STEG, Steam Turbine Electric Generator, is the name of our capstone project. I know it doesn't have the most intelligent ring to it, but at least we didn't call ourselves the STEGosauruses, which Adam not-so-jokingly proposed (although, not gonna lie, dinosaur costumes for our presentations would have been pretty cool).
We took quite a bit of time to reach a consensus for our problem statement. Our main topic was global warming; methane emissions from livestock, pollution from cars and planes, and carbon capturing were some of the ideas that we considered, but we decided that the efficiency of power plants is an unresolved problem that will be most effective for us to work on.
Mrs. Snyder told us that "efficiency of steam turbines" is too broad of a problem statement, so Jack quickly fixed that into being specifically about the process of turning heat into motion.
So far the only one with ideas for this problem statement is Jack. Something about using multiple fluids to create electric flux within the system. Not 100% sure how it works, and Jack himself was saying that he wasn't sure if it will work either. Maybe it's a good thing that we have no idea. Having a fixed mind on a single solution isn't always good, but it looks like we may be redesigning our project quite a lot, given that we don't really know what we're doing.
College admissions:
Since I get 4 for free because of my family's low income, I will be applying to 8 of the 10 UC's. I will also be applying to Cal Poly Pamona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, uni's in Japan, uni's in Germany, and uni's in Spain. At least that is my plan. I have not worked on any of my personal statements, but I have started my applications for the UC's. Application processes for foreign countries are very behind in terms of applicant-friendliness. They make it far too complicated. I only half understand the applications I'm attempting to fill for my Japanese universities.
I would say "I wish someone told me that I should work on applications early", but multiple people did, so I can't really complain :P.
Stay productive people! I will try too. Have a nice weekend ^^