The intersecting lives of two ME undergrads
5/15/2023 10:13:02 AM
Meet Lexi and Maddie!
Before college... We both grew up in Evanston, IL, a suburb just north of Chicago. We went to preschool, middle school, and high school together. As mechanical engineering undergrads, we did A LOT together, but we each had our own unique experiences too! Check out the highlights below of our four years in MechSE!
Lexi
Freshman Year
- Lived in Allen Hall (together!)
- Took piano lessons through the dorm
- Older brother at UIUC too!
- Started in Engineering Undeclared
- Joined Baja as a general member (chassis)
- First project was heat-affected zone research
- Went to a few overnight competitions and events: Midnight Mayhem and Winter Baja
- Joined Menace - Women’s Ultimate Frisbee
- Three weekend tournaments
- Two 3-hour practices a week
- Joined Alpha Omicron Pi - social sorority
- Considered Theta Tau but didn’t end up rushing due to my schedule filling up
- Went to the career fair (unsuccessfully)
- COVID
- No longer had to go to my 8:00 am lecture though …
Fall 2019 | Spring 2020 |
---|---|
ENG 100 | ME 199 |
ME 199 | TAM 211 |
ABE 100 | GER 251 |
CEE 195 | MATH 241 |
ENG 101 | ME 170 |
MATH 231 | RHET 105 |
PHYS 211 |
- Highlights: ABE 100 presentation took 3rd place, Baja helped me decide to declare ME, and I met lots of fun people!
- Worked at summer camp and took PHYS 212 at a community college over the summer.
Maddie
Freshman Year
- Lived in Allen Hall (together!)
- Took piano lessons through the dorm
- I was the first of my cousins to start college
- Started in Mechanical Engineering
- Joined Baja as a general member (chassis)
- First project was carbon fiber research
- Went to a few overnight competitions and events: Drive Day, Midnight Mayhem, and Winter Baja
- Joined the Asian American Association (AAA)
- Went to a couple of events and had a mentor
- Volunteered once to teach adopted Asian kids about Asian culture
- Took Grainger First Year project class
- Went to the career fair (unsuccessfully)
- Struggled in ME200
- Started working for MechSE Communications in the spring!
- COVID
Fall 2019 | Spring 2020 |
---|---|
ENG 100 | ME 199 |
ME 199 | TAM 211 |
CLCV 115 | CS 125 |
ENG 177 | CS 196 |
MATH 286 | ECE 205 |
ME 170 | ECON 102 |
ME 200 | ENG 177 |
MATH 415 |
- Highlights: joining the Baja team, taking CLCV 115, and piano lessons.
- Did nothing at home over the summer because of COVID.
Sophomore Year
- Lived in the sorority house
- Got my little
- Served as Environmental Chair for the house
- Menace - Vice President
- Coordinated fundraisers and Alumni Weekend
- Worked to set up practices while being COVID safe
- Baja - General Member (chassis)
- Designed the steering column & floor panel
- Joined business and electronics and testing sub team
- Floating shop was still in-person
- Started machine training at ESPL
- Started working for MechSE Communications like Maddie!
- Applied for T&M minor, but didn’t get it
- Glad I tried, but it worked out for the best because I don’t love business
- Got my COVID vaccine
- Experienced spring in Champaign-Urbana for the first time!
Fall 2020 | Spring 2021 |
---|---|
ME 199 | ME 199 |
ME 270 | STAT 400 |
ME 290 | ECE 206 |
TAM 251 | MATH 415 |
AAS 100 | ME 200 |
ECE 205 | TAM 212 |
MATH 285 |
- Highlights: Stat 400 with Albert Yu, lots of nice walks with friends 🙂
- Summer: Back at summer camp
Sophomore Year
- EVERYTHING IS ONLINE
-
- Took one in-person lab each semester
-
- First cousin came to study at UIUC!
- Lived in brand new ISR
- Baja - Outreach Director
-
- Designed suspension tabs
- Ran a mentorship program, virtual events for recruitment, and some community outreach
- Attended my first official competition in Louisville at the end of the year!
-
- Research: Wave Propagation and Metamaterials Lab under Professor Katie Matlack
-
- Learned about ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation
- Created video for EOH
-
- Career Fair more successful this time
- Joined ASME projects team
- Struggled in ME 310
- Got my COVID vaccine
- Experienced spring in Champaign-Urbana for the first time!
