May 4 2012

Bridge Building: In Progress

Posted in: Academics & Research, Life & Culture, Majors & Minors

In order to graduate from Course 1, you have to take a class called 1.013 (Senior Civil and Environmental Engineering Design, for those not yet versed in MIT speak). There are a LOT of components to this class, but one of the most fun is building, well, a bridge. It is pretty much what it sounds like. We are given a general prompt and sent on our way:

Savannah climates have streams that are dry or have low flow most of the year and can be easily crossed by foot during these periods. However, during the flood stages, such streams represent impassable obstacles. A footbridge that can be quickly assembled from easily available materials will be designed, detailed, fabricated, built and tested by the student teams.

There are a few requirements, such as failure criteria, and that the bridge has to be 10 ft long, with a 2 ft wide deck and 2-3 ft clearance above the water level, but other than that, it is really up to our imaginations (and engineering skills). Oh, and it is supposed to... read the post »

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Feb 18 2012

And the End Closes In

Posted in: Miscellaneous, Academics & Research

I’m finally in my last semester as an MIT undergraduate, and the majority of my time since classes have started has been spent doing something related to photography. I’ve taken plenty of HASS classes in my day, but this is the first that doesn’t seem like work. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy my other classes (I’ve been known to offer to take on other people’s HASS requirements), but there is just something about taking pictures, editing pictures, looking at pictures, reading about pictures that is just, well, FUN. After spending the semester learning how to use my camera (and learning other things as well, I suppose), it was exciting to sit down and see what ended up documented.

The photography class I am taking is 21W.749, or Documentary Photography and Photo Journalism: Still Images of a World in Motion. Although admittedly it is a writing class (which I would generally avoid with a 10 foot stick), it is more focused on photography and then writing some... read the post »

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Feb 1 2012

MIT Crew Florida Takeover

Posted in: Miscellaneous, Life & Culture

So usually in the beginning of January, Boston is under a solid layer of snow and the crew team is stuck inside the boathouse while our beloved river is frozen over. While this year that isn’t exactly the case (global warming must be playing its part), we still trekked down to Florida this year to take advantage of their always warm weather, and most importantly, the chance to play with dolphins.

For me, Florida was a bit of shock, mostly because the past few months have been filled mostly with running and lunges, with the occasional game of Gaelic football or ultimate Frisbee thrown in. But basically, a little different than the two-a-day, six hours of practice with a 5 mile run thrown in, and an hour and a half of video review. But what better way to come back than on beautiful water, with beautiful weather, and my amazing team?

Photo: Colleen Irby

What, you thought rowing involved sitting?  No, no, no.  

Photo: Colleen Irby

Photo: Grace L. '12

Jellyfish!

... read the post »

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Jan 24 2012

In the Darkness of the Night

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Imagine a field where by day children play soccer among smoldering fire pits, grazing water buffalo and men hauling logs. Occasionally, a group of American college students come along and play ultimate Frisbee, running among the children, the buffalo, the haulers. This field was just the start of one of the most curious experiences I have probably ever had.

In lieu of a proper picture, I have made a diagram to try and explain the configuration. Bear with me, but my Paint skills are not superb.

To start, I’ve definitely never played ultimate while avoiding small children kicking a soccer ball or sitting in a circle. While in Brazil, we had horses stampede across our ultimate field, but Vietnam brought water buffalo and smoldering fire pits.

This field is in Mai Chau, Vietnam, a small, kind of touristy village about 80 miles south of Vietnam where we stayed in stilt houses characteristic of the Black Thai, an ethnic minority in Vietnam. It is beautiful, and there is... read the post »

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Jan 22 2012

Almost a Real Engineer

Posted in: Miscellaneous

I am currently in Washington, D.C., to attend my first Transportation Research Board meeting, and then a conference on sustainable transportation called Transforming Transportation. Flying down was a bit nerve wracking due to the weather conditions in both Boston and DC; the first real snowstorm of the season in Boston, and an expected ice storm in DC (who ever heard of an ice storm?!?—we don’t have that kind of thing in the West), that was supposed to bring a quarter inch of ice. But I made it here, with a delay really only to get the plane de-iced (nice work JetBlue), and I am ready to begin a full week of transportation.

For some background, TRB is the biggest transportation conference in the country, attended by over 10,000 people every year from all over the world, with thousands of presentations, sessions and workshops. Transforming Transportation is a much smaller conference put on at the end of the week by the World Bank and an organization called EMBARQ that focuses on... read the post »

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