Week 12 was the most anticipated week for our group this semester as it marked the week we would finally fly to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit our sponsor’s site. This is the first time (that we know of) that an IPPD was able to fly out of state for a sponsor site visit. We would like to thank the UF travel department, our sponsors, and everyone who worked to make this trip possible for us.
Our team arrived on Thursday 11/14 at 11:00 am after leaving for the Orlando MCO airport from Gainesville at 4:00 am. We had a pretty significant hiccup trying to check out our rental van for a number of reasons but we eventually resolved the problem after numerous phone calls about 3 hours later. We checked into our hotel in the urban basin of Cincinnati. After some exploration, a few meals, and a night of bonding the team finally went to sleep for our site visit on Friday morning.
The site visit was a breathtaking view into the operations conducted at GE Aerospace. Their massive site consisted of multiple warehouses and testing cells which I cannot go into detail about, but viewing the scale and intricacy of the operations there was truly a humbling experience. They also showed us the system that our project this year will have a direct impact on. Personally, it was invigorating to finally see and understand how the things we do as a simple student design team can have a great effect on the development of new technologies. Next, we had our usual team meeting with our liaisons and coach in person in a meeting room in the GE Aerospace offices and were treated to lunch. Our liaisons invited personnel from the facility and specifically some University of Florida graduates that we could network with and ask questions about their day-to-day. After, we took a historical tour of the learning center where we learned about what sets GE Aerospace apart from its competitors both historically and to this day. Finally, we toured one of the workshops where engines could be quality tested and repaired which gave insight into the diversity of jobs that are required for a company such as GE Aerospace to run efficiently and effectively. Throughout the tour, we asked engaging questions and got answers that could help guide us in the development of our careers. Overall, the site visit was even more instrumental to our personal and professional development than we had previously thought.
The final full day we had consisted of exploring the city and bonding as a team. We went to Findlay Market which is one of the oldest indoor outdoor markets in the United States and was recommended to us by a few locals and a number of GE employees. We ate great food there and had the opportunity to shop around for souvenirs. We took a hike around the city and went to a beautiful park on the top of a mountain which we don’t see too often here in Florida. Some of us tossed around a mini football I purchased from the Bengals team store at the stadium and had a great time bonding. Saturday was an early night due to all the walking and excitement of the past few days and we headed back to the airport Sunday morning around 12:00 pm. We drove back to Gainesville from Orlando and said goodbye until this Tuesday when we continued working on our System Level Design Review (SLDR) which we had to present to our peers that day.
This week, we presented our SLDR and got meaningful criticism regarding formatting, soft skills, and some of the content of our presentation. We really appreciated this presentation because it allowed us to have some outside voices that could weigh in on the way we present our project so we are prepared for the real SLDR on December 3rd. This week we have been working on sourcing stock so we can manufacture our first metal top plate by the end of this semester so we can begin testing as soon as possible after the break.
Overall, this week has catapulted us forward as far as our motivation to conduct meaningful work by manufacturing and collecting data to help advance technologies that can be used to advance humanity. We look forward to any and all learning experiences or challenges that come our way!
