Sunni's reflections on The Science Museum
The Science Museum has been the
best place in London that I have found to be relevant to my major (Computer and
Electrical Engineering). Last week, I talked about the Alan Turing exhibit,
which I would say is more closely related to my computer engineering classes.
However, because I am a double major, I found a completely different exhibit
that was an example of my electrical engineering major.
The energy exhibit explored
different types of energy sources that we use, both renewable and
non-renewable, and related the topics to providing energy to the United
Kingdom. Back at NCSU, I had completed a small undergraduate research program
with FREEMD- an NSA funded research group on Centennial Campus that is
dedicated to creating a new power grid, or “smart grid.” The basic idea is that
our current power system in the United States will not be able to handle the
large demand that new technologies, such as electric cars, will put on it. So a
new system is needed for the future.
This exhibit also talked about the
demands on the power system, but it was fascinating to hear about it from the
perspective of a foreign country. The United Kingdom has different problems
that will require different solutions, even though the overall technologies may
be the same.
The coolest part of the exhibit was
an interactive game that allowed you to act as the Minister of Energy for the
United Kingdom and build new types of power plants as the demand for energy
rose. You would run into all sorts of economic, social, and political problems
as the game progressed. I think that point is not to try and win, but to see
all of the current issues and how difficult the situation may be for the people
involved.
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