SASE National Conference (NC) and STEM Career Fair 2017: Empowering You

                        The SASE NC is the largest national conference and career fair for Asian Americans in the United States. The conference includes –

• a STEM career fair of 80+ companies recruiting for full-time and internship candidates
• professional and leadership development workshops
• networking opportunities with professional scientists and engineers
• a gala dinner featuring keynote and awards
• community service to give back to a local community 
• SASEtank (Business Pitch) and SASEhack (our hackathon).

                   The conference is a fun filled with amazing opportunities to meet new people and make long-lasting friendship. The conference not only increases personal network but professional too. You will have a chance to be at the workshop from leadership development, resume review, interview skills to innovation in latest technology.

                     This conference is second NC for me. SASE University of Dayton chapter participated every year to NC. I was glad to be one of the participant in the team for this endeavor. I was equally excited to be on SASEbowl team as SASE Titans.  SASEbowl is a friendly competition among collegiate members for a night packed with high-intensity games and challenges including:

Minute to win it: teams will have 60 seconds to complete each mini task. This will include great teamwork and communication.

Jeopardy: teams will compete with one another in a battle of trivia.

Build it activity: teams will have to use teamwork to accomplish a building task   

               The team was divided into small groups. While other members were participating in a minute to win it and Jeopardy. I including other 2 members were assigned to build a catapult. We were able to design and built a catapult using ITW hand tools. As a mechie, it was a really great experience for me to complete the task. We had to put the catapult to test by throwing balls with the help of catapult on glass tower and we were able to do remove the most glass from the tower.  We were able to do it maximum. SASE titans were the winner of the overall competition and were awarded with certificate and padfolios.

Happy Us.

I attended couple of workshops –

The future of Advanced Manufacturing by ITW

Data Analytics by Boeing

Panel – Prototyping: from Idea to Product by Ingersoll Rand

Panel – Speak Up, Stand Out, Be Heard

Career Fair

           There were numerous companies looking for perspective hiring for an internship, co-op and full time. I gave my elevator pitch to every potential company like BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON, BOEING, DEPS, US DE, US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER, US POSTAL SERVICES, UNITED TECHNOLOGIES, and few more.

SASE University of Dayton chapter member

About SASE The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) was founded in November 2007 and has since founded 90 collegiate chapters, as well as, 6 professional chapters. In addition to promoting the professional development of future scientists and engineers, SASE encourages members to celebrate their Asian heritage, advocate for diversity on campus and in the workplace, as well as, provide opportunities to give back to the community. SASE is open to men and women of all majors and ethnic backgrounds. For more information, visit www.saseconnect.org.

 

Pani Ghatta – Water Mills

              

                                   Himalaya is boon and curse. These are the mountains that help to tranquil our soul and assemble our hopes in solitude. The same mountains stand tall to hinder the progress of modern development and technology. The mighty rivers start as rivulet in the lap of these mountains. The kinetic energy of falling river among the slopes are used to harness the power to grind grains to empower human body. The conservation of energy works perfectly fine satisfying scientific society of rich nation who want’s to keep nature pure and make a big shout out for being agrarian while doing so.

              These turning machines are popularly known as Pani Ghatta a.k.a water mills. The water mills are very popular across the Himalayas, as it is the only reliable machine to grind grain for people living in the regions. The water mills are not limited to Nepal but you can see across the stretch of hills of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, and Bhutan. Traditionally limited to grinding, now many are modified to generate electricity for local use.

Construction:

          The water is diverted from the mainstream via open or closed duct towards the turbine placed on the lower section of mill house. The turbine used to be made of wood, but the majority of wooden turbines are replaced with metallic as improved water mills these days. The vertical shaft connected to the turbine on the floor of mill house runs and turns the upper section of stone. The lower section is stationary, and grains stored in wooden settings above the stone drops grains through a hole in upper stone to lower stone via feeder mechanism, and then grains are ground in between the stones.

