Today's song: Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Let's start off easy. Who am I, and why am I talking to you? I'm Shelby Roberts, I'm a freshman here at CSU, and I work for the CSU Office of Public Relations as a MyCSU student intern. I'm a social media specialist and I basically blog, tweet and Facebook, about my life here at CSU and how much I love it. No, that is not sarcasm. It's true, I do love CSU.

I come from a small town in Colorado named Salida. While many of you may be giving me the "huh?" look, it gets worse. I actually lived in a town called Poncha Springs. I bet now I'm getting the "incredibly and absolutely dumbfounded" look. Don't worry; I get it all the time. Though as interesting as some of the looks I get are, I've barely touched on who I am. I'm an English major with a concentration in education. Yes, there are still people in the world who want to be high school English teachers, and I am one of them.

So to truly get to who I am, I'm going to give you ten interesting, maybe even weird facts about me, and I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

1. I have written two novels so far, and I am currently working on a third.
2. My sister lives here in Fort Collins and is a zoology major (you may think I'm crazy to want to teach high schoolers, but she's the one taking Organic Chemistry). My dad is still in Poncha Springs, and my mom lives in Black Mountain, NC.
3. When I was two, I broke my dad's nose as he was reading me a story.
4. I have been skiing on my own since I was about two. I am a ski bum through and through.
5. I love my beat-up, hippy, Subaru, and yes... I named it Charlie.
6. I can waste an astounding amount of time writing and not even notice when the clock keeps going.
7. When I eat Frosted Mini-Wheats, I can't eat them until they are all frosting side up, and if they flip over, I have to turn them back.
8. I am training to become a resident assistant next year.
9. Although I love guy movies (the shoot 'em up, blow things up kind,) I'm a sucker for both chick flicks and kids' movies.
10. I'm a trekkie and proud of it.

Basically that's me in a nutshell. I am slightly weird, officially a nerd, and ready to show you my life as a CSU Ram. At the minimum, twice a week I'll offer you an anecdote, information, a photo or video, and my favorite song of the day.

Until next time.

Day Two

Our second day in Merida found us on the UADY campus. UADY is organized a little different from CSU in the sense that all concentrations of study are not on the same physical campus. For example, if you study Business, you would be studying at buildings that are across the city from where students who study psychology are. We began at the Psychology campus to give a presentation.

CSU Senior Cody Goings and SLiCE Assistant Director Bobby Kunstman pose on the group's trip to Merida, Mexico.

Our presentation focused on certain campus activities that we had participated in during our time at CSU. It described the SLiCE office and how it was involved in those programs and how they benefit the CSU students and community. After lunch, we learned about their community outreach programs including “Adopt a Friend”, “Today in Your Community”, and their Social Service programs.
 
Finally, we ended the day with a tour of Merida, learning about the history of the city. The Yucatan, is one of the places in Mexico that is NOT on the travel advisory list by the state department and we were comfortable during all of our interactions with the city, even walking around in a 15-person group of Americans. Tomorrow we’ll get to see some of the things that make UADY so special and we’re headed to some of the neighboring pueblos to witness – and participate in – the students’ social service.

VIVA MEXICO, eclaims Merida's city hall.

By Marshall Snead

This summer I worked at CSU’s Engineering Research Lab in the Hydraulics Lab.  The Hydraulics Lab is a business that conducts a number of tests for multiple companies.  Testing at the Hydraulics Lab includes the testing of erosion prevention materials, wave overtopping on levees, stream modeling, and more.   While working at the Hydraulics I mainly help in the building of a model of the Sacramento River.

Marshall and fellow engineering students working at the Engineering Research Lab this summer.

The Sacramento River project is a scale model of the river near Chico, CA.  The river is currently migrating and depositing sand near the intake of a pump station.  It is becoming expensive for the pump station to dredge out the pipe intake in order to continue operation.  Therefore, CSU was contracted to create a scale model and to observe erosion and sedimentation patterns in the river.  From the testing of the scale model it can be determined if it is more cost-efficient to move the pumping station to a new location, continue dredging, or to modify the river.

The model testing will look at a few scenarios including continuing existing conditions and dredging, maintaining existing conditions and moving the pump station, reshaping the downstream river  bank and keeping the pump station where it is, and also considering other locations in that river to modify.  Another way to modify the river would involve using river management devices called Iowa Vanes.  Iowa Vanes are basically sheet piles placed vertically in the river and help control the flow and sedimentation within the river.  The Iowa Vanes would be the ideal scenario for the river modification.

