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EWU Rocketry Club Aims for the Stars

01/12/2016 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

It's Friday morning and the mechanical engineering workshop is a hive of activity. The high, square workbenches are filled with students intently focused on their tasks.

There's good reason for their excitement: they're hand-building two high powered rockets which reach heights of 10,600 feet which will deploy custom-designed glider technology.

Rocketry Club lifts EagleOne launch pad into place (Photo courtesy Spencer Scott)

The Rocketry Club workshop is packed with tools: ovens for baking carbon fiber and fiberglass molds, and the magic KitchenAid where they mix rocket fuel. Next door is a fully stocked machine shop. A band saw winds up and for a second drowns out the other noises.

All this productivity is strangely comforting, kind of like Santa’s workshop, if Santa were delivering payloads to the International Space Station.

In a corner sits Eagle One, the group’s sleek red and white rocket. Their pride for it is obvious as Spencer Scott enthusiastically details the many challenges of hand-building the carbon fiber body, birch fins coated in fiber glass and tipped with carbon. The cone houses the communication electronics and is made from fiberglass. While carbon is much stronger – “as strong as steel” – it blocks radio signals.

All their ingenuity and hard work was put to the test last June when two dozen students from EWU and Riverpoint Academy (whose STEM students designed and built the deployable glider) traveled to Green River, Utah, to launch the rocket in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). They competed against 50 teams from around the world. The on-the-ground challenges were many, including electronics overheating due to the 110 degree Utah heat.

When other groups had to drop out, they perspired and persevered.

 

IREC large group shot
Rocketry Club in the autoclave at corporate sponsor AGC AeroComposites in Hayden, ID (Photo courtesy of Spencer Scott)

Though 2015 was their very first time at IREC, they placed third overall, trailing teams from MIT and Brazil, proving both the talent and tenacity of the students EWU is proud to have.

Not to be outdone, for the 2016 IREC they are designing not one, but two rockets; one for the basic category and one for advanced. Never one to take the easy route of buying pre-made motors, the club is once again building everything from scratch, including the motor, which other clubs often buy ready-made, even the big schools like MIT. This level of control allows them to experiment with catalysts like cobalt and aluminum and use software like BurnSim to find the ideal mixture for their custom rocket.

photo 3
Isaiah Irish cuts Kevlar heat shields that protect parachutes (Photo:Nick Thomas)

Unsurprisingly, this kind of custom manufacturing on top of academic studies is a time consuming labor of love.

Mechanical engineering major Isaiah Irish is laboriously hand cutting squares of tough yellow Kevlar from a sheet that looks like a sail.

“This stuff is hard to cut,” he mutters as he leans into the fabric and squeezes his shears with an iron fist. The Kevlar is wrapped around the parachute and keeps it from melting during launch. He confesses he hadn’t planned on doing club this year, his senior year, and added that he spent many weekends in the workshop over the past four years. But here he is, back at it again.

Rocketry Club welcomes all students, no matter your major.

Learn more about EWU Rocketry Club and watch a sweet video here!

Filed Under: Community, EWU, Student Life Tagged With: CSTEM, EWU, ewu clubs, EWU CSTEM, EWU IREC, EWU mechanical engineering, EWU Rocketry Club, EWU STEM, IREC, Rocket club, STEM

From Metal Head to Pre-Med

01/05/2016 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

Not many people have toured the country playing in metal bands to sold out venues and then gone on to study pre-med. Senior Biology major Joel Seier’s path to EWU has been anything but average. For over ten years he played guitar in various rock acts, including touring the country with Memphis May Fire. “Driving around the country, I saw how a lot of people live. It made me feel pretty lucky.”

It took more than luck to land a touring gig as a guitarist for Memphis May Fire, starting with “years of work that didn’t go anywhere,” Seier admits. “But the experience definitely taught me perseverance.”

Joel shredding onstage (Photo courtesy Joel Seier)
Joel Seier shredding onstage (Photo courtesy Joel Seier)

After a year on the road with only small breaks between tours, he became skeptical of life as a touring musician. He moved back to Spokane and kept playing music with local bands, and worked as a barista. And he began taking math and science classes at community college.

“I like to know how things work,” he said. “I’m fascinated by the diversity of biology, from virology to ecology.”

[Read more…] about From Metal Head to Pre-Med

Filed Under: Academics, Student Life Tagged With: biology, dopamine research, EWU, ewu biology, ewu blog, ewu neurobiology, ewu research, new carbon fiber

EWU's newest arts event: SpoYo

11/10/2015 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

Arts and literature are everywhere at EWU, and EWU leads the region in supporting artists and writers. As a student you have a chance to attend and support nationally recognized events like Get Lit! and the Spokane International Film Festival. You can even listen to some of your professors on Public Radio.

On a sunny Saturday fall morning this year, the campus of EWU Spokane buzzed with activity. Children, teens, and parents from around the region converged for a day of celebrating books. They also attended workshops, made crafts, and listened to author readings.

It was all part of SpoYo, the Spokane Youth Books Festival. This is a new event hosted by EWU, and it’s another way EWU students and professors get involved in the Spokane community.

Authors travel to Spokane from all over the country, like Nick Bruel, famed author of the Bad Kitty series. They meet with their fans, give master classes for aspiring writers, and read from their books.

Bad Kitty author Nick Bruel talks books
Bad Kitty author Nick Bruel talks books with young fans (Jeff Bunch photo)

The event was organized by graduate students in the MFA creative writing program, and undergrad and high school students volunteered. The event is actually an offshoot of GetLit!, EWU’s week-long literary festival held each spring. It’s a great chance for EWU students to mingle with authors and get behind-the-scenes access to the authors and ideas that change our world.

If you’re interested in studying with EWU’s award-winning writing and English professors, be sure to check out the EWU English website.

