What this class offered me..

I've learned many things in this class, heard many guest speakers enlighten us with their experiences and knowledge. I'm well-aware of the many opportunities that I have at my college time in Purdue, and out-of-Purdue as well. Inspired by this class, I'd really like to take up Spanish as a foreign language. I've always wanted to learn Spanish, but never focused on it. Hearing the guest speakers talk about how useful this could be makes me go for it now.

I'd love to study abroad, in Germany probably, since it has amazing aerospace programs for foreign students. I've mentioned about it too in one of my previous posts. My first step in engaging in global activities was to go to the call-outs of Purdue MUN team. I was selected in the interview and accepted in the team due to one single reason : my awareness of the global issues and problems that our world is facing. And being to an actual college MUN in November made me realize how big these issues are and how many people actually care about these things without any personal benefits.

The learning community gave me some really good friends. Sharing almost three classes together helped a lot. I barely know people from other classes, since its too hard to interact with them outside the classes. But the LC organizes social events too, which gives us a jolly time to spend together. I'm really thankful that I got friends like Dharna (who is also an amazing roommate), Karlyn, Daniel, Karan, Liang, Nick, Patrick, Justin, Mrigank. Moreover, it's always good to have friendly teachers like Anne, Veronica and Prof. Jesiek around. Allover, my decision of being in a learning community was truly worth it (thanks to Dharna who convinced me into it) .

What I Am Going to Take Away From this Class?

I learned a lot in this class. I found it very interesting, because I never would have thought that engineers think differently in different countries. I really want to do a lot with what I learned in this class. Next semester, I am taking French 3. I don't know how that is going to go, because I have not taken French in a while, so hopefully it goes alright. I am just nervous, because when I talk to people about taking a language they either say it is super easy or super hard. So we will see how that goes. I also plan to study abroad. I have already filled out an application. Studying abroad is something that I have wanted to do for so long. I, personally, want to go to Europe. I love the culture, because it is so rich and interesting. When I visited France, I could hardly stand how absolutely beautiful it was. Europe also has great opportunities in my major, because they do so much research there and the food culture is incredibly large. I know that I would absolutely love to have opportunities abroad in my career in the future. After listening to a speaker in engineering 194, she said if you would like to do this, then make it known. I will definitely make it know that I would love to work abroad. I would definitely enjoy this class if it lasted longer, like a whole year or multiple days a week. It is really interesting. I think that would just really allow this learning community to really expand.

Cultural differences..

The first thing that one learns after coming into a different country is that they have to acquaint themselves with the cultural differences of people, whether it is about living or talking or just the habits. Accents are way different as well. I'm friends with people of various cultures, and one thing that I've understood is that one has to accept and respect other's cultures to be friends with them. Their festivals matter, as much as ours do, and should be given equal importance. Plus I feel that the festivals here are fun and welcoming, and I loved participating in some of them.. I managed to get some thanksgiving food at dinner, which was delicious.

Culture Observations at Purdue

This semester has been new and different for so many reasons. Getting acquainted to college was a big task and I had fun doing so. (I am ready for a break. Thanksgiving was nice, but I am ready for Christmas. Three more weeks!) I have experienced many different and new situations and grown quite a bit. This semester I have grown a lot in my knowledge on diversity. I have also got to meet many people of many different cultures. I really enjoyed learning about how they live. It is so funny when they ask questions about our lives that are second nature. It can often be hard to explain why we do things, because it is just a part of our lives, the same way their differences are just a part of their lives. I gone through these experiences in Engineering 103, Engineering 131, our Cross-Cultural Project in engr 131, OEPP Roundtables, and just in class and on campus. Even over the holidays, I had cross-cultural experiences! At Thanksgiving, my cousin and his fiancee (both former Purdue computer engineering grads) came. My cousin's fiancee is from France. It was really interesting to learn about her experiences in France and then to compare stories about Purdue. I would never expect to have experiences so many diverse experiences at college.

Africa

For english, i am writing on the topic of drinking water in Africa, so I know a little bit about the engineering issues. Some solutions that work in the west are not always good solutions for areas of africa because much of africa is still developing. Since the west is mostly already developed, the technology is more advanced. The underdeveloped regions of africa currently don't have the proper technology to either utilize or understand the western engineering solutions to their complete extent. This can also be part of the reason all of the wealth mentioned in the questions, is not being used. Possibly they dont have the technology to access these natural resources. The problem in generalizing the entire continent of africa, is that obviously there are developed areas and that the whole continent doesn't consist of only small, poor villages. The solutions from the west may work in the few developed regions of africa, but not majority of it.

