Hi everyone, I’m Madison James! I am a freshman majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Engineering Design. I’m originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, but Baker College (H*LL YEAH!!!) is my home away from home. Obviously, I am required to take this class for my minor, but I am very excited about it because I love to work and make things with my hands. Taking an idea from the designing stage all the way to finishing is an interesting process for me. Though I’m a woman in STEM, I do like to engage my artsy side and hope to expand my creativity and prototyping skills in this class. Outside of academics, I’m an avid IM player and enjoy cultural organizations like Rice African Student Association (RASA) and Black Student Association (BSA). I hope to get further involved this semester with career-focused like the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Society of Women Engineers (SWE).

One thing I have made that I am proud of is a water bottle that automatically tracks a user’s water intake. This was a project for my senior engineering capstone class in high school, and it was my most intensive project yet, lasting over the school year. It was by no means finished, but it was a great experience in executing the engineering design process from scratch, and we documented the project on a website. I cannot release my million-dollar ideas, but something I would love to make is a marble sorter – a project that bested me in high school.

I also participated in ENGI 120 last semester and enjoyed working to produce a device to help reduce back strain for Chinampa workers in Mexico. This project showed me how intensive prototyping and iterating can be because there were a lot of updates that we made to our 3D-printed items.

I’m most excited to learn CNC machining that I can apply to future projects and positions. Additionally, I am interested in learning about the transitions between the recent industrial revolutions mentioned in the introduction. Ready for great things in this class!