Hello all! As my first week as a SEED intern is coming to a close this blog post is a perfect outlet for some reflection. This busy week started off with some ice breakers involving a beach ball and questions combination that helped shake off the immediate awkwardness in our group. Unlike any others, this ice breaker contained questions ranging from ones as simple as “Aliens?” to ones as deep as “What is your greatest fear?” which led our group towards a good start in respect to bonding. As we met our Brazilian acquaintances, we were able to introduce them to aspects of the culture here in the states and similarly learn a little from their cultures. We were able to collaborate on cultural presentations on both of our countries to further introduce each other on the different cultures. Multiple walking trips to the zoo in the Houston heat were also very beneficial to our bonding experiences.

Before being refreshed in the Engineering Design Process, the group as a whole was able to partake in a deconstruction activity to get our gears turning. We were split into 2 groups and tasked with taking apart either a copy machine or a motor of some sort. I was curious as to what this motor was and therefore chose to delve in that option with a couple of my peers. 2 problems. Rust and who knew this old motor, which after inspection turned out to be a car engine, still had oil in it. The activity mostly included as struggling to unscrew screws (even after using WD-40) as the Rust refused to give away. When we thought we had success in getting past some screws we were faced with our 2nd problem, the leakage of diesel oil from one of the chambers. We ended the activity with a lot of cleaning efforts and despite not taking apart the engine as much as we wanted to we still got a deeper understanding of whether or not the designers of this device really wanted us to take it apart or not.

The next couple of days were geared towards getting everyone in the group accustomed to the Engineering Design Process and what better way to do it rather than a little project along the way. Using the regular videos and the class work book we were able to compress a whole semester of ENGI-120 into 5 days to get the introduction that our Brazilian friends needed and a refreshment we, the Rice Students needed. Our little project to “enrich” our understanding of the design process was designing an enrichment device for Tapirs. On our second trip to the Zoo we were introduced to the two Tapirs, Noah and Moli, and our client Memory, a zookeeper, was able answer questions to help us clarify our team’s assignment. With the help of the videos and in class discussion we are zooming through the process and en route to put together a device to encourage their natural behaviors through some outlet of engagement.

Although we’ve hit the ground running this week, we still managed to make the best of it. If the rest of the summer is anything like this week, I’m excited for all the takeaways!

-Mathias Adamu