For more information on my RET experience at Boston University please visit my website:
https://sites.google.com/site/fdukajretbu/

Week 6- Presentation, Poster Session and Wrapping Things up...
       This marks my last blog entry for this summer. We are leaving BU feeling that we accomplished most of the things we set off at the beginning of the program. The revised labs along with the balloon project, although in need of some further improvement, are something that can surely help other educators to inspire and teach their students about near space. From a personal stand point the experience broadened my knowledge of near space science, team work in a laboratory setting and the collegiality that goes along with it. I cannot thank enough everyone that made this experience possible:

      BUSAT                                    RET Project Team 
Dr.Theodore Fritz                            Dr.Helen Fawcett

Nate Darling                                     Cynthia Brossman

Jean Kalvange                                    Dr.Mike Ruane

Kamen Kozarev

Dr.Mike Pavel

Brian Walsh

Steven Yee

Josh Mendez
         

And the rest of the BU Student Satellite Team



Last but definitely not least I would like to thank all of the 2012 BU RETs; special thanks to my lab partner Jay DeFuria for being a great team player and making this a very successful summer.

                                                                 The RET 2012 Crew   : ]

Week 5- Launching our Near Space Balloon....
         The week we have been looking forward all summer is finally here. We spent the first couple of days working on putting to gather the payloads and finalizing all the components that went into them. Tuesday night was by far the longest workday yet where Jay and I, along with Jean, Nate and  Kamen were in the College of Arts and Sciences until 11pm making sure that everything was a go for the next day.

   

         The balloon launch itself was a total blast. Although it took us about 1 hour to assemble the balloon and fill it with helium the anticipation was definitely worth it. Below you will find pictures of the team working on the balloon and payloads right before launching it.

Week 4 - Teachers Teaching Teachers...
          This week has been the busiest so far in terms of the variety of things we have had to do. We revisited the cleanroom on Tuesday to finalize our project. The picture below shows what the end result of it looks like. Although to most people the final product looks like a CD room with something sticked on it, the process to make it was far off from a bumper sticker.

                                       Team Space Teacher on a wafer

         The rest of the week was used to prepare for the labs we were running with the teachers and putting together a timeline to complete the Near Space Balloon by Tuesday. The labs went great. The teachers seemed to understand them and for the most part seemed excited by the experience. Given that both labs were closely related to the balloon launch, the motivation to complete them was definitely there.

 

Week 3 - Paving the Ground...

        After spending all of last week understanding the details of our project, we began this week by putting together a detailed agenda for the completion of the project in a timely manner. Once we got a better idea on the things that needed to get done we started to prioritize.
       We decided to start working on Labs#2,5 since we are running them for the rest of the RET teachers next friday and its always a good idea to get things done ahead of time to leave some room for complications.

                                Soldering the MAX chips together in preparation
                                            for the Temperature Sensors Lab


In the process we realized that re-writing the labs to be more high school friendly and doing an adequate job with the teacher manual is a very time consuming job. A lot was achieved this past week in that front but a good amount still remains to get done. Most importantly, we were able to successfully complete the labs and we double checked that we have all the materials needed.
     
            In addition to our BUSAT work, this week marked our first Cleanroom experience. After getting over the fact that our outfits were too cool for school and about 10000000 pictures later we were able to appreciate this advanced laboratory were the number of particles floating around was kept in check at all times. Helen Fawcett became our lab instructor for the day. She was very patient and took time answering our numerous questions.

                            My lab partner Jay DeFuria and I goofing around                  
                                                        in the cleanroom