Prescott Student Blog: Libin

Sunday was a fun filled day. Kevin and I go to the Sacred Heart Church almost every Sunday for the Eucharist. We met a family there. The father graduated from Embry Riddle, Florida and was a pilot. They invited us for a mountain hike at Sedona this Sunday. Despite the Economics Exam that was on Tuesday, we decided that this was a much required break from campus. So, we decided to go for the Mountain Hike. They met us at the campus at like 2.30 PM. We went to Sedona through Jerome. Jerome is a really ‘different’ city. You get goose bumps looking at the landscape, at least I did. As said by someone’ It is a haunted city that has been transformed into a hippie artist community’. It is so true. Ghost stories flow like anything here and things are spooky here. They gave a place called the Haunted Burgers. And the whole city is on a cliff. Houses are built so close to the road, that is difficult to even imagine. Finally, we reached the place we had to reach. It is a mountain trail in Sedona that also has a creek. We basically wanted to walk the trail, cross the creek and reach the end of the trail. It was supposed to be a 4 mile hike, one way.
We started our hike. It was a bit late by the time we started. It was around 4PM. So, we just went till the creek. It was not at all a tiring hike. The landscape was amazing. There were huge mountains on one side and the whole city, Sedona, was visible on the other side. After reaching the creek, we just relaxed for some time. The kids, Kevin and I skipped stones in the river. Stones ranged from small smooth ones to really huge ones. However, it was getting really dark and we had to make a 2.5 mile hike back to the origin. We started our way back quickly. Kevin happily carried Elias on his back all the way. It was pitch black and we had nothing but my camera with a flash. So….?
We took random pics and tried to figure out our way back using the light from flash. It was way fun. We knew that we would not be lost, but still the night was really creeping out everyone. I kept taking pictures now and then just to make sure that we are on a track instead of walking along the greens. We finally reached the beginning spot without any problems. On the way back, everyone was way tired. Everyone slept within 30 minutes of being in the car. We finally stopped at the Fry’s to get some Powerade and they dropped us at the campus. It was a much needed break. We were so tired when we finally reached the dorms that we fell asleep without getting anything done.
The next day, Kevin and I toiled at the Library, the dining hall and the room before the exam. In EGR 101, we are making the LTAV. It is way too complex. We have LEGO bricks, Bluetooth and a whole lot of confusion about what is to be done.

Posted by Libin at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last few weeks have been really busy for me. I had 2 exams last week, took one this week and will be taking another one the next week. Last week, I took the Physics Exam. It was a nightmare. It had a total of 6 questions and the total mounts to 320. A single numerical problem is worth 70 points and a single discussion question is worth 40 points. I have no idea how the instructor is going to give partial credits. The questions were simple enough, and I think I have done well but the grade heavily depends on how it is graded. It covered chapters that I have completed in my high school. However, I am not confident about the exam.
There was a MATLAB Exam too. It was another (un)pleasant experience while I was taking the exam. We had a total of 4 questions out of which one was the bonus question. I got the 1st question working perfectly as well as the bonus question. However, the remaining questions were not up to the mark. My programming was not good enough for the 2 questions. However, time was running out. SO, I got all the pseudocode and algorithm I could think of for those questions. I wrote them in the M-Files and saved them and printed them out. I was so sure I would be getting something near 50% because of the remaining 2 questions. However, on Monday, we got the test papers back. The result was a pleasant surprise. I got 106 out of 100. Dr. Gally reduced 14 points in total for the flaws I had in the 2 questions. However, I got the bonus question that was worth 20 points. So, I had a total of 106. Now, Dr. Gally decided to curve the points by 20 for everyone. So, now I had 126 out of 100. And thus, the final grade I have now is 100.44%. I was so surprised how a really bad exam according to me turns out to be fine enough for a great grade.
Physics results are yet to be out. I am barely making a B on that. This exam can make or break my grade. Hope everything turns out to be good. Today, I also took the Engineering Economics Exam. It was a really long exam. The exam went good enough, according to me. The results would be available tomorrow, I think.
Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. Physics and Economics results are going to be declared tomorrow. Hope it is good.

