1/7/14-1/10/14

