| Author |
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Fast1075
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 01:52 pm: | 
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"When life throws you a curve, aim for the apex" I'm going to use that one Hootowl. 
I use math every day. Sometimes I can complete the problem without taking my boots off.  |
Blake
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 03:23 pm: |
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R&D in IC engine design. Very interesting!
There's not a single discipline in ME that you can neglect.
In your spare time, get yourself a good running small engine, like a trimmer or blower engine. No manual. Disassemble it entirely, every last screw, washer, gasket, and o-ring. Throw it all into a bucket, stir, re-assemble and tune. If parts are left or if it won't run, do it all again, repeat until all parts are used and it runs.
Next try a lawn mower engine.
Next a small four-stroke motorcycle engine and transmission.
As you study and familiarize yourself with the engines, take note of possible ways to improve performance, quality/durability, ease/cost of manufacture.
Read Smokey Yunik's book.
Ask Pammy and Wes if you can do an internship at Cycle Rama every Summer or even just during Spring break. If not there, then at some highly respected performance engine facility, maybe with a professional racing team, cough-EBR-ahem-cough? ![: ]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif)
Subscribe to all the best industry trade magazines.
Join the applicable academic and professional societies.
Have fun! |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 03:29 pm: |
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The Redneck Engineer post above reminded me of this old Calvin & Hobbes strip:
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Hughlysses
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 03:37 pm: |
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BTW- back to the original question, I'm also an ME, and calculus gave me fits in high school and college. I can't think of an instance since graduation when I needed it, but I'm sure that's not true of all ME's.
Phillip- that's an admiral goal and I hope you attain it. Given that that IS your goal, I'd say you need to master calculus completely. R&D guys are expected to be from the head of the class. |
Pkforbes87
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 04:39 pm: |
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Thanks for the encouraging words.
I'm not accustomed to placing anywhere outside the top 10 percentile and don't plan on changing that pattern. Right now I'm going to a community college to knock out an AA degree. Missouri University requires a minimum 2.5GPA from transfer students, I expect to arrive with a 3.5GPA or higher to be eligible for their Honors College.
A Phi Beta Kappa certificate would look pretty good on the wall behind my desk.
We'll see how long I can keep this going..
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99savage
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 07:45 pm: |
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M.E. here - In my world if I want to understand anything I have to be able to write the equation - Not necessarily to solve it, there are all kinds of software to actually do the number crunching (SOMETIMES)
If you actually understand calculus you can throw away your "cookbooks" & derive an equation for your particular problem..
Software can actually multiply idiocy - Have never seen a FEA analysis I was happy with the 1st time it was done.
Take the calculus, take the differential equations - Concentrate on working the proofs, not on memorizing methodologies. - When you get to the point you can work the proofs without referring back to the book mathematics becomes a joy. |
Blake
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 12:23 am: |
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Wish I'd known that!
>>> Software can actually multiply idiocy - Have never seen a FEA analysis I was happy with the 1st time it was done.
Too true. No FEA is ever any better than its loads or boundary conditions. |
Slaughter
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 07:58 am: |
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What Mr Forbes is bringing to Engineering is his experience in the REAL WORLD. We get way too many young engineers coming out of school after having spent 4-6 years of mommy and daddy's money to get to where they think they're entitled to a mahogany desk in 5 years.
Getting MORE engineers with a background in reality will improve the breed. Getting more engineers who aspire to spend careers in the comfy chair is a net negative. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 08:04 am: |
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Sigh. I miss coding in a test cell.  |
Prior
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 09:54 am: |
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What Mr Forbes is bringing to Engineering is his experience in the REAL WORLD. We get way too many young engineers coming out of school after having spent 4-6 years of mommy and daddy's money to get to where they think they're entitled to a mahogany desk in 5 years.
Getting MORE engineers with a background in reality will improve the breed. Getting more engineers who aspire to spend careers in the comfy chair is a net negative.
We're running into that issue as well. It's getting very difficult to find engineers who can get out on job sites and work with field techs and customers to resolve issues or really understand what we need to build. Many start MBAs the year after they graduate and expect to be in the corner office in another 2-3 years. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 10:04 am: |
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Following on to what Prior said above, the thing I've found at several places I've worked is that managers (who were educated as engineers) "look down" on engineering as an intermediate step to the obvious (to them) goal of everyone to work in management. If you enjoy engineering and seek to be as proficient of an engineer as possible, you apparently don't "get it". That kind of thinking is what drives young engineers to get MBAs right out of school. |
Venom5sc
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 - 10:25 pm: |
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Prior and Mueller will probably agree, there is something discouraging when you're in a class room (going for your mechanical engineering degree at a very respected engineering school) and you find out that there is only one or two other people in the room who know what a torque wrench is. |
Datsaxman
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 01:37 am: |
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+1 to the "get practical experience in the real world" comments...
+2 to the "most students these days..." comments
+5 to the "learn as much from as many different areas as possible" comments...
+10 to the "when you understand the mathematics and how to express a physical relationship mathematically" comments.
There is a proverb "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".
When you do not really understand the mathematics, you will not use it much. When you do, you will think about everything mathematically.
We typically saw a handful in a class of 50 engineers that were "really getting it", and a lot who were basically competent with the material but did not really know what big chunks of it meant.
- Recently retired from the Dept. of Physics
P.S. the name of the movie is "p" in the symbol font...
(Message edited by datsaxman on February 09, 2012) |
Chauly
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 09:32 am: |
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Prior:
Try hiring engineers for a paper mill! It takes us 6 months to a year to find one. Typically, rural, small-town environment, but surrounded by some of the most enjoyable riding areas...
Google Satellite Map Coordinates:
37.794593,-79.998322 |
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