Last week I told you all the topic of my research: an
attachable hydraulic pump for a Basic Utility Vehicle. Now I'm getting into the
research and I've realized that although it will be a pump, there will be a lot
of components coming together to make it work. In the design will be a
reservoir, pressure relief valve, hydraulic cylinder, breather vent, and of
course the pump, among others. In order to size the pump and the system the
graduate students in my lab have been teaching me to use MATLAB Simulink
software. It’s a powerful tool and it’s awesome to be learning how to apply it
during my research experience. I’m very grateful for the help I’m getting from
the grad students as well as my professor’s flexibility, giving me time to
learn a new tool.
As far as the research environment, I’ve found it is highly dependent
on your professor. I had always thought of research as grueling, results driven and stressful. Although it can be just that, I've found that my
professor cares just as much about learning useful skills and concepts as he
does about the results of my project. It’s possible this is a rare case, but I
suspect otherwise. Either way, it has definitely changed my perspective on the
pace and atmosphere of the research world.
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