Blog#7

Blog #6

We had an interview this Friday with a professor who is doing research in wireless communication. As we are writing a paper about wireless communication, we want to ask the professor about the development of modern communication technologies and future expectation about 3G and 4G to get professional support in our paper.

Before the interview, we have done a lot of research on the 3G and 4G wireless communication. We prepare the questions and simulate interview scenes. After the detailed preparation, we had our interview today.

During the interview, we showed our respect to the professor and had a good interaction with the professor. We watched the professor while he was talking about his understanding of wireless communication. Beside, after he finished one point, we talked about our understanding combining what professor said and our own research and came up with another question. We showed enough interest and passion to the topic we were talking about. As a whole, we had an educational conversation and get professional support for our paper.

Basically, we showed our interest to the topic and respect to the professor in several ways. Firstly, we watched the professor while he was talking about the wireless communication, and we tried to give a feedback to what he had talked about. Second, we had a detailed preparation before the interview and grasp a comprehensive understanding of the topic we are going to discuss. We discussed the questions we would going to ask and simulated the interview scenes before the interview. After the preparation, we had a smooth and meaningful conversation with the professor.

I believe that to become a good listener, we should let the speaker know that we are listening to him/her empathetically. We could watch the speaker while he/she is talking and give a quick feedback while speaker is trying to clarify his/her topic. Besides, we could also ask questions and request the speaker to further explain what he/she is talking about, which is another way to show respect and interest to the speaker and topic.

As a result, in order to show enough passion and interest to the speaker during conversation, I will have a detailed preparation before the presentation. In addition, I will still watch the speaker and give the feedback as soon as possible to have a good interaction with the speaker. Moreover, I may ask speaker to further explain what he/she is talking about.

                                                                               

Blog#5

I’m going to talk about bicycle, which is tightly connected with our daily life. As a way of transportation, the popularity of bicycles has outweighs that of any other way of transportation in my country. As I am from China, we ride bicycles everyday everywhere. Bicycle, in some degree, has become a partner in our daily life. As a result, I’m considering finding something new in my “partner” to make it more effective and beneficial to human beings.

Recently, I researched on website to see whether there is any unique idea about the improvement of bicycles. As a result, I indeed found some useful and meaningful ideas about the bicycles.  

This bran-new bicycle design is called “Re, energy” by its designer. The uniqueness of this bicycle is that the bicycles could deposit the energy human beings consume when they ride on them, and transfer the energy to the electronic applications like laptop or cell phones. Compared with ordinary bicycle, designer tried to install a device and a USB interface. The device is composed of coil set, generator, aupport, battery, cover and mark which save the energy given off by human. The USB interface is designed to transfer the chemical energy to the electronic applications. 

I believe this design is intelligent and unique. The newly designed bicycles achieve the maximum efficiency of energy application. As the energy completion and deteriorate of environment have threatened human being’s life, application of green technology and multi-level use of energy are emphasized. As we will consume a lot of energy in daily life, how this energy could be generated has been a new topic in scientific field. This design is a typical application of human energy. From this case, we could also design similar products. For example, a specific floor could be built so that it could generate the energy when people step on it. Also, when people practice running, storage could generate heat from human and transfer the energy to other field.

For further design, we could apply the energy multiple-level-use to our bran-new products. As the increasing importance of energy recycle and the maximization of energy application, the energy multiple-level-use products will have a bright prospect and be meaningful and beneficial to ourselves and our future generation.

  

Blog #4

       Wednesday is my busiest day among weekdays. Tired and exhausted, people are tend to make ridiculous mistakes. This Wednesday, I just made a mistake that bothered me a lot. On that day, I had ECE lab at 11 o'clock and this lab did not end until 2 o'clock. However, I had chemistry discussion at 3 o'clock and we had a quiz in that discussion section. Unfortunately, the lab had so many assignments that we couldn't finish all the tasks. I spent the very last minute to finish my lab report and considered rushing to my chemistry discussion. Ironically, after I finished my chemistry class, I found out that I haven't handed in my lab report to my TA.

Claim:  I will ask my TA whether I could turn in my report tomorrow.

Grounds: As I was considering my chemistry discussion, I forgot to hand in my lab report at right end of the lab.

Warrants: I don't want to lose points in ECE lab.

Backing: ECE lab grade makes up 40% in our final grade, so each lab is really important. The performance in lab will affect the final grade a lot.

Qualifier: My TA will possibly allow me to turn in my lab report tomorrow.

Blog#3

From: yangyang(yngshy91@yahoo.com.cn)
to: Maarten Bergvelt bergv@illinoi.edu

date: Wed. Sept. 8, 2010 at 12:29 pm.
Subject: Asking for help!
Dear Professor Bergvelt
    I am your student in Mathematics 231. My name is Shiyi Yang and my UIN is 678798331. I should have taken FD7 dicussion section but I mistakenly took FD1 section the very first two weeks. However, I took the two quizes and finished the discussion homework in FD1. Could I transfer the score I got in FD1 to FD7 discussion section?

