Yay Solar Energy!!! (TED talk review)

The TED talk I am reviewing is about a solar energy system that is more efficient than most on the market because it tracks the sun’s movement throughout the day. The machine was created by the founder of Idealab Bill Gross who explains his ideas for previous inventions and really wanting to have an impact on the world and specifically the energy crisis we have in the world.

He begins by discussing his interest from a very young age at the potential of solar energy and even had a small business making solar cells that went on for a while. But then he encounters difficulties that throw him on a “25 year detour”. Some of these problems included coursework at his college and other technological advances in computers. He eventually comes back to his passion though of working to create a backup energy supply and in his case it was solar.

Bill then goes on to speak about his problem solving process and how he got to his ultimate final product which he revealed during his TED talk. His first idea was to create a stationary cell that captured the light from multiple different angles purely based on its shape and while much more cost effective than the common solar cells today it did not capture near as much energy as a tracking cell so they went back to the drawing board. After some designing they came up with a 12-petal system with each petal controlled individually by a microprocessor in order to track the sun and calibrate to try and be as warm as possible.

After coming up with the best way to capture the rays Bill then went into discussing the process for finding a solar energy to electrical energy converter. He discusses going through hundreds of designs and ideas before coming up with the current prototype which is cheap and efficient.

I think this innovation is absolutely incredible because my passion lies in renewable and specifically solar energy. Like Bill I see so much untapped potential for solar energy that if we just decrease the cost of production and installation a little bit the resource could be extremely viable and greatly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. I find his process very interesting because he never gave up and always persevered and fought through if the original or even hundredth design did not go through. His design process also really intrigued me because he took what he learned at some of his previous jobs in order to apply it to this final creation.

What I got most out of this though isn’t the invention or his process it was simply the principle of having an idea and a passion and running with it no matter the results it brings. Bill eventually got back to his true passion that he had in high school and I can tell from the video that not only is he proud of what he is done but he is very happy with doing it. This is where I want to be in the future happy and proud about what I am doing because I know that I am making some sort of difference in the world. I would really like that to be with solar energy and its applications but I also know that as long as I am doing something to improve our state of being I will enjoy my life. 

#platypus

The home stretch

Like Brian, I am having a hard time trying to stay motivated and finish strong... I mostly blame the weather for this problem because I'm pretty sure I'm like a plant and get all of my energy from the sun but that's a different story. I am hoping this weekend will spark me to take a couple of practice tests and get going down the road of studying because I will be in some serious trouble if I don't. Good luck on finals to you all, I hope you can find the motivation to succeed and I know you will.

I love puzzles

Our last class for me was just a blast because I love solving puzzles and the challenging the better. It was also interesting seeing some of the puzzles the others teams had created and sort of their thought processes while creating them. I'm not sure if we pulled out the team win or not but I know you three were the best teammates I could've asked for and I have greatly enjoyed this semester in large part because of you. So thanks to you and also thanks to Craig for coming up with a stimulating and challenging class that definitely improved my problem solving abilities.

#platypus

Brian's Last OoC post

At the end of the semester, I find myself with a myriad of things to do. Not only projects and tests - I have to think about cleaning up my apartment, packing, and getting home for the summer. It leads to a lot of prioritizing - lots of deadlines to meet. I think I've been doing alright, but now I'm starting to burn out. I've gotta come up with a new solution to keep me motivated for one more week!

Brian - It's been an honor

Hey all,
It's been great working with you this semester. It was especially fun to spend the last class solving all of those puzzles together. It felt great when we each pitched in to complete a particularly difficult one. Unfortunately, we lost our bragging rights as the overall winners, but I feel like we made a good run at it. Thanks for the wonderful semester!

Rearranging Life

For the past two days, you may have noticed a few more people on campus who stand out a little. There were over 2000 FFA members on campus for the state FFA convention and I was thrilled to be able to participate for one more year! However, one thing I didn't take into account right away was the fact that it isn't quite as easy to make up school work in college... Especially during Dead Week!


In order to participate in a contest and receive a proficiency award, I had to miss the majority of my classes on Tuesday, which included a quiz, physics lab, recitation and biology lecture. The only things I was really worried about were the quiz and the lab. I was able to make up the quiz Wednesday morning and do the lab right after that! This resulted in my Wednesday being a little crazy, but I also got to see a lot of my friends and have a great Tuesday!


#platypus

It all comes together!

This class was a lot of fun as we got to solve another group's problem. They threw us for a loop with the phone code clue, but we got it figured out! It was really fun to figure out what the other groups were thinking as they created their clues.


Since we got our problem solved quickly, we also got to do lots of other puzzles provided by Craig. It's safe to say I've come a long ways in my problem solving skills as I was able to solve all the puzzles without "using my resources". This seminar has been a blast and I'm glad I was a part of it!


#platypus

Isaac Article Review

Marcus Hollman, a professor of Animal Science from Michigan State University, wrote an article on issues currently facing animal agriculture. In particular, Hollman focuses on the unsettled matter of sustainability and food production.  In his article, Hollman attempts to define sustainability, how it is perceived by society, and what forms sustainability takes. The following review will outline the main points of Hollman’s presentation and evaluate his given possible solutions to alleviate the strains on agricultural sustainability.

I find this topic very interesting due to its incredible relevance in today’s animal production industry. Society is currently holding producers to higher standards of environmentalism, and this movement has both economic and environmental consequences. As a future veterinarian, I may find myself advising producers to use more “green” methods of production.