Posted by Libin at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The rocket we build was launched on Oct 23, 2008. It had a lot of surprises in store for us. First of all, our unique model got us the Most Creative Rocket Award. My team( Kevin, Eric, Payton and I) were the third group to launch the rocket. The rocket was shot, it didn’t scale much height, because a strong wind was blowing and it billowed up the exterior parachute. The rocket actually zigzagged all the time it was scaling the height and it came down crashing towards the benches we were sitting on. It was so close to make a vertical landing as it didn’t had much speed. However, after it fell it shot out the wadding. The burning wadding shot out of one end. Jake got hold of the burning wadding. It was hilarious! By that time, two other teams made a great launch and one of them got the award for the Longest Duration. However, we had another engine left. So, we decided to strip off the exterior parachute and get rid of the additional fins too. And then, the magic began.
The C6-5 Engine gave the ’Screaming Jelly’ an unprecedented amount of thrust and the next thing every notices after I make the second launch is that they have to crane their necks really bad and squeeze their eyes to search for the rocket that has scaled a height that couldn’t be imagined. It was a perfect vertical launch. Nothing went wrong. The parachute came up after the rocket reached its apogee and the parachute helped it to remain in air for a long time. While the rocket was on the way down, everyone of us ran towards getting hold of it. Finally, Landon got hold of it.
We were not satiated by that performance. All of our team members were sure that it deserved another launch. However, the C6-5 went out of stock. I had 3 of them for our rocket. I rushed to my dorms to get them and we used the three engines for two other teams as well. The launches were conducted at the rugby field near AC1 and AFROTC Buildings. There was a vast expanse of barren land besides the Rugby Field. The third launch was eventful. Nothing went as expected. However, it was amazing. The launch was a perfect vertical one. So far so good. However, the wadding we had was not good enough. While coming down, the string that attaches the nose and parachute to the main body was burned due to inadequate wadding. We could see a white parachute (though it was yellow and black) with a nose coming down slowly and the main body of the rocket crashing down to the Earth. We went for the parachute. To get hold of that, we almost crossed the whole expanse of the barren land. We got hold of it at the edge of the land. The string was burned out which helped us to confirm that what we thought about the mishap was correct. However, it was a great exercise and I completely loved it.
Our team got the award for the Most Creative Award and though we clocked the longest duration, it was too late for another award. However, we are happy that we put up a good work and everyone of us had a lot of fun. In the end, everyone got some spooky gifts, thanks to Halloween, and lots of chocolates.

Posted by Libin at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am a member of a total of 3 clubs right now. I am in the Structures Team for both AIAA and ERAU Jet Car Project. I also am a part of the music club. When I started college, I decided that I have to do much more than just studies here. I know the basics of playing a guitar but I am not that great at it. The drum kits have always amazed me and I have always been looking for an opportunity to play them. I joined the Music Club for the same. I would be able to get my hands on drums and learn it how to play! I also would be improving myself on the guitar.
ERAU, or for that matter any other college, can prove to be really stressful. I do know all that is being taught in Calculus 2 and Physics 2, however there is a lot of stuff to be done every single day that there is no escaping it. I am yet to come across a day when I had no homework to do. Something like music can be a real stress buster. Besides, having a GPA less than 4.0 and a lot of creative skills and talents looks much better than a solid GPA of 4.0 in a resume.
We meet every Thursday at 9PM at the Davis Learning Center and jam out, learn and have fun. The Club did take part in some programs at the October West. I am just waiting for my guitar to be shipped as soon as possible.
ERAU Jet Car Project is the biggest project that is been undertaken at the college. It is headed by Dr. Nafziger. Even though being a freshman, I have been selected in the structures team and would be working and learning a lot with the upperclassmen. I believe this is going to be the most exciting thing the whole semester. I will actually get to engineer! Not just tweak those physics and math formulae, but get to do the ACTUAL Stuff! We would be working on the chasis beginning this week. Just waiting to get things rolling!
AIAA Design, Build and Fly Competition is going to be a tough challenge. We are supposed to work on a design for an aircraft that can hold 4 liters of water and still make 4 fast lap times. It’s going to be a real challenge. However, a lot is to be gathered, learned and understood in the process. We have meetings every Tuesday where we discuss the basic ideas and come up with better ones.

