Today was the first day of the MIT Sea Grant internship in Ocean Engineering. I met the three other interns in the Sea Grant office: Jake & Beth, who are from California, and Cole, from Newton. Cole and I have both competed in Blue Lobster Bowl (Ocean Bowl) in past years.
Upon entering the office, I first noticed the huge variety of engineering materials and machines, some of which I have never seen before. This blog will hopefully successfully document the development of my knowledge of ocean engineering throughout the 6 weeks of this internship at MIT.
Today we took a tour of various labs and viewed an AUV under construction. We visited the ocean engineering lab, which contains a large tank for testing vehicles, as well as machines for cutting, sanding, etc. In another lab, a graduate student was taking videos of hydrophobic balls dropped into a tank of water. We entered a large, garage-like workroom in which mechanical engineering students converted gas-powered cars into electric-powered cars and constructed their own small vehicles for competitions. Before the day was through, we took an official admissions office tour of the campus to see aspects of student life outside of ocean engineering.
Just from this glimpse of MIT, I could tell that the students here combine their extraordinary ambition with an eagerness to share their knowledge with others. I hope to get to know many more students and scientists in the weeks to come. Tomorrow we begin building the Sea Perch, a remotely operated underwater vehicle.
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