As Hollman points out, the current state of agriculture is under question for its ability to be a sustainable, environmentally-friendly, method of feeding the world’s people. As of 2012, our current world population is around 7 billion people, and it is projected to reach 9 billion people as soon as 2050. Knowing this, animal agriculture is under pressure to be sustainable in the long term.  One of the principle methods of sustainability is nutrient recycling. As animal production occurs, nutrients used in production are moved from their places of origin. Nutrient recycling ensures that some of the nutrients depleted from one area are eventually returned through methods such as fertilization, nitrogen-fixing planting, and other such practices.

Hollman outlines different viewpoints, or dimensions, that seek to create long-term stability in animal agriculture. The first dimension is market based; driven mostly by the pursuit of efficiency and minimal waste by producers hoping to increase profits and eliminate wastage of nutrients. This has been the prevailing viewpoint for most of the 20^th century. This perspective utilizes market-based solutions to drive inefficiency down and also promotes the use of byproducts of the animal agriculture industry. This viewpoint is the most profitable to producers and is the most successful in producing large amounts of food to feed the world’s populace. However, this method is also contingent on the unlimited supply limited resource. It also lacks accountability for the proper recycling of nutrients and avoiding pollution, often causing nutrient depletion and pollution in some areas.

The second viewpoint, as proposed by Hollman, is that of farmers being “environmental stewards”, who are responsible for the proper use of available local resources. This includes minimizing possible soil and water pollution, while at the same time doing their best to recycle nutrients. This method promotes sustainability by recycling nutrients and reducing possible environmental hazards. Production of food is maximized, with the condition that maximization does not negatively affect the local environment. While this method does encourage sustainability, it is restricted by local nutrient flow, and does not produce as much food as efficiently as conventional methods.

The evidence shows that in the United States, environmental friendliness has been more and more a concern for consumers. This has, in part, driven many producers to adopt a role as an environmental steward. The results have been promising, with many new state-of-the-art facilities being produced with environmental stewardship in mind. So far, it is not possible to tell whether these policies will be beneficial in the long term, but the enactment of these environmentally-friendly policies have led to improved public perception of animal agriculture.

I find that this topic often comes up when discussing commercial agriculture. In my opinion, it is true that producers have a responsibility to the planet and to local ecosystems to be environmentally friendly. In most situations, producers are happy to comply with society’s demands. However, producers also have a responsibility to themselves, their families, and consumers to make a low-cost product that will put food on the table for both consumers and producers. It seems to me that the best option is somewhere in the middle. Total environmentalism would be ideal, if not for the continually growing human population. To feed everyone, some form of large, commercial agriculture needs to take place, which will result in some nutrient depletion and environmental side-effects.  While Hollman gives two opposing perspectives as possible solutions, I believe a happy medium is the best option. Today’s market provides for people who are more willing to buy “environmentally-friendly produced” products. This allows some producers to be environmental stewards and still be competitive with more conventional producers. All in all, I am very interested in this discussion, and I look forward to further developments in this area. 

#platypus

I Love TED Talks!

TED talks are the greatest thing ever. Whenever I watch one, I walk away feeling so much more motivated about life. I think it's because the individuals who are delivering the talks are always so passionate about their topics that it inspires me to do and achieve more!


When I started looking for talks for this project, I found three that I liked, but this one (Ending Hunger Now) was definitely the best! The speaker is Josette Sheeran, director of the World Food Programme. She speaks about different ways the UN is working to end hunger around the world.


As a biological systems engineering major, food insecurity and hunger are issues I hope to combat using my education. However, there are a lot of societal and economic challenges to fighting hunger in addition to the inherent production issues. In the TED talk, Ms. Sheeran addresses three creative ideas of particular interest to me.


The first creative solution is special nutrition packages that use traditional foods to deliver nutrients that are lacking in the diets of certain populations. This interests me because it directly involves food and food processing, which is a focus area for my major. These packages are climate proof and do not need refrigeration or water to deliver the needed nutrition to people. This would be an area where I can directly apply knowledge of food chemistry and processing to help end world hunger.


Whoever came up with the idea of school feeding programs deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. These programs purchase food from local farmers (stimulating economy), serve it to children (providing nutrition) and serve it at school (providing education). It's the trifecta of hunger fighting! Another plus side is that school feeding programs result in more girls enrolled in school. Although this creative solution does not directly involve engineering concepts, it is the kind of application that I would love to pursue with a combined business and engineering degree.


Finally, a hot topic in food insecurity is the fact that communities often become dependent on food aid. This can be combated by a solution such as village managed warehouses. An aid organization builds a warehouse full of food in a community and members of the village replenish the supply with the food they grow themselves. This allows the village to have the infrastructure to become self sufficient and provide their own food for the future. I am also very interested in applying engineering knowledge to creating better storage for food.


Although these three creative solutions are all very different, they are all areas I could see myself exploring in the future. This field is so exciting because there is such a need for innovation and any progress that is made will likely save hundreds of lives. In order to truly end hunger now, we need to combine the knowledge and skills of people in many different disciplines, from agriculture to business to politics to engineering. World hunger is definitely a problem in need of a creative solution and I want to be part of creating and realizing that solution!


#platypus

Brian Fuchs TED Talk Review (Self-Healing Asphalt)

I know it's a week early, but...

This is a review of Dr. Erik Schlangen’s demonstration of self-healing asphalt that he developed. This video can be found on the TED talk website at https://www.ted.com/talks/erik_schlangen_a_self_healing_asphalt. It was seen on April 27, 2014.

This is a short video – only six minutes long. However, I picked it because it directly relates to Materials Engineering and successfully solves a problem. Dr. Schlangen presented his findings at a TED talk in the Netherlands in 2012. This review will focus on Dr. Schlangen’s presentation, which was successful in its pitch. This finding has excited me on a personal level, as it demonstrates my personal favorite form of creativity; applying old techniques to new applications.