African Engineering

When I saw that Dr. IIeleji’s description, I was very interested to see that he was in Agricultural Engineering since I plan on going in ABE. I am really interested in food production. I will be interested to see what projects he has worked on in this area. I was also interested in his work in Slovakia. A good portion of my heritage is in Slovakia and so I have always had an interest in this country. At the beginning of the year, I listed it as a country I would want to visit. I will be very interested to here about his experiences and what he has done here. Finally, I will be interested to see what he has done as far as agriculture engineering in Africa. Engineering solutions must be different then they would be in the United States, because situations are completely different. It is a different society, different setting, different resources, different culture, different climate and so on. All these differences do not allow the ease of use of the same engineering solutions. Situations are different and a solution must meet the abilities of the setting. An advantage to Africa is all of their natural resources. These can help when choosing a solution. These resources are very wide in Africa, because of different challenges these are not utilized. Engineers can help to utilize these resources. One thing to keep in mind is not to make generalization, because there are always exceptions.

International Opportunities

I have known I wanted to study abroad for quite a while now. It would be absolutely incredible to travel anywhere. If I had a choice though, I have always wanted to spend an extended amount of time in Europe. So, if I had the chance to go abroad I would love for it to be in Europe. I am very captivated by all of the European cultures. More specifically, I am obsessed with French culture. Their art, food, and even their way of life are so unique that it phenomenal experience to have one day. I find Europe incredibly interesting. I would be open to many different experiences, anything from going to school, to interning, or even working there. Right now, when I look at study abroad opportunities I am looking for something during the summer. As far as after college, I would be willing to stay for extended periods of time. There are what I had hoped for as far as personal goals and professionally, these opportunities would be great because there are so many opportunities associated with my major in Europe. In order to achieve this, I am planning applying for different study abroad programs or international opportunities available.

International

Sitting through all the various presentations in class, one message has really stood out to me. Get international experience. It doesnt matter how you do it, for how long, or where. Just do it. Before even taking this course, I had thought about the possibility of studying abroad. I had gone to a few call out meetings and the study abroad fair earlier in the year and there was a spark of interest. The number one place I would want to go is Australia. One reason is because Australia is an English speaking country and English is the only language I speak. Another reason, is because my dad was in the navy and got to travel the world. He said Australia was his favorite place he went to, and told me all kinds of stories about it. I would probably do a semsters worth of studying while there, and at the same time get to see a new part of the world, for I have never left the country. This would be helping me academically by getting courses finished, and personally by giving me an unforgettable experience.

Engineering Options

Every continent is very different, so different approaches need to be taken in different situations. If the goal is for American engineers to implement a project in Latin America, the first thing that should be done is the group should go to go the area and see what they have to work with. The engineers need to see what supplies they have available. I think that the key is to see what the community wants and what is necessary. If the community is in search of a solution, then to find a solution the goal is to solve for that specific situation and not how it would be solved in other countries. As engineers, they must consider each situation as its own unique event. Not all resources are always available and this must be considered. Limited resources can effect energy policy because there is only so many energy resources that is available. So this does limit the options that are can be taken. Implementations of technology must follow these limitations, but they can help provide a solution. The articles addressed these issues, especially with article from Bohm it addresses how if finding a solution one of the key parts is finding a solution that is positive and will address problems with a solution beyond the standard calculations, but one that also is creative and ingenuitive.

Upcoming Challenges for Latin America

Okay, so first of all I want to remark that this is one of the blog posts that I've been looking forward to do, because I am from Latin America. Second of all I would like to focus on the main challenges that the continent faces concerning infrastructure. Brazil's geography is somehow similar to that of my native country Colombia. In both cases one of the main obstacles for developing transport, sanitation and electrical systems is the geography. We can notice that the IEA focuses a lot on the fact that rural areas in Brazil are isolated by the Amazon rainforest. This not only happens in Brazil, Colombia also has the Amazon, and the Andes, Peru has the Andes, Chile has the Atacama desert and the Andes and so on. As you can notice the geography in Latin America can be an advantage, because it provides high bio-diversity, as stated by the IEA; however, it also implies an obstacle for the development of infrastructure. Of course building electrical systems for isolated villages in the Amazon is a huge engineering challenge, as well as building roads in the Andes.

The next challenge that Latin America faces is poverty, some people in the continent are poor, specially in rural areas, this means that it is difficult for private and even public companies to develop infrastructure systems for small villages, because in some cases more money will be spent on the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure, than the money that will be earned by the enterprises that build these systems (outcome is higher than income).

Definitely these are the main two challenges, geography and poverty. According to my point of view, it is complex to overcome these barriers, my country has tried hard to find possible solutions to the problems; however, they are not simple and in some cases the governments have no disposition to spend on infrastructure systems.

