Day 41

Today I worked on finishing the ArcGIS project that Xiang requested. I had a great time doing this REU and learned a lot about transportation and aviation risk.

Day 40

At the beginning of the day today Laura showed me the system that she wants me to use to document photos from the Lac-Megantic train accident. I started to sort through all of the photos. There was some difficulty identifying parts of the cars given their decimated nature.

At the lunch meeting today, Chen-Yu presented his work on passenger rail collisions and derailments, which was pretty interesting. In my spare time today I read the accident report on US Airways Flight 1549, which miraculously landed in the Hudson River without any fatalities. Tomorrow I will continue to work on documenting the photos from the Lac-Megantic accident if I have time. At the beginning of the day I will be working on the ArcGIS project that Xiang assigned us. 

Day 39

Today I read some accident reports and articles about incidents. It's interesting to see how foreign countries handle their investigations compared to the United States. Tomorrow, Laura is giving me a project relating to the Lac-Megantic accident. In any spare time I have, I will continue to read accident reports.

Day 38

At the beginning of the day today, I focused on making changes to my PowerPoint that were suggested at the safety meeting yesterday. I added a table to my risk calculations slide to make my methodology more clear, and added more info breaking down types of commodities shipped for my cargo flight slides. I also filled out and submitted the student form evaluating my REU performance. I moved all of my modules, the REU paper, and my outline to the RailTEC server.

After this, I read about articles/stories about various aviation incidents and runway incursions. 

Day 37

At the beginning of the day today, I made minor touch ups to my presentation for the safety meeting. My presentation went very well. Hannah and Manu also did their presentations on waterways and rail, which was very interesting to see. In the next couple days, there are some minor changes that I have to make to clarify and improve my presentation. Over the next couple days, I'm also planning to continue reading about aviation incidents to learn more about aviation incidents and risk factors. 

Day 36

Today I worked on polishing my PowerPoint presentation for tomorrow. I presented to Manu, Jeff, and Hannah and they made some useful suggestions for changes that I could make. After I made the changes that they suggested, I read about some interesting incidents, mostly terrorist hijackings. There were also some interesting articles I found on improvements in security since the 1970's. I also worked on familiarizing myself with the presentation so that it goes smoothly tomorrow.

Day 35

Today I finished writing my REU research paper, and focused on editing it. I also created a PowerPoint based off of my modules to present at the safety meeting Thursday. It was a bit of a challenge to shorten the slides to an appropriate length and to delete enough slides to fit a 20 minute presentation, but I think I have a good amount of information in my presentation. At the lunch meeting today, I listened to Brent do a presentation on insulators.

Tomorrow I will continue to work on improving my PowerPoint presentation for Thursday, as well as looking for any improvements that I can make to my research paper. 

Day 34

Today I spent most of the day continuing to write my research paper for the REU. I focused particularly on the methodology and framework of the risk matrix. I talked extensively about why I chose to use a risk matrix to evaluate my risk factors, as well as acknowledging the drawbacks that came along with it. I make it clear that it was a fairly arduous process that required invaluable input from my colleagues and the graduate students. I also talk about case studies for the two risk factors that I identified as most severe, in order to demonstrate how I used them to establish "key takeaways" for each of the risk factors. Tomorrow I will continue to work in finishing my research paper, as well as compiling a PowerPoint for my presentation on Thursday. 

Here is the link to my current version of the research paper: Research Paper

Day 33

At the beginning of the day today, I presented my Powerpoint to Jeff and Hannah, where they made helpful suggestions as to some improvements that I can make. After implementing these changes, I continued writing my paper for the REU. I'm organizing my paper in a semi-chronological order. So far, a lot of my paper emphasizes the research process that I undertook from the beginning of my work here to the Powerpoint modules. 

Next week, I will continue writing my REU paper. I plan to write a few paragraphs on the specific, more technical aspects of my research, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of the research process I undertook. 

Here is the last version of my Powerpoint. Please download it instead of trying to view it in your browser: Powerpoint

Excerpt of the draft of my REU paper

Day 32

At the beginning of the day I attended the safety meeting where Jeff presented his research on pipeline risk. After that, I continued my discussion with Francesco about the appropriate way to use a risk matrix and I began to write my paper for the REU. Francesco gave me some helpful suggestions on changes I can make to the risk matrix framework in accordance with Rapik's recommendations. I worked on cleaning up the citations in my presentation too. 

