{"id":13902,"date":"2022-05-06T10:14:43","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T14:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=13902"},"modified":"2022-05-06T10:14:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T14:14:43","slug":"collin-treacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/collin-treacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal Arts for Engineers: Collin Treacy \u201922 on Double Majoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

How can the liberal arts compliment an engineering degree? Collin Treacy \u201922 can explain. Interested in challenging and strengthening his analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, he enrolled in URI as a mechanical engineering major but quickly realized that an interdisciplinary path would best hone his passion for both math and science. \u201cI did not want to stop taking math<\/a> classes,\u201d he says of his decision to add a second major in applied mathematics<\/a>. \u201cI really enjoyed the math courses that were required for my engineering degree and wanted to have a deeper understanding of the math that engineers use. Having additional knowledge about these subjects has significantly helped me in understanding engineering concepts from a unique perspective.\u201d The encouragement of his professors in math only reinforced his appreciation of the field: \u201cThe math department<\/a> here includes a group of very intelligent and knowledgeable professors that are passionate about what they do,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are willing to tailor their class to be of more use to engineers. I think the courses offered are very helpful and I appreciate the level of engagement the professors encourage.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his junior year, Treacy worked as an energy fellow<\/a> for the URI Office of Sustainability<\/a> where his interest in renewable energy was initially kindled. Here he communicated technical information regarding energy conservation and campus sustainability to URI students and faculty. He also was involved with research regarding solar arrays. \u201cI used concepts that were taught in MTH 441: Partial Differential Equations <\/em>in order to solve a partial differential equation describing the heat transfer within a centrifugal fuel cylinder,\u201d he explains. \u201cThis was of course a very preliminary estimation of the heat transfer, but it aided in my understanding of the concept.\u201d Later he joined the Ocean Engineering Senior Capstone Design project focusing on the optimization of floating offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, researching technology that will improve the efficiency and sustainability of floating offshore wind turbines. \u201cMy math degree has helped me understand concepts on a deeper level,\u201d he notes. \u201cThese skills have helped me in heat and mass transfer, engineering analysis, fluid mechanics, system dynamics, and Finite Element Analysis. Some of my math courses reinforced ideas that were not completely mathematically explained in my engineering courses. The focuses of these courses to apply the mathematics as well helped me be able to apply these concepts in an engineering setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

His enthusiasm for renewable energy has grown since his experience as an energy fellow, and he plans to continue his research in this area. “My plan is to attend graduate school and get my master’s in mechanical engineering,\u201d he says of his plans for after graduation. \u201cI have yet to make my decision regarding which school I will be attending, but my goal for my master\u2019s degree is to continue researching renewable energy and to hopefully make a positive impact on the energy industry.\u201d For students considering a path similar to his, Treacy has this piece of advice: “Be curious and speak with your teachers. Ask your professor if you don’t understand something or if you want to learn more. They are experts in their field and enjoy answering questions, especially if they sense your enthusiasm for the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

– By Briana Ciceron<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collin Treacy \u201922 double majored in applied mathematics and mechanical engineering. He says that his mathematics courses helped him understand engineering concepts on a deeper level. “The math department here includes very intelligent and knowledgeable professors that are passionate about what they do,” he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":13903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[326,88],"class_list":["post-13902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-applied-mathematics","tag-mathematics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13905,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13902\/revisions\/13905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}