The style of the talk is a combination of a demonstration and a sales pitch. Dr. Schlangen’s purpose is to show the world his cool new research. This has the possibility to reach hundreds of thousands of people, especially given the popularity of TED talks.\

Dr. Schlangen talks about asphalt roads and the problems they face – water build-up, noisy, and they crumble easily. Some of these problems have already been solved; porous asphalt reduces water build-up and noise. However, this too faces the problem of crumbling over time. So how does that get fixed? Dr. Schlangen introduces two material-related topics: induction heating and self-healing materials. His team basically wove steel fibers into the asphalt along with some heat-induced self-repairing material. With this technique, a strong electric coil can cause the steel wires to heat up and induce the repairing reactions in the asphalt. Dr. Schlangen demonstrates this technique by breaking a piece of his asphalt in half, then putting it in a microwave. When he removes the piece, it has healed itself back together.

Dr. Schlangen’s pitch is rather successful. Most helpful was the successful demonstration of the self-healing asphalt, which was accomplished using a rather simple microwave. This in particular helped to sell it; most of the audience knows what a microwave is. The idea that something that “simple” could be used to heal roads is fascinating. If this actually makes it onto major roadways, it will be a simple manner to “heal” them rather than replacing them every 10 years.

Unfortunately, Dr. Schlangen did not go into the science behind induction or self-healing materials. As a Materials Engineering student, I understand what they are, but it looks like hand-wavy magic to those on the outside. I really was hoping he would get into the science behind it. However, he chose correctly based on his audience – many people would care what the actual science is as long as it works.

In terms of “sales pitch” TED talks, this talk was better than some of the other ones that I’ve seen. Sometimes, the talker just looks at his demonstration, or his feet, but Dr. Schlangen engaged the audience well. He faced the crowd, did some cool demonstrations that involved liquid nitrogen, and cracked a couple jokes.

As I said before, this is my favorite type of creativity: taking old ideas and applying them to new applications. From what Dr. Schlangen described, these are fairly simple techniques – induction heating has been used in industry for decades, and self-healing materials, while still a topic of research, are also in use. Dr. Schlangen took these two concepts, took an existing material (porous asphalt) and combined them to make an even better material. It’s the same thing I hope to do in the future. While I’m not really interested in asphalt specifically, I am interested in composite materials. Much like this asphalt, composites take the best of two worlds – e.g. the toughness of a polymer and the hardness of a ceramic – and combine them to make a material that is tough, strong, and lightweight. The newest planes – things like the Boeing 787 – are being made using a material called “black aluminum,” a combination of carbon fibers and epoxy. There’s this whole field out there that just focuses on combining things to make them stronger, and that’s right where I’m heading.

In conclusion, Dr. Schlangen gave a good pitch for his asphalt. While he did not go into the science behind it, he had a successful demonstration of its effectiveness. This is the type of science/research that makes me excited for my future. 

#Platypus

Isaac Personal Reflection 4/25

This week I had a lot of exams and lab practicals, typical of the week before dead week. As a result I found myself studying quite a bit. While most of my studying involved memorizing procedures and facts, some of my o-chem studying involved completing molecular structures using HNMR data, which use quite a bit of problem-solving skills. I have also used creative ways to keep myself studying, such as creating a study schedule and rewarding myself. All I know is that so far my studying has payed off, and I hope my luck can continue into finals week. 

#platypus

Problem Solving + Luck = Happy Cody

So last week I kind of ranted about how my life this week was going to suck and it did a little bit but not too bad. The reason is I was able to get super lucky so although it doesn't really have anything to do with problem solving it helped my time management greatly. My group presentation that we had zero information for and was supposed to be due by Mon at 5 got moved back to next Mon at 2! The O-chem homework I had due on Wed got moved back until next Mon as well and our other group project turned out to be much easier than expected. So now I just get to relax and enjoy the wonderful weather and study for finals. Yay for having luck on my side this week it has really made me a much happy camper.

#platypus

Puzzle Creation Masters!!!

So I really enjoyed class this week. It's very interesting looking at the process of creating a puzzle that people can actually solve and most of the time actually end up solving it yourself. I would say overall our group did what we do well and that is break things down to our individual strengths this time it was by creating the puzzles we are most familiar with. It was also enjoyable trying to come up with different more low key landmarks on campus. I also find it interesting that the first thing we decided was what our final solution was going to be and we then stretched it out from there bringing in the rest of the clues. Overall I am really excited to see how the group does that gets our scavenger and also how we do with another group's scavenger hunt because we are all super creative problem solvers!

#platypus

P.S.

I would like to do this TED talk for my review....  https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gross_on_new_energy/transcript

Communication Creativity

A couple weeks ago, I'm pretty sure I said something about bad communication and writing a blog post about it next week (which obviously didn't happen), but it turns out I was just saving the idea for this week! One of the wonderful challenges that comes with being a student leader here at ISU is sending and receiving hundreds of emails every week. It doesn't sound to bad - just emails, right? - but you have to realize that every other student gets spammed with emails constantly. The challenge lies in making your email something that they want to read. I have discovered three tried-and-true methods of doing this, which will be presented in order from most professional to most fun!


1) Make your email sound very important. This can be achieved in a few different ways. You can be a very important person yourself. If you get an email from President Leath or Craig Zywicki, you're obviously going to read it because these are important people who wield power on campus. If you're not inherently important, you can put "URGENT" in front of your message or just write the subject in ALL CAPS! Either of these things will usually make your email sound important and therefore other students will read it!