Posted by Libin at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the best class. All you have to do is work with robots, on SolidWorks and have fun. I just can’t stop adoring this class. We will have a competition in which we are supposed to get the golf balls (a total of 5) and put them in the hole, that is placed in the middle of a 48 inch square table 1 point is awarded for each ball and 2 points will be awarded if the robot or at least a part of it crosses the starting line. We are provided with the LEGO Mindstorms Kit and are supposed to work out a robot using the available parts. Sensors or the LEGO Computer Program can be used for this purpose. It is upon us to chose either one or use both. This is where the trick is. Neither the sensor nor the program can provide you with a foolproof program. There is going to be something or the other that will mess things up.
In SolidWorks, we are designing the 3D model of the basket that will hold the LEGO robot that is supposed to carry something and put it into another basket while afloat a hot air balloon.
We will have to work out the dynamics and weight of the components so that it also passes the various drill tests. There is a video link to the last year competition.
Talking about the basket, it is not a regular square or rectangular one. It has to have lightening holes that can reduce its weight to a measure that it is good enough for lift and for carrying the robot. We would probably use the truss bridge structure to reduce its weight and make it efficient.
And guess how we are going to get a 3D model of the components?
THE 3D Printer…
It uses ABS Plastic to make the model that has been made in the various 3D Design programs like CATIA, SolidWorks etc. It melts the plastic and the melted plastic is used to make the model. It is a really a neat thing. We had a trip to the 3D Printer Room in our Univ 101 Classes as well.
This is how the class has turned out to be in 3 weeks. I am sure it is going to be much more fun as time passes by.

Posted by Libin at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was really an awkward day.
The first instance:
For the Physics Class, I was supposed to submit homework today. However, I was so sure that I had no homework due. I was sure that I have done all the homework. I had no assignment to turn it. Combine that situation and the fact that I did not do really awesome in my previous homeworks. I was really upset. I was worried about it during my whole class. However, at the end of the class I went to Dr. Buckalew and told him so. Guess what he told me?”I have your homework for today since last week. I don’t know why, but you have been submitted your homework a week earlier." This is when I realized that since I joined the Physics2 class a week late, I submitted all the three homework on the first day and have been messing up since then. I also didn’t have my schedule for the physics class for the same reason. However, I asked it yesterday, and realized that the first exam was going to be on Oct 9 but it is now rescheduled for Oct 23.Lucky lucky me!
2nd instance:
The MATLAB Exam was supposed to be on Wednesday. However, it was announced today that it is going to be done on Friday. I felt like being a dumb then. I spent most of my weekend doing my homework done and learning for all the exams for this week. I missed all the fun with my roommates. We didn’t even went to play pool (which we do always otherwise). Things change rapidly here, so you need to be at the top of your academics every time.
3rd instance:
I had to work at the Machine Shop on last Thursday and we were supposed to have the first AIAA meeting. It was scheduled to be from 5-6 PM. However, another meeting with the FFH Club was supposed to be at the same place but from 7-8 PM. I signed out of my work at 7PM for the AIAA meeting and really felt stupid. I also almost broke my back trying to skateboard. Feel over seven times in various ways and was really messed up.
So in all you can see, how confused, stressed and stupid a person you can be if you are not planning things out ahead of time in college.
“Do what I say, not what I do”

Posted by Libin at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last evening, I was really happy because I had nothing due for a week and I have done my studies as was required for the day. I spent most of my time playing pool, playing the Burnout Paradise City in the new arcades in the lower hangar and just killing time. The night came and I was all upset! I had to study for a MATLAB Quiz, revise for the EGR 101 Midterm, do my Physics Homework because unfortunately, It turns out that I submitted the wrong chapter homework again and start with Economics as there was a quiz soon. It turns out that this time I submitted the right question numbers but from Chapter 15 instead of Chapter 16. I got a wild card though and got saved from a zero (0) in the homework!
Here, things pile up really quickly. I am yet to come across a day when I had no homework due. Thus, the night stretched all the way till 2 AM. Finally, I decide to get some sleep at 2.15 AM. Peace stays with me for at least an hour before the fire alarms goes off and the ear splitting noise disturbs my sleep. It turns out that someone was really starving to have some popcorn at the middle of the night, the usual story in dorms. I decided not to get up and leave the dorms. I continued with my struggles to get some sleep amidst the noise. I finally had to give in and I crawled out of the bunk beds, got my jacket and rushed out of the doors. As soon as I step out of the room, the noise goes off and everything is back to normal. I just got up to go sleep back again. The result was that I reached my Calculus class late. By late, I mean 30 minutes late! Since cold winds were blowing, the doors were closed and I had to knock to get in. Its just the perfect beginning I needed.
All hard work paid off when I got to spend another hour at the pool table and the new arcades! Economic quiz went really great and it turns out that I scored a 22/20! I got the bonus question correct too! Physics Homework was submitted on time and EGR 101 turns out to open note! The only disappointment was the MATLAB Quiz. I had the whole program in mind and on the MATLAB Editor. However, a single logical error made my program an infinite loop .
Alright, does this blog post deserve the name ‘Whining’? Yeah, I agree.

