Field Trip to Penn State Labs

Date

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Engineering Co-op Program

The first stop on our journey was 213 Hammond Building where Kim Fox provided an excellent overview of the internship and co-op opportunities available to Penn State Engineering students. Two Chemical Engineering students talked about their previous co-op experiences and some of the challenges and opportunities they encountered. They stressed the importance of having an up-to-date resume and learning some of the "soft skills" such as interviewing skills and working with people who come from different backgrounds.

Kim provided many useful tips and facts, including:

• Be sure to attend the Career Fair during the third week of the Fall semester. It is the largest event of its kind in the USA. Employers are increasingly interested in establishing a relationship with younger students. Freshmen should attend this event and begin building relationships with employers. And they should be prepared to provide an up-to-date copy of their resume to any empoyer who asks for it.
• About 75% of employers surveyed said that they expected to hire graduates with co-op experience.
• Engineering graduates who have co-op experience are offered starting salaries that are, on average, about 15% higher than other graduates.

The Learning Factory

The Learning Factory is a place where undergraduate Engineering students can design and build the projects assigned in their Engineering classes.

A guided tour of The Learning Factory was provided by Mark Wilson, a senior in Aerospace Engineering. Club members observed and learned about rapid prototyping systems, lathes, milling machines, and other machine tools.

Two Formula SAE race cars, built entirely by students, were also on display.

The highlight of the tour was a demonstration of a programmable device that cuts metal with a high pressure water jet.

The water jet system cut the outline of our club's logo from a sheet of aluminum in about 7 minutes. This will look great hanging in Mr. Hoffman's room!

The Learning Factory has a K-12 outreach program, and we have been invited to schedule a future visit to get some basic instruction on how to operate machine tools and perhaps how to program them using CAD/CAM software.

For more information about The Learning Factory, visit http://www.lf.psu.edu.

Arm Movement Lab

Dr. Robert Sainburg provided a fascinating introduction to the study of neuromuscular control systems. Dr. Sainburg applied an EMG sensor to the thumbs of several students to demonstrate how motor nerve impulses can be measured as a muscle is contracted and relaxed. Students were able to observe the nerve impulses on an oscilloscope while hearing them through a speaker.

Dr. Sainburg also explained how the body relies upon sensory inputs from muscles in order to know where each limb is located in space. When he applied vibrators to the Achilles tendons of several students, we observed that most of the students tended to lean backward. This response occurred because the vibration produced sensory input similar to that which occurs when the body is leaning forward and the Achilles tendons are being stretched. In other words, the students' brains were tricked into believing that the student was falling forward, so the brain responded by causing the student to lean backward.

Dr. Sainburg then demonstrated a computerized apparatus that allows a human subject to learn a motor skill that requires the subject's brain to "map" a specific set of arm movements to corresponding movements of an object on a display screen. After the skill is learned, the computer program is adjusted so that the visual object does not respond in the same way to arm movements. Students observed that a "residual effect" takes place for a short period as the subject's brain gradually builds a new mental map.

Here's Dan learning a new motor skill.

Dr. Sainburg answers a question posed by Arnie.

Gait Analysis Lab

Dr. Neil Sharkey demonstrated a six-camera motion analysis system and a force platform. These instruments provide real-time images of the subject's position and a force vector representing the ground reaction force.

Dr. Sharkey talked about some of the ways that this technology is used in science and medicine. For example, the motion and force data can be used to calculate the forces and moments at each of the joints in the body. This allows researchers to assess how a particular activity, such as carrying a backpack, might lead to unusual or harmful stresses on particular joints or the ligaments which hold the joints together.

He also explained how motion analysis systems are used in the motion picture industry to create lifelike animation scenes by capturing motion data for real human actors and then applying an animated character's "skin" to the motion.

The above photograph is a screen shot from a 3D optical motion capture system developed by Motion Analysis Corp. This is similar to the system used in the gait lab.

A summary of the research happening at the Biomechanics Lab can be found at here.

Engineering Project Showcase

At the end of each semester, undergraduate Engineering students display their engineering projects in the HUB ballroom. The students who build the projects are available to answer questions about their work, or about their experiences as Engineering students at Penn State.

At this semester's Showcase, West Branch students saw a wide variety of student projects, including solar and wind energy projects and some very clever robots.

Thank You!

The students had a great time at Penn State and we are all very grateful for the wonderful presentations that were provided. We would especially like to thank the following people who generously shared with us their knowledge and enthusiasm:

• Kim Fox of the Cooperative Learning program and her two student envoys who put together a valuable presentation on very short notice
• Carson Baird and Mark Wilson of The Learning Factory
• Dr. Neil Sharkey and Dr. Robert Sainburg of the Biomechanics Lab
• Dr. John Lamancusa and Peggy Ryder, who provided many good suggestions and put us in contact with some very helpful people.