[Rhodes22-list] Winter Semester,
2004 @ SVSU - The Nerdy Adventure Continues!
Steve
rhodes2282 at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 1 06:34:30 EST 2003
Good job, Roger. Glad to hear all is well.
Steve
PS - This may be a little late in posting this but
Marilyn made me put up a pair of French Door this
weekend. Talk about messing up a guys weekend!!!
--- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:
> Hi Everybody,
>
> Well, as you can tell by the subject title, this
> post is not about sailing. If anyone is bothered by
> the idea that I would use this forum to tell my
> sailing friends about what is going on in my life;
> then, simply hit delete now and move on rather than
> do more complaining about modifying the list's
> charter.
>
> I finally have my class schedule in place for the
> Winter Semester, 2004 at Saginaw Valley State
> University (SVSU). My classes are going to be:
>
> ME380 (3 credit hours) Manufacturing Processes &
> Systems (Mon & Wed 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM)
>
> ME451 (3 credit hours) Machine Design (Tue & Thur
> 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM)
>
> ME480 (3 credit hours) Senior Design I (Tue & Thur
> 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM + Thur 1:00 PM - 3:50 PM)
>
> ME497 (3 credit hours) Sr. Research Project,
> Sponsor: Dr. Christopher Schilling + The Michigan
> Corn Grower's Association,
> Research Project Title: "Biowaste
> Energy Recovery", Expect To Publish A Paper In A
> Peer Reviewed Journal,
> Days & Times At My Convenience As Long
> As Total => 9 hours/week
>
> MSTP531 (3 credit hours) Entrepreneurship Seminar,
> (Wed 4:00 PM - 6:50 PM)
>
> This is a much easier class schedule than the 17
> credit hours I'm currently struggling with. There
> are no lab classes like the two I have this
> semester. Although labs are only 1 credit hour
> apiece, they meet for 3 hours/week and require a lot
> of preparation + writing lengthy technical reports.
> The time and effort required for these labs is all
> out of proportion to 1 credit hour. In effect, my
> class load this semester is like taking 21 credit
> hours of nonlab classes, which is really heavy.
> Next semester's daily schedule will also be much
> easier than my current class schedule from a time
> spent on campus point of view. I currently have
> classes until 10:00 PM, three nights/week followed
> by a 45+ minute drive home. Next semester, my
> latest class will get out at 6:50 PM on Wednesdays.
> The rest of the week, I will be finished with my
> classes by late afternoon.
>
> ME380, ME451, & ME480 are all on the normal
> mechanical engineering schedule of required classes.
> However, the other two classes had to be petitioned
> in for credit in my major. You see, I have a plan;
> both for graduation as well as what I might
> potentially do after getting my BSME degree.
>
> Note ME497, the Sr. Research Project. My research
> sponsor, Dr. Schilling, teaches the "Principles of
> Engineering Materials" class that I am currently
> taking. Dr. Schilling and I have become pretty good
> friends over the semester. Dr. Schilling is into
> research into new biologically-derived polymers and
> recovery of energy from biological waste materials.
> A lot of his work is externally funded by the
> Michigan Corn Grower's Association. I leveraged my
> expertise in chemical engineering and process
> development into an idea for recovery of energy from
> the waste material that is left over after corn is
> fermented to make alcohol. This bio-sludge is
> currently dried at great expense and then sold at a
> loss as an animal feed called Distiller's Dry Grain
> (DDG). It turns out that DDG has a lot of energy in
> it and may be more valuable as an alternative fuel
> to help offset the energy requirements of the
> alcohol process. The research project next semester
> will involve a detailed process design, mass and
> energy balance modeling, economic modeling, vender,
> literature and patent searches. Dr. Schilling and I
> expect to coauthor and publish a paper by the end of
> the semester. So, that will look pretty good on the
> old resume even if nothing else comes of this
> project. Most of the work will be in the library
> and on the computer. As long as I put in at least 9
> hours/week on this project and keep Dr. Schilling
> informed of my progress &/or any problems, I can
> pretty much come and go as I please.
