Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?


(2) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

P

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AP+ or P

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I think what worked for my senior project was the fact that I really enjoy math and physics so learning about aerodynamics was an enjoyable experience. My topic also pertains to rockets and airplanes all of which are things I have been very interested in since I was a kid.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

What didn't work was finding a mentor in this specific field. As a result, if I could go back, I probably would have either chose an easier topic to find a mentor in or email any and everyone I could to try and get a mentor at this time.

(5) Finding Value

My senior project has helped in my future endeavors a lot. Currently, I am going to CSU Long Beach to study aerospace engineering, so, as a result, I have been able to get a feel and understanding of the basics of what I am going to be learning. This also helped me decide which focus of aerospace engineering I want to go into. My whole senior project has been on airplanes, and this caused me to realize how much  more enjoyment I get out of the rockets and space side of this over the airplanes, not to say I don't like this, it just does not peak my interest as much. It also has helped me understand the best ways to approach professionals from out of nowhere and made me a lot less afraid of being told no. The worst that can happen when you ask is you get a no. All of this I plan on using to get ahead of the other engineers at my university so I can be more competitive in the rough job market.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal

•  Joe Phillipy at Cal Poly Pomona Water Treatment
• Christian Peich at CM Peich Engineering

Interpretive

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

• The most important thing I have gained from this experience is a greater understanding of the workload and requirements to succeed in the field of engineering. My time at Cal Poly was spent with one guy who is a fairly recent graduate from engineering school and informed me of competitiveness of the field and the tests and requirements needed to become a certified engineer in any field.

Applied

How has what you've done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.

• Working with these engineers has really helped me answer my essential question. Since a big factor of my essential question is the "the most efficient way", these engineers were able to help me narrow it down despite them not being experts in aerospace technologies. Engineers are all about the most efficient way to get something done, the easiest and cheapest. When I was helping out engineers for my dad do takeoffs for jobs, this is all about planning out the most cost-efficient way to get something done before you actually do it. Through this, I knew the best answer was the one that can most efficiently be applied which was the Geared Turbofan engines which all that needed to be done was replacing the engines instead of redesigning the whole aircraft.

Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?

What is the best way to decrease drag and increase fuel economy in aircraft?

• Blended-wing body
• Geared Turbofan Engine
• Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge "morphing wing" Technology

My best answer is the geared turbofan engine.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

To arrive at this answer I first had to understand how aircraft can become more fuel-efficient. Once I understood the aerodynamics and mechanics behind ways airplanes can become more fuel-efficient, I started encountering all of my answers. After I had discovered all of my answers, I narrowed it down to one through the simple idea of which one is the most practical and easy to apply. Geared turbofan engines were because all you have to do is replace current jet engines with these ones.

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

I did not encounter many problems. One problem I did have was finding a mentor in my field. A lot of aerospace engineers work for large companies like Northrop Grumman and Boeing and the things being worked on there are often in coordination with the military and government and, as a result, require lots of clearance and security making it impossible to mentor there. I resolved this by looking for mentors in similar engineering fields and have thus been able to get most of my mentorship done.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My two most significant sources would have to be the NASA Glenn Research Center fact pages and the Flying Engineer website. The NASA sources provided me with nearly all of my knowledge on aerodynamics and anything related to aircraft design and function, and, as a result, led to me better understanding why certain things would or would not answer my essential question. The Flying Engineer was very significant because they have many technical articles and their article on my best answer served as a large bank of information for understanding how it works and what it does and why it is so practical.