As a biomedical engineering major here at Cornell, like many others, I was looking for a way to gain experience outside of my coursework. There are over 10 research labs just in the BME department alone, with each one specializing in a different angle in biomedical research: bone biomechanics, genetic engineering, medical imaging, and many more. I was accepted into a position at the Butcher lab, which focuses on studying the effects of mechanical forces on cardiovascular diseases. My main project within the lab is to make improvements to our 3D bioprinting technology. 3D bioprinting is one of the hot topics in cellular tissue engineering, allowing the printing of complex structures for studying diseases, devices, and someday even living prosthetics.
Tag: Cornell Engineer (Page 1 of 4)
Cornell Baja Racing: my favorite aspect of being a student at Cornell!
Cornell Baja Racing is my favorite aspect of being a student at Cornell. Baja Racing is a club where students with many different skills and backgrounds come together to build an ATV! Our car can climb hills, go fast, pull serious weight, and go anywhere off-road. During the school year, we build the car by dividing into different sub-teams. Each sub-team is responsible for designing and constructing different aspects of the car, and everything is combined at the end in order to complete the car. The car is then raced against other schools at our three annual competitions in the spring!
Cornell Racing: Cornell Engineer’s oldest Project Team!
My name is Andrew and I am a Junior chemical engineering major at Cornell. I am a part of many student activities, including club sports and Greek life, but I wanted to share my experience on Cornell Racing, the school’s oldest Engineering Project Team. Cornell Racing, or more affectionately known as “Car Team,” designs, builds, and races a formula-style race car every year. We have members from many different majors both in and out of the engineering school, so with a strong interest in race cars, engineering, or working on a project, we’re sure you’d be able to find a home within the team. Though we primarily recruit from prospective Mechanical and Electrical Engineers now that we run a 420V powertrain, we’re committed to finding the best new members from any discipline.
Despite being a Cornell Engineering student who does not like to sit and do work for long periods of time, my day is usually still quite productive.
On a typical weekday, I spend the morning and early afternoon attending my online classes. After those are over, I usually make a sandwich or some other quick food for lunch and enjoy eating while watching an episode of Arrested Development. Once I’m finished eating, I work on some assignments for my classes. I like to get my assignments done a few days in advance of when they are due, which is why I tend to work on them earlier in the day.
Coming to Cornell four years ago, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was thrilled to be an engineer, excited about all the people I would meet, and looking forward to moving to New York, but beyond that I had no idea what it would be like. I could have never imagined this, finishing off my senior year in the midst of a pandemic with half of my classes on Zoom. I could never have imagined the powerful depth of the friendships I have made at Cornell, which have prevailed no matter the circumstances. And I could have never imagined the current career trajectory on which I have found myself, a trajectory which was completely off the table when I first stepped foot onto North Campus.
In my first semester at Cornell, I decided to sign up for WICC’s (Women in Computing at Cornell’s) Lunch Bunch Program, which allowed female undergraduate students to converse with professors over a meal. In one session, there were around 7 other female undergraduates interested in computing majors getting to know Madeleine Udell, a professor in the Operations Research and Information Engineering department at Cornell. After hearing her impressive list of achievements, I needed to know: How had her experience as a woman in a predominantly male field been? She chuckled when I asked this and told me that she actually pushes against the status quo; she hasn’t had many terrible memories in which she was pushed against because of her gender. I almost did not believe her, until I realized that it was her resilient mindset that allowed her to not just come out of university and the workplace unscathed, but also stronger.
Cornell Steel Bridge: Designing, structural analyzing, fabricating, welding, and constructing!
Designing, structural analyzing, fabricating, welding, and constructing are the core experiences that Steel Bridge members gain from participating in a Cornell project team. Apart from providing hands-on experience simulating real-life practice in the industry, the Steel Bridge project team is also an opportunity for students to be involved in the nation-wide American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Student Steel Bridge Competition. During every academic year, our members create bridge designs under the proposed competition specifications and conduct structural analysis on the design. After electing a bridge design with the best structural efficiency, our team proceeds to fabricate and weld all bridge members in-house. The finished bridge members are assembled and constructed at the competition.
Project Team: Cornell University Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (CUAUV)
For many of us on CUAUV, we have found our team to be like family. Every meeting is surrounded by an atmosphere of genuine curiosity for learning as well as light-hearted humor. Project teams at Cornell all offer this same type of experience: they allow students to practice their knowledge in real-life projects while finding your friends in the process. But for CUAUV at least, our experience goes beyond this. Many of our members have received full-time jobs from their experience through our large alumni network and sponsor relationships. Members have also found study partners for many of the classes they share and are able to depend on each other for advice. And, yes, we also have found our life-long friends here
My typical day during the pandemic consists of fewer in-person activities than before the pandemic, but we are very lucky at Cornell that we have successfully pulled off a hybrid model and still have some in-person opportunities! Typically, I wake up and take any morning classes I have at home. I also try to take a break where I can run or go on a walk with a friend in the mornings (see picture). My afternoons are more variable, depending on whether or not I have something in person. If I have to go into lab, or if I have an in-person discussion or lab class, I usually go to Duffield with my friends to study before and after my in-person activity. If not, I stay home to study. Then I usually eat dinner with my roommates, or get takeout with some friends, and proceed to do my homework or club activities over Zoom. If I don’t have too much work, I try to bake or watch Netflix with my roommates.
To be honest, I didn’t even know research was something that people did in college until I got to Cornell. I thought engineering students took hard classes, looked for summer internships, and worked on some cool projects on the side (like project teams!). And while these are certainly all things that many engineering students do, I didn’t realize there were so many more possibilities to get involved.