Engineering student 'hammers out' research project with faculty member

Jeremy Watkins, an engineering graduate student, said he should have trusted his instincts when he started building a water tank.

The 180-gallon tank would be used to measure the forces acting on a cantilever beam submerged in water. Watkins said he initially thought of building the tank in component panels; someone suggested working from a larger piece of metal and he went with that idea.

"So, it was me and a hammer for a long time, bending it into shape," Watkins joked.

The end result was still successful. This project was part of Watkins's independent study course with Farid Jafari, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. They used strain gauges to measure the deformations and calculate the forces on the beam, which looks like a small metal ruler.