Tomorrow I will continue working on the REU paper, as well as making minor edits to the PowerPoint (i.e. continuing to clean up the citations)

Here is the current link to my PowerPoint. Please download it instead of trying to view it in your browser: Powerpoint

Day 31

Today I spent the day finishing up the "Case Studies" module on my Powerpoint, specifically the "hazardous materials" and "maintenance error" case studies. I continued reading accident reports from the NTSB and articles to find good representative cases for each of my risk factors. I settled on ValuJet flight 592 for "hazardous materials" and Aeroperú Flight 603 for "maintenance errors." 
Especially for the "maintenance errors" module it was very interesting to read about the different representative incidents. This one was particularly striking to me because something seemingly so minor can doom a flight. Right before the incident flight, the aircraft was being repaired and the maintenance workers appropriately put tape over the static ports while polishing the plane. When they finished working on the plane, they neglected to remove the tape and that completely compromised the accuracy of the plane's instruments, eventually leading it to crash in the Pacific  Ocean. If the maintenance workers had spent 30 seconds removing the tape, this incident never would have happened. 

Tomorrow I will finish up any last minute changes that I have to make on the Powerpoint and I will begin writing my paper.

Here's the link to my recent version of the Powerpoint. Please download it instead of trying to view it in your browser: Powerpoint

Day 30

Today I spent most of the day continuing to write my Powerpoint, focusing on the "Case Studies" module and adapting my risk matrix slides to fit the suggestions that Francesco made.  I also implemented all of the edits that I had picked up yesterday from my presentation to Jesus, Jeff, and Manu. 

I sat in on the lunch meeting where Matt presented on RailTEC's research on railpads at Pueblo. It was interesting seeing the technology that was used to collect data. 

Tomorrow, I will continue working on the "Case Studies" module. I hope to begin writing my paper within the next couple of days. 

Here is the updated version of my Powerpoint. Please download it instead of trying to view it in your browser. Powerpoint 

Day 29

Today I spent the whole day writing my Powerpoint. I spent the afternoon reviewing my Powerpoint with Jeff and Manu and discussing the framework of my risk matrix with Francesco. We had a very interesting discussion on the framework for how a risk matrix is designed and how the likelihood and consequence levels are defined. We especially had a disagreement on whether "outdated technology" is a constant factor or not. We eventually came to an agreement after clarification on how the likelihood category is defined.

Tomorrow I will continue to work on changing my risk matrix framework based on my discussions with Francesco, and I will also continue my "Case Studies" Powerpoint module. 

Here is the link to my current version of the Powerpoint. Please download it after clicking the link, instead of trying to open it in the browser: Powerpoint

Day 28

For the first part of the day today, I read parts of the NTSB reports on accidents that had identified fatigue as a factor. This gave me a good background on what it was about fatigue that contributed to the accidents. Additionally, I had a better understanding of what the NTSB suggested to help mitigate the risk from fatigue.

After consulting with Manu, I have decided to add a few slides in my risk matrix framework to explain the percentages that I assigned to the risk factors. My hope is that this will help communicate my thought process and give more credence to the percentages that I chose. 

Next week I will continue to work on my risk mitigation module, and work on revising my risk matrix framework (as described above). I also plan to begin writing my paper next week.

Here is the link to my current version of the Powerpoint (the file is too large to appear in your browser, please download it after clicking the link): Powerpoint

Day 27

At the beginning of the day today I went to the safety meeting where Laura presented her work on the conditional probability of release of tank cars. It was interesting seeing the methods that she used for her calculations.

For the rest of the day, I worked on the "Risk Mitigation" module, especially focusing on methods of mitigating security risk. I went back and looked at some of the articles on the economic effects of terrorist attacks and anti-MANPADS technology. Other than some minor changes possibly, I'm pretty close to being finished with the "Risk Mitigation" module. Tomorrow I will begin doing the case studies for each of the different risk factors.

Here is what I have for my Powerpoint so far. All of the modules are on one presentation: Powerpoint   
PLEASE NOTE: The file is too big for Google Docs to generate a preview in your web browser, you will need to download it off of the link.