2) Incessantly email small bits of information until all details have been given. This method is not so much effective at communicating accurate information and should not be used if the information is important (see above). However, it can be used if you are trying to keep students engaged in a club or organization. They will have to read each and every email in order to assure they are getting all the information! (As I look back at this one, it seems like less and less of a good idea. Not recommended...)


3) Add humor to your email! This method is best used for communication with students that you know well. I would not advise using it for a mass email to the entire university, but within the board of an organization (privately) or among the members of a social organization, it can be very effective and fun! Personally, I just joined a sorority, and this is where I have gotten the idea for this method. An email I received recently had the following subject line: "Being literate is a privilege so please read!" After seeing that, I laughed a little and promptly opened the email to exercise my privilege. I used this method in a sarcastic email reminding board members to fill out a Doodle poll so we could schedule our next meeting. It worked! However, this method must be used with caution in order to ensure the members read into sarcasm and don't think you are just a jerk!


Wow, that was a long blog post! If you got this far, you get a prize! It's probably not a very good one (maybe some expired coupons) ((but really, I've given those out as a prize before)). *Note the use of humor here.* It seems I have the third method down, and as the second isn't very effective I should work on the first method next! Time to become an important person!


#platypus

Let the Games Begin!

After six weeks of learning about creativity and problem solving, this week our goal was to create a challenge for another group in the class to solve. This was a great way to apply everything we've been talking about this semester into a fun and interactive activity! I am really excited for next week when we get to solve another group's challenge - and also a little worried for whoever gets ours!


#platypus

Isaac Class Reflection 4/21

I'm quite excited for the scavenger hunt next week. I really hope we did a good job of coming up with puzzles for the other groups. While creating puzzles, I found that coming up with a good puzzle can be just as fun as solving them. I think the satisfaction comes from creating something that will challenge and intrigue others, a feeling similar to invention. I can't wait to see what the other groups came up with. Bring it on!

#platypus

Honors Seminar Penultimatum (Brian Class 4/24)

I still feel rather evil for the challenges we set up for the other teams this week. I really like that they're going to have to use everything in their arsenals to figure it out. Let's hope they can do it in 90 minutes!

#platypus

Let There Be Creativity! .... Please? (Brian OoC 4/24)

My English project for this semester is coming along swimmingly, but it feels so boring. I'm "creating" a webpage with my group, but it basically follows our client's current webpage. I've been trying to "spice it up" with funny quotes, pictures, and dynamic layouts, but it just feels boring. Not sure what to do there.
On the plus side, I'm getting all my final projects under control! Finally!

A Blast from the Class

Those puzzles at the end of class were wonderfully challenging. I have limited skills in cryptographs, but with a little practice and help from Cody, I was able to remain interested and active without generating anxiety. It felt like I really hit a groove - a "flow" - where my skills were perfectly matched to what I was doing.

Isaac Personal Reflection 4/18/2014

As the school year begins to wind down, I find myself getting caught up in a lot of studying. I don't have many projects due this semester, but exams and finals are beginning to loom over me like grim death. The important thing for me right now is to keep motivated to study. I have begun making a study schedule to keep myself on track. Hopefully, I will be prepared for finals this semester.

I have also finally found something I like about Organic Chemistry. We are currently learning about HNMRs, CNMRs, IRs, and Mass Spectrometry in 331 lab. Basically, given the empirical formula of a compound and these four things, you can determine the exact structure of a compound. They sound difficult, but they are very puzzle-like, and I actually enjoy doing them.

Other than that all I have to look forward to is going home this weekend and seeing my family for Easter. When my dad's family get together, there are always a lot of us, and we end up playing board games. In theory, some of my problem-solving skills should translate to helping me crush my cousins in board games.

#platypus

Isaac Class Reflection 4/14

Class this week was very interesting. The theme of the class was the nature of what makes a puzzle a puzzle, and what makes a puzzle either fun or boring. Whether or not a puzzle is fun depends on the challenge the puzzle presents and the amount of skill the solver has with which to solve it. If a puzzle is very challenging, but the solver lacks the skill, the puzzle is likely to be frustrating to the solver. Inversely, if the puzzle is not very challenging and the solver has plenty of skill to solve it, then the puzzle will be boring or monotonous. This weeks puzzles were all quite challenging, and required all of us to divide the workload up based on our skills. I concerned myself mainly with the crossword puzzle, which was quite difficult actually. But when I finally finished it, I felt a great satisfaction. This reinforces the idea that a puzzle is more satisfying if it has a good ratio of challenging to skill level.

#platypus

Group Project Time

Since the semester is winding down it seems like a good time to discuss the plethora of projects and tests that seem to be sucking away all my time and then with a little bit of creativity and problem solving, ways to get that time back. Well the first group project involves designing a flow system for a fluidized bed... aka a lot of number crunching and making assumptions. Based on the very limited design specifications our group has to come up with the entire design from velocity calculations to mechanical energy balances as well as friction losses etc...

The second group project (which we just found out are presenting next Tue) is to research the environmental management practices of a small entity, we chose to do Grinnell, IA initially however the lack of information by the city officials chose us to move toward the college instead. Needless to say we will have to find enough information for a 15 minute presentation and a 10 page paper.

Both of these projects combined with other end of the year res hall and club activities has been making it very difficult to study for tests and do other hw assignments so here's to not sleeping until after finals!

#platypus

P.S. sorry for the rant but I needed to let out my frustration somewhere.

