Hi everyone! I'm Yehalah and I'm a '26 coming all the way from Colombo, Sri Lanka. My academic passions lie in Energy Engineering and Environmental Studies. I am a first-generation and low-income student, actively involved with the community. I love to paint and read during my free time. I'm excited that you're here, and I hope you enjoy this account of my life at Dartmouth!
Taking an art class has long been a dream of mine. Drawing 1 with Professor Enrico Riley exceeded my expectations greatly! He is an inspiring instructor who allowed us creative freedom, while guiding us in the right direction. We drew in different forms of charcoal, with colour introduced towards the end of the term. I loved my experience and I cannot wait to take another Studio Art class!
The sequel to Drawing 1 with Professor Enrico Riley! We worked in oil paint, which I was completely new to and admittedly afraid to use. I ended up falling in love with the medium and the flexibility it gave me to adjust and refine my paintings at any point in the process. I am sad to finish this class and I hope I get to take another Studio Art class in the future!
Moving to America was a drastic adjustment, especially considering the difference in perception of race and ethnicity. This class gave me a insight into past and current American oppression against Black and Indigenous communities. I loved how much I learnt through this class, which was also my First Year Seminar requirement.
My first language class at Dartmouth! Taking German was intimidating, especially because of the fast-paced and rigorous learning method that Dartmouth uses. It was so interesting to learn the different grammar and rules used in the German language. I cannot wait to use my Beginner German skills in Berlin next Spring!
The Sacred Architecture of Asia is one of the most incredible courses I have taken at Dartmouth! The course is primarily discussion-based, with Professor Seher explaining and initiating conversation about the course material. The material assigned was incredibly inspiring and taught me so much about South Asian religions and their beginnings. Everywhere I travel now, I think about the lessons I have learnt in this class and I am truly grateful to Professor Seher for facilitating an incredible learning experience!
Learning about German history in Berlin was a great way to explore the city and culture! The class had weekly excursions where we visited important sites in Berlin, which was so informative and helpful. Overall, I learnt so many new aspects of Germany and the people who played a significant role in German history.
SummerPerrysburg, Ohio
Interning at First Solar, a solar panel manufacturing company! I work on the Application Engineering team under Product Management, developing ways to better serve our clients and enhance our products. It has been an amazing experience so far, I have learnt so much and I am so grateful for this opportunity!
ENGS 33: Solid Mechanics is a class that introduces you to mechanics principles that involve stress and strain analysis, working mostly with beams. From the start, I loved the material and found it extremely interesting and rewarding to study. The concepts are very intuitive and easy to grasp! The bridge design project consists of four phases.
The criteria all bridge designs had to adhere to:
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
The Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD)
The Guide Specifications for the Design of Pedestrian Bridges
The International Building Code (IBC)
We had to build a scale model at 1/16 of the real-sized bridge, made of wood and able to withstand 1kN of load on the deck and 0.1kN of load on each railing. Specific length, width, and height requirements were met as well, and minimum weight was prioritized.
Phase 1 involved researching an existing bridge design, analyzing its advantages and disadvantages, and ultimately coming up with a final design. I researched the Burr Arch Truss bridge, where the truss of the bridge has an additional arch across it, reinforcing its support. As a team, we decided on a bowstring arch with a Pratt truss design.
For Phase 2, we were tasked with conducting bending stress analysis on the deck of the bridge and tensile/compressive analysis on our truss, making sure that our design meets all requirements. This took a long time as we did the calculations by hand. I investigated how the truss tensile and compressive capacity would change if we increased the number of members.
This was my preliminary sketch of our model!
From all the knowledge we gained through Phase 2, we designed a new bridge for Phases 3 and 4 of construction and testing!
Our final design on SOLIDWORKS! This design was a collaborative effort between me, Victoria Cubina Lopez, Victory Kumbula and Elijah Butler.
I loved learning more about SOLIDWORKS through his class and its many applications in the industry. We ran finite element analysis (FEA) on our model as well to test its yield strength and factor of safety for both force and buckling!
How SOLIDWORKS predicted our bridge would buckle!
For Phase 3, we then used a laser cutter on sheets of birch plywood to cut out our parts. The gluing of the parts together took us more than two hours to complete because we wanted to be careful and make sure our bridge would hold together.
During the bridge testing, Phase 4, our model ended up holding 10kN of weight and only weighing 527 grams! I believe that it was because we did a really good job gluing the parts together. The next step is a small final presentation about where our bridge failed and what we learned from this project.
Me with the model of our broken bridge!
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One of the staple characteristics of the D-Plan is the off-term, a term in which you are not taking classes! Most students at Dartmouth will take at least one off-term, and this winter happens to be my turn! What will I be doing?
It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I wrote my first end-of-fall-term reflection. It felt like only yesterday that I stepped into my dorm room this September, eager to reunite with my friends.
