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

[Roger Pihlaja]

Steve,

Dr. Schilling has other Sr. Research Projects going on besides mine.  But my
project is different in that I envisioned the process that it will be based
upon as well as personally doing all the leg work to setup my schedule,
double & triple dipping the research work into the substance of the other
classes, secured a willing partner for the Senior Design series, petitioned
the courses to count towards my major, and got the rest of the faculty
behind me.  The research project and the published paper will be very much
of a collaborative effort between equal partners.  Dr. Schilling's other
projects are all being carried out by 21 year old kids with no experience or
expertise beyond what they've learned at school.  The creative input on
these other projects pretty much comes from Dr. Schilling and the students
merely carry out his instructions.  It took me most of the Fall, 2003
Semester to figure out the political situation and the players at SVSU.  26
years of experience at Dow Chemical in one of the most Machiavellian
organizations in the world gave me the right skill set to 1st scope out &
then navigate this mine field.  I plead guilty to shamelessly using the
system to serve my own needs and agenda.  The president of the university
desperately wants an entrepreneurial start-up company in order to respond to
recent accusations from the State of Michigan Governor's office that
Michigan's public supported universities are not adequately working with
Michigan businesses to help them &/or adequately preparing their students to
do anything other than accept a job working for someone else after
graduation.  Governor Granholm charges that is there is little or no job
creation coming out of Michigan's public universities.  In that respect,
I've consciously volunteered to be a guinea pig.  If this business works
out, then my company will be the first entrepreneurial start-up from SVSU.
It was not difficult to convince the other faculty members to be supportive
and make accommodations once the situation became clear to them.  Whether my
idea works or not, the university will be able to point to the effort as a
"pilot program".  This is, of course, utterly ridiculous.  I'm bringing a
combination of skill sets, years of experience, maturity, patience, and
ambition that I find almost totally lacking in my younger classmates.  Like
most new business start-ups, if this one works, it will be because someone
wants it badly enough to make it happen in spite of the system, not because
of it.  The chance of a generally applicable program to generate
entrepreneurial start-up companies coming from this effort is slim to none.
Whether or not they realize this fact, the university faculty are desperate
with no plan of their own how to make it happen beyond offering the MSTP531
Entrepreneurship Seminar.  Like most good deals, this one is a win/win
situation.  I get what I want, Dr. Schilling gets what he wants, & the
university gets what it thinks it wants.  Please excuse my cynicism, but I'm
actually feeling rather well pleased with myself.

The one person I need to be careful about while all this is occuring is
Christa, my Senior Design partner.  Christa is not out to conquer the world,
she's just trying to earn her BSME degree & graduate.  Christa has no part
in all this behind the scenes manuvering and needs to be kept somewhat
isolated from it lest it explode in my face.  She needs to be carefully
mentored about how to do projects and not be given more to do than she can
handle.  Fortunately, I have quite a lot of experience with mentoring new
employees, so this should not be a problem.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Alm" <salm at mn.rr.com>
To: "Rhodes" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 5:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Winter Semester, 2004 @ SVSU - The
NerdyAdventure Continues!


> Wow, Roger.
>
> It sounds like you've integrated your coursework AND your professors into
a
> very solid plan.  What a coup to coauthor with Dr. Schilling?!  He's gotta
> be tickled pink to have a student like you!  Your goals are ambitious and
> well-thought out.  Here's hoping that you can parlay all of this into a
new,
> well deserved career in biowaste energy recovery.  This is the kind of
thing
> that can really benefit our society as well as serve you as a vehicle for
> gainful employment.    You go, dude!  Good luck!
>
> Slim
>
>
> On 11/28/03 10:15 AM, "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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>
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