While I was impressed by Cornell’s project team space, and by the work that the various teams, and in particular CUAUV do there, I must confess I got a little “contact anxiety” from visiting the space.
I am an engineering major who consciously choose not to join a project team because of the time commitment. I entered Cornell engineering fully intending to join a project team. “Project teams” for engineers are teams that participate in various competitions. Our tour of the project team space was led by members of CUAUV – “Cornell University Autonomous Underwater Vehicle”, which designs a sub to complete an assigned series of tasks. CUAUV is one of several project teams, which also include “concrete canoe”, “steel bridge” and a mars rover team. Each team works together to design their product – a sub, a canoe, a rover – etc. Joining a project team seemed to me like the perfect way to build my resume for grad school or a future career. But I balked when I considered the significant time commitment joining a project team. I did not believe I would be able to keep up with my courses, and ultimately I choose not to join.
I truly admire the work members of project teams put in. But visiting their workspace inspired in me a fear I imagine many other people have had during their tenure at Cornell – the thought that all my classmates are doing more than me. But it also prompted me to examine this fear, and remind myself that I created a schedule that works for me, and other people are doing what works for them, and that’s all fine.
Visiting the project team space also reminded me that maybe joining a very collaborative team extra-curricular would not have been the best idea for me. I’m a long wolf. I work in a lab in a mini-clean room. I like my clean room very much. Visiting the project team space also reminded me how much I love my extracurriculars, and how valuable it is to do something other than course work – even if balancing the time commitments is hard.
For those who have never seen any of the very impressive products created by the Cornell project teams, I would advise you to stop by and see them sometime. The members of Cornell’s project teams do exceptional work, and it’s fascinating to learn more about what they do and how.
I’m not an engineer, so I don’t have access to ayn of these labs or listservs where seeing these machines would be advertised. Do you happen to know how I could see some of the projects?
I resonate with your feelings since too often I see other people ambitiously doing many activities and feel that I’m not pushing myself. However, in doing so, we fall in the trap of always thinking that other people have it better than us when in reality they may be facing issues too that we face. In this regards, I feel that one of the most challenging aspects of being a Cornell student is being able to block out the noise that tells you you aren’t good enough and find your own path.
I definitely have had the same feelings. I’m also an engineer, who entered wanting to join a project team, but could never get myself to commit the time to it. I see lots of people who really enjoy what they do in project teams, and they work on really cool things, but I also know others who regret joining them. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you, even if its not what you pictured yourself doing as a freshman.