>
> Note MSTP531, the Entrepreneurship Seminar. This is
> a graduate school level class that is open by
> invitation only. I had to go thru an interview with
> the professor, Dr. Thomas Kullgren, in order to get
> an invitation to take the class. One of the
> prerequirements for this interview was the
> preparation of an idea for a new start-up business
> that will become the basis for the study in the
> class. My business plan was to form an engineering
> consulting and construction company that would
> custom engineer systems like the energy recovery
> from biowaste process described above, purchase
> off-the-shelf pieces/parts from other venders,
> perhaps design and build a few special pieces/parts
> in house, assemble and sell these systems as
> package, turn-key solutions to industry. The
> literature, patent, and vender searches I will be
> doing in my ME497 Sr. Research Project will
> fundamentally support the work going in this class.
> By the end of the Winter, 2004 Semester, I should
> have a pretty good idea whether this plan is a
> potentially viable start-up business or not.
> Whether this particular plan is a good one or not, I
> will still be better off for having gone thru the
> decision making process as part of this
> entrepreneurship seminar.
>
> Note ME480, Senior Design I. This class is
> considered the "Capstone Design Class" of the entire
> mechanical engineering program at SVSU. In this
> class, the students are divided into teams that are
> supposed to come up with an idea for some mechanical
> gadget that is not currently on the market and do a
> detailed engineering design. In ME481, Senior
> Design II, which I will be taking in the summer, the
> same teams have to build a working prototype of
> their device. The idea behind these two classes is
> that senior students are supposed to demonstrate
> their mastery of all the tools and expertise which
> they will need as professional mechanical engineers.
> I've already found a partner for the Senior Design
> series. Her name is Christa and she's a transfer
> student from Kettering University in Flint. MI.
> Christa is in a couple of my classes this semester
> and also plans to graduate in August, 2004. The
> biggest challenge in the Senior Design series is
> coming up with a project to work on. In past
> semesters, some of the projects have been gadgets to
> make life easier for handicapped people. Dr. Brooks
> Byam teaches the ME480 - 481 series and is also the
> faculty advisor to the SVSU Formula Car Racing Team.
> A lot of the previous projects have been associated
> with designing and building components for the race
> car. These projects are OK, but Biowaste Energy
> Recovery is much more interesting to both Christa
> and I. I've spoken to Dr. Byam about my idea for a
> process to recover energy from biowaste. We've
> agreed the entire process would be too big a project
> for this class. However, the process as I've
> envisioned it, will require some sort of final dryer
> to get the last of the moisture out of the biowaste
> just prior to burning the biowaste to produce
> energy. Our project will be to do the engineering
> design of this dryer. The literature, vender, and
> patent searches plus mass and energy balance
> modeling from my ME497 Sr. Research Project will
> fundamentally support this effort. If all goes
> well, in ME481 Senior Design II, this next summer,
> Christa and I will build and operate a working
> scale-model prototype dryer that will generate
> scalable drying kinetics data for these biowaste
> materials. So, I've even managed to adapt one of
> the required courses in my major to serve my own
> needs and agenda. Actually, the dryer should be a
> wonderful Senior Design project. After all, it's a
> machine with moving parts that have to process a
> difficult to handle semi-solid sludge. There will
> be heat transfer issues, material handling issues,
> materials of construction issues, possibly corrosion
> and high temperature operation issues - in other
> words, a real challenge and a great project! Dr.
> Byam also appreciated the fact that Christa and I
> will be coming into his class with our project
> already scoped out as opposed to the majority of
> senior students that struggle with this issue for
> most of the semester.
>
> So, there you have the nucleus of my end-game plan.
> 9 out of 15 credit hours in the Winter 2004 Semester
> will be associated with my plan to potentially form
> a new business. As you might imagine, the SVSU
> faculty are excited about the idea that one of their
> students might create a new start-up business based
> upon work done in their classes. They are all
> behind me 200%! I don't know where all this is
> going to end up by next August. But, it won't be
> boring!
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
>
>
>
>
>
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