So far, so good...

Ok, so it turns out that the professors really do know what they are talking about. The one I'm talking about right now is Dr. Strieb, computer science professor at IC. I took 4 of his classes, and with 4 weeks in to my research, I am using EVERY bit of it. They all have been extremely helpful.

I can imagine if Dr. Strieb saw all of the programs I have been writing to help with the research, he would just laugh and say, "told ya' so."

Everything is going pretty smooth so far. I have been working on liquid crystal flow from nematic phase to isotropic phase... and if you don't know what that is, join the club. Really, what I'm doing is using the equation my advisor and 3 other people have worked out, and modeling it in MatLab (a software program that MANY engineering schools and companies use... it's sorta like Maple or Mathmatica). I am trying to judge what the different coefficients do to the graphs of the output. The cool part is that no one has ever tried to do what I'm doing, so there's a strong chance that I'll can get it published with Dr. Fried's (my advisor) work. The uncool part, I have NO idea if I'm right or wrong. If any graph appears, I won't know if it's supposed to be there or not!

I have been getting acquainted with MatLab for the last few weeks, and just reading through a few of Dr. Fried's papers. I have this 20 minute "midterm" presentation to give on Monday, so I'm trying to get the first half of my research wrapped up this week. It will make for some long nights.

It's a good thing that I stayed awake, for the most part, during Calc 3 and Differential Eqs. too, because I have been using that stuff none stop. (Thanks Dr. Calderhead and Dr. Marshall, respectively)

All in all, the general lesson for the day... pay attention to what you are learning, because there's a reason you're learning it! If the school year here is like the research this summer, I'm going to be just fine... because I have been very well prepared, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

Until next time,

Joe


p.s.

Someone should mention that in IC 102, or whatever they are going to call it now, if you're learning about the library, you should learn how to use the darn Library of Congress stuff, because it took me two hours to find 3 books! Apparently, Mr. Dewey isn't THAT popular.

So I want to be an Engineer?

That's a question that I don't have the right to answer now. It's too late! I am Joe, I have just completed my 3rd year at Illinois College, and I am in the midst of transferring to Washington University in St. Louis for the fall, for Mechanical Engineering. So you see, to answer that question any other way than yes, would mean for a colossal waste of time.

It is my understanding that I am "blogging" to give insight into what a fourth and fifth year student does while completing the 3-2 program from IC. I am thrilled to be able to share my experiences, but I can assure most of you, they will not be profound, life changing, or incredibly passionate. In fact, the more I think about it, if in fact they stay incredibly boring, that just means that everything is going incredibly smooth, and I'm doing one heck of a job.

That won't happen, either.

I'm sure there will be some trials along the way, but without those, how much fun would it be anyway? I'm sure I'll write about bad tests and professors, fun times, bad times, and all those times in between, and through all of it, I hope it shows at least one thing: you can be very successful going through the Illinois College program.

Some quick clarification: I no longer attend IC, they are not paying me (although, it wasn't an option, Scott), and I have absolutely no reason to do this, other than I still believe very firmly that I have had the greatest opportunity in going to IC, and I really hope that my experiences can help some others along the way. If only 4 people read this thing, and that is a possibility, then that's four more people I have helped, and that makes me feel four times better.

So, without any further ado, I welcome you all to my blog, may it be as exciting for you, as it will be for me.

Joe

p.s.
Anyone can ALWAYS reach me at- calmesej@ic.edu - please just include "Blog" as the subject.