The Science Behind Puzzles

I really enjoyed class this week because it broke down puzzles into a very simple formula and it was easy to see what created the best puzzles. Ultimately it came down to challenge vs. skill and the goal was to be at a perfect 1:1 ratio. The puzzle needs to be hard enough to create a little bit of pressure but also for a puzzle to be enjoyable there needs to be some level of knowledge or skill known by the solver. Personally I find puzzles where have little or no skill behind them to be incredibly boring so the Smithsonian puzzles were absolutely wonderful. They got our entire team to work together and pick out our individual strengths. The challenge was made plain to see and most of it was in the difficulty of the puzzles themselves. But the skills were different among us and so when they matched up fairly evenly that was when they not only became fun but also solvable.

#platypus

Challenging my Skills

This semester, I'm taking a "Failure Analysis" class. For the lab component of this class, we receive parts that have broken for a variety of reasons. Our task is to figure out why they broke; were they over-stressed? Was it fatigue? Were they exposed to acid? It varies from part to part.

At the beginning of the semester, many of these failures were beyond my skill to analyze - I didn't have the knowledge to draw good conclusions about how they had failed. Thanks to class (and practice), I've been able to improve my skills and make largely accurate diagnoses. 

On a different note, I've found two TED talks that I'd like to do for my final project (one or the other):

Problem: Asphalt Degrades Quickly. This guy has a solution.  (~6 min) This one relates pretty closely to my major.

Engineering a Better Life for All - applying engineering solutions to a myriad of world problems. (~15 min)

Are either of these okay? Both? Let me know.

#playtpus

Creative Service

One of the best opportunities I've had so far at ISU is being involved in the President's Leadership Class. We meet weekly with President Leath and student leaders to discuss the principles and practice of leadership. This week, our topic was Service Leadership and during the presentation we had the chance to brainstorm some creative solutions to challenges in the service community. My group was tasked with increasing student awareness of service opportunities. We generated several ideas, but the most creative (and the one I was most excited about) was a Career Fair Service Day.


We noticed that most companies will compensate their employees for doing community service during their working hours and that many companies also send their representatives to ISU a day or more before the Career Fair to hold information sessions and begin recruiting early. If we just combine these two things, we have an event that allows recruiters and students to join together in serving the community and gives them time to network in a more relaxed environment.


Although this was primarily a brainstorming, theoretical activity, I would love to see something like this happen here at ISU! It would allow students to get more out of the Career Fair and motivate them to serve the community, both here at Iowa State and after graduation. With a little creativity, anything can happen!


#platypus

Goals

This week in class we talked a lot about how to more effectively reach our goals. One of the methods that was most interesting to me was the idea of driving and restraining forces. It is true that for most goals there are things that we do well - and should keep doing in order to maximize progress toward our goals. There are also things that hold us back - and we need to figure out how to combat these and prevent them from slowing us down. In order to reach our goals, we must take action both on maximizing driving forces and minimizing restraining forces. When we do that, all our problems will be solved! Just kidding, probably not. But at least we will be closer to whatever our end goal is.


#platypus

The Silver Lining

So it happened. Tuesday night people went a lot too crazy and VEISHEA was cancelled. This was especially disappointing for me as I served on a VEISHEA committee this past year and was looking forward to my first experience at the celebration.


However, I have also been encouraged by the general student population's response to the cancellation. People have organized several non-VEISHEA Cyclone pride events for the weekend and I am excited to see what happens!


At the informational meeting for the VEISHEA committee, Dr. Hill challenged us to use our creativity to come up with ideas for an event that can capture the spirit of VEISHEA without the negative side-effects that have come to be associated with the celebration. I am very eager to see what the student leaders of ISU with create and I hope to be a part of the process!


Although I didn't personally apply my creativity or problem solving, it has been great to see students bond together and find a way to celebrate the university we all love, even without VEISHEA.


#platypus

Not My Idea of Fun

Brownies! Delicious, right? Usually, but beware of brownies in Honors seminars.... They might just have a Thai flavor.... Not okay. We learned that creative cooking may not be the best application of our professor's creativity in class this week.


In more useful news, we also discussed applying our creativity to our resumes. It is easy to blend in, especially at the career fair, but with a little work, we can make our resumes stand out in the crowd. Also, it is best to make sure we stand out as individuals! Then our resumes will stand out on their own.


That's all for this week! Hopefully our next class doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth...


#platypus

Isaac Personal Reflection 4/11

I find that one of the hardest things I have to do academically is write a paper on a subject that I really have no interest in. To meet a diversity requirement, I am forced to take a Sociology course. The class itself isn't bad at all, but I have found it almost impossible to be motivated to write papers for this class. This is because of two reasons: 1) The papers in this class make me write about something that doesn't interest me at all, and 2) the papers are hard to come up with a conclusion for, since "social problems have no one, clear solution", as my professor would say. This makes staying motivated to write this paper a problem, and I decided to take a creative approach to solve this problem. It may not be the healthiest thing, but I began to reward myself with treats. For every paragraph or so I wrote, I would feel that I had "earned" a snack. And if I ever got writers block, I would just take a shower, and take my mind off the thing entirely. Once I returned to the paper, I would find that the answer would just flow naturally. I'm quite proud of myself for finding a motivation technique that works for me.

#platypus

What to do with the weekend now...

My original plans for this weekend were to go down to Simpson to pick my girlfriend up and bring here back here so we could catch David Cook in concert. Well that changed when she called me Tuesday saying she had an impromptu 3 hour rehearsal on Sat. So problem solving time... we stay the night there then leave Sat afternoon and come up here to catch the Village and then go out with some friends and see Into the Woods. Then the festivities happened (angry face) and problem solving 2.0 occurred. So now the final plans are to go down there and come back Sunday. Weekend plan solving throughout the week... now lets just hope it's a success.

