DecemberBlog - Reflection and Direction In the Month Ahead

 

We are off and running. Our reason for being is headed our way this evening - scheduled to dump 8-12" on us!

All of us will be reminded tomorrow AM of the kind of weight our roof systems will be dealing with. Perhaps not being taught this in school!)  Our InvenTeam - very timely - made the Lowell Sun with the storm! Hopefully this article by Emma Murphy will accumulate community interest in our invention. Just a few highlights are listed, full link -> https://www.lowellsun.com/2019/12/01/billerica-students-head-to-smithsonian-aiming-to-put-stem-on-the-map/

Billerica students head to Smithsonian to put STEM on the map

“You would think that more people from Massachusetts will know about it and want to participate and the fact that we were the only one from Massachusetts … is kind of cool to think about,” said freshman Deekshitha Kasagani, who serves as the team’s research lead.

The students hope their success will put Billerica, specifically the STEM program, on the map.

“We’re mainly known for our sports, our football team. The STEM program isn’t as out there as probably other towns around our area,” said Avani Agrawal. “To be given this recognition is awesome.”

Reflecting on the program, Krishnamoorthy said InvenTeam is like a sport.

“An engineering sport,” he said with a grin.

 

In the above interview, our team began investigating by "hacking" a bathroom scale; we were able to send signals to the Arduino that were roughly calibrated; the team next worked on identifying best sensors for the BMHS module build and created an information flowchart for the signal processing:

The Marketing/Communications/Finance Teams (Front -> Back: Shreya, Deekshitha, Anuva , Vaanathi & Carter) have been hard at work as well, creating our business cards, setting up our social media accounts and websites and accounts for purchasing:

And - most memorable from this month: EVERY evening we worked this month ended in spectacular sunsets; everyone had to just pause - and enjoy!

Next Steps in for this Month: Ride the Snow-Wave

Designing a housing and getting the materials assembled as a prototype.

Getting end-user feedback; community outreach.

Eurekafest: Obtaining permissions (falls in our Finals Week) - travel option discussions.