During my summer at the Hydraulics Lab I helped build the model that will later be tested.   The construction of the model consisted of cutting cross sections of the river from plywood.  These cross sections were then installed and anchored in the flume and back filled with sand.   The sand in-between the cross sections were compacted leaving a two inch gap from the bottom of the sand

Pictured above is the model of the Sacramento River built by Marshall and fellow engineers.

and the top of the cross section.  Soil cement, a mixture of sand and cement with a high ratio of sand, was used to fill this two inch gap.  The cement was shaped to meet the contours of the river.  After this process was completed my summer at the Hydraulics Lab was over.

The Hydraulics lab will finish the construction of the river model by filling the river bed with silica sand to see the sediment transfer in the stream.  They will also decorate the stream with paint and modeling vegetation.  Once the construction is completed they will begin the long process of testing the model to find the optimal and cost-efficient solution to the pump stations sediment build up issue.

The Sacramento River model is just one of the many interesting and challenging projects at the Hydraulics Lab and the Engineering Research Center.  The engineering research being conducted at CSU is ground breaking, unique, initiative, and world renown. My summer at the Engineering Research Center was a valuable and fascinating learning experience.   I would recommend anyone who is interested in engineering research to work at the Engineering Research Lab.

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Marshall Snead is a senior at CSU majoring in civil engineering.  He has served as an Engineering Ambassador for the College of Engineering and periodically contributes to MyCSU.

Hey Rammies!  MyCSU is now in the process of entering the blogosphere through the online blog directory Technorati.  This is a great site for finding blogs on viritually any topic, so check it out to find interesting tidbits about Colorado State and its students! 

Remember to check MyCSU throughout the summer for blog and video updates.  Also, use the Flickr button at the top of the page to upload photos of your CSU experience.  You can upload photos of summertime in Fort Collins too!  Between all the festivals and outdoor activities that the Fort has to offer, there are a lot of opportunities for some good snapshots. 

Have a great summer!

Bijah

MyCSU Coordinator

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My 3-day journey to Rome

Rome.

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." --[Benjamin Disraeli] 

Rome’s history spans over two and a half thousand years. I just attempted to experience it in 3 days. So needless, to say, it was a whirlwind trip to Italy’s capital where I saw, felt, tasted and smelled my way through the historically modern city.

The four hour bus ride wasn't intolerable until we pulled into the city amidst snow. Yes, snow. It was the first time in over 25 years that the city has seen the cold, wet, powdery white stuff. It was almost as if Colorado had called ahead to tell Rome to have a welcoming gift ready for me. [how thoughtful]. I suppose I'm just one of the lucky few who has ever seen a tiny snowman with an umbrella in hand from the same vantage point as I stood to view the massive Colosseum.
So it was soggy footed and from under multiple layers that I also witnessed the Foro Romano, Piazza Venezia and Capitol Hill, Pantheon, and Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli [where Michelangelo’s sculpture of Mose remains]. And that was just day 1.

Fortunately it was a brilliant cerulean sky that greeted me on day 2. And so I cheerfully [and dryly] visited the Vatican museum, Raphael's rooms, Sistine chapel [at which point I literally lost my breath], Saint Peter’s square, Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the underground tombs of previous popes; and all of this before 1:30 pm. My afternoon’s free time was then filled by enjoying a city tour from atop a bus [earphones, classical music, and professional British accent included]. At night, I joined a hand full of other students at a small pub just around the corner from the hotel where there were board games on shelves nearby. And so we attempted to play trivial pursuit, in Italian.

Day 3 tours included the inside of the Colosseum [which had been closed due to snow], Isola Tiberina and the Jewish ghetto, Piazza Navona, and Trevi fountain. I even threw in 2 coins, over the left shoulder, and made a wish...on valentine's day. Then rather than visiting the Spanish Steps, a group of us ventured to the top of the 'wedding cake' building to experience yet another breathtaking view overlooking the entire city; or at least as far as my eyes allowed. Then, after indulging in the most ridiculously tasty Nutella gelato, it was back on the bus for the trek back to Florence.

Basically, Rome was sensational. The trip was three days I've been dreaming of for, literally, most of my life. Three days I know I’ll cherish. Three days I'll draw inspiration from. And three days I trust I will find in my dreams from now on, until I can experience it again.