[Rhodes22-list] Winter Semester, 2004 @ SVSU - The Nerdy Adventure Continues!

[Roger Pihlaja]

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