Undergraduate Research

While applying to colleges during senior year, one of my goals which I wrote about repeatedly in the application essays was my intention to participate in research while earning my university degree. It was what I believed I would consider one of my greater achievements during my college career, and was determined to find a project and team to work with by junior year. During one of the conversations which our discussion group had about what some of our goals during college were, I mentioned that I was interested in participating in undergraduate research, and although I did not know it at the time, I had taken a major step toward reaching this goal simply by sharing it with my group.

During Gig’Em week, and for some time after that, I was unable to attend any of the events and gatherings that my fish camp group held – this since I was in the Corps at the time, which is that experience I never considered before, and will discuss shortly. At the first dinner I was able to attend, nearly a month after classes had begun, I gave my discussion group dad a ride to and from the event. During the drive, he mentioned that he had been working alone on a project with a professor from the nuclear engineering department, and that this semester he was creating a team for the design and implementation stage of the project. He recalled that I was interested in participating in such experiments, and extended an invitation to participate in the team.

The project consists of determining the amount and location of fluids within a container when it exists in a reduced gravity environment. Over the course of the last three months we have furthered the design and are now in the construction phase of the project. Participating in this experiment has...

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...irst challenge was getting through Freshman Orientation Week (FOW), which was when the upperclassmen had our lives under their control day in and day out. During this time we learned the proper way to communicate with our upperclassmen, how to eat square meals, and how to march in formation. Three of the freshmen in our outfit left during FOW, and the only thing that kept me from leaving with them at that time was the idea that it would be different once classes started. Classes began on August 26th, and by Tuesday August 27th, I was ready to go. I spoke with the upperclassmen about my desire to resign from the Corps, and they were able to convince me to live through the rest of the week and the first football game. I took their advice yet my attitude toward the Corps was not changed during this time, and thus I left the Tuesday after the football game against SMU.