Improved Water Mills (IMW)- New Name for Modern era

                         Improved water mills are one of the clean technologies promoted by the government of Nepal with many other stakeholders. Nepal has about 25,000 traditional water mills scattered throughout the country. 6,500 of them already have been converted to IMW. Replacement of wooden parts (rotor and shaft) with metallic parts is the main improvement made in the technology. The technology can also generate electricity up to 3 kW, sufficient for lighting as well as for operating small electric and electronic home appliances.

Advantages of IWM

Employment: The installation, advocacy, operation, maintenance and promotion of IMW will create a lot of opportunities at national and local level employing skilled as well as unskilled labor.

Income Level: It helps to improve the income of mill owner as well as a user. It helps to increase the living standard of local people.

Boosting the Local Economy: The water mill will remove the drudgery of traditional grinding. It will save time which people can invest in income generating activities like animal husbandry, agriculture, and others. People will get familiar with new technology and electronic devices which is powered by electricity from water mill.

Gender Mainstreaming and Social Inclusion: Watermills helps to reduce the stress of grinding grains for women. Traditionally grinding was done manually by women. This replaces huge burden on women. The mills will be a melting point for women to socialize and get connected to each other. It helps to remove social evils like un-touch-ability, status quo, and others.

Environmental Impacts: The IWM is powered by gravity-driven water, a renewable source of energy, which essentially does not produce air pollution or sound pollution. Therefore, the technology is environmentally sound and acceptable.

Sources:

1. http://www.aepc.gov.np/old/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=108
2. http://www.inforse.org/asia/pdf/Pub_Nepal%20water%20mill_2014.pdf
3. http://www.dw.com/en/nepal-efficient-water-mills-produce-electricity/av-15950902
4. http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~nathan/nepal/ghatta/ghattas.html

Image Source: http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Flour-power

 

 

Call of Mountain: Self Revelation at Smokies

                    The slowly rising sun on wind shield of car, increasing reading on speedometer and decreasing miles to destination on GPS is all what a traveler seeks. After arduous class hour, work and research this was much needed break for me. To be out in sun and feel cool breeze on face. The trip to Gatlinburg, where mighty Smokey’s mountains was one of the much-awaited trip for me. By the way who does not love nature and mountain. 

                            The smokies mountains are the best place to visit in spring months. The hike trails, biking, fishing are few things you can do on lot more things. I strongly suggest to try Ole smoky whisky a.k.a moonshine and sugar land whisky. The best about the drinks are they are locally brewed and tastes so smooth. It was hell of an experience for me.

Picture speaks thousands words.

WASTE TIRES AND INNOVATION

                   Figure. Creative use of Waste Tire by TGG Mentees Batch -II under Mentor                                                                    Anil Chitrakar 

                           Ever wondered about the tires which are no longer roadworthy after they are used? They are stockpiled, dumped in landfills, or just thrown away on roadsides. This linear product use approach results in a massive waste.

              Tires, whether it is electric, solar powered, gasoline, or hydrogen fueled vehicle, are indispensable components for the transportation industry. Scrap tires have potential to harm local environments and negatively affect human health. The most common problems associated with waste tires are open air fires and the creation of breeding ground for rodents and mosquitoes. It’s bad but it’s a fact. According to The Freedonia Group Report it is estimated that the world demand for tires is forecast to rise 4.7 percent per year through 2015 to 3.3 billion units, approximately same amount of tires are disposed of every year and almost 20% of them are illegally dumped in landfills, or just thrown away on roadsides.

              Is this the end of the story? No, a these approaches can ultimately lead towards right environmental choice and would also make good financial sense.

Circular Economy

              The alternative to the growing waste concerns is to develop a circular economy which goes much further than recycling and there is a strong business case for development. Building recycling industries to recover, recycle and process the waste tires – with the focus on the reduce and reuse principles, unemployed people can find gainful employment, SMEs can be developed and, the environmental disaster that waste tires represent can be economically and effectively addressed. Analysis by McKinsey estimates that shifting in this direction of circular economy model could add $1-trillion to the global economy by 2025 and create 100 000 new jobs within the next five years. It’s worth it!

