Highlights from Dartmouth Student Blogger Isabel Burgess '20, Engineering Major
Sep 09, 2019 | Dartmouth Admissions
Hey there! I’m Isabel, a ’20 from the sunny town of Tucson, Arizona. I spend most of my time at the Thayer School of Engineering, but you can also spot me hanging out with plants and my twin brother in the greenhouse, snapping photos of picturesque Hanover, or drinking iced coffee even during the winter (Arizona habits die hard). I’m an undergraduate advisor for the North Park housing community as well as a member of the marching band, Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering, and Club Swim.
Freshman fall comes with the feeling that anything is possible, which was the case in this class. We learned Illustrator, Rhino 3D (the CAD program architects use), 123D Make, and how to laser cut, 3D print, and use large machining tools like the CNC router. We became familiar with the woodshop and the Thayer machine shop. While the learning curve was steep and the sign-up sheet for the laser cutter long, I managed to create some memorable pieces. MORE
In class for Systems (ENGS 22), we go over fluidic systems. You can model a lot of fluidic systems with electrical circuit analogs. Pressure differences in fluidic systems are like voltage differences in electrical systems, and therefore volumetric flow in a pipe is going to be like current through a wire. For example, the fluidic system I modeled for the pre-lab had an analog series RLC circuit. I already knew the rules for the electrical system, so it made solving for the fluidic system fairly simple. How cool is that? MORE
Long story short, an ABET accredited engineering degree has more requirements than an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth. Because of this, Thayer School of Engineering offers a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) that enables one to complete the extra requirements to have an accredited professional degree. MORE
Thayer, our engineering school, always has a lot of cool stuff laying around. In the atrium, special Thayer inventions are showcased, but often the most interesting items are the enigmatic bits and bobs of old or abandoned projects found scattered through the building. Today was the clean-out session for the Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering (DHE) storage corner, which meant we got to sift through some extra cool bits and bobs from previous years. MORE
Our project for ENGS 71 is to design a structural system for the tiny house which will be built at the Organic Farm this coming fall. The chosen house design juts out over the side of a hill which means that there will need to be supports up from the ground to the base of the building. One of the possible options for such supports is to use helical piles. MORE
It’s time to work in the machine shop for the ENGS 25 Stirling engine project! I use a program on the mill to cut the edges off my aluminum plates pictured below. Then the shop instructor teaches us how to use the lathe to make another part. It’s fairly stressful because I don’t want to mess up my part or break the machine, but also exciting because, after this class, I can actually call myself an “engineer.” MORE
I helped fellow DHE members construct our chariot during Tuesday general meetings leading up to the race. Thayer School of Engineering was the perfect place to build the chariot. We had parts, like 2x4s and screws, and power tools easily available for our use. MORE
This term I rejoined Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering (DHE) after I had initially joined this past summer. As I mentioned before in my blog post about cleaning the DHE corner, DHE has three projects currently running: Mahjouba, Cots for the Upper Valley Haven, and Compost Tea, and I am on the Compost Tea team. MORE
Now that I have made an engine, I can finally call myself a true engineer! I love my Stirling engine. I am not sure TSA will feel that same love when I try to bring it home with me on the airplane, but we’ll see about that. MORE
