About Cherie

Senior

Aerospace Engineering

**Major:** Aerospace Engineering
**Minors:** Mathematics Minor, Military Science Minor
**Hometown:** Bermuda, FL
**Activities:** AFROTC, SHPE
**Honors:** Service Excellence Award, Deans List Award
**Favorite Class:** Structures
**Favorite thing to do in Prescott:** Kayaking, see movies, cruise through downtown
**In my free time, I…** like to watch Netflix, go bike riding, hang out with friends, and relax

Take Home Finals?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Cherie

Oddly enough they do exist!! I was surprised to discover that my Mathematical Methods for Engineering final exam is a take home final. I have never had a take home final before and I’ve only had one take home exam so my question to the readers is whether this is a common practice or not?

As odd as it is I actually like the idea of a take home final, sure it might be a little harder than normal but, I don’t have to cram in studying and I can work on it at my own leisure. How cool is that??!! The downside of the take home final is the fact that unlike homework you can’t work on it with other students. It might be a little lonely sitting at my desk by myself trying to figure this thing out but, at least there is Pandora!!

So what does your finals week look like so far? Easy, hard, impossible?? I would like to know, go ahead and comment below so we can share our thoughts and tips with you. Happy prefinals week everyone….may the odds ever be in your favor 😉

Dynamics Project Complete!!

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Cherie

Organized Spring Pendulum Motion

19 pages and countless hours later my dynamics project is done!! I am so happy to be finished with it. Overall, I proved that a spring pendulum system is chaotic but, its motion can still be modeled with dynamics. I used two methods, the second one is the most accurate as it shows the chaos in the motion of the pendulum system. The methods are respectively called simple pendulum motion and rigid body pendulum motion. The difference between the two is that rigid body motion takes more “real time” factors into account such as the mass of the spring, its changing length, inertial centers of masses of each object in the system and so on. the system is actually so complex that you can solve for the general equations of motion but, they are unsolvable by hand. The graphs you see here are numerical solutions to the motion of the pendulum. This concept is huge in terms of Engineering, as engineers must be able to predict and describe chaotic motion due to the affects it has on a structure. Dynamics is a fundamental course designed for students to be exposed to the important methods and concepts before they get into upper level courses.

Chaotic Spring Pendulum Motion

Personally, Dynamics is a hard class however, I find it really fun and educational. I learned so much from my project about how to describe motion through mathematics and numerical integrations. I really look forward to the other classes in which I can apply this knowledge.

So my question to our readers is this: Do you want to go to school at a university that challenges you in a way conducive to learning? I did, and that’s why I came to Embry Riddle Prescott. Stop by some time and join us 🙂

Summer?

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Cherie

Summer is just two weeks away!! What are your plans this summer? Well, if you don’t have any yet then add in a road trip 🙂 You can visit the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Embry Riddle Prescott….and so many more places!!

Most college students go home for summer and hang out or get internships, go to field training, or get a job. So, if you are still in high school enjoy your summer and trust me, that summer reading homework is not bad at all. It will only take you two weeks to complete so, with all the extra time you have come visit some cool places in AZ!!!

My summer plans are still pending lol. I’ll have to let you know when I figure it out 🙂 comment below if you have any fun ideas or trips planned. We would love to hear from you!

Finals Preparation Starts Now!

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Cherie

It is that time of year again, professors and students alike have anticipated but, dreaded the upcoming weeks……FINALS…..again!! Are you going to be prepared? I know that finals are a tough and stressful time for students but, take hope, summer is almost here. Just remember to study hard and all that good stuff while motivating yourself by thinking about your summer plans.

This summer I will hopefully be going to Field Training for AFROTC and while I am nervous about that at least its better than doing hw everyday 🙂 I am also very excited about it too, Field Training is like a right of passage so to speak. It basically allows you to continue in your AFROTC career so that at the end when you graduate you will get a commission as an officer in the USAF. Other than that I will be taking classes and working as usual.

What are your summer plans? If your plan doesn’t include a visit to Embry Riddle’s Prescott Campus then maybe it should! We would love to see you here over summer, it is a great time to see whether this place is where you want to spend the next few years 🙂

Campus Media Services

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Cherie

The campus offers a variety of entertainment options for students to utilize in their free time these are all coordinated by our Board of Campus Activities. The board hosts barbeques, Easter Egg hunts, movie nights, pool days, and so much more!!!