Fall 2020 | Spring 2021 |
---|---|
ME 199 | ME 199 |
ME 270 | STAT 400 |
ME 290 | AAS 100 |
TAM 251 | MATH 347H |
ASST 104 | ME 297 |
ME 297 | ME 310 |
ME 445 | ME 340 |
TAM 212 |
- Highlights: taking ME 445 which was my only in-person class that semester, going to my first Baja competition, and being on the leadership team!
- Summer: Worked for Caterpillar, Inc., lived in my (first) apartment in CU.
Junior Year
- First apartment with 3 roommates
- Younger brother comes to study at UIUC!
- Baja - General member
- Joined Suspension sub-team
- Designed rear uprights
- Volunteer work - Contextual Engineering Group
- Worked with farmers in Guatemala to develop more efficient oven to roast cardamom seeds
- Study abroad – applied in the fall for the spring semester
- Was worried I wouldn’t go because of COVID
- I got to go and attended the University College Dublin (read my blog)
- Got COVID in Ireland ☹
- Frisbee - UCD mixed and women’s team
- Went to Cork and Limerick with the team
- How I made Irish friends 🙂
- Traveled around Ireland and Europe: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Croatia, Czechia, Austria, and Portugal!
- ME 370 walker project was fun AND hard
Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 |
---|---|
ME 199 | ME 360* |
ME 370 | CS 101* |
ABE 436 | LAS 291 |
ART 140 | ME 330* |
LAS 291 | PHYS 213* |
ME 340 | |
MUS 133 |
* Course equivalents while studying abroad
- Highlights: ME 340, Art 140 was so fun
- Summer: Internship at DeltaHawk Engines
Junior Year
- Things are back to in-person (mostly)
- Apartment with 1 roommate, near the Engineering Student Project Lab (ESPL)
- Baja - Chassis lead
- Led and organized all chassis projects
- Also designed rear suspension control arm
- Continued research through the ISUR program
- Worked on correlating ultrasonic properties with strength of binderjet additively manufactured materials
- Gave a poster presentation in the spring
- Had a more successful career fair
- Got COVID 🙁
- Struggled in ME 330 and ME 360
- Pulled (my first) all-nighter for ME 370
- And worked on the project over fall break
- Picked up a grading position for ME 370 in the spring
- Started playing intramurals
- Took a trip to a steel plant with WiMSE
Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 |
---|---|
ME 199 | ME 360 |
ME 370 | ARTJ 391 |
ENG 199 | ECE 206 |
KIN 104 | ENG 377 |
ME 330 | GSD 103 |
TAM 451 | ME 199 |
ME 371 |
- Highlights: Taking ice skating and game design, building a traditional Japanese boat and a Baja SAE vehicle in one year, and working on the ME37x projects (kinda)
- Summer: Moved to Milwaukee and worked in product design
Senior Year
- Second apartment with my same 4 roommates
- Baja - Senior Designer
- Frame and Tab Jig
- Decreased my involvement with the Frisbee team, as it became hard to balance with Baja Senior Capstone Design
- Started spring “pick up” frisbee games for fun with people in the community
- Had more free time this semester, which felt amazing!
- Career fair in the Spring - success!
- Interviewed at several places
- Negotiated a signing bonus
- Struggled in ME 320
Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
---|---|
ENG 491 | ME 320 |
ME 310 | ME 470 |
ME 371 | ME 483 |
PHYS 214 |
- Highlights: ME 310 with Professor Ewoldt, the foosball table in Lu MEB, and getting closer with Baja teammates after my semester away
- Planning to go backpacking in Yosemite this summer!
- Working at Caterpillar starting this July
Senior Year
- Second apartment with 3 roommates and a dog
- My sister and another cousin come to study at UIUC!
- Baja - Captain plus Senior Capstone Design
- Frame
- No career fair
- Negotiated a full-time contract for the first time
- Was an ELA (loved that, shout-out ME7 section)
- Had more free time! (for the first semester, like ever)
- Struggled in ME 320
Fall 2022 | Spring 2023 |
---|---|
ENG 491 | ME 320 |
ART 140 | ME 470 |
ME 458 | KIN 102 |
ME 461 | ME 446 |
- Highlights: Had so much fun in my art class and I loved captaining Baja, also got my bowling average up to 90 💪
- Planning a trip to Europe this summer!
- Working at Milwaukee Tool full-time starting in August