left to right) Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Glen Padilla, and Victor Long

Taking flight

More than 100 students in Mark Anderson's MAE 2 class, most of them freshmen, were out on Warren Field Monday December 8 to take part in a airplane launch competition. The students got together in teams of three and armed with glue guns and some ingenuity, built small motorized model airplanes out of balsa wood and foam board. The plane that would fly the longest would win. The catch was that the planes' motor only worked for 20 seconds.
"They learn about the dominant forces," Anderson said.
"Many said they realized how important weight is," he added.
After the winner was announced, all students got to launch their crafts at the same time, in a flurry of wings--and a few crashes.

Awesome pictures taken from more than 80,000 feet above the earth

We are in awe of these beautiful pictures taken by the Triton Rocket Club's space balloon at more than 80,000 feet above the earth.
The balloon is the club's testing platform for the electronics they plan to mount on a rocket hey will be launching in spring 2015. Their goal? To make UC San Diego the first university to launch a rocket in space.
In case you're wondering, you can see the Salton Sea in some of the pictures, as well as the Pacific Ocean.

Jacobs School engineers helping to find downed WWII aircraft in the Pacific

Aerospace engineering professor Mark Anderson and his students are working hand in hand with oceanographer Eric Terrill at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to find a missing B-24 in the Pacific. The project is part of a partnership with the Office of Naval Research to find downed WWII aircraft and the remains of troops listed as missing in action for nearly 70 years.

According to a Scripps press release:

Other UC San Diego researchers joined the search in different ways. Terrill collaborates with Mark Anderson of UC San Diego’s Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Anderson has a background in aeronautics, flight trajectories, and statistics and was asked by Terrill to help with developing a predictive model for a missing B-24 that remains to be found. A group of engineering students was enlisted to run what are known as Bayesian models, using the best-known historic information collected by BentProp over the last decade.  During the most recent expedition, the probability maps for areas where the plane might be located were routinely updated by the students (during their Spring break) based upon data collected by Terrill’s group that was relayed to them in San Diego.  The plane remains missing, and teams remain focused on planning for a 2015 mission to complete their search. 

Terrill's efforts were featured recently on CBS news magazine "60 Minutes" and in a documentary by camera manufacturer GoPro.

Triton Rocket Club wins second place in national competition

Update Nov 10: a related story ran in the San Diego newspaper, UT San Diego under the headline: "UCSD aims to send rocket into space"

Congratulations to the Triton Rocket Club, which placed second in this year's University Student Rocketry Challenge! It's all the more impressive that this was the club's first time in the contest.
The goal was to fly a common payload consisting of electronic measuring devices weighting 3 lbs. to 10000 feet above ground level. Teams sent design and manufacturing reports pre-flight as well as post flight analysis and reports over eight months.

The UC San Diego team actually built its own motor and static-fired it on July 19. "We wanted to stand out and be creative with our design," said Nicholas Montoya, the club's president. The team's rocket was made from a sleek, all black carbon fiber body with a fiberglass nose-cone. They launched it Oct. 4 at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry site in the Mojave Desert. The rocket reached a maximum velocity of 835 mph--or Mach 1.09--and a maximum altitude of 15,541 feet above sea level--about three miles high.

Next up: a launch in Spring 2015, with the goal of reaching space, roughly 62 miles in attitude.
The Triton Rocket Club is sponsored by NASA through the California Space Grant Consortium and by SPAWAR and Northrop Grumman Aerospace. The rocketry challenge is hosted by the national organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

More about the Triton Rocket Club here: http://tritonrocket.ucsd.edu/

More pictures of the fun, as well as of the rocket's flight trajectory below.

Oustanding graduates: Sam Avery

Sam Avery was standing on the ceiling. But to him, it seemed like everyone else was upside down. “You think the ceiling is the floor,” he said. “Your mind completely agrees it’s the floor. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced.” Avery was on his second flight on a special NASA plane with UC San Diego’s zero-gravity team. They were investigating how biofuels burn in space, at the suggestion of mechanical engineering professor Forman Williams. It was Avery’s second stint on the team, this time as captain. Avery is headed for graduate school at Stanford. He’d like to start his own company some day.

Rocket club helps Escondido students gear up for college

"Three, two, one!" Students from Mission Middle School in Escondido counted down as one of them pressed a button that ignited a rocket engine securely fastened to a table on Warren Mall. It was all part of an event set up by Palomar College's Gear Up program. The program designed to create a college-going culture in schools in North San Diego County.

More than 180 middle school students fanned across the UC San Diego campus Tuesday Jan. 14. One of the stops on their itinerary was a demonstration by the Triton Rocket Club, whose members are mostly engineering students. "Rocket science, blowing things up: students are doing this for a living," said Nico Montoya, an IDEA scholar and president of the Triton Rocket Club."It's an actual career." Montoya speaks from experience. He has interned at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and currently works on UAVs at Northrop Grumman.

On a very sunny morning, he showed students how to wire a rocket engine and explained the chemical reactions involved. A few lucky students got to use the remote that actually starts up the engine. Elizabeth Flor, 13, was one of them. She let out a jubilant "I did it!" after pressing the button and seeing flames shoot out of the engine's exhaust.

"It was exciting," she said. "I'd never done it. It's an intense feeling."

Elizabeth wants to become a lawyer and fight for women's rights. Her parents didn't go to college, but if all goes well, she will be the fifth sibling in her family to go on to higher education after she graduates high school.

Elizabeth visited the UCLA campus before coming to UC San Diego. But for a lot of her classmates, it was the first trip outside of Escondido, said Abby Algarin, Gear Up outreach coordinator at Mission Middle School. She worked with the Raza graduate student association on campus to make sure that students got to hear from graduate students and faculty with similar backgrounds.

Students visibly connected with the speakers who shared some of their experiences, said Suzan Varga, a Mission Middle School teacher and one of the chaperones on the trip.
"What I feel as a teacher is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "It was powerful."