My personal favorite is the movies website that is available for Prescott students to check out on the weekends and such 🙂 It is really cool to have a source of all the popular movies that we as students, want to see, right there for us to watch!! The service is free to Prescott students and almost all of our students watch their favorite new releases on the site.

So the question is for you, the prospective student, do you want to attend a University that not only has outstanding academics but, also a good community life. If the answer is yes, then Embry Riddle is the place for you!! We would love to welcome you to our school/home, please come check out Embry Riddle today and see why we love it here!!

The Pool is Now Open

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Cherie

Come on down to our awesome salt water pool and have some fun!! That’s right folks, the pool is once again open for the season!!! It’s a great place to work on that tan, swim some laps, have a BBQ, or just avoid homework in general 😉

The pool will be open until October and daily hours are as follows:

11am to 7pm

We hope to see you there!!!!

Pugil Sticks!!

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Cherie

Its a beautiful Sunday here in Prescott AZ, and the best way to spend it is in a epic pugil stick battle!!!! At least that’s what AFROTC cadets in FTP think is fun :)For those of you have have never heard of or seen a pugil stick before this is what they look like…

And this is what we do with them…..

Although it may look odd it is actually really fun, my advice is to use gloves while dueling or your knuckles will get pretty scraped up. Also protect your nose, that advice comes from experience haha.

We hope to see you here soon at Embry Riddle Prescott, and next year maybe you can partake in a pugil stick battle as well!! Well, however you choose to spend your time on this fantastic Sunday I hope you have a lot of fun, I know I sure did 🙂

Spring is Finally Here!!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Cherie

For those of you who have gotten a chance to put down the homework and take a walk outside you might have noticed how beautiful it is outside here in Prescott AZ. Spring has finally arrived as is evident by the greenery, flowers, and chirping birds. Spring is my favorite time of year and I have not seen a more amazing season than since I have been here at Embry Riddle. Living in the local area while going to school here is awesome because the whole town comes alive in Spring again.

The fairs start coming back into the square downtown, there are more opportunities to go hiking, biking, kayaking, and so much more!!! There is so much to do here in spring, and I highly encourage our prospective students to come on out here and tour the campus. In addition to that tour though, take some time to get to know the area. The area in which you choose to live while going to college is extremely important and not many students realize it until it is too late.

For example, when I moved here I knew Prescott would be wonderful because I had grown up in an area that is quite similar to Prescott. My transition into college life was not as hard because of this fact. So when you tour here, go see the sights, ask the locals about what they like to do in the area. Doing so will help you get a feel for the community as well as for the college. Well, with that said, I hope to see you here soon 🙂 Enjoy the Spring season!!

Midterms Round 3

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Cherie

This week it is 3 for 3 with midterms. Almost all the engineers have exams Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but, the one comfort is that it will soon be all over. With this set of midterms behind us we will only have finals to take and the semester will be over!! For those of you who are still in disbelief about the rate at which the semester has disappeared its time to shape up and pulling some good grades before finals hit us hard.

So if you need to get some advice on how to prepare to midterms and finals check out some of my previous blogs 🙂 Good Luck everyone!!

Midterms Round 2

Midterms Round 1

Finals

Dynamics Modeling

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Cherie

As a part of one of my courses I have to model a system using dynamics. For those of you who do not know, dynamics is a core class in the Aerospace engineering major that basically allows you to predict the motion of objects under certain conditions. There are many methods that can be used to predict motion such as sum of forces, work energy, rigid body, and sum of forces/moments.

In my project I am predicting the motion of a spring pendulum system using all of the methods listed above. In addition to those methods, I am also using the CATIA design software to create the mass that oscillates on the end of the spring. (check out the picture below to see an actual spring pendulum)

So far, it has been going very well, I have most of the methods done but, I still need to identify the k (spring constant) of the spring I am using in order to obtain a more accurate mathematical model. Have any of you modeled something dynamically before? If so, we engineers at Embry Riddle would love to hear about it!! Please comment below, and I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress!!