Energy

              A normal used passenger car tire weighs 7.2 kg; it contains at least 238 MJ of thermal energy, which can be useful in some dedicated facilities. In thermoelectric plants, tires are fed into the hearth without any pre-treatment or slicing. This process is an economically viable alternative for used tires that cannot be effectively retreaded, generating a large amount of by-products. Each ton of input (as tires) generates 287 kg of solid residue made of zinc oxide, ferrous slag and gypsum, each with a well-defined market. The use of old tires as fuel has the advantage that it does not generate any waste beyond what is usually generated by a standard cement production process. Sliced tires can be fed into the kiln with the other raw materials. The energy in the rubber provides the heat while the combustion residues are incorporated in the cement without compromising the product’s quality. The ferrous material from the steel wire partially substitutes the large quantities of iron ore used in cement production. Several fuels are used in a cement plants including coal, natural gas and oil. The rubber may provide roughly 20% of the heat required in the kiln, generally at a lower cost than the other fuels. The high temperature of combustion, around 1400°C, under appropriate supply of oxygen, ensures complete burnout of the organic material.

Construction Applications

              Rubberized asphalt is an alternative to traditional paving material that combines the strength and versatility of asphalt and the longevity and flexibility of recycled rubber. Derived from scrap tires, the material is said to be longer lasting, safer, less costly and friendlier to the environment than traditional paving materials.

              Scrap tires can be processed into ground rubber to modify asphalt thereby creating rubberized asphalt and rubber asphalt concrete. Asphalt companies buy large quantities of shredded rubber crumbs to mix with their hot melt asphalt to make pavements cheaper. Other road construction companies purchase large quantities of medium sized shredder tires to use in road beds for minimizing vibrations and for highway sound barriers. Rubberized asphalt is not just sustainable, but actually better than the traditional alternative, better in every way.

              Old tires can be used in barriers such as collision reduction, erosion control, rainwater runoff, wave action that protects piers and marshes. With a blend of art and engineering, the civil engineering applications of waste tires are emerging.

Re-Purpose

              We can use old tires in child’s play areas. They’re great for setting up an obstacle course or making a sandbox or a tire swing. Tire mulch is also sold as padding for children’s playground. We can make soles for shoes or even entire pairs of flip-flops. We can make livestock feeders or pet house out of old tires. Used tires can be transformed into furniture with a little pie of skill and imagination. Since tires are black and they retain the heat from the sun easily, you can use them in your garden for growing your plants earlier. Basically, you can grow plants and veggies in tires earlier than in the ground. This trick works great with those species that require more warmth. You can make an outdoor storage bin using old tires secured together with some plywood and painted in your favorite color. Old tires can be transformed into a cool coffee table or other cool pieces of furniture. Just dive, there’s a world of thing you can do. Re- think!              

              It has been years since we dumped the opportunities for business through valuation of the waste. But, an era is evolving to turn the wastes in every bin into something really spectacular and create value. It is a new shift in the resource management approach, a transition to the unexplored territory and it provides battle against the traditional inertia of waste management. This is the way towards sustainable economies and eco-innovation, and can drive development across the board. This benefits all of us.

About the authors:

Bipin Karki is a graduate student of Renewable and Clean Energy at University of Dayton, and Former TGG Mentee at WWF Nepal (carried out project to reuse tires). He can be reached at bpn_krk@hotmail.com

Bishnu Parajuli is a undergraduate student of Industrial Engineering at Institute of Engineering, Thapathali Campus and the President of Society of Industrial Engineering Students – Nepal. He can be reached bishnu.parajuli13@gmail.com.

As Published in : http://www.sajhapost.com/2017/01/11/58081.html

“Jalbayu ka Kura”

Climate Change and Nepal

“The world is dynamic.” it was said by my environmental teacher in school which resonates in canvass of my memory since then. Sometime I ponder, Are we such dynamic? Are we so mad at changing world? Why we always look for development without its implication? Are we shameless & reckless in saving mother earth? Are we even serious about climate change? Only we are supposed to talk not act. The myriad of questioning, self satisfying answers and baseless hypothesis used to come in my mind. Education is change maker, I used to doubt on it. But after been educated, I am not only aware of burgeoning development across world but also consequences brought by them on nature as well human life. I am aware, I participate, I want change to come in thought and action. I want to see visible change not in future but also in present.