Latin America

What influences energy policy from companies are limited resources. Since companies provide big portions of tax revenue, governments are concerned with what they want. Lobbyists try to convince politicians into passing energy policies that will give profit to the company. In Venezuela, we can see an example of how resources of higher need are taken up by the government. Chavez got his government mingle the country's oil industry. Poor nations don't get profit from the existence of limited natural resources, since they are usually too expensive for the rural people to afford. so, the companies get richer by the time and the local people tend to get poorer. There are issues with technology in rural Latin America. One of them that is a major issue is the culture and thoughts of the governments that are implementing the technologies in that area. It is a very distant place, and getting the new technologies and ideas to that place could be difficult and nevertheless, risky.

Anthropology and Culture in the Study of Engineering

Well after reading Dr. Nolan's reading, I really find funny the story of Tunisia, I felt so bad about Dr. Nolan's friend, who was shouting at the farmer for no reason, which could have never happened if they only knew that the word Tunis makes reference to two different places. The third case of study seemed very interesting, we could never imagine how a steel axe could change the social and cultural values of a society, especially because it is hard to think of a culture that was shaped around a tool like an axe. Nonetheless, it was the second case of study the one that I liked the most. I had never heard about the 'FulBe', my first impression about them when I began reading was that they were a little crazy, or that perhaps Dr. Grayzel had made a mistake, but then after concluding the reading, everything made sense to me. When thinking about money and basically in financial terms, the way the FulBe act is just ridiculous, but when we get to know their cultural values and their conception of the world we can easily understand that their actions are completely logical if you are focused on fulfilling their cultural values of course.

Well, anthropology is related to engineering because the way we understand other peoples and a society may affect the way engineering is performed. Culture and society have proved to be difficulties that an engineer must overcome. Although mathematics and physics are the same everywhere, the way they are applied are not, engineering and science really depend on the context. For some of us the Earth turns around the sun, but maybe for some other people the sun turns around the earth. For this reason understanding different cultures and societies affects engineering, because they need to be taken into account when making decisions inside different contexts.

I really liked the reading, hope the speaker is good as well!

communication.

Its kind of funny to me that Dr. Nolan and his colleague had the communicating issues that they did when first in Tunisia. If only they would have learned Arabic before they got there, they would have been fine. Now I know hindsight is 20/20, but to be honest, I would have probably done the same thing. The humor in the story is all due to the irony in it. Most people would assume that the city of Tunis and the country of Tunisia would go by different names. It just makes sense that way. If I were the developer with Dr. Nolan, I would have gotten very frustrated at the situation. He knew what he was looking for, and he was saying it correctly, but there were two meanings for the same word. There is something that can be learned from any experience, and I believe the obvious thing to be taken from case 1.1 is to study up about an area before you go there. Im not saying they didnt study, but when you think you know enough, try to learn more.

Global Interpretation

These three case examples provide a very good example of how different situations can be interpreted differently. Each sample does provide an example of this, but the example that stood out the most out in my mind was the first case. The story was funny and anecdotal and I think this my I enjoyed the first one the most. It is very important to understand what you are heading into before it happens. Both parties were correct, but problems occurred through communication. Also, what I though was interesting was the fact that the French language is so popular in Tunisia. Every country interprets things differently. In the first case, it was a simple misspeaking interpretation. The second sample takes an approach at thinking differently. Finally, the last case is about the representation of an image in society and how it invoked social image. Images can change over time. The example given in the article is that of an axe. Originally, it was used and depicted strength, but as time went on roles changes and the depiction of strength. The axe moved from a symbol of strength to just another item in the everyday world. If one goes to other countries, different words, items, and habits all can have different connotations.

Noticing Diversity and Different Ideas

After reading 'Diversity Consciousness- Chapter 3' I fell into account that sometimes we ignore how may people feel about something because we are not used to that stereotype or image. For example in the case of UNC the statues had a subliminal message to some people because of the pictured stereotypes. However, I think that if I pass by, I will not feel alluded because I am not the one pictured.

In Colombia, my native country, we are used to stereotypes, and people have several social barriers. When I told my friends and family that I planned to study abroad, many of them thought I would never be able to do it because I was going to compete admission against the most talented people around the world. Some others thought that americans were dumb people and their universities were dumb as well. These kind of stereotypes were barriers when applying abroad; however, I never allowed them to stop me.

Despite the arrive of the 21st century we are still immersed in stereotypic societies, who influence our thoughts and perceptions of the world. The physical consequences of external influences were proved in an astonishing experiment carried out by Mrs. Elliott, a school teacher in Iowa. She proved that the brown-eyed kids in her class felt really inferior compared to blue-eyed ones, when told so, and thus their grades dropped; however when they were told to be superior than blue-eyed kids, they improved their academic performance.

This article was really interesting because it gave several examples and cases of study of different situations and perceptions. Moreover, it really helps us open our minds to different thoughts and cultures, so that we can notice that many times our environment really affects the way we see the world around us.

