As summer draws to a close, we reflect on how Tau Beta’s members made the most of their summers expanding their knowledge and creating many great memories! Below are a few mentions of how they kept busy over this summer.

Many of our members are spending the summer working in engineering roles at major companies, such as Burns & McDonnell, Socotec, Brasfield & Gorrie, TDIndustries, Mahoney Engineering, Viscosity, Polytronix, Keurig Dr. Pepper, KAI Enterprises BGE, KFM, and HEB. They are growing their resumes while learning skills from their mentors. For instance, Sasha Stansfield and Emmy Mayfield are currently at LJA Engineering helping in finding creative solutions for projects. By assisting in all steps of a project from land development and surveying to the energy and environmental impact, Sasha has grown his workplace communication skills with colleagues. For those debating on interships, Sasha commented that “there is always something new and fun to look forward to each week!” For Tau Beta members, internships are great ways to grow practical skills while having a fun summer.

Our academically-inclined members have devoted their summers to pursuing their interests with undergraduate research. The summer undergraduate research fellowship program (SURF) is an eight week program that allows Lyle students the chance to get directly involved in current or new research for engineering. For their first summer with the program, Rin Lu has been researching fingerprint displacement and discrepancies when pressed against objects. Her reserach is hoping to further fingerprint identification to more accurately identify perpretrators in important criminal investigations. Rin stated, “I’ve primarily used my knowledge of computer science in a classroom setting, so this program gave me an opportunity to use that knowledge while learning both technical and project management skills”. Another member Noah Brada is also taking the program and researching how military routes and supplies should be organized efficiently utilizing a mathematical model. Noah learned that “research is rarely a straight path. Ideas change as you learn more, test assumptions, and refine the scope of the project”. He encourages anyone interested in SURF to apply as “it is a great opportunity to explore a topic you care about, work closely with a faculty mentor, and build valuable technical and professional skills”. Rin and Noah are very excited to present their findings and research during a public panel during SMU’s family weekend.

On the other side of the Atlantic, one of our most recent members Tate Dabney has been studying at the London School of Economics. Tate is completing two semesters worth of accounting for his minor while also traveling across all England. From London to Windsor, Tate has seen amazing historical artifacts like the original Magna Carta documents, the historic schools at Oxford and Cambridge, while also traveling to Salisbury to Stonehenge. Tate believes studying abroad is a great way to make memories while expanding his education with SMU and sponsored professors.

Back in America, one member has returned to SMU not for the purpose of studying but to teach. Nikki Battini has devoted her summer to teaching future engineers at a summer camp hosted by SMU. She has been giving back to our school and showing kids from grades 7 to 12 the amazing types of engineering SMU offers. Along with touring SMU’s Lyle school, these kids get to create projects together that teach them the fundamentals of engineering. Nikki has mentored them throughout this process using her mechanical engineering background to teach them concepts learned at SMU.