Class of 2008
Major: ECE
Project Center: London, England
Interactive Qualifying Project: Investigating the use of overnight lighting in commercial shops and offices as part of a global effort to reduce carbon emissions and reverse global warming.
Tom Niemczycki
January 15, 2007
Tom, at the White Cliffs of Dover
It’s already the start of the fourth week – where did the last three go? Time is moving quickly and there is still a lot of work to do. Last week the project moved completely into the data collection portion. My team’s project is a bit unique in that it has a substantial component that is completed in the field. As part of our study of overnight lighting in non-domestic buildings, we conduct nighttime observations of a set of 140 commercial buildings to record how many lights are on in various types of buildings. We made our first observation last Monday night. We arrived at the Warren St. Tube station around 10:00 p.m., and then followed our planned route. We photographed each façade of every building on our list and made careful observations including which floors leave lights on and whether we can see people inside the buildings. Bear in mind that this is at a time when we don’t expect anyone be working in these offices. Nonetheless, most of the buildings are lit up brightly – some even have all the lights on with no one in sight!
The other major part of the project is the interviews with facilities managers. These interviews are designed so that we may obtain additional information about why lighting is used the way it is in the buildings that we are observing. We will begin conducting the interviews this week. There is plenty to do on top of the field work as well. Each team has a different writing assignment to complete each week. These writing assignments, such as revisions to our background research and updates to the methodology, will evolve into our final IQP report toward the end of the project. The IQP is a massive paper, and it can’t all be written in just a few days. While the writing assignments take a lot of time and effort during the seven weeks, I think that doing a good job now will pay off as the final report should be easier to put together.
I applied to complete my IQP at a project center in A-term of sophomore year, which was about a year and a half ago. To complete the application process, I submitted an application and required essay, noted my top three choices of project centers, and was interviewed by a professor. At the same time, many other members of the sophomore class completed the same process and selected their preferred project centers. Fortunately, things worked out well for me as I am able to share my London experience with some great friends from WPI and to get to know a few people who were acquaintances until now.
Project partners were picked right before the outset of the preparatory course, which took place last term project. I submitted a survey that indicated what I believed to be my strengths and weaknesses in terms of writing ability, computer literacy, and a few other criteria. I also indicated my preference of which project I wanted to work on after reading a brief description of each of the six available projects. Project teams are formed by the Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division (IGSD), which is the department that runs off-campus project centers. I do not know much more about the formation of teams, except that the teams are designed so that there is a balance of strengths and weaknesses and every team is presumably well-rounded overall. The groups set out to complete the equivalent four-and-a-half WPI courses together.
Developing the ability to work as part of a team is a huge component of the IQP experience. Eventually one comes to understand that each member of the team brings a unique set of skills to the table. Furthermore, each team member has his own expectations of how the project should be completed. Since the IQP is an open-ended project, there is a lot of room for debate and discussion, but ultimately the team has to chart its own course. Then, the project must be carried out in such a way that all team members are satisfied with the outcome. My project partners and I usually approach problems with open discussion to generate ideas and get every team member’s opinion. In the end, most decisions come down to majority rule. Consequently, sometimes the project takes a direction that I wouldn’t take on my own. However, I know that maintaining the group’s cohesion is of great importance, and every member will need to be willing to concede at one point or another. Though group work may be taxing at times, there are also immense advantages to having this sort of teamwork experience. I realize that by including so many opportunities to work as part of a team to complete my projects and in my typical classes, WPI is preparing me to be a productive and efficient team member later in my career. As I discovered in my internship this past summer, engineers solve problems by working together. The IQP experience is refining my ability to work with others to solve a challenging problem.
As I said before, though, London can’t be all work. I look forward to each weekend when I have some time to see another little bit of England. On Saturday I did just that by taking a day trip to the small city of Dover. Dover is located along the southeastern coast of Great Britain. The town has a large shipyard, a neat waterfront, and a historic castle that sits on hill to the north. Dover is probably most famous for its immense white cliffs, however. A friend and I hiked up the trails to the top of the hill overlooking the town to get a closer look at the cliffs. The paths led us along the cliff edges. Less than a meter from our feet the earth dropped off into the sea far below. There was no fence or rail, just the edge. It was pretty exciting to stand on the mountain and look out to see ships on the horizon. The experience was also remarkable because it gave me the opportunity to see another side of Britain. London is exciting, but life moves at a rapid pace here. While standing on the mountain in Dover, it was perfectly silent and calm. The two-hour bus ride through the countryside also allowed me to see what England is like outside of the big cities.
Finally, on Sunday I decided to balance the peaceful impressions of Dover by visiting the Science Museum. One of the WPI groups is actually completing a project there. They are developing and evaluating classroom extensions for one of the galleries. I found London’s Science Museum to be pretty incredible. One of the first attractions I noticed was the massive landing gear from an Airbus A340 airliner. Any aspiring engineer would be impressed by the massive scale of just this one piece of the airplane. Naturally, my visit to the museum started with the exhibit on flight. The room had lots of different airplanes and engines on display. I was particularly excited to find a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine on display as I had worked for the company last summer and this was one of the most famous engines it had ever built. I continued to an exhibit on the history of computing. I found it rather ironic that brilliant engineers devoted entire careers to developing massive mechanical calculators that could perform only a small fraction of the functions of the graphing calculator I carry in my backpack.
Next I visited exhibits on materials, energy consumption, and space. Space was pretty exciting. Upon entering the gallery I immediately noticed that there was a small piece on Robert Goddard off in the corner. Dr. Robert Goddard graduated from WPI in 1908. After graduating, he conducted secret experiments on rocketry in a little building on the southeast corner of the campus that was then known as the Magnetics Lab. In 1926 he launched the first liquid-fueled rocket and paved the path for space exploration. The exhibit showed a picture of Goddard and included replicas of some of his rockets. It was nice to see something familiar from WPI. Other interesting sights at the Science Museum included the Apollo 10 command module, the first steam locomotive in the world, and the Launchpad gallery, which features hands-on activities that demonstrate principles of physics. I spent most of the day at the museum, though there was still a lot left to see. I’ll be sure to go back to catch Space Station on the IMAX screen.
Until next time,
Tom
London
