MENTOR ASSESSMENT #2 

DATE: ​March 22, 2019 

 
SUBJECT: A ​ erospace Engineering 
 
 
The points I had made for myself to discuss with Mr. Marks during our meeting 
were about my next steps after finishing the analyzation procedures for the 
model and to verify with him my calculations which I was having difficulty with. I 
wanted to be able to achieve more independency in my work process and 
figured that in order to accomplish this, I would need to ask advice from Mr. 
Marks on how I should go about utilizing the next eight weeks in order to 
complete my project.  
 
We first discussed the calculations I’d been doing during the previous weeks and 
the issues I was having with them. What surprised me was that there was no 
simple solution to my difficulties. I was struggling with finding the correct data to 
use in equations because a lot of the measurements of the model weren’t 
accessible to me. Mr. Marks worked with me to turn to the internet to find the 
missing information I needed in order to be able to carry out the math. However, 
a lot of it was not specific to exactly what I needed. My mentor turned this 
struggle we encountered turned into a lesson about assumptions. He advised 
me to make an assumption about what the missing number could be, using 
similar information to guide my decision. An example of this is when I was trying 
to find the tensile strain value for the specific isotope of aluminum used in the 
wing design. When I couldn’t find this, Mr. Marks and I found a similar isotope 
and used its value in replacement. He furthermore taught me to document any 
assumptions I make. If I used a number in my calculations, I needed to make sure 
I identified its source. He compared this to how I would cite any information in a 
work cited page at the end of a research paper. On top of its source, I would 
need to notate the assumptions I made because this essentially makes my 
calculations not entirely accurate, therefore making it important to disclaim.  
 
Another topic that became a point of discussion while trying to understand how 
to follow through with my calculations was about utilizing online calculators. 
During our first meeting, Mr. Marks had mentioned to me excel calculators that 
people make specific to an equation so that they could simply input the numbers 
instead of having to go through all the work. Upon our conversation about these 
calculators, he suggested that I make one of my own to reflect some of the 
equations that I have to use. This would ensure that I have a thorough 
understanding of how the equations work as well as make the math work 
required of me more easier.  
 
After our math session, I moved our discussion to my project in its entirety and 
what his advise would be on how I should plan on completing it in the time I 
have remaining. While going through the steps I have left and creating 
checkpoints from them, Mr. Marks and I discussed the engineering process. This 
was something that even previous to our meeting I wanted to emphasize in my 
project by following. The engineering process nearly stays consistent for any 
project you do, so I wanted to understand how to be successful with using it by 
utilizing it in my project. My mentor outlined the process for me and revealed 
that creating a process for each weekly checkpoint I set for myself may be 
helpful. On top of this, I will be using his outline to generalize the process of my 
entire project.  
 
The last topic we discussed was about graduate school. Mr. Marks currently 
works in the aerospace industry but is looking to go back to graduate school to 
specify more into aerospace engineering. While I am currently not considering 
graduate school, I was piqued by his goal to go back to school. I asked about this 
decision and learned that grad school should not be something I should be ruling 
out this early. Rather, I should be more open about the opportunities it presents 
in order to specialize because doing so can advance you more in your career. Mr. 
Marks chose to go into the industry after four years of undergrad because he’d 
been presented with an offer from Lockheed that he couldn’t refuse because it 
was his dream job. He told me that many of the experiences he received from 
actually working in the industry was what eventually led him to becoming 
interested in an aspect of aerospace enough to pursue specialization of it. From 
his experiences, I am now considering going to graduate school in my future.