Abigail Henson Portrait

Author: Abigail Henson | Major: Mechanical Engineering | Semester: Spring 2025

My name is Abigail Henson and I just completed my second year pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering within the college of engineering at University of Arkansas. This past semester, I had the opportunity to be a part of Dr. Han Hu’s Ned3 research lab. I had initially found Dr. Hu’s name by asking for mentor recommendations from upperclassmen peers who had already begun their own faculty-led research journeys. Not having any prior research experience, I spent a couple months emailing around to professors in the department. This was initially a very intimidating process putting myself out in front of professors I had not formally introduced myself to in person, but soon became worthwhile after I got a response from Dr. Hu who invited me into his office. There, we found out that my interests in aviation and 3D modeling aligned well with one of his research groups. He helped me get started on applying for research grants and then pointed me in the direction of Christy Dunlap, one of the graduate students working on the project. While on this research, I primarily did a lot of independent research and learned about the importance of in-flight electrical and thermal monitoring for avionics systems. Turns out, this is a very interesting topic! Outside of my own research, my primary focus for this lab was to create 3D models of various parts to create a space optimized avionics box. Having just completed my Dassult Solidworks certification the semester before beginning research, this task was a welcomed continuum of practice. I did not spend time in a lab setting outside of meeting with Christy to discuss designs, instead choosing to use my laptop as a portable lab with the Solidworks software downloaded under a dual boot processing system. One challenge I encountered while modeling the avionics box was ensuring the design was both compact and modular enough to allow for future adjustments. I had to carefully consider the placement of mounting points and cable management, which pushed me to think beyond aesthetics and focus on functionality. Being mostly supplementary in nature, I did not travel to any national labs or conferences this semester but it is a goal of mine to attend one next semester. That being said, this experience has helped strengthen my confidence in my technical abilities and I have thoroughly enjoyed contributing to the lab by creating 3D models; However, I am excited to continue in my research journey this coming semester where I hope to conduct research relating to the broad topics of sound and avionics. In addition to being interesting topics to me, I do believe conducting research in this field will be complementary to my coursework in the coming semesters. One of the biggest take-aways that I have learned through this research opportunity is that I work best in group settings and with a dedicated space to perform. Now knowing this, I hope to begin transitioning into a more hands-on role where I can be actively around other researchers, working with physical prototypes, and out gathering real-world data. I look forward to a new semester of research!