Mechanical Engineering

I'm not sure if this would be the right place to post my question, but here goes. I was wondering if any of the fellow FCHATTERs out there work in the mechanical engineering feild or have worked in that feild? More specifically in the automotive feild. I've just started going to school to get my degree in it and have my goal set on the race car engineering feild of work, but i'm pretty aware of how hard it is to get in straight out of college. Any comments or tips on getting to where I want to go would be appreciated. Thanks
-Ryan

 

Ryan,

you might want to check out the SAE web site a see what schools regularly participate in Formula SAE, Mini Baja, and the aircraft design challenges. I would say this would be a good stepping stone.

Nascar Technical institute in NC is really nothing more than an auto repair school with a Nascar Elective avaliable.

One other word of advice is to find a race team near the the school of your choice and offer you help to them durring your schooling. This can only help make your resume stand out further.

Rob

 

Yeah I had found the formula SAE program out of a few schools. I was thinking of transfering into UC Irvine when the time comes. Would you happen to know of any race teams down in southern california to look into?
-Ryan

 

Ryan,

I have been in the field for a while. Getting involved with Formula SAE while at engineering school will help a lot. Going to U. Michigan or U. Wisconsin (Madison) will also help as these schools have close ties to the industry; however, the weather there isn't as nice as Irvine.

Good Luck,

Art S.

 

ArtS- I will have to look into going to U Michigan or U Wisconsin. I dont know why I didnt think of those schools before. What specifically do you do Art? If you don't mind me asking.
-Ryan

 

Clemson is building a huge motorsports and automotive research facility. BMW,Ford,michelin and microsoft are investing in it. There are going to build a full scale windtunnel. I am currently in my third year of mechanical engineering school. I hope to go to Clemson for graduae school.

http://www.nineronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/12/09/3fd638a20454b

 

yesod- Clemson seems like a pretty good places to pick up some motorsports back ground. Do you know if they have a website? thanks

to everyone- thanks for the feedback

-Ryan

 

Ryan,

I'm involved in several advanced engine technology projects. The one that is publishable is an advanced ignition system, you can read up on it at www.knite.com

Good Luck,

Art S.

 

http://www.clemson.edu/

http://www.clemson.edu/autoresearch/research/

 

There are so many different fields of mechanical engineering that you have to decide exactly what it is you want to do involving race cars. YOu will have the choice to take electives in subjects that interest you. Are you interested in aerodynamics of race cars? If so, a strong background in the thermal fluids sciences awaits you. This (fluid mechanics) is my personal favorite, and ironically i am currently in the middle of a term project of studying racecar aerodynamics in our wind tunnel. Would you rather design suspension or chassis? If so, maybe solid mechanics or someting pertaining to dynamics is what you want to focus on. Dont limit your options though. I thought i wanted to work in the automotiive industry after graduation, but now i think i want to work in aerospace and get a masters in that field. My point is you never know when you might learn about something that might be more interesting to you.

Now, heres the reason i wanted to post in this thread....i found all these jokes tonight...

----------------------------------
The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?
----------------------------------

What's the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons.
Civil engineers build targets

----------------------------------

A mathmatician, a physicist, and an engineer were all given a red rubber ball and told to find the volume.
The mathmatician carefully measured the diameter and evaluated a triple integral.
The physicist filled a beaker with water, put the ball in the water, and measured the total displacement.
The engineer looked up the model and serial numbers in his red-rubber-ball table.

(note: this one is a great example of one that is funny to engineering students/professionals, but not to anyone else in the world its not my favorite though)

-------------------------------------
this one is my favorite. Im going to share this one with one of my professors who i'm working on a design project (that is essentially complete...) for.

The Dictionary: what engineers say and what they mean by it


Major Technological Breakthrough
Back to the drawing board.

Developed after years of intensive research
It was discovered by accident.

The designs are well within allowable limits
We just made it, stretching a point or two.

Test results were extremely gratifying
It works, and are we surprised!

Customer satisfaction is believed assured
We are so far behind schedule that the customer was happy to get anything at all.

