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Adrian Podpirka
My name is Adrian Podpirka and I am a first year grad student studying applied physics. I came to Harvard after finishing my Bachelors in Material Science and Engineering at Columbia University. As an undergraduate I took Mechanics of Solids with Professor Xi Chen and Mechanical Properties of Materials with Professor Noyan.
Related to this course, my main weakness is the mathematics involved since it has been more then 3 years since I took differential equations. Also, both my undergraduate courses were not tensor based. My main strength in this course would be my understanding of material properties and the phenomenas involved.
My likely research direction will probably be in the field of fuel cell membranes with Professor Ramanathan.
I feel that solid mechanics will help my research by allowing me to fully understand the strains and stresses membranes experience. It will allow me to model and analyze them better.
I think solid mechanics will contribute to my education in general by allowing me to understand material properties and giving me the ability to do quick back of envelope calculations.
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I'm glad to see you here
It's great to see you here. I am glad that you think solid mechanics is useful and hope you have learned something from my course. I'm teaching the ES240 equivalent course at Columbia (besides the undergraduate mechanics of solids) and I also feel many students (especially 1st year master students) got lost in tensor analysis immediately. Decades ago many engineering departments at Columbia offered tensor analysis as (at least a part of) an undergraduate course, but now only few schools (e.g. MIT) are doing it. There is a transition from the more "engineering-oriented" undergraduate class to the more "scientific fundamental" graduate course.
First Year of Graduate School
Hey Prof. Chen,
Sorry for the late reply but I have been completely swamped with work and classes. It has been very difficult adjusting to the load of classes and the work but I think I am managing. The math in the classes here has been difficult since I feel Columbia gave me a more engineering oriented education but I feel it is going alright.
Adrian