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Shine but not spit (just metal polish)
BENT TO THE TASK:
In that periodic ritual, candidates who want to join Cal’s
chapter of the national engineering society, Tau Beta Pi (TBP),
polish the bent near Bechtel Engineering Center. CEE junior
and TBP candidate Kaustaubh Pandya (center) does his time on
October 21. He’s joined by officers Trent Russi, an ME
graduate student (left), and Paul Monasterio, an NE senior.
After applying the metal polish, “You actually rub until
it looks dirty and black,” Russi explains, “then
wipe it off and buff.” After two hours of polishing (with
plenty of breaks), students had the bent gleaming. But that
wasn’t the only buff work going on. Nearby at the TBP
table, NE senior Robert Petroski waited for his turn by polishing
a Dr. Pepper can until the label disappeared. (Photo Credit: Rachel
Jackson)
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CEE graduate student Nat Kinsky (B.S.’05 CEE) has played on the
men’s Ultimate Frisbee team since he was a freshman. He’s
now co-captain of Ugly Monkey, or UgMo for short. With a name like that,
it might seem like the team exists to goof around while tossing a Frisbee.
In fact, UgMo is quite the opposite (and it’s “throwing
a disc,” as any Ultimate player will tell you).
“Our goal is to make it to nationals this year,” says Kinsky.
“Last year, we eliminated second-ranked University of Oregon in
the regional semifinals but lost to the University of Washington 15-12
in the finals. We were ranked 25th in the nation, and it was a rebuilding
year for us. We look better this year. We have eight solid, experienced
guys and five or six really talented new guys.” Engineering graduate
students Stephen Pepe (ME), Ying Wu (NE), and the sibling duo of sophomores
John and Scott McLaughlin also play on the team. [FULL STORY]
In the spring of 2003, several EECS students taking EE 40 built a robot.
It was nothing fancy, but it got them thinking. “We liked doing
robotics so much, we wanted to continue,” says EECS senior Sridhar
Balasubramanian. “We thought, ‘This is Berkeley. There has
to be at least one robotics club.’” They were amazed to
discover that there wasn’t, so like most resourceful Berkeley
students, they started their own.
Last year, Cal Robotics created its first robot in two weeks. “It
did pretty well on Cal Day,” says Balasubramanian. “It only
broke down towards the end of the day.” They named the six-legged
robot, Milton, after the hapless “stapler guy” from the
movie Office Space.
This year is different. The club’s goal is to build a new robot
that, by the end of spring semester, successfully “walks”
the paved paths from North Gate to Sather Gate. Members were inspired
by the DARPA Grand Challenge, in which autonomous vehicles traverse
a course with varied terrain. While the club’s robot won’t
go off paths, it will negotiate hills and turns on legs. “Frankly,
an autonomous vehicle with wheels is boring,” says Vincent Howard,
an integrative biology junior. “A walking robot is more of a challenge.”
[FULL STORY]
He’s not famous. He’s not powerful. He’s not an expert
or a personality. He’s not Matt Drudge. But IEOR senior Jon Thysell
is among a smattering of Berkeley engineering students who blogs.
Here is a fairly representative post from October 10 last year: “This
week is my Hell week. Four midterms in three days, plus scattered homeworks,
labs, review sessions … I’m already drained from studying
this weekend. Two exams back-to-back tomorrow morning. On the plus side,
I’ve added some stuff to the website, including some book lists
under Reading, and a new program under, you guessed it, Programs. Well,
I’m off to get in some more Buddhist scripture before I go to
sleep. I need to put it in the forefront of my mind so the numbers can
crunch in the background. And I need to go grocery shopping soon.”
Not many people regularly read Polikua.com, but gaining a
fan club isn’t why Thysell does it. “It’s a record
of what I’ve done, what I’ve been thinking,” he says.
“This way I can go back and see that personal side of myself later
on.” Every week he tries to post at least once and devotes a few
hours to it, plus site maintenance and improvements. The posts are usually
highlights from the day or week (one such post included his thoughts
about being interviewed by Engineering News). [FULL STORY]
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