The Beginning (8/31-9/6)

School has just begun, and Independent Study and Mentorship has already swung into full momentum. Over this time period, I have had the opportunity to get a very brief view of what I will be doing in the future of my independent study through two assignments. During this past week, I learned a great deal about the professional world - how interactions occur, expectations for knowledge, character, appearances, and even more. There were two assignments during this week that opened my eyes to what my future may look like, in which I developed fifteen interview questions for future research interviews with professionals in the aerospace field as well as conducting research on the application of Modelica in model-based systems. It was my first time conducting almost completely unrestricted research in my high school career so mistakes were unavoidable. I chose too much of an in-depth article to analyze, and as a result, did not benefit to a great extent from the new knowledge. However, research will be an essential component of my independent study going forward in the year, so I am glad that I have learned early on that selecting reference articles for research is a complex process that I should put my utmost effort into. I wonder what other secrets lie in conducting effective research, as I am sure that there will be many more opportunities to learn more about aerospace engineering as time progresses. I feel that I gained a lot more from the development of my research questions - brainstorming is something I excel at, and the assignment allowed me to think critically about my future and what I could do now to shape it. I found that I struggled to create questions that were specific to the field of aerospace engineering, as I possessed a very fundamental understanding of the subject. This week really helped me realize that to identify what I want to do in the field of aerospace engineering I need a much richer understanding of not only the basics but also improve my researching techniques. I look forward to what my independent study has in store for me.