TAMU retreat attendees. Not pictured: Honorary guest Michael Bass from Boeing.
Continuing the tradition that was postponed last year, MAESTRO students and a distinguished guest converged on Ponca, AR for four days of technical activities and outdoor recreation. The event was held at the “Cedar Creek Lodge,” a stunning venue nestled in Ozark National Forest near the Buffalo National River. Senior PhD students Allen Davis, Jacob Mingear, and Patrick Walgren gave in-depth technical presentations on their current research projects, showing the other students “how it is done.” The entire group brainstormed and refined future research efforts on topics such as SMA material property tuning via computational modeling and design tools for limited-life (or variable-life) aerostructures. Most attendees presented interactive workshops on a wide range of topics, from the history of shape memory alloys (by Jacob), to thermal modeling techniques in Abaqus (by Sean Nevin). Finally, the technical programming culminated in a “lightning round” competition where everyone chose a topic at random and had one hour to produce a two minute presentation summarizing the topic. Undergraduate Mason Ward took home the top prize with his presentation titled “White Water Wizardry,” which summarized why still water is clear but moving water appears white due to Snell’s Law of diffraction. While the attendees were not expanding their technical repertoire, they explored the wilderness surrounding the lodge. The inner chambers of Eden Falls cave were infiltrated, and all participants were thoroughly humbled by the difficulty of “deep water soloing” on the Buffalo River. The entire weekend was a great opportunity for long-overdue lab bonding, and the group is already planning future retreats.
Students pose in the pitch-black depths of Eden Falls cave.
Undergraduate researcher Mason Ward accepts his prize for winning the lightning round competition from the judges (the rest of the group).
New graduate student Alejandro Martinez waves from the tranquil waters of the Buffalo River. The rock face where students deep water solo’ed is seen in the background.