How Aware Are You of Diversity?

This article has been one of the ones that I have liked the most so far. I am very interested, specifically in the situation with the statues. When I was first reading through it, the beginning I thought was some form of analogy, but then when it was not an analogy I was really shocked. What I was surprised about was that enough people approved the statue that the senior class chose as a gift that it was created into a statue on campus. It seems that there is so much evaluation of everything for racism and stereotypes you would not think this would go so far on a such a large, diverse campus. Campus life is usually more liberal and filled with activists so that is also surprising. Everything is scrutinized today. Take for example the Illinois Illini (very suiting for this weekends game). For year the Chief of the Illiniwek was the mascot and danced before their games began and was featured on Illinois gear. This mascot had been place for many years. Illinois was aware of how treating the situation properly was important. From my view and the view of many others, never was the mascot show in disrespectful light or derogatory ways. He was treated with respect and pride. The potential scrutiny of the Illiniwek was assumed and Illinois was forced to remove as the mascot and the chief danced no more. Stereotypes are a very touchy subject, and it is often hard to know when the line has been crossed.

Barriers

It never really occurred to me that social barriers and personal barriers were a problem in the world until reading Chapter 3 of Diversity Consciousness. I guess it makes sense though for me not to understand, for I am a white American living in America my entire life. I have never been somewhere where I have been a minority, or considered different. Because of this, I have been oblivious to the fact that discrimination does occur here. Looking back now, kind of embarrassed, I can say that I have been someone with social barriers. I remember in high school we got a new math teacher, Mrs. Kim. She was Korean and had what I thought to be at the time a very strong accent. I struggled understanding what she said a lot of the time because she had trouble pronouncing words in english. I remember going home and complaining everyday of how I didn't like her and that she was a bad teacher. Now, I cant believe I ever thought that because she was actually the best teacher, in terms of actually teaching, that we had at our school. She also grew to be my favorite teacher. So I guess these "barriers" and discrimination are real, but majority of us are too comfortable in our lives to open our eyes and see the truth in the issue.

Destruction is basically construction

I found the article interesting and fun to go through. Firstly, this article shows how civil engineers create and design structures in today's arena to complete a specific requirement. Different types of trebuchets were used. One Middle East ancient structure that I know of is :
Pyramids : The pyramids of egypt have been standing still for long due to the stuff with which it was made, plus its shape and design. It gives the pyramids a unique stability. They were built as tombs for the pharaohs of Egypt, hence were royal.
The structures built in the old times were built with passion, hard work and dedication, making them one of the most prestigious and memorable things on this earth. Big structures were only built to honor something or someone. The ones who built it believed that they were doing a very important job, hence they never gave up on any single thing and worked harder. They were also developed keeping in mind the extreme weathers and war times. Engineering in those days was done keeping in mind the days of war, mostly. While they built catapults for higher ranges, they built castles for surviving wars. Though the same mentality is present today, but it's not everything.

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Ancient Structure

Structures have been a key part of civilization for thousands of year. This article discusses different structures through different periods of time, while also addressing the tolls and methods that where used. When I think of ancient structures, the absolute first thing that comes to mind are the pyramids. Since we where young we have been taught all different things about them. The Egyptians forced the Hebrews to build them. They are composed of hardened clay and mud. The list could go on and on. One thing to note is that these structures have lasted for an incredibly long time. These are item that are not discussed as much in the history as they should be? How have structures around the globe, like the Sphinx or the Coliseum or even the Leaning Tower of Pisa been able to stand so long? Infrastructures are a group of structures needed for the operation of an organization. Structures comprise infrastructure. Conflict can arise in the creation of the infrastructure itself or in the running of the infrastructure. There are many parts to it that make it a complete operation.

Destruction: The Path to Construction

At first, when I began reading the article 'Five Machines that Changed the World' I thought: How did this machine change the world and how does it relate civil engineering? However, by the end of the reading I noticed that the engines exposed really shifted the way people built in the past. Structures in the middle age had to be done contemplating the possibility of an attack, this means that they had to think of the best way to carry out the construction of a 30 m thick wall!

This is really astonishing because we would never think that the beginning of structural engineering could be found when thinking about war protection, and battles. After reading the article I can definitely say that there's a relationship between structure building and conflict. Nowadays when building a structure engineers think of its resistance to earthquakes, hurricanes and stuff like that, they are not concerned about huge rocks and bodies flying across the sky that can hit the structure; but during the middle age the main concern of architects was not nature, theirs were the flying rocks, because they had to make sure that their castle could not get destroyed. Then conflict changed the way building is done because it introduced the concept of resistance. Modern buildings must be resistant without having a 30 m thick wall. Thus civil engineering could have never been what it is today without war, the concept of building resistance would be different and infrastructure would not be one thinking about possible destruction.