Senior Design Project at Kansas State University

For my senior year I was selected for a group project from Idaho National Labs. My group was assigned the task of determining the optimum method of incorporating desalination with nuclear power facilities. This could be in the form of a secondary system on a power plant to having an entirely dedicated nuclear desalination facility. This project has helped me to experience an assignment that is entirely open ended. Our end goal is highly dependant on the results of our research. For this reason, we must document all of our research so that in the end we can very clearly state what our determination is and what lead us to that determination.

Another thing this project has helped me to improve upon is communication with outside sources. Our main contact is from Idaho National Labs; I was assigned as project leader and therefore have the responsibility of keeping in contact with our resources. It has been difficult at times, as this is a low priority project on the side of our contact yet a high priority for my group. Although, there is a lack of two way communication, I found that the best I can do is continue to give updates and request feedback while continuing along the path that our group sees is best.

This project is still in progress as it is a full year course, this is another good experience for me. For all of my school/work related projects thus far the deadline is very close to the assignment date. Rarely do I get more than a month to complete most projects. The given time of a full year allows much more freedom to explore all the options as well as incorporate a more comprehensive solution.