#platypus

Isaac Class Reflection 4/7

I had a lot of fun this week with the brownie activity. I never considered the possible creative things one could do with a brownie recipe. A few of them were actually pretty good! Others (pad thai), not so much. Still, it helped me to realize the potential creative things I could do everyday to add a little fun to my life.

On another note, I benefited greatly from the little resume/interview workshop we did. I never thought about all the little nuances that can go into words, body language, and document formatting that could make one stand out as a potential employee. I had an interview this week, and I used a few of the tips provided in the lesson, and I feel like the interviewers were impressed. I'm glad this class has helped me.

#platypus

Delicious Problems...?

So Monday was a very interesting class because I love to eat but don't know a lot of what I eat. I know the main dishes of course but when it comes to spices or other additives I can't necessarily pick those out when I eat so our problem solving exercise was quite difficult for me. I tried my best to use my other senses besides taste in order to get around this problem which helped a little bit but was not the greatest strategy. I guess that is just something I need to work on... enhancing my palette.

Creative Problem Solving on Campus

With VEISHEA activities "suspended" (cancelled), I thought that all club showcases would be over. However, it's great to see that students are creating events to still show off their organizations and show how positive the ISU community can be. Iowa State just made national news in a negative way - now students are showing what they can do to fix it.
#playtpus

New+Old -> Better?

Ok, I admit, those peanut brownies were not the greatest thing in the world. I had a mild stomachache afterward. Anyway, I really liked the creative message of the activity. I'm a casual cook, and jump at the chance to add new ingredients to old recipes. It carries over into my drinks (wooooo! 21!) and into my (limited) glass blowing. In fact, I think I'm going to try something new (based on something old) today. I'll let you know how it works out.

Creative Marketing

One of my goals when I came to ISU was to get involved in a variety of different organizations. I did that, but I never anticipated how much they would overlap. Next week is VEISHEA, and I am a member of the Alumni committee, so I will be helping out with many different activities throughout the week. I am also the secretary of Freshman Council and we will be holding the first annual VolleyBrawl in two weeks!


As a member of both organizations, I am able to promote both activities through the other group. For example, FC will be having a booth at VEISHEA Village to promote our VolleyBrawl event. And we will be handing out information about VEISHEA activities to all the members of Freshman Council at one of our meetings.


By having information and connections in both groups, I am able to help make both events more successful!


P.S. This is a shameless plug for attending both events! VEISHEA info can be found here.
Registration for VolleyBrawl ends on April 15 and can be found at this link.

#platypus

The BF DF Part 2: The Englishator

One of my group projects in English 314 is to create a set of instructions to build an original tinkertoy model. These instructions will be handed out to other groups, and they will use them to build said model. At this point, we have our model, well, "modeled," but now the work begins. One problem we have to solve is how to present the instructions - a booklet? Maybe a powerpoint presentation? As a group, we haven't decided yet. As such, we as a group have to use our creativity and problem solving to come up with a solution. I thought that a powerpoint presentation would be a good, interactive way of presenting the design. Other group members argued the benefits of a simple fold-up instruction booklet. Someone mentioned the idea of using a poster board with large models. There are multiple solutions here, so now we have to decide which one suits us best. 

#platypus

The Brian Fuchs Double Feature: Part 1 - The Classinating

Class this week was about vision, which can be broken down into two parts; creativity, and never settling for less. Despite the cheesiness of the video we watched, I really liked the photographer's tenacity. During his advertisement shoot, he already had some excellent photos, but he found ways to make them better. It's like he never sets concrete expectations for himself. He doesn't take a good photo and call it quits - he takes one then asks, "How can this be better?" In a lot of my work, I've practiced the idea that one solution is the correct solution. But if you challenge that, then even better solutions can be found.

#platypus

The Great Leader Matching Puzzle

So this week for my job as a UA we had the pleasure of pairing 72 honors leaders together and then using their class schedules and available times putting them into class periods. Now at first this seems pretty simple and was definitely expedited by having the leaders preference who they wanted to work with but it was still a difficult task to say the least.

The first step was to see how many leaders preferenced each other first so we knew that those individuals wanted to be matched together. Then we took those matches and looked at which individuals had the fewest available times and placed them first. This sort process continued with color coordinating very flexible and very rigid leaders etc. Then we finally got to then end and figured out a solution having a couple of people move a class here or there to accommodate us. And then when we thought we had it perfect one student pointed out that they work off campus in the mornings so the class time we had put for them wouldn't work! Our dreams were crushed, but we went to work finding another solution to the problem. The color coordinating definitely helped out and after a 6 group switch each taking the place of another we were able to successfully fix the problem and have the perfect co-leader setup.

Success!

#platypus

Failure is the greatest teacher

I thought Monday's class was very interesting because it looked at how creativity is derived. And most of it is not just an innate vision but rather it is a constant process of always looking for better. One of the things that stood out to me in the video is that he looked at one of his "failures" but didn't just give up, rather he kept trying and eventually got one of his favorite pictures. The reason this sticks out to me is because I am a firm believer in failure as being the best teacher. At first it is tough to wrap your mind around how doing something wrong can end up being the best thing for a person but it is. At least to me when I make a mistake or fail I remember that failure and tell myself that I am not going to repeat it again. Overall I just thought it was interesting how he connected ideas of perseverance and hard work into creativity because to me before watching the video those were two different things.

#platypus

Isaac Personal Reflection 4/2

When I think on my daily life, it occurs to me that I do little creative problem solving on a day-to-day basis, or if I do I don't consciously recognize it. And I think that its a good thing my daily life doesn't present the conundrums that I encounter in class. I'm pretty content to have my boring-yet-straightforward homework and my moderate social life fill up my time. Most of my creative thinking is applied to finding time to balance my education and social life. I know there will be a day when creative problem solving will be key to my career success, but at the moment it seems to be most useful in keeping me happy and productive, and that's alright with me.

