Over the course of my senior project I hope to achieve the following goals:

Have completed at least two coursera courses on aerospace engineering and related information. At least one of those classes should be directly related to aerospace/aeronautics, while the others should probably be adjacent fields (like materials science, engineering mechanics, thermodynamics, etc.). This is in order to have answered a lot of my initial questions and be as prepared as possible for college.

IF POSSIBLE, have completed a volunteering opportunity aboard the Intrepid, allowing me to deepen my understanding of the field while having hands on, up close experience with aerospace vehicles.

Have interviewed at least two different people, one with someone experienced in the field (such as a veteran) and one with someone who is currently studying aerospace engineering. Having at least these two interviews will be important as it will allow me to have different vantage points in on the field. Two, however, is just a minimum, and I am hoping to achieve somewhere closer to six total (with three from each perspective) so that I can avoid individual bias and have a more holistic view.

 

My Weekly Plan

• Week 1
  • Iron out all coursera classes and begin taking them
• Week 2
  • Continue moving forward with coursera classes while simultaneously securing interviews for the upcoming weeks
• Week 3
  • Continue moving forward with coursera classes, conduct interviews, and evaluate if I could add another course
• Week 4
  • Continue moving forward with coursera classes, continue to conduct interviews, last chance to add extra courses
• Week 5
  • Continue moving forward with/beginning to finish coursera classes, conduct final interviews
• Week 6
  • Finish all coursera classes and have all interviews accomplished.

On a day to day level, I would aim to work in two, two hour shifts with each one focusing on one class. I would also try to spend around an additional two hours studying that information and recording it in some form of notes that is easy to access. If the Intrepid volunteering opportunity is possible, I am not sure how much time this would exactly take up, however, the museum is reopening on Thursday, March 25, and are planning on being open from 9am-5pm, meaning that is the longest I could be working on board. If this were the case I would still aim to complete 2 hours of coursera work if possible.