The climate…

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Water Mill cum Hydro Electric

Lima Mill used for grinding 

                                                                                                                     Photo Source:angelfire.com

                                                Water mill is one of the traditional kind of grinding wheel that uses wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process for various end use such as flour grinding,lumber or textile production.This type of technology is applicable in hill areas where there is enough head for running turbine. The water diverted from river or canal provides enough kinetic energy to drive wheel or turbine via head race channel or pipe.The force of the water’s movement drives the blades of a wheel or turbine, which in turn rotates an axle that drives the mill’s other machinery.

                                          Water leaving the wheel or turbine is drained through a tail race, but this channel may also be the head race of yet another wheel, turbine or mill.This kinda of water mill is suitable in hilly and Himalayan region of Nepal where enough head is available.Not only for milling but it can generate electricity which can empower local community which can contribute for decreasing load on central load distribution.

Water Mill cum Micro hydro in Aghakhola, Palpa

                           This is good example of use of appropriate technology helping people to live under light. The micro-hydro generates electricity to operate mill services for customer and provides power in night to local resident in vicinity. 

Himalaya & Sun

 

                     This is story of every household of Nepal’s Himalayan region when you climb above 3000 m altitude. Most of household including hotels, lodges, restaurant are equipped with solar panel turned into direction of sun. Due to lack of transmission line to transmit hydro power generated electricity, solar power is only viable source of power for people living here. People are cent percent dependent on solar power to charge mobile battery, lighting small portion of house and watching selected television program. Although it is costly and provide minimum amount of power to run daily life still it is boon for them. There is no clue for survey of transmission line and searching alternative power.

                     So solar technology is not only environment friendly but it has been only hope of people to lighten their house. Thus government should be able to provide subsidy and encourage use of solar power. This is not only be Eco-friendly but also save forest from deforestation. If you want to see real life use of solar technology pack your bag and move toward Himalayas.

SASE #Dare to Lead:Personal to Professional networking

SASE Dallas Conference group Photo, Hyatt Downtown Dallas

                                                      Leadership is clichéd and commonly used in every organization. But SASE (Society of Asian Scientist and Engineer) is unique among such. SASE is an organization started by Asian American to promote South Asian Heritage embarks its journey from mere regional level to national level. The SASE consists of professional (working) and collegiate (student) member throughout U.S. There are various collegiate SASE chapter across university and colleges. They not only bring Asian American people together but also anyone is welcomed in the chapter. It’s all about networking, leadership, fun, professional & technical growth and coming out of comfort zone.

                 SASE University of Dayton Chapter, its lunch time at DFW airport Texas

                                      I am proud member of SASE University of Dayton chapter. The journey to SASE started from small brochure from Kennedy Union field (SASE UD booth). The volume of meeting with SASE increased with various networking workshop, presentation skill seminar, workshops for introvert to name few. I was excited to hear about annual SASE conference at Dallas, Texas. I wanted to go learn, explore workshops. I am glad to be one among seven people to represent University of Dayton SASE chapter.

                  Ready for some fun and networking 

                                 The conference was one of my best three days where I got chance to meet people from diverse region and learn so many things. The event was scheduled for three days –

Registration and SASE bowl

The event kicked off with registration and networking sessions. There was ice breaker type competition known as SASE bowl. The SASE bowl quiz cum activities themed regional competition. We along with few others from mid-west represented team Mid-West – Airliners. We were runner up for the competition.