Filed Under: Community, Student Life Tagged With: EWU, ewu events, ewu get lit!, ewu mfa, spoyo!

The art scene in Spokane: Terrain 8

11/02/2015 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

For the past 8 years, the nonprofit Terrain organization has hosted their hugely popular interactive art events in funky locations around Spokane. This October was the biggest yet: over 8,000 people visited throughout the single night event. And as you might expect, EWU students and faculty could be found nearly everywhere.

terrain1
Spokane Poetry Slam organizer Isaac Grambo stokes the crowd

Chris Leja

Terrain showcased 300 works of art by more than 150 regional artists. The event also featured live music, a poetry slam, author readings and artwork of all types. The event took place in the beautifully refurbished 120-year-old Washington Cracker Co. warehouse near EWU’s downtown Spokane campus.

Nearly every artwork boasted an orange “sold” sticker, and the event brought in over $10,000 in sales for local artists. Many of these artists are EWU students, alumni and faculty. One of them is Monica Hoblin, a senior in EWU’s highly respected graphic design program. You can see some of her projects on Behance.

Around the corner from Terrain, EWU professors Lisa Nappa, Roger Ralston and colleagues had installed a sprawling video projected onto the street level windows of the historic Ridpath Hotel. The project combined technology and design to transform the empty windows of a normally quiet city street into revolving fields of color.

terrrain2
Apollo astronaut spaces out on abstract art

Terrain was held on an already busy First Friday, which is the monthly art celebration in Spokane. The city’s galleries, restaurants, and cafes fill with crowds of all ages enjoying artwork and live music.

Access to a major city’s nightlife and art scene is just one of the key benefits of life as an EWU student, and it helps explain how EWU’s poets, artists, filmmakers, and designers are able to build dynamic portfolios even before they graduate from EWU

Filed Under: Community, Location, Student Life Tagged With: art, eagles, EWU, ewu alumni, ewu art, ewu spokane, first friday, Spokane, spokane art, spokane poetry slam, terrain

A Springtime Photo Tour of Campus

06/01/2014 by eschroeder Leave a Comment

When I visited EWU's campus, it was windy and rainy and the middle of winter. I wan't even certain students went outside if they didn't have to. I should have visited in the spring.

@alexa3723

After being cooped up indoors during the winter, campus comes alive once the snow melts. Students take advantage of the awesome weather to get some fresh air and enjoy the fact that EWU has four real seasons.

@jslemm11

Students work on homework between classes or sit in the sun to energize themselves for the rest of their day. Taking a break and getting some good Vitamin D helps refresh and rejuvenate the mind and body.

@vitorolsouto

Some students participate in slack lining. A slack line is tied a foot or so above the ground between two trees and students tight rope over the grass. Plus jumping. And turning. And laughing a lot. No one has to worry about feeling ridiculous if they want to give it a try. It’s like being Tigger: no one judges you for being bouncy.

After classes, some students throw a Frisbee in the large grassy areas around campus. If you’re not into Frisbee, you can try whiffle ball instead. Groups of students get into teams and have a blast outdoors pretty much any time the sun shines.

@vincehamilton1

College campus radiates inspiration. Especially after winter, students want to get outside and change things up a bit. Seeing other students enjoying their college experience definitely helps enhance mine.

Filed Under: College Fit, Community, Student Life Tagged With: admissions, campus, Eastern, Eastern Washington University, EWU, photos, pictures, spring

College Application Playlist

02/13/2014 by jlittleton1 Leave a Comment

Everyone needs good vibes in the last few days before a deadline, so we've put together a college application playlist to tell you how we feel about your application and to give you some motivational melodies this Valentine's Day weekend.

Fair warning: all links lead to YouTube. Good news: none of the links take you to a song that’s hard to listen to. Except that one.

The College Application Playlist

We’ve got 15 songs for the Feb. 15 deadline. Good luck with your application, and we’ll see you on the other side!

  1. One Direction: What Makes You Beautiful (Having a strong academic focus makes you beautiful to us.)
  2. Bruno Mars: Just the Way You Are (You don’t need to change for EWU.)
  3. The Doors: Hello, I Love You (We love it when you apply!)
  4. Tegan and Sara: Come a Little Closer (By closer, we mean “on campus for a tour.”)
  5. Aretha Franklin: Respect (We give every application the respect it deserves.)
  6. Depeche Mode: Just Can’t Get Enough (We get thousands of applications each year, but we can always handle more.)
  7. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: Home (EWU is home to nearly 13,000 students, and we’re happy you want to be one.)
  8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Maps (You can find a map for your campus visit right here.)
  9. Etta James: At Last (We still love you even if you’re applying at the last possible moment.)
  10. Bright Eyes: First Day of My Life (College is always a great new adventure, and we hope you love the journey, wherever it takes you.)
  11. The Jackson Five: I Want You Back (Hundreds of EWU students come back for master’s degrees, online classes, summer classes, certificates, and second bachelor’s degrees. Those folks have a special place in our hearts.)
  12. Richard Marx: Right Here Waiting (Our staff is definitely right here waiting to read your application.)
  13. Adele: Make You Feel My Love (As a sign of our love, we’ll send you dozens of emails until we receive your completed application.)
  14. Hunter Hayes: I Want Crazy (We actually want “crazy hard-working and crazy fun-loving”, but this was as good as we could do.)
  15. Mates of State: Palomino (There’s no pun here. We just like this song.)

Deadline Reminder

Your application for admission, your scholarship application, and your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are all due at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15. Good luck!

P.S. EWU’s FAFSA code is 003775.

Filed Under: Admissions, College Fit, EWU Tagged With: admissions, application, apply, deadline, Eastern, Eastern Washington University, EWU, music, playlist, songs, valentine's day, video, youtube

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