Orientation and First Weeks
Usually the orientation will be provided by the previous coop student working in the lab prior to the coop. The orientation will be divided in 2 days with three hours each session. They essentially will get the next coop student up to speed with operating the lab equipment and showing some of the techniques for basic testing procedures.
Day to Day
My day-to-day tasks involves many testing. I would be assigned a testing schedule each day and I would start my workday conducting damage assessment to make sure that the testing system functions properly. Then I would start diving into testing and collecting data for analysis.
Learning and Adaptation
For me, most of my learning takes place in the first two months. Throughout this coop, I learned how each helmet standards, such as the NOCSAE for football helmet and CEN for bicycle helmet, was being conducted using a test rig. as well as learning the characteristics and features of different helmet technologies. However, after the first two months, the nature of my work can feel repetitive. To make up for it I was always striving to learn new things in the lab by asking what others are working on and try to look at the big picture of my role from the whole design process.
Accomplishments and Challenges
There were many challenges when I was working in the lab, most notably on time-management. Since my role requires me to conduct high-impact testing, one could expect that the testing facility would need some form of maintenance occasionally. The challenge comes when I need to spend some time repairing the test system unexpectedly while manage my time to finish up my testing schedule. However, looking back I was able to accomplish many things, including develop a new testing protocol and improve the design of the test rig.
