Mechanical engineering听undergraduate researchers, Kirsty Hodgkins (left),听Paula P茅rez (center), and Evan Kirk (right).听
罢丑别听ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research,听enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely.听As participants, Kirsty Hodgkins, Evan Kirk and听Paula P茅rez听worked with Professor Jana Milford听to understand听how reduced traffic, telecommuting and reduced industrial activity during Colorado's Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders have affected air quality with goals that the project would inform future strategies for improving air quality in the region beyond the timeframe of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their听summer research project was titled,听Impacts of Colorado鈥檚 Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home Orders on Air Quality.听
Hodgkins is a rising fifth-year mechanical engineering student with minors in business and engineering management and a current member of the CU Women鈥檚 golf team. She is not yet sure what field of mechanical engineering she would like to pursue after graduating.听Kirk is a fourth-year mechanical engineering student with career interests听including听public health and medicine. After completing听his undergraduate studies, he plans to attend medical school to pursue a career in family medicine.听P茅rez is a fourth-year mechanical engineering student with an energy engineering minor. She is focusing her career on water and energy insecurity in underserved communities, supported by experience in data analysis, rural development projects and entrepreneurship.听
Hodgkins,听Kirk and P茅rez's insights听below provide a window into their听research experience with ME SPUR.听
Describe your summer research.听
听A visualization of average daily traffic levels taken over a week-long period,听comparing Denver I-70 traffic levels in 2020 to traffic levels in years prior. It highlights the a reduction in traffic following the WHO declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic and the Colorado Stay-at-Home declaration.
A time series that shows how nitrogren dioxide听changed week by week across five monitors听by calculating medians for each week.听This visualization shows a听downward听trend for nitrogen dioxide, mainly caused by normal seasonal effects听with some听weeks increasing or decreasing across most monitors more sharply.
Our project focused on understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders on air quality in Colorado.The purpose of the study is to report to policymakers and the general public about our research topic in ways that might inform future pollution control strategies. Our team focused on three pollutants:听Ozone, NO2 and PM2.5. We were听each responsible for studying one of these pollutants. The goal of the project was to determine if these pollutants experienced changes in 2020 and to听try to explain the observed trends by analyzing traffic data, oil and gas activity听and meteorological impacts.
笔茅谤别锄: It was my first time working so closely with data on different social and environmental factors, which for me revealed how important our assumptions are in analyzing said factors听and how the relationships between them are rarely straightforward.
What was the end result of your research project?听
Overall, all of the pollutants saw small differences in 2020 when compared to previous years. We were unable to find that these discrepancies were necessarily correlated to the decrease in traffic levels, and further analysis of explanatory variables would need to be studied to understand why we didn鈥檛 see the expected pollutant behavior. Studying meteorological values we determined that the temperature and humidity levels had a large effect on the pollutant levels which could have counteracted the effects from traffic reduction. However, further research is needed to provide a definitive answer as to why levels were only slightly different.
What was it like working on a research project remotely?
Working on a project remotely is always a difficult task;听this was no different. Someone described the COVID-19 situation as "more like living at work than it is working from home鈥� which feels very relatable. It was difficult not always being able to meet or talk with the other members regularly as you would in an office, but a weekly Zoom meeting helped to make sure we were all on the same page, and we were still able to communicate over email and Slack continuously. The upside was the flexibility of working under our own schedule and knowing we could always reach out to the group with questions.
What about this project was rewarding?听
The most rewarding part of this project was seeing the final results and creating the report for the study听after going from basic knowledge of air pollution to having a fairly solid understanding of the problem. It is challenging to summarize the work that goes into research concisely, and after doing so many different graphs, looking at so many different variables, it all seems to blend into one. However, looking back over, it was really interesting to see the connections that had been made, and it was satisfying to see everyone鈥檚 work compiled into a final deliverable. It鈥檚 a particularly tangible way to see all of your hard work from the summer.
What advice would you share with other students听considering getting involved in research?听听
Hodgkins: Research is definitely something every engineering student should be a part of, especially mechanical students. Definitely keep an open mind heading into it, as engineering students we鈥檙e very much used to having an answer or a solution to a problem but research isn鈥檛 always like that. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that maybe there wasn鈥檛 a change in anything or that the results were insignificant. Even insignificant results can mean something.
Kirk: The recommendation I would make to students who are thinking about getting involved in research is simply to be patient. It is best to move slowly, working meticulously to ensure you are drawing reasonable conclusions and are not making mistakes. Take the time to double- and sometimes triple-check your work. You will be happy you did later.
笔茅谤别锄: It is truly a great learning experience听as you quickly gain hard skills as well as soft skills like collaborating with a team and communicating your findings. You听will also likely gain more depth in your understanding of the research subject that you might not get in classes.