Whoa, summer… You went by fast!

It’s a little surreal thinking back and realizing I’m three years down the road from my first day in New North as a Freshman. Everything from Childish Gambino for Conquest Freshman year and pledging my Fraternity to my job this summer and our first Gameday last Saturday feels like it happened a minute ago. It’s a little sad to think I’ll be gone in a year…. But then I remember I still have a year left! YES!

This fall is shaping up to be a whirlwind of activities and events. Saturday was our first Gameday, against Arkansas State; it was awesome not only because we won 55-6, but also because of how packed campus gets for such an important event! I ran into loads of my friends who are now alums and got to hear cool stories about new adventures and jobs ones who aren’t living near school anymore. It reminded me how tight-knit the Trojan Family is no matter the distance.

To raise money and awareness for our team USC Racing brought out our car to show off to everyone who was visiting. We invited new members to come out and hang with the team leads and enjoy some burgers and fun.  We even had the pleasure of having our Advisor, Professor Staelens, hanging with us and manning the grill.

Grillmaster Staelens whipping up some delicious hamburgers at the USC Racing Tailgate

Grillmaster Staelens whipping up some delicious hamburgers at the USC Racing Tailgate

From the club side of things USC Racing and 3D4E are already in full swing.

Racing is well underway designing our new car this year. Thanks to the hard work and diligence of our Chassis team last year we decided to freeze our chassis design months in advance of when we did last year, that means we will begin building our race car later this month (wayyy ahead of when we got started in 2014)!

This year is 3D4E’s second year in existence and the first year where our executive board really feels like we have a handle on the situation. We’re bringing back our exciting Freehand project, and introducing some awesome new projects like our ‘3D Bodyscanner’ project and our ‘Printer Redesign’ project. Interest in the club has grown so much that it’s difficult for us to keep up with the emails! But that makes it all the more exciting.

There's no way to not have fun with the 3D4Eboard

There’s no way to not have fun with the 3D4Eboard

3D4E's Lab Manager Nick fixing up the printers last night at Eboard Recertification

3D4E’s Lab Manager Nick fixing up the printers last night at Eboard Recertification

Academically I’m excited for what is my ‘Capstone’ year. Along with a GE on Philosophy of Ethics, this Fall I’m taking: AME 404 ‘Computational Solutions to Engineering Problems’ which teaches us to use the numerical models we’ve learned to develop over our first three years and enter them into computational software like Matlab allowing us to obtain simple solutions to complex problems; and AME 410 ‘Engineering Design Theory and Methodology’ which teaches the fundamentals of how to design well thought out, useful, and manufacturable products; AME 441 ‘Senior Design Projects’ I’ll blog about that sooner than later; and AME 451 ‘Linear Control Methods’ which hopes to teach us the fundamentals of controls theory and practice.

Despite this summer blazing by and this being my last year, I cannot wait for what this semester and this year are going to bring. Until the next one, sit tight and look out for more blogs!

Oh and don’t forget…. Fight On!

FIGHT ON!

FIGHT ON!

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Ian-2016

Ian-2016

Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2016, Learn more on his profile here!