Close project coordination
We should have asked someone else; or, let's spread the responsibility for this.

Project slightly behind original schedule due to unforeseen difficulties
We are working on something else.

The design will be finalized in the next reporting period
We haven't started this job yet, but we've got to say something.

A number of different approaches are being tried
We don't know where we're going, but we're moving.

Extensive effort is being applied on a fresh approach to the problem
We just hired three new guys; we'll let them kick it around for a while.

Preliminary operational tests are inconclusive
The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.

The entire concept will have to be abandoned
The only guy who understood the thing quit.

Modifications are underway to correct certain minor difficulties
We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.

Essentially complete.
Half done.

We predict...
We hope to God!

Drawing release is lagging.
Not a single drawing exists.

Risk is high, but acceptable.
100 to 1 odds, or with 10 times the budget and 10 times the manpower, we may
have a 50/50 chance.

Serious, but not insurmountables, problems.
It will take a miracle. God should be the program manager.

Not well defined.
Nobody has thought about it.

Requires further analysis and management attention.
Totally out of control.

The project is designed for high availability.
Malfunctions will be blamed on the operators mistakes.

This project has low maintenance requirements.
We wouldn't let the technicians change a light bulb, much less fool around with our baby.

The software is being developed without excessive process overhead.
The documentation will be written in clear and lucid Chinese.

The delivery is scheduled for the last quater of next year.
This leaves us plenty of time to decide who to blame for it being late.

----------

 

TimN88- Haha I loved those jokes. I showed them to a friend of mine who is a student in mechanical engineering as well and got him laughing too. I liked this the best

As for the response, I havent known anyone until now that was in thermal fluids. But it sounds like something that would really interest me. Thanks for the advise.
-Ryan

 

Seems like an interesting project. Thanks for sharing
-Ryan

 

Yock, I'm am 2nd year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Mech. Eng. We have a Formula SAE/Mini Baja program. I chose this place over my original first choice (UCLA Engineering) because of my Physics teacher in HS (BS in Mech. Eng. and MS in Physics, both at UCSB) talked so much trash about the UC way of engineering.

After being here for 4 full quarters I really don't know what to make of it because I haven't taken that many major classes (taking Dynamics this quarter).

 

Its pretty much just the thermodynamics and fluid mechanics part of mechanical engineering.

Here's another good one i found:
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below said, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's of absolutely no use to anyone."

The man below said, "You must be in management."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."

 

As long as we are doing engineer jokes, here is my list - a couple were posted earlier.

Regards,

Art S.


Understanding Engineers - Take One

Two engineering students crossing the campus when one said,
"Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said,
"Take what you want."

The first engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."


Understanding Engineers - Take Two

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.


Understanding Engineers - Take Three

A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!"

The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!"

The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him."
"Hi, George! Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"

The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."

The group was silent for a moment. Then pastor said, "That's so
sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea.
And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them."

The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"


Understanding Engineers - Take Four

What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil
Engineers?
Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineers build
targets.


Understanding Engineers - Take Five

The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"

The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it
cost?"

The graduate with an Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with
that?"


Understanding Engineers - Take Six

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the
possible designers of the human body.
One said, "It was a mechanical engineer." Just look at all the
joints."
Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous
system has many thousands of electrical
connections."
The last one said, "Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else
would run a toxic waste pipeline through a
recreational area?"


Understanding Engineers - Take Seven

"Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Engineers believe that "if it ain't broke, it doesn't have
enough features yet."


Understanding Engineers - Take Eight

An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it
was better to spend time with the
wife or a mistress. The architect said he enjoyed time with his
wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring
relationship.

The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because the
passion and mystery he found there.

The engineer said, "I like both."

"Both?"

"Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume
you are spending time with the
other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done."


Understanding Engineers - Take Nine

An engineer was crossing a road one-day when a frog called out to
him and said,
"If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me
back into a beautiful princess, I will
stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of
his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the
pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me
back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do
ANYTHING you want."

Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it
back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is
the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, and that
I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want.
Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for
a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."