My name is Rose Kirk-Landry and I am interning in environmental engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. This week we continued to work on coding and building temperature sensors.
Tuesday – the other interns and I met with our mentor to establish some goals for this week:
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Figure out how to track time with the data measured from the temperature sensor that we have built
- Getting the sensor to measure and record data in both °C and °F
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Do an extended temperature reading and analysis
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Figure out how to store the data that we track into our computers/Excel and Google Sheets
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Analyze the data to find local and absolute extreme as well as average temperature in one location over a period of time
I figured out how to achieve the second goal through lines 26-31 of the following code. The addition of line 30 tells the arduino sensor to separate the two values defined in lines 26 and 27. We can now plot data with either or both of the units.
Wednesday – we were finally able to get our 3d modeling projects through the print center. I made a photo/phone stand and the other interns made a nameplate and a lego brick.
Thursday – we built a few more temp sensors with new materials that came in earlier this week. Hopefully once we figure out the rest of the coding we will be able to conduct temperature analysis at multiple locations.
Friday – we worked on our weekly presentation video to be shown at the CSI (carbon science initiative) meeting. We used footage from the 3d modeling process, arduino wiring, and programing as well as photos of our progress. We were not able to meet every single one of our goals: we have yet to figure out how to make the arduino sensor record timestamps as well as data. Currently we have established a serial link from the arduino to the computer to get temperature readings, but we still need to find a way to have a reverse link so that the computer can send the time to the sensor.
Other – This weekend I got a membership at a local climbing gym. My family came to visit so I took my little brother climbing with me. At the pottery studio, I made a pitcher and some cups for my host mom. I also was able to glaze and take home my pieces from previous weeks. Toward the end of the week, I had dinner with a previous teacher of mine who moved to Salt Lake City.
I am catching with all your blogs in a random order – thanks for reminding me about them! It is nice to see the progression over the weeks, seems like the project is moving forward and you are getting exposed to a lot of interesting sciencey stuff! I had not seen the pottery photo on the right before, with those finished pieces. They are masterfully done!