{"id":6097,"date":"2021-03-28T10:11:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-28T15:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=6097"},"modified":"2021-03-29T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T15:12:33","slug":"first-year-uw-platteville-engineering-student-assists-with-carbon-nanotube-research","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/first-year-uw-platteville-engineering-student-assists-with-carbon-nanotube-research\/","title":{"rendered":"First-year UW-Platteville engineering student assists with carbon nanotube research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Eliot Driessen conducts research in the nano lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Wisconsin-Platteville freshman Eliot Driessen, an electrical engineering major from Appleton, Wisconsin, is embarking on his first year of undergraduate research. After being awarded the\u00a0Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Scholarship<\/a>, Driessen has been assisting\u00a0Dr. Hal Evensen<\/a>, professor of\u00a0engineering physics<\/a>\u00a0with his research in the\u00a0nano lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my first semester, I learned about the fabrication steps to making a transistor. I made a transistor out of carbon nanotubes and got to test it,\u201d said Driessen. \u201cThis semester we are working on more advanced materials with field emissions from nanotubes.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Evensen, it\u2019s important for UW-Platteville engineering students to be exposed to undergraduate research. He said it allows students to be creative, learn and apply new skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch is neat because students have the opportunity to do something no one has done before,\u201d said Evensen. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting opportunity. Students have the opportunity to not only be at the cutting-edge, but use equipment they don\u2019t normally use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driessen has already experienced how conducting research takes resilience. \u201cThe challenges of the research are it\u2019s on a really small scale. It\u2019s really finicky and fragile,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reward is the experience to have the research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his tenure at UW-Platteville, Evensen has watched how undergraduate researchers have grown through their hands-on experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen students start they are still trying to get their legs under them; trying to gain confidence,\u201d he said. \u201cBy the time they are seniors, they are helping me because they\u2019re training new students. They are showing leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evensen encourages students interested in undergraduate research to reach out to their instructors and advisors.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody takes chemistry and physics in their first year,\u201d said Evensen. \u201cThose are good professors to talk to. There is a lot going on in those two departments. We also know what our colleagues in the other engineering departments are doing as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undergraduate research is a beneficial experience for both the student and professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy working with undergraduate researchers,\u201d said Evensen. \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to be pulled away in different directions and not make progress on a project. If I want to make progress on a project, I get a student on it. I feel a responsibility. I want to mentor the student and I want to make sure they are on track. It helps keep the project moving forward. Students not only help by doing a lot of work, but it also keeps me engaged because working with them is a huge part of the reward for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are interested, do it,\u201d added Driessen. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really good experience. I recommend it to anyone who may be interested.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Wisconsin-Platteville freshman Eliot Driessen, an electrical engineering major from Appleton, Wisconsin, is embarking on his first year of undergraduate research. After being awarded the\u00a0Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Scholarship, Driessen has been assisting\u00a0Dr. Hal Evensen, professor of\u00a0engineering physics\u00a0with his research in the\u00a0nano lab. \u201cDuring my first semester, I learned about the fabrication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[93],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-6097","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-platteville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/6097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=6097"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=6097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}