Workshops

                                    There were parallel workshops running all around. I attended four workshop. I learnt about various recent technology, presentation skills, art of engineering storytelling, directed energy (use of laser in defense) are workshop which I attended. I got chance to review my resume from Toyota officials, who suggested do’s and do not’s while writing resume. The details workshops are as follows:

Presentation Skills – Shell

• Learnt about do’s and do nots of presentation.
• Body Language & posture
• Use of picture and impacts on audience
• How to avoid distraction & Q/A handling

Engineering: The Art of Story Telling – Toyota

• Learnt about ideation cycle (IDEATE – CREATE- TEST-REFINE)
• Quality Improvement Technique like KAIZEN, MUDA, HOSHIN
• Story Cycle and Process

Share your WHY

Root Cause (Back Ground)

Know your Audience

Customer First

Pay attention to big Picture

• Ideas must be as simple so try explaining non-technical person
• How to communicate with higher Executives being technical person
• What it feels like to work in Toyota

Leadership and Motivation – Huei Ren Pan

• Learnt about role of leader

Coach, Mentor, Champion, Advocate

• Top 5 motivation of mine while looking employer

Being Involved, Good working condition, Interesting works, Promotion, good wages

• How to meet aspiration of employee when you are manager
• Quality of Manager
• Manager Vs Employee differences

What is Directed Energy?  – DEPS

• Talked about Projectile
• LASER system
• Direct Energy Weapon (Lethal/Anti Material)
• Various DE Advantages and Applications

Career Fairs

                                  There were numerous companies looking for perspective hiring for internship, co-op and full time. This is maiden career fair for me. I gave my pitch to every potential companies like BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON, BOEING, DEPS, US DE, US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER, US POSTAL SERVICES, UNITED TECHNOLOGIES, and few more.

                    The conference ended with #ChicagoReady after Dallas Conference.

Me at Conference 

Photo Credit: Collected from teammates and SASE facebook

Scribbled Words : When Words Matter

                                                  There is no starting point or ending point. They say love is paradox, is it. You don’t truly know how it happens, and why it happens. Traditionally people describe with character of hyper happiness like you may laugh for no reasons, start singing, feel satisfaction and millions other reasons. Nevertheless, it might be best feeling for everyone on contrary if you can feel it. People define love in zillion ways. I am no poet to write poem on it, no writer to write a novel on it, no singer to sing a song, I am just layman who scribbles and stumbles on words.

                                 For me it is something which gives strength, a hope that better days with better person will come, a companionship to rely upon and a shoulder to cry upon. Is this what all think? I wonder how people make promise to bring star even when they cannot behold rolling tears. Its irony people do not value to word, just mere forsaken word and false hope. It’s hard to imagine world without pain and sorrow, how good it would have been to see all people happy and satisfied. But reality is different the world is not always sunshine or nasty place, it’s like two sides of coin light and darkness. For being in relation is about ignoring darkness of people and seeing brighter part. It’s not about finding reason to quit rather searching reasons to stick in. You never know what comes ahead, so enjoy your present with whom you are. It’s easy to see dark in light but hard to find light on dark.

                          Your choice is all you have got. At some time at some point you need to have guts to believe in something whether it’s your intuition or Karma or any and trust you are on right path.  At first everything is uncertain…when you carry on…dots get connected…..

Photo Source:All Things Fadra.com

Reflecting Back to Mentorship: Six months under Guidance

 

                                The world is changing relatively faster than expected. The growing market of job is competitive and full of talent, where failing once means losing your job. The professional life is tough already, and its graph is increasing day by day. There are hundreds of professional coming out yearly with honed skills, talents and world life exposure. You cannot be left behind bewildering other progress.

                          Traditionally, the best way to learn was to find better master and be his/her apprentice. The evolving education system changed everything developing systematic progress of student to professional life. That does not mean need of mentorship/apprenticeship is bygone things. Still mentorship is considered best way to sharpening skills before you fail or simply learning by others failure. Your life is too short to fail on every step and learn from failure.

                           I got chance to be part of WWF Nepal The Generation Green Mentorship Program Batch 2 under mentor Anil Chitrakar (Social Entrepreneur). Along with me six others participated on this journey of six months. The main idea was to work one various creative project related to environment conservation, renewable energy use, 3R principle, wildlife conservation, and other several creative solutions. As we came from different background of study, it was hard for us to manage time for meeting and finalize our idea.