Isaac Class Reflection 3/31

During Monday's class I learned something important about problem solving. Working together is key, because everyone has insight or other such skills that make certain parts of problems easier. I am not very good at puzzles such as the Cross Quote, but my hobby of crossword puzzles makes filling in blank words easier. As for the Russian/American riddle, I tried to look at it like a math problem until I noticed the line about the child with red hair. I knew from then on that it couldn't just be math, and there had to be more to it. Working with my team, we eventually found the answer. Working together made answering all these puzzles much easier than working alone.

As for the photographs, I must say that I may have struggled with this one. My creativity doesn't usually apply to aesthetics, and I have almost no photography experience. With my photos, I tried to capture the pictures from somewhere that I wouldn't normally be, such as within a fountain or off of the sidewalk. To get the best pictures, you might have to stray from the beaten path.

A New Angle

Today in class, we watched a really cheesy video featuring a National Geographic photographer. He talked about using creativity in his daily life and work. One of the points that stuck out to me was looking at problems from multiple angles in order to find multiple solutions.

We put this into practice when we took pictures around campus. We decided to go to the Food Science courtyard and central campus for our inspiration. I took the close up approach for most of my pictures. Attached are some of my attempts at creative photography. Not too bad, if I do say so myself!

#platypus

Isaac Personal Reflection 3/28

This week I have not had many chances to use my creative problem-solving skills, as I have mainly been swamped with tests. I know that Awkward Prom is happening tonight, but so is the NCAA tournament. I may need to use my problem-solving skills to find a way to see both.

Other than that, the only other thing that has happened to me is 2048. For those not familiar, 2048 is a sliding block puzzle game that has recently become popular. Based on my personal experience,  I do not recommend it, as it is seriously addicting, and will lead to procrastinating on your homework until 2 in the morning. It is quite fun though, and is the kind of thing I think puzzle-solvers would enjoy.

#platypus

Isaac Class Reflection 3/24

On Monday in class we did a race competition using TanGoes. Spatial thinking is not my specialty, but I did better than I expected.

I really pride myself on our performance in the "who can make a gadget that flies the farthest" challenge. After a few so-so ideas and rough models, our team came to the stunning conclusion that we could probably outdo the other teams simply by making something that we can easily throw a long distance, rather than trying to make it self-propelled or transforming, which would have earned us double points.

Some may think that this defeats the purpose of a creative problem solving class, seeing as our final product was a role of tape with streamers attached. I prefer to see it as an efficient assessment of the challenge and understanding of the rules, with an easy solution to the problem at hand. Sometimes the correct solutions are the simple ones.

#platypus

Time Management Can Be Creative, Right?

The ISU Blood Drive was taking place this week in the Memorial Union from Monday to Thursday. I had time to go almost every day, but when did I decide to go? Thursday. So, the initial time management maybe wasn't the greatest, but it gets better.


When I gave blood in the fall, I sat in the waiting area for almost two hours. I wanted to avoid that this time, so I filled out my prescreening form and gave it to the girl in the waiting area. During a blood drive, they keep all the forms in the order they were completed and give the nurses the forms in order as they are ready for more donors.


After I turned in my form, I left and went to meet someone to work on a project for class, while I "waited" in the MU. (As it turns out, I wasn't able to work on my project. Maybe communication will be my topic next week...) When I returned to the MU, I only had to another 45 minutes or so before I was in the chair giving blood.


With just a bit of creativity, I was able to use the time I would have spend simply waiting to do something productive, while also saving three lives! Talk about multitasking!


#platypus

Visuals... Not My Thing, Well Maybe

In class this week, we used TanGoes (basically the tangrams of my childhood!) to do a little bit of visual problem solving. Needless to say, this activity confirmed that I am not the greatest with spatial thinking. It was difficult for me to decide which of the small shapes were needed to create the larger figures.


On the bright side, I was able to use my creativity to embellish our projectile for the later activity. We wanted to make it transform in the air, so I made some legs that we attached to the main body of our projectile (a roll of tape).


So maybe I am a visual person! It just depends on what context I need to apply those skills. Spatial thinking, not so much. Creative visual elements for a project, absolutely! Now I just need to decide when my visual skills are useful and when I need to find someone who can help me.
#platypus

El Fuches OoC post 3/27

During my co-op last semester, I discovered the world's most amazing puzzles.

This is one of BePuzzled's "Crystal Puzzles," part of a collection of 40 or so 3D puzzles. I love putting them together and displaying them as models. As of last week, I have 7 puzzles total, including the large pirate ship dolphin, and Snoopy's doghouse. While they aren't especially "creative," in terms of having a set objective, they are quite engaging.
I brought the "Earth" puzzle (pictured above) to campus this week. A friend and I were having a brain-melt moment, so I broke out the puzzle and we put it together. It turns out that some pieces are symmetric, so you had to be careful not to end up with pieces of Europe floating through Australia. It was an excellent activity for a mentally-stimulating break.
PS - if you would like to borrow one, let me know in class. I've got a sapphire, a skull, Saturn, and more!

#platypus

BFuchs Class Reflection 3/24

That is a good-looking flying machine. Sometimes, simplicity is king. Here I was, thinking that we had to create a flying machine, but the assignment was just to have something that flew through the air. We gave up on the potential 2x points for self-propulsion, but our distance was so good that it didn't matter anyway. It was a good reminder that, direct, 1-solution approaches don't always produce the best results. I'm glad that I had teammates who thought up of this idea.