Day 26

Today I spent the first part of the day going back and looking at the literature that I noted the first time I read it. This helped me pick out the main details that I want on my Powerpoint slide. After doing this, I continued writing my Powerpoint module on risk mitigation strategies, with an emphasis on runway incursions.

Tomorrow I plan to finish my module on risk mitigation, and possibly begin the case studies module. I will continue to go back and look at the literature when I find it necessary. Overall I would say that my project is coming along on schedule, so I don't have any major concerns about getting it finished on time. If I have time, I would like to do a case study on each of the risk factors that I identified in my first module.

Day 25

Today I spent most of the day working on my Powerpoint. I focused on finishing my "Investigation of Risk Factors" module and beginning my "Risk Mitigation" module. I wrote a few of my slides on the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), continuing to read articles in the process to learn more about the ASRS and runway incursion prevention systems.

Brandon presented in the lunch meeting about RailTEC's research in Colorado on rail pads, which was pretty interesting. After the lunch meeting I continued working on the Powerpoint. Tomorrow I will continue working on my "Risk Mitigation" module and possibly begin my case studies.     

Day 24

Today I spent the whole day working on my Powerpoint. Xiang reviewed my Powerpoint over the weekend and suggested some changes that I make, which I did. The largest change that I made was introducing my risk matrix methodology and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of it instead of simply jumping right into it without any explanation.

Our risk group spent a couple of hours presenting our modules to each other and making suggestions on how we can improve our presentations. I took the suggested changes into account. I appreciated the discussion that I had with my group members over the risk methodology framework that I employed, specifically with regards to how I ranked the risk factors. 

Tomorrow I will continue to work on my Powerpoint, beginning my modules on risk mitigation and the case studies if I have time. I will also continue reading literature where I find it necessary to fill in any gaps in my knowledge and research. Within the next couple of days I hope to have my risk mitigation module finished. 

Day 23

Today I spent the majority of the day working on my Powerpoint. I continued the slides on the risk factors, as well as the risk matrix slides. As a reference, I looked at the "Guidelines for Chemical Transportation, Security, and Risk Management" to learn more about risk matrices. After consulting with this reference, I changed the consequence and likelihood scales to more closely match my risk factors. As a whole, my risk factors occur far more frequently than those involved in the reference source and your Udemy course, so I had to "tilt" the scale more towards categories with a higher likelihood.

I also read a few articles that helped me learn more about why maintenance errors occur and how often they occur. This helped greatly with that particular slide on my Powerpoint.

I plan to continue working on my Powerpoint, as well reading more literature where I find it necessary to fill in any knowledge gaps.

 

Day 22

Today I spent most of the day working on my Powerpoint. I continued to read the article on the TSA's attempts to reach 100% screening of cargo in the post 9/11 era. It was interesting to learn about the challenges that the TSA faces with trying to ensure the safety of cargo while at the same time making sure that they don't slow down the industry and cause disastrous economic effects. 

I faced some challenges in the phrasing of my risk factors with regards to trying to make a risk matrix. Ranking the likelihood and consequence for the risk factors you see in the picture below required a significant amount of educated guessing. I looked back at the Udemy course to get a handle on the scale that you used to rank the likelihood of the consequence. I'm going to alter the criteria to make them fit my risk factors better, as I need a scale that has some numbers between unlikely (3) and likely (4). This will be useful for factors like fatigue and outdated technology which are a constant presence. I feel it is appropriate to change the criteria as long as I justify my new choices. 

Tomorrow I will continue to work on the Powerpoint and read literature to fill in my knowledge gaps.

Day 21

Today I spent the majority of the day beginning to write my Powerpoint. It was a challenge to balance the expectations of the layout of the presentation with the topics that I wanted to address along with incorporating all of the research that I've done. I have to be able to simplify all of the research into easily readable and comprehendible slides, while at the same time making sure that my slides have substance to them.

Occasionally throughout the day, I would open up the articles that I've been reading in the past couple of weeks to jog my memory on the key points and "deliverables" of the articles. Tomorrow I will continue to work on my presentation and continue the practice of having articles open as I write the Powerpoint.

I'm doing some experimenting with the order of my slides to determine what is the most user friendly arrangement. I'll play this by ear and make a decision closer to when I have to finalize my presentation.