What happens when the biggest barrier to scientific discovery isn’t a lack of ideas, but the cost of the tools themselves? In this episode, Jarin Earle, a junior in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina A & T State University, shares how a summer research project designing a low-cost viscometer changed the way he thinks about engineering; not as a way to build machines, but as a way to expand who gets the opportunity to do science.
Through my college journey, the terms “research” and “zero-emissions” have become central to my academic identity. Not just because they reflect both my lab experience and keen interest in sustainable tech, but because they evoke a personal question that many high school seniors and college underclassmen grapple with: what does it mean to be a scientist? I’m Trevon Collins, a mechanical engineering student at Tennessee Technological University. In this podcast episode, I’ll share the answers I’ve found through investigating age-old secrets of phase change and their implications for the green transition.