Introducing myself and my project to begin my presentation

Author: Mattie McLellan | Majors: Mechanical Engineering, Physics | Semester: Spring 2024

I am developing scientific instrumentation for small satieties that obtain atmospheric content data. Using light to measure wavelength absorption in the atmosphere, the chemical species present will be determined by a spectrometer. The laser will be emitted from one satellite and detected by another satellites. The part of this project I presented on was the communication between the two satellites.

I went to the AIAA region IV student conference in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This conference is great place for students to learn how conference and presenting work in the aerospace field and creates opportunities to network with professionals in our area. I did receive feedback about my work the judges gave notes on my presentation and project. They commented on how interesting my project is and my passion for this idea. One judge who works in spectroscopy gave feedback on issue that could have affected my data, and things that might in the future. She also referenced a supplier of related equipment. The other two judges focused on my presentation giving feedback about eye contact and places that deserved more explanations. Overall, most of the feedback was positive.

The idea of this conference is to provide opportunities to network. I talked to some professionals in aerospace. One of the judges talked to me after my presentation, asking about internships and if I would be interested in connecting to his lab at Sandia National Laboratories or if he could connect me to someone working on something within my field of work and gave me his business card. I meet many peers in aerospace, most from OSU, and some from OU. Generally, I think this will be helpful because my mentor Dr. Huang says aerospace is a small field and if you attend conferences, you will see the same people around and some of these people I might work with or attend graduate school with. I am excited to continue working with some of these students.

I did present at this conference, and I learned a good bit from presenting. First, my confidence in my work increased greatly by presenting. With explaining and teaching others and answering questions about what I have completed thus far in this project, secured my understanding in what I have done, how it fits into the larger project, and what my next steps will be. I was forced to zoom out from the details. Secondly, I learned a great deal about presenting on engineering material. By watching others and developing my presentation, I was impressed with the importance of pictures and clear graphs to display data. So much of engineering presentations should be understandable from just the visuals or you will lose the audience. I was also nervous when I did not need to be. If my slides have the necessary information and create the narrative I want to tell, then I am just explaining why I am doing this and retelling what I did.

To sum up all I learned into advice for another student, I would say is hold on to the confidence of knowing the most about what you are presenting on, this is your work, just explain your thoughts. Sure, other people are professionals in specific areas of your work, but it has been your experience and data, so just explain it. I think confidence in explaining your work will help your audience understand more than finding the perfect way to explain it. Next for me will be developing the laser emitting system and continuing with the detection system. Developing this instrument has a great deal of work to continue.