Posted by Libin at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ERAU Jet Dragster Project
I am finally in the structures team for the ERAU Jet Dragster Project. The 1st meeting was this Thursday and I had Physics class at 2.50 just 20 minutes away from the beginning of the meeting. I was really not excited with this outcome. However, luck always finds its way when awesome things are supposed to happen. I went to my Physics teacher before the class to submit my homework (yet another mess-up with submission..he he) and I was more than glad to learn that today’s class was cancelled. I took note of the homework and rushed to the AXFAB Lobby to get started with the meeting.
The Structures Team is a total of 5 members till now with seniors and juniors as the 4 members except an excited freshman, . I was so happy to begin the work. The existing members got hold of the chassis of an old dragster racing car. We started with stripping off the metal sheets and taking measurements of the various parts of the chassis. One of the members, made a rough side view and top view to begin depicting the whole chassis on SolidWorks or CATIA. It is going to be really exciting to get to see and also contribute to the development of the 3D model. I should probably start exploring CATIA and begin playing around with SolidWorks a bit more. It will surely turn out to be an exciting project. It will surely have some points of research too into it. I might turn down the AIAA DBF Competition this year for this. Basically, I am yet to learn a lot to get into something like AIAA. Structures Team for the Jet Car sounds much more interesting and informative. We would be meeting the next Thursday probably and might get along with the 3D Modeling. The timings might change to fit in everyone’s requirements.
Things are surely going to be much more complicated and a lot more fun too. We got a whole building for our project. It is the old building that housed the Structures Lab. The remnants of old projects are still there with 8 foot wings and all. It might have got cleaned up by now because the process of shifting the resources like fiberglass etc and the renovation of the building is still under process. The new lab is located at the AXFAB Building.

Posted by Libin at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Robot Competition went far better than I had expected. I fell sick on Friday and had to miss the Lab and on Monday and Tuesday, I totally forgot that we had open lab times to get our robot to do something. The claw to get hold of the golf balls was to be tweaked and optimized for getting maximum balls in without losing them when it moves backwards and the complete programming was to be done.
My partner did a great job with programming and tweaking the claw and came up with a great idea to get hold of those golf balls. She made up for my delay and we did really work as much as possible on Wednesday during the open lab timings. Adding a few rubber bands helped to contain the ball while the LEGO NXT Mindstorm Robots took a turn and followed the black lines.
The competition was on Thursday and we were to compete with 3 other teams. We did fairly well by getting 3 balls out of 5 in our first two attempts. In the last attempt, however, we could only get in a single golf ball. Still, we made it back to our spot every single time and earned the 2 bonus points every time. The lowest scores were to be dropped and we had an average score of more than 8, which was really good. The scores were the sum of total no. of the balls put in by both the teams and the bonus points if the robot, or part of it, gets back to the starting point. We scored a total of 20 points and the lowest was 3. So that basically is 8.5 as an average score.
EGR 101 is turning out to be a fun filled class. We are going to have a Lighter than Air Vehicle competition really soon and it sure sounds amazing to be a part of. However, I have heard that this time the teams are going to be selected by the Professors themselves 
The last class of EGR101 is listed as Game: Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It sounds strange and interesting! Will keep you all updated about it.

Posted by Libin at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Career Expo took place on Oct 2 from 9AM to 3PM at the Activity Center. This was my first time at the career expo. All major companies like Honeywell Aerospace, Boeing, General Atomics, Hawker Beechcraft, Northop Grumman etc. were present here. Almost every company had presentations the previous day and all the students were invited to be a part of it.
I did attend the presentations of Honeywell Aerospace, GE Aviation, Hawker Beechcraft, Center for Space Nuclear Research and US Space and Rocket Center. The presentations basically included an overview of the company and their products. Some also detailed out the specifications/requirements for the internship program. There was free food and lots of cool stuff to grab, obviously.
Career Expo basically was a platform to know about a company, or to let a company how interested you are to be a part of the company after you graduate. It is a great experience for a freshman as it allows one to get a basic idea of what kind of graduates are companies looking for and which companies will suit your needs. You get to know what kind of work you will be doing if you are in Avionics, Structures or Aerodynamics Department of a company. It really made me think about what I want my next 4(or 3) years to be like.
The Rotorway also had a full size helicopter at display during the Expo. GE Aviation gave out lots of squishy aircrafts. AeroVironment gave out balsa wood gliders. Northrop Grumman gave out light pens, computer bluffs that are actually great-Benefits of going to the Career Expo!
I am surely looking forward to make my resume look much better the next time and am all geared up for getting an internship in the 2nd summer.

Posted by Libin at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)