Sincerely,
Shiyi Yang

Topic2

With the emphasis of teamwork and cooperation, people will increasingly depend on mutual connections and social networking. The networking could help one collect more detailed information, conclude more precise conclusion and improve the general work efficiency. As I stated before, engineering is not an isolated enterprise from social society. Staying in laboratory, checking data and calculating equations are basics element of an engineer life, but scientists also have to plunge themselves into social activities and get involved with human interactions. Engineering is a system from the first designing, modeling and construction to the final stage of application. Engineer doesn’t just discover a phenomenon or conclude a theory but also shall harness the knowledge into daily lives.
       So, in order to build up my network, I come up with several ways to make new friends and enrich my experience.

I divide my friends as several groups: native friends, Chinese friends and professors and TA.

I believe it is easiest to communicate with Chinese friends. We share the same language, common interests and similar background. Under the same individual development circumstance, we tend to be more united and friendly in the United States.  

In order to make friends with each other, I mainly take two measurements to communicate with them. The most common way is to play sports. We gather together on Friday night or Saturday night to play basketball at Arch. I believe it is the most convenient way to get to know each other. During weekday, we may not even meet each other because of different schedule and planning. However, playing sports set up a stage for us to know each other and communicate mutually. Ironically, some people who take the same class don’t know each other before. However,  during sports, they get chances to share interests and hobbies.

Alternatively, I make Chinese friends by playing traditional Chinese card games. We play a Chinese card game called “The Killing of Three Kingdom”, which is similar to “Bang”. We frequently gather six or seven people together to play this card games at our residence hall. I believe it is not just the attraction of game itself, but also a sense of belonging. Under the specific environment, we are inclined to be more relaxed staying with Chinese friends. Through this communication, I know some of my best friends here and I hope keep moving in this way.

Likewise, I tried to make friends with them through playing sports. I participated in a volleyball team with students in iEFX and we had a great fun on that day. Although we lost the very first game, we got to know each other and chatted with one another. Indeed, sometimes playing sports is really a great way to make friends and get to know each other.

In addition, I tried to communicate with my classmates in class. When we have Mathematics discussion, we solve the problems in a group together and I believe it is an effective way to get to know each other.  During the discussion, we share everyone’s talents, consider each member’s thoughts and find out the best solutions to questions. During the discussion, we could share common interests, get to each member’s background and make friends with each other. It is a great way to establish my network and enrich my communication experience.

During study in Illinois, I mainly send e-mails to my professors or TA to ask questions or get help. I will keep trying to communicate with my professors and TA and get to know them or even make friends with them.

During the establishment of social network, I find out that it is easier to make friends with Chinese because of the particular circumstance. When I try to communicate with native students, however, I cannot understand what they say sometimes due to the lack of listening skills. Besides, as we have different backgrounds and education, it becomes really hard to find a common interest. Sometimes I find it a little embarrassed during the conversation because we don’t know what to say. Thus, I have to keep enhancing my listening ability and taking time to figure out common interests shared by me and some native students especially those who live with me. Only at that time could I more effectively build up my network and get myself involved in the American lifestyle and in lives in American Universities.

ENG198 Topic1

After watching the video, I started to retrospect myself, asking me a question: What is engineering? As a Chinese student, under the specific circumstance and particular influence, I always thought that to be an excellent engineer is just to get high score in basic courses. I believe that one of the main reasons why Chinese students choose Engineering is that they have an impressive performance in science examinations. I always thought that engineering is just staying in laboratory, checking data and calculating equations. Engineering is kind of isolated, from social society. However, after watching Professor David E. Goldberg’s speech, engineering consists of not just experiment, data base or technique. It is tightly connected with social activities and involved with human interactions. It is a system, from the first beginning of designing, modeling, construction and to the final stage of application. Not only do engineer create scientific products but also they have to utilize what they discovered and created into daily lives. Engineering is not just a specific major but a system which is connected with people and society.


Based on the ability Professor David has mentioned, I would like to enhance my ability of communication. As I am a Chinese student in the United States, I have to get myself involved in the local society, getting accustomed to American food, chatting with native students and local lifestyle. During the very first semester, I will practice my listening skills and try to figure out what my friends’ interests. Understand their discussion and catch their jokes. I strongly believe the communication could help me set up the connection and network among friends and obtain benefit from it. So at the first beginning, I will enhance my ability to communication with different people with different education and background.

Besides, I will also sharpen my skills of visualization, decomposing and modeling. I believe that during engineering education, we will encounter countless abstract problems and profound conceptions. In order to penetrate these contents, we have to establish a system to solve the problems. It is undoubtedly that visualization and decomposing are basis of solutions. We have to translate book-learning knowledge to our own understanding, visualize questions into words and graphs and divide problems into several parts to ease the difficulty.

I believe we have to obtain these abilities through long and arduous process. However, we could divide this problem into several pieces. I will learn to decompose and separate questions in daily life. For example, I could separate the homework into a number of sections, and set a due date for each part, and I could divide the project into several phases and ensure a deadline for each phase. In addition, I will gain ability of modeling and visualization through homework and practice, like designing a computer program, abstracting the main points from articles and grasping the principle of a robot. I hope these practices could help me gain the “missing basics” and be comprehensive.

No matter the “Basics” or the “Missing Basics”, either of one is important and should not be ignored and neglected. Thanks to Professor David E. Goldberg, I have a bran-new understanding of engineering and I hope I could gain the abilities through my practice and hard-working during the education of iEFX and ENG198.