What, So What? Now What?

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the community service event. Therefore, instead of reflecting on the community service event, I will be reflecting on my research experience up to this point. For the past two weeks, I have been working in the Undergraduate Lab in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Building alongside one of the graduate students, Yuxi. Yuxi and I have been working under Professor Karr. We have been analyzing data that was collected over this past winter. The data covers ice stress and strain on objects in the Great Lakes (Houghton, MI). The purpose of this project is to determine the amount of stress ice puts on objects and, therefore, determine whether or not open bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes, provide suitable conditions for offshore structures, wind turbines in particular. I have been working in Microsoft Excel and Word organizing, plotting, recording data. My experience thus far has been interesting and rewarding.