In addition to my thesis work for my dissertation, my research assistantship required that I take on side projects in the lab. For one of these projects, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) contracted our lab to design and build a device to sample water in Buffalo Reef Lake Superior to further study the effects of stamp sand on the water and aquatic life. The stamp sand is just waste from copper mining that ended in the 1930s that was dumped on the coast of Lake Superior. The waste has been pushed by winds and currents along the coast. It is now threatening Buffalo Reef, which is a spawning ground for fish, and could cost an estimated yearly loss $4.5 million for the commercial fisheries industry if the reef is lost. In addition, beaches and property along the coast has been affected. A plan for a cleanup project, possibly costing $1 billion dollars, is partially underway. Though the water sampler is being used to study a problem that has already gotten out of hand, in the future it can be used as a preventative measure or early warning system that catches issues like this one before they have adverse effects environment.
The water sampler project was given to me and two other members of the SML. We designed the mechanical structure together and then split the final prototype into 3 jobs: electronic design and programming, drawing and printing custom 3D printed parts, and machining and fabrication. I took the job of designing the electronics and writing software to control and interface with the device. I also contributed to drawing the 3D-printed parts.
After we designed and tested the first prototype, the USGS requested a total of 10 samplers to deploy with a deadline of fewer than 3 months. One month was taken up waiting on ordered parts. I spent the remaining 2 months leading a team of 3 other students to build the electronics for the 9 remaining devices. This included teaching undergraduate students to crimp wires, solder, and work with single-board computers, and motivating some of them when they grew tired of some of the more redundant work.