                    We were lacking confidence even we had ideas in mind, that’s where mentor guided us. He showed us light beyond tunnel and believed in our ideas. Every idea will work if you have courage to pursue them. These words still echo my ear and motivate me daily. Instead of focusing on single idea we tried cluster of idea as we had limited time of 6 months, so our ending point of idea would be starting point for upcoming groups.

                                 The main objective of our project was to establish a culture with a system of recycling, reusing and reducing of waste (food, plastic, paper, rubber & water). The basic task was to help in the conversion of low – end input waste into high value output. We helped to facilitate and bridge gap between waste utilizing institutions by innovative alternatives to appropriate potential market by designing ergonomically viable products as such:

1. Reusing Rubber Tire by Giving Aesthetic Values for Parks, Schools and Communal area.

                       The tire has been real issue as it cannot be recycled (economically at low scale in country like Nepal) or reduced but can only be re-used. We had re-used tire by integrating them into environment. They were used as flower pots for large plants, swings in garden or home, decoration by giving colors. We identified certain schools formed Eco-Clubs or youth clubs with whom we worked so that the sustainability of the project will not be an issue if local young people will take care of it.

Figure. Tire Gardening at Shree Janajyoti Secondary School, Banepa 

Figure. Tire Gardening and Orientation at Sainik School, Pokhara 

Figure.  Tire Gardening and Orientation at Ratna Rajya School, Kathmandu

2. Advocated use of recycled Plastic Bags into Ropes or Fibers for Agricultural Support:

                        We helped to recycle/reuse plastic bags as rope and it was provided as sample to farmers. This was done through the re-use of plastic bags by making ropes or fibers from them. The ropes can be used for making various green house, support for vegetable growth, building birdcage, temporary shelter and even making fences. The high strength plastic rope and fibers will come in handy for farmers for daily use.

3. Encouraging institutions for Creative use of Paper:

                     Paper is widely used for various purposes like printing records, brochures and leaflets. Reduce use of paper, printing on both sides of paper and promotion of e-communication was encouraged. On joint collaboration with Women’s Dream Multipurpose Ltd we made pencil out of sample old newspaper and encouraged such initiatives from other organizations.

Figure. Training and Sample Old Newspaper Pencil, Kathmandu

 4. Rain Water Harvesting

                         Due to ongoing water crisis and larger number of family residing in small houses, it was very difficult to fulfill the water need in household use. So, being a researcher in watershed management, Mr. Laxman Shrestha had constructed a very simple yet a very effective way to use the rainwater. We conducted interview to share his noble idea for public use.

Figure. Mentees interviewing Mr. Laxman Shrestha about Rain Water Harvesting 

THE LESSONS

                         Indeed six months mentorship has been great journey of my life. We were able to work on ideas generated by us. We could see transformation on ourselves as well as we felt that our activities made some level of contribution and influence on society. We were lucky enough to travel various parts of Nepal. We made lifetime friends and created memory. Plus we learnt about professionalism, discipline, time management and respect of fellow team member.

Figure. The TEAM (YOUTH FOR CHANGE NEPAL)

                  I would like to provide note of thanks for Mr. Anil Chitrakar (Mentor), Ms. Shikha Gurung (WWF Nepal) and Mr. Dipesh Gurung (ECCA Nepal). It was pleasure to work with you guys: Anisha Adhikari (MBA), Bina Kharel (MBA), Nabina Gurung (Developmental Study), Senha Shakya (Engineer + MBA), Subina Shrestha (Developmental Study) and Sunwi Maskey (Environmental Study). Cheers!!!

Figure. Team Member Briefing About Project Impacts and Progress

Figure. Closing of Program. Team Member with Amrit Gurung 

Media Coverage: We are glad our work was shared on online (Glocal Khabar) and print (MyRepublica) media. Please follow link for more information.

Glocal Khabar: Old Tire Gardening By Youth For Change Nepal 

My Republica:The Generation Green: Teaching youth about nature, conservation and more