5% Done...

It's scary that time is already passing by so quickly at my new job. While two-years seems like a long time for a post-doc, I am repeatedly reminded that two years will pass by in a flash. It seems ridiculous, although when I look back at graduate school, I can't disagree. There were times where I wasn't sure if I was a third or fourth year graduate student when research is the only thing you focus on and you topic or findings don't change significantly from one month to the next.

So far the new job has gone from intimidating to nostalgic and finally a little bit of fun. The intimidation comes from starting a completely new research project, where my first few days and weeks were completely focused on reviewing the current literature (to which I am still doing). Starting a new topic has made me feel like a graduate student again even though I just completed my PhD a few months ago. I just finished being an expert in one topic and then I'm thrown into something completely new again. While it is refreshing to change topics, it is also intimidating as everyone else expects you to become the expert. However, this is where everyone is correct on the PhD:

Getting your PhD is a sign that you know how to learn the important information in a new field, design the relevant experiments to test new ideas, and evaluate those findings to continue moving on.

The nostalgia, as I've already hinted at, is feeling like a new graduate student again with a new topic. Similarly I have a new "advisor" again as well as a research group (although with far more independence here). Although in the past few weeks I've had to taught how to using the mechanical testing frames, how to spray-paint for digital image correlation, and how to properly use the wet chemical fume hood for metal etching, all under the constant supervision of my sponsor. This reminded me of my undergraduate years, where each of my steps were carefully monitored. However instead of being tested for whether I was competent or not, it was just being taught for safe operating procedures. But nonetheless, to top it all off, I was told to wash beakers and cylinders.

The fun has been coming from the start of our mechanical testing of a TWIP steel sheet from a major supplier to better understand its forming limits. However, at the moment the material has not been been behaving as we expected. But I'm breaking a lot of stuff! And for an engineering, there's nothing better than that.

7.5x7.5 in. square sheets (1mm) of TWIP steel subjected to balanced bi-axial testing in a Marciniak set-up. Failure is occurring on the lip or bend, rather than the center as desired.