Also, do you really think we could survive a 200-mile trek across the moon? On Earth, a person might cover 30 miles in a day (walking speed for 10 hours). I'm not sure that we could carry enough (even while wearing advanced space suits) to take care of us for a week of forced marching.
#platypus

Creativity = throwing a roll of tape as far as possible

So basically what I learned today in class was that while being creative is a useful tool always know what your constraints are. And know that sometimes the simplest solution such as chucking a roll of tape can be the best one. Another thing especially with the puzzles is to never get caught up at a problem in one way continue to look at it from different angles and perspectives and know that multiple people working on a solution is always better than one person.

#platypus

Spring Break Road Trip!

Well two of my roommates and I road tripped to California to surprise our last roommate who lives there. It was a blast and some problem solving was definitely involved. For the record never camp at Arches National Park for whatever reason because pitching a tent in 50 mph winds in next to impossible and sleeping is even worse. Also just because someone is from the L.A. area does not mean they know where everything is and can sometimes get lost in there hometown. And as an FYI Barstow, CA does not know how to put bathrooms in their buildings... at all so try not to have your car break down there. All in all it is nice to do something spontaneous and a little stupid sometime and road trips are the way to do it.

#worth #platypus

Fish and Flight

Happy "Night-Before-We-Start-School-Again!"
ugh

Spring Break was pretty awesome, though. Made it out to Arkansas for some trout fishing, then over to Chicago to check out some Museums. My favorite was definitely the Shedd Aquarium - I love sharks. I also went up in the Sears Willis Tower for the first time, and stood out on the glass balcony. That was a little freaky.

See y'all in class tomorrow!

#platypus

Isaac Personal Reflection 3/14

I don't have much to say really. Its past noon on Friday and I'm done with classes. So begins Spring Break! I can't wait to go home and see my family and pets (I especially miss my cows). But even though I'm going to enjoy going home, I am going to miss the friends I've made here at ISU. Oh well, it's only one week after all. Anyway, its time for me to get some R&R from the college experience. See you all later!

Spring Break Probs

Anytime I go home, even just for the weekend, I have the issue of figuring out what to pack. You can't pack too early because you might want to wear something later in the week, but if you wait too long, you might have nothing left to pack.


What, you've never had this problem before? Maybe it's a girl thing...


Anyways, this week I figured out that I have exactly enough jeans to make it through the week without having to wash clothes. This way, I'll just pack up all my clothes, take them home, and my dad will wash them for me! Whew! I'm so glad I solved that problem. Now I'm ready for Spring Break!


#platypus

Personal Reflection #1

Well I just got done watching the basketball game and we won a nail biter with some clutch plays down the stretch! Basically this just made me want to procrastinate studying for my thermo test even more than I already am. Now I am trying to use my problem solving abilities to figure out how to find time to play outside today because it is gorgeous, go ice skating with my residence hall, plan a ride home tomorrow and study for my test. I'm thinking study after dinner. Other than that the only other thing on my mind is Spring Break!!! That's all I got

# platypus

Cody's First Class Reflection

So far I think this class is going to be super awesome! I really like the idea of working in teams and doing the least work possible. My team members seem to be super chill and I can tell that we are already creating our group dynamic and I'm interested to see how that plays out throughout the semester. I can honestly say I've never had a class begin with a puzzle to find the professor so I am excited to see what the rest of the semester holds.

#platypus

Brian's Much-More-Toned-Down Personal Reflection

 So it's been, like, 3 hours since my last post, so I figured the time is ripe for a new one.
In class, I said that I'm a fan of number puzzles. As such, I present my favorite number puzzles of all time:
Kenkens (Mathdoku)
 A Kenken puzzle is like a Sudoku puzzle - 1-6 in every row and column. However, the grid is divided up into sections. In each section, there is an operator and a number. The numbers in each section must perform the operation to get that number. E.g -"5" means the two number must subtract to make 5, or "x6" means the numbers must multiply to 6. Puzzle sizes go from 1-4 to 1-9.
 These puzzles are probably my second biggest time sink after Reddit, and I love pounding them out on the bus on the way to class.
#playtpus

The Brian's Supa-Dupa-Sugary-coated-Awesome Class Post

It's Wednesday, but I dream of Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday. And so on. 

It was nice to meet y'all for the first time. Isaac, was it you that figured out that we were looking at names? Because you really helped out. I was thinking that we were looking at a coherent sentence. 

Natalie, thanks for being our team rep for the syllabus. 

And Cody, getting dinner with you was cool.

In fact, we should all get dinner (or something fun) together at some point - if we're gonna be a team, we gotta be mates, right?

#platypus

Isaac Class Reflection 3/10

Hey all! The first day of class was great. I can tell that this is going to be an enjoyable seminar. I'm already looking forward to honing my problem-solving skills. The puzzles we did in class were a bit challenging, but I think I'll get better as the course goes on. See you guys again after break. In the meantime, I'll be thinking of puzzles.

WET MKIR-FPAATM JAGWNJKO EGO G JHPOHVHKO OJKQ GVM AGNO TCCO. WEHKCE OHST IAGPS WEGW PW IGVVHW FT G SGSSGA, PW PO MTIPMTMAN OH.

Creativity Trumps Problem Solving

Today in class, I learned that this seminar is going to be extremely productive, informative and fun! I am very excited to learn more about how creativity and problem solving are applied in our daily lives and using what I've learned daily. I also learned that I am better at using my resources (i.e. Googling answers) than actually solving the incredibly complex word problem. That would be my creativity coming into play!


Oh, and I have a wonderful group to work with!


#platypus

OMG! First Blogger Post! #platypus #inclass #problemsolverdeluxe