My name is Eva, and I'm a '25 Mechanical Engineering BE student from Upstate New York. My time at Dartmouth has been marked by the combination of the arts and engineering on campus and you can often find me working on a new project in either the Dartmouth Engineering Machine Shop or Visual Arts Center. In my free time, I love to work on lego sets and watch the craziest reality tv I can find!
This was a great exploratory class to take as an introduction to Dartmouth. I took it with Professor DeSilva, an extremely passionate individual who made this class incredibly engaging the whole way through! Coming into college I never would have expected my favorite class to have been about monkeys and early humans, but I discovered a deep interest in the evolution of reproduction.
Coming from a background of little chem experience, this class was challenging, but fun! I learned a ton about the foundations of chemistry and their applications in the modern world. My favorite part of this class was the lab where I got to see what I was learning in class in real life. I'll be taking a lot more chemistry in the future and I feel a lot more comfortable with the material as well as how to study effectively.
Design Thinking for Engineering was an incredible class that completely restructured the way I make decisions. With an 100% project based course load, this class develops teamwork, positive attitudes, and an eye for design. Not only did I learn a lot, but it inspired me to pick up a minor in Human Centered Design.
SummerHome
I took my off term in the summer to work at a coffee shop close to home as a Barista. Ask me about where to get the best coffee on campus!
My first art class and my favorite class yet! Under the instruction of a fantastic artist, I learned about many kinds of printing and made some incredible art to add to my portfolio. This is a great class for beginning artists and stood as a great start to my arts career at Dartmouth. The printmaking community within the arts department is incredibly supportive and full of talent.
Imagine taking an engineering project from its ideation to creation all in 10 weeks: stressful, but an awesome experience! Paired with an incredible team of interdisciplinary majors, I worked on the development of an electronic kettlebell to "gamify" the workout experience.
This was an incredible theatre workshop taught by a known August Wilson scholar. We read all of August Wilson's plays over the course of this class and engaged in meaningful discussion about their meaning and significance.
The summer theater workshop is an experiential class that brings students and current artists together to work on collaborative projects. This class allowed me to expand greatly as an artist and create meaningful connections with people who are currently pursuing theater full time.
FallCincinnati, Ohio
During my off term, I pursued an engineering internship at Johnson and Johnson in their surgical devices department.
Every Dartmouth experience is different and customizable, and I'd like to share a peek into the schedule I've created for myself here! Without any further introduction, let me lead you on an exciting journey in the life of Eva: Monday, May 2nd.
To begin my day, I woke up at 8:41am after forgetting to set my alarm the night before. In an extreme panic, I opened my email to frantically message my professor that, once again, I would be late for my first class. In an extremely fortunate coincidence, the first email in my feed read "class canceled today." My first class is Gender in Science Fiction, a first-year seminar that explores themes of women and gender within the science fiction genre. I've enjoyed the class thus far, but find the morning time hard to manage! This class is in the 9L section, meaning it runs from 8:50-9:55am.
After going back to bed and catching an extra 20 minutes of sleep, I woke up to get ready for my chemistry lecture. I'm currently in the second half of the Introductory Chemistry course load and am taking CHEM 006. Unlike CHEM 005, the class I took last term, this chemistry class focuses more on the structures of molecules as well as reaction mechanisms and further applications of thermodynamics. It's the only class I have right now that is above 20 people as it's a large introductory lecture class.
The chemistry building is a two-minute walk from Novack Cafe, AKA my favorite place to get coffee on campus. I grabbed a bite to eat and a grande hot coffee with two pumps of hazelnut before sitting down to get a little bit of work done.
A delicious orange and coffee in Novack
Next it was time to head to my research lab in Dartmouth Engineering where I gold coated my samples for SEM imaging. If you're curious about how to get research jobs on campus, see my previous posts about the WISP program and what I'm currently researching. Today was relatively busy so I only scheduled myself to come in for an hour and a half.
Some of the samples I gold coated and imaged
Next was my chem lab! It was an incredibly nice day out, meaning I didn't mind the 15-minute walk from my research lab to the chemistry building. It was almost 70 degrees and I loved passing by the huge crowds of students gathering on the green to enjoy the nice weather. Today we built on our understanding of reaction mechanisms and orders through a couple experiments and subsequent data analysis. Chemistry lab is scheduled for 2:10pm-6:10pm on Mondays, but you're able to leave whenever you finish. Today, my lab partner and I finished up at 4:30pm which gave me some time to relax!
I'm not a super athletic person, but my friends love playing tennis. Given the weather, they simply couldn't resist getting some play time in. Right after my chemistry lab, I met them at the courts next to the gym and watched them play for around an hour. Post-tennis, my hunger kicked in and I headed to the main dining hall, where I worked on a project for my Design Thinking class as I caught up with a friend.
Gorgeous tennis playing on a gorgeous day
Finally, I made my way to an EMS training at Sigma Nu from 8:00pm-10:00pm where we ran a couple mock trials in the frat basement to prepare ourselves for the music concert here on campus in late May. I'll make a full post dedicated to EMS in the future!
After my EMS training, I made my way back to the Dartmouth Engineering building where I settled in to study for the night. Though I love working in the library, I've found that I'm able to get an entire room and fill up a whiteboard if I study in an academic building. As this is the 6th week of school out of 10, many classes are administering midterms within the next couple days. I, unfortunately, will be taking my second chemistry midterm on Thursday night! The rest of my night was encompassed by practice exams and textbook readings.
Finally, I made the short walk back to the River dorms at 1:00am and returned to the comfort of my bed once again.
Though an eventful day, I filled it with things I love and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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This is part two of me "nerding out" about my honors thesis! If you want to learn more about independent projects, theses, or the humanities at Dartmouth, check it out!
