Takeoff

Starting Early

Like many BASIS Students, my preliminary musings as to what my Senior Research Project would be began the very day I entered the eight grade. With a diverse array of passions and interests, by the start of junior year I had an eclectic smattering of possible and optimistic routes for my project which included: 

1. Intern with NASA (work with Mars Rovers!) to study modern developments in space technologies 

2. Work with El Rio Health Clinic to research women's health concerns in the Pascua Yaqui Tribe

3. Collaborate with astronomers at Kitt Peak/Mount Lemmon Sky Center/Mauna Kea and intern at the Hayden Planetarium (a long shot, but Neil degrasse Tyson has been one of my greatest inspirations for a long time) to study astronomy and communication methods between scientists and the public

4. Intern at the UN headquarters in New York (reminiscent of my roots in MUN) 

5. Travel to China to research urban environmentalism 

6.  Study robotic applications in medicine (nano-robots, prosthetics, mobility assistance devices etc.) 

7. Intern with a science show team (Wonders Series, Nova Science Now, Cosmos—the classics!) 

8. Study the global impact of the bicycle (evoking connections to the Xtracycle company and the World Bicycle Relief)

9. Study crowd sourcing through the lens of projects like ReCaptcha, Fold it, EteRNA, DuoLingo etc.  10. Research immigration politics in Southern Arizona (with a special focus on border issues)
10. Continue working with the Snyder Lab at the U of A to study emergent contaminants 

With these in mind,  throughout junior year, I considered my options and began the workings for planning a real project. What I finally concluded was that the most important resource that I would need to produce a final product that I would be proud of was time and access. Consequently, I decided to begin my project early and center in Tucson for convenience. This decision prompted me to focus my energies on finding a project in Tucson that I could passionately pursue throughout the summer and following year. 

I contacted a number of professors who worked in areas I would be interested in studying (aeronautics, mechanical engineering, robotics, material science, alternative energy and neuroscience) and inquired about opportunities. I also reached out to my contacts/mentors at the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and the U of A astronomy club.  At the same time I strengthened my interests in robotics and engineering through my involvement with the Bit Buckets robotics team and Xerocraft Hackerspace. Through BASIS I was also put into contact with a local Engineering company (Marcus Engineering). All of these opportunities further opened up a slew of new options for my project. After meeting with a number of professors, astronomer enthusiasts, engineers, and physicists, I ultimately found that what Marcus Engineering had to offer through an internship was most in line with my vision for my project and my time frame. That said, I am keeping my list of dream projects in mind for future ventures. With my decision, I was finally set on a path for my project. 

NOTE: I officially will not begin the process of refining my project with the BASIS criteria until school starts in August and the project internship process technically does not have to begin until the end of January 2015, but I am currently laying the groundwork for what I will do. My plan is to do an engineering project in which, with the guidance of Dr. Marcus's team, I will be able to build a prototype for a product that I could launch on kickstarter or submit to local and national science fairs by the end of the school year. 

Internship Begins

I began my internship with Marcus Engineering on May 29th. I have been very busy since then, which is why I haven't posted earlier, but from now on I hope to post weekly updates. My time there has so far been split between 1. learning technical skills, 2. planning my personal project and 3. working for the company. 

1. Technical Skills: 

So far I have been doing a lot with soldering, playing with motor controllers, learning about circuit boards and circuit design, practicing with schematics in Altium designer, completing practice projects with my arduino (ultimately for a larger project for the company), learning about product testing and product failure analysis, and all in all studying the electrical engineering design process. Everyone here is very enthusiastic about what they do and ready to teach. Robby Laity (also one of the masterminds behind Xerocraft's greatness) has been an especially amazing teacher (especially with all the soldering, understanding schematics and product testing). There is so much I still have to look forward to learning here (about design, embedded systems, programming, industrial level wiring, LabView etc.). I am searching for some good theory books to supplement my learning on this front.  

2. Planning my project: 

Surprisingly, this has been the most difficult part of my work so far. I am curious about so many different things that it is difficult choosing just one. To help with the process, Dr. Marcus had me write list of areas in engineering that both interest me and are in line with the company's expertise. I wrote a list of project areas I would be happy to work on including: 

a)  Working on devices to assist, monitor and support individuals with type 2 diabetes, 

b) Building medical monitoring devices that link directly to iPhone and would contact doctors in     emergencies 

c) Building cheaper versions of existing medical devices (like Doppler devices), 

d) Working with wearable technologies,

e) Researching neural headsets linked with robotics and prosthetics,

f) Delving into smart home technologies: wireless mesh networks, devices that track electricity use, personalized energy generation, small induction cookers, small scale alternative energy systems, and air quality/sound quality monitors. 

While I find all these potential research areas fascinating, I ultimately have decided that I would like to do a project relating to assistance devices for people with type 2 diabetes. As I have spent time during my last two summers volunteering at the El Rio health clinic with incredibly talented and inspiring doctors like Dr. Renteria on the Pascua Yaqui reservation, I have thus had a lot of experience with individuals living with diabetes. Because of this work, I feel very connected to this problem and its implications. This exposure has left me with a desire to alleviate the suffering that this disease can cause, as well as continue working with the contacts I have made in this community. This research space is still very large, however, and I still must narrow my focus down for my final project. 

When I centered on this field of study, Dr. Marcus immediately set up a meeting for me with Dr. David Armstrong, a local surgeon and pioneer in the diabetic foot-space. Talking with him and Dr. Marcus about all the possibilities in this field was incredibly inspiring, and reaffirmed my passion for this project. 

As of now, I am still refining what my project in this area will be. I have a number of ideas that have potential, and that I am very excited about. I will give a more specific update on these maters next week.

3. Working for the company: Marcus engineering has a number of projects going on at once. I have gotten to do some work on a number of these as well as observe on some more. Over the first few days, I did analysis work on a linear actuator. I was testing to see if the resistance given by the potentiometer was consistent at different distances from the motor. This work is for a larger project—building a robotic arm. I have also done a LOT of soldering for a variety of different projects. I have soldered for a number of motor control boards, small so called "Derp" boards (for a USB project) etc. I was also tasked with doing some failure analysis on Marcus Engineering Ditto glucose meters. We found that most of the errors resulted from assembly errors (shorts between Rx and Tx pins and Rx-ground, Tx-ground pins), and thus had to go about fixing them.

All in all, I am very excited about my work/project so far.