Getting Involved and Traveling Opportunities

Posted by Bruce

Hello blog readers!

I am a 5th year Electrical Engineering UAF student and the topic I will be talking about in today’s blog is the various activities I've become involved in on campus as an electrical engineering student.

Today's topic: Traveling while you’re at school when involved in extracurricular activities.

First, let me tell you some examples of the activities I was involved in that allowed me to travel. During the spring semester of May 2014, finals week, I traveled to Las Vegas with a team of engineering. I was involved in a Wind Turbine Competition. The Wind Turbine Competition was started for the first time in 2013 by the Department of Energy (DOE), and only 10 universities had the privilege to participate in this event. The team at UAF consisted of several mechanical engineering students who had used the competition as there senior design project for the blade and body design competition. There were also two electrical engineering students (including myself), who worked on the electronics part of the design to control the power of the turbine. The competition required a design of a working small scale turbine, speeches to be made to the judges from many well-known companies (e.g. General Electric (GE)). There were three categories of speeches: technical turbine design, business plan, and a quick pitch to the audience. We had one business student to volunteer for the competition in assisting with the business portion. Our experience participating in the Wind Turbine Competition made my teammates and I realize the amount of time and effort that it takes to complete a project that students are completely new to, as well as trying to recruit volunteers to help assist in the business and engineering parts. The first competition had changed the rules many times during the progress of the 1 year time given to the students. The rules weren't thought out the best, but since it was the first competition things were still being figured out. In the end, aside from scheduling conflicts during finals week, we had completed the competition and it was fun.

I am also involved in a club called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), as a leader member, and have been able to travel to a few places. The IEEE student branch was able to set up a field trip to the Chena Hot Springs to visit the plant there and have the owner of Chena speak about his experience and work. Furthermore, I recently went to a leadership training in Portland, Oregon for one day. This allowed me to meet all the other leaders from other schools and learn how to manage a student branch club.

Lastly, I attended a scholarship banquet down in Anchorage, Alaska because I was able to be involved in IEEE and was acknowledged for my performances. I am now planning to set up a way to travel to Las Vegas once again to attend a conference with our fellow IEEE members. The conference is called the Rising Stars Conference in which many of the famous electrical engineers or IEEE members gather to speak to attendees. Other programs I’ve attended involve a career fair, leadership activities, and opportunities to network. During the conference, other conference are also in session. One example was the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which showcased electronics that will be coming out in the next year or two.

These are some examples of how you can travel when you are involved in extracurricular activities as there are a lot out there to get involved in. Always remember to be involved in the activities or clubs. Student activities and clubs are a great way to become involved on campus and get more out of the college experience.

How to apply for travel funds and obtain funding:

Depending on the extracurricular activity, not everyone is fortunate to travel... but a club or activity can find funding to be able to travel if they have plans, such as the one described about the IEEE Conference in Las Vegas or field trips to Chena Hot Springs. One way to find funding at UAF is to speak to the Associates Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks; student government or ASUAF for short. The process of applying for travel funds is to obtain the travel funds form and fill out the required information. It is best advised to not delay the form as the deadlines happen near the end of the second month of school. Advisor signatures, trip information, budget sheets are some examples of requested information. Travel can happen anytime of the year until the end of next semester and funds are solely reimbursable, so hold onto all of your receipts. Other ways to find funding for your travel opportunities include fundraising events, funding from established campus organizations (e.g. IEEE) or outside sources. Do be careful with the rules when it comes to asking for donations from sources outside of UAF. Cautionary measures are advised via student organization meetings. More information can be found (here) and or can visit the student organization office in the Wood Center.

A Summer with Alaska Department of Fish and Game on the Susitna River

Just another day at the office

Posted by Lindsey

Imagine living in the woods next to a river with no running water for 3.5 months… This was my summer internship with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).  And I absolutely loved it!

Morning shift fish wheel check

It all started in a huge search for internships with ADF&G and similar agencies, like US Fish and Wildlife. ADF&G had the most to offer, so I began the application process. I applied for 6 internships around the state including: Fairbanks, Glennallen, Anchorage, Palmer, Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. Cover letters were written, resumes edited and application packets scanned and sent.Then the wait for a call for an interview began. Fairbanks and Palmer called, interviews were completed. Finally, it all ended with a call from both Fairbanks and Palmer, and both with job offers. I was so incredibly excited! I got the call from Palmer while I was in Fred Meyers, and I couldn’t help but leap around with excitement and do a little happy dance! I accepted the College Intern II position with the Palmer Sport Fish division.

Drift net shift!

Right after school was out for the summer, I was headed down to Palmer to start work. There was about a week of in-town work, then we packed up the boats, headed to the field and never looked back. The first few days were spent setting up camp: putting up our tents, unpacking tools, assembling the kitchen tent, organizing the office tent, pretty much getting everything habitable for the months to come. Then came the launching of the fish wheels. This was quite an undertaking that included a lot of rope, some PVC rollers and a barge to pull them off the bank where they were stored on for the winter. Here’s a video of the launch for one of the fish wheels: https://vimeo.com/112847233. Once the live boxes were attached, the fish wheels were moved into their spots along the river bank and we started spinning the fish wheels. A few days later, we started counting and tagging Chinook (king) salmon, and this marked the start of our 2014 field season.

Season record:1190mm/ 46.8 in

Our primary focus was to count all the fish that came through the fish wheels, for abundance estimates and radio tag Chinook (king), Coho (silver), and Pink salmon to track spawning distributions, as well as pull scales on Sockeye (red) salmon for aging purposes.

During Chinook season, we had 2 fish wheel crews and one drift net crew. Drift net shifts were everyone’s favorite, especially when the fishing was good! But for Coho season, there was no drift net shift, just fish wheels, sad. For both fish wheels and drift net, healthy fish were tagged and injured or sickly fish were counted then promptly returned to the river to continue their journey to their spawning grounds. It was really cool to see some of the injuries fish could get though, and it was often indicative of what tried to eat the fish. Injuries ranged from toothed whales like belugas, to seals, to squid, to various sharks, and lets not forget the elusive Dagger tooth.

A shark attack survivor

One of a fishes many predators, but oh so adorable

Not only was the job super awesome, but I made some great friends while working out there. My crew mates were awesome. For Chinook season there were 6 of us, then for Coho season we went down to a 4 person crew. And what a fun crew we had! We often stayed up late playing games, laughing, watching movies, or discussing life or the vastness of space.

Now you’re probably still wondering about the living situation… It was a unique situation, but it was pretty neat too. The kitchen area was a weatherport tent with all the modern amenities except a microwave. We had a propane stove and refrigerator. We had called in a grocery list once a week and groceries were delivered a day or so later by boat from town. But what about a shower you say? We had a shower stall constructed of plywood with a small propane heated shower unit so we had warm water for our showers… most of the time. There were occasionally shower issues in which case we heated water on the stove and took a bucket shower, which was just as good as any other shower! And finally the outhouse… The outhouse was awesome! Just a typical outhouse with a window that afforded you a nice view of the river, and the sunset/sunrise if you happened to be there at the right time of day.

Farewell Mainstem

Overall it was a great summer! I learned a ton and I’m a halfway decent boat operator now. And I can honestly say, I surprised myself a little bit. I figured I’d adjust to living in a tent on a riverbank with no running water alright, but I never realized how much I would like it. I took to that lifestyle really well and ended up loving it out there. It was especially cool when the coyotes would sing to each other at 2 am. There’s nothing like it!

Thank you Alaska Department of Fish and Game for offering such awesome internships! It was a summer I’ll remember for a long time! See ya’ll next year.