10/1/2008

I gave my first engineering presentation to the Calculus class today. Since it was the week before the student’s Calc projects were due I thought it would be a good idea to show them the type of projects I work on as a graduate student in mechanical engineering while emphasizing all the parts of a math based project. I brought in a poster from a recent conference so I could introduce the students to my research and show them how the basics of a poster presentation. I highlighted the abstract, background, equations and conclusions while I discussed my research. I was very pleased with the variety of questions the students asked. Some questions were about my research like “Why does that happen?” and “What if…?” Other questions were about my poster like “What’s an abstract?” The most popular questions were “Where did you print that?”, “What program did you use?” and “How much does that cost?” I think the presentation was a success and I’m excited I get to show students more advanced engineering problems.

Math Support, the last class of the day, was populated with nearly a dozen students today. I was happy to see that most of the students that I had independently chosen to target in the algebra classes were the same students that were asked to join the class. I guess we (Mr. MacGregor and I) saw the same potential in these students and realized that they just needed a little individual attention. It is also of interest to me that the math support course is populated with young men. I have not asked Mr. Macgregor if this was intentional but I think it is working for the best. The students are much more attentive, engaged and willing to ask for help with problems.