FYRE - Jackson Clymer and Anthony Voci: Understanding Research by Reflecting on Designing a Low-Cost, Smart Compost System
Congratulations to Jackson Clymer and Anthony Voci for successfully completing the First Year Research Experience (FYRE) program. They presented their research at the poster ceremony entitled "FYRE - Jackson Clymer and Anthony Voci: Understanding Researching by Reflecting on Designing a Low-Cost, Smart Compost System". You can view a copy of their poster as a PDF through this link. I co-advised Anthony and Jackson with Farrokh Mistree, a professor in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, a frequent collaborator of mine from the XGEM project and previous FYRE projects.
Prior to the FYRE poster, Anthony and Jackson presented their work at the 43rd Annual Oklahoma AIAA/ASME Symposium hosted at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, OK. They gave a fantastic performance at UCO, and impressed colleagues beyond Farrokh and I. The abstract from that event is included in this post. I am happy to say that Anthony is interested in targeting his meteorology major towards basic research in the future by pursuing a PhD. I am also tickled that Jackson, conversely, realized he did not like basic research and decided from Chemistry to Chemical Engineering, which suits his interests better.
Abstract
In this talk, we will highlight how we used the connection between original design and basic research to gain a deeper understanding of research. Internalizing research experiences is crucial for personal and academic growth and development. However, properly reflecting on research is a challenging and often overlooked aspect of the research process. In our project, we followed a nine-step plan to design a system that satisfies the requirements for a low-cost, smart compost system. During each step, we reflected on our progress and connected the stages of design to those of research. First, we generated a problem statement and a requirements list to summarize the needs of our design. We then created a functional structure and a morphological chart to outline possible methods that fit the requirements. Next, we produced random concepts based on the morphological chart. Finally, we critically evaluated the concepts using SWOT, PMI, PDPC, and Go/ No-Go analysis to narrow down to one concept. Through the insight gained from reflecting on the design process, we better understood what research means to us and our potential interest in pursuing college research further. This project provided us with valuable research experience that we can carry with us throughout our academic and professional careers.
URL slug: fyre-poster-jackson-clymer-anthony-voci
Originally published: 2025-05-03 12:00:00
Content last regnerated: 2025-05-20 15:00:32
