Reflection Paper

Power Grid Failure Reflection Paper

REU NSF Summer 2012

University of Texas at Arlington

Ryan Habib

My experience at the University of Texas at Arlington REU program was very enjoyable and interesting. Working alongside professors and graduate students has been a great way for me to learn about how research is done in academia, which is very important if I decide to continue my education further than a bachelor’s degree. I had the privilege to work with some fantastic people here at UTA, including Dr. Lee and two of his Ph. D. students: Zhaohao Ding and Zhenyuan Zhang. Along with my partner, Huy Tran, we were able to learn a lot from these individuals, both in terms of knowledge and work ethic.

The purpose of this experience was primarily to get acquainted with the research environment. Throughout the experience, we worked on a project with the grad students entitled “Arc Flash Safety.” Before beginning to work on this project we needed to learn quite a bit about how control systems are designed and used. Being on the campus of a major research institution proved useful here, in that we had no trouble finding resources that would help us throughout the process.

The REU experience was unique from any part experience in that I was able to work in a research environment for the first time, in an opportunity that wouldn’t be possible at my current school. Being able to see the day-to-day life of the Ph. D. students should provide me with very useful information for when I weigh my options after my undergraduate degree.

It was also nice to see how the classes I’ve taken so far in my undergraduate studies can be applied to an application like this. Another strength of the program was when we were able to sit down with the grad students and discuss which parts of their undergraduate degrees they felt proved to be the most useful in post-graduate research. In fact, I enjoyed taking every opportunity possible to dissect the brains of the grad students, asking questions ranging from their undergraduate and high school experiences all the way to how

Some other nice things to come from the program were the occasional workshop, where we learned about a specific topic related to research, including ethics and graduate programs. The graduate program was especially interesting because it included a round table discussion with some current grad students where we were able to learn a lot about the commitment that graduate studies can be, both in terms of time and effort. I feel the information gathered here will be the most useful when I decide what my post-bachelor’s degree are.

Overall, the testing seemed a bit lacking in terms of both quality and quantity. It would have been nice to spend more time working with the different parts around the lab. There seemed to be a lack of organization and communication between our superiors and us. Halfway through the project, we were switched from working on a microgrid to the arc flash project. It’s disappointing to see weeks worth of work not find its way into our final presentation due to it being unrelated.

Apart from the research, there were some other great experiences here in Texas. As a group, we went to see some interesting attractions around the city, including a tour of Cowboys Stadium and a trip to Six Flags over Texas. I got to meet people from all over the nation and the world, and was able to share experiences with them. It was interesting seeing how other people’ college experiences can be both similar and different from mine. It was also exciting to see other peoples’ plans for the future, though it seemed everybody was infinitely surer of their futures than me.

Overall, I was pleased with my experiences here at the University of Texas at Arlington. While not all my expectations were met, I feel that I still learned enough about the research process that I’m not disappointed at all. I was able to meet some talented and driven people here and share experiences with them that will help me develop as both an engineer and a person. I can only hope the knowledge gained here will prove to be useful in both my undergraduate studies as well as my post-college career. I feel my experience here will help drive me to achieve greater things, either in the world of research or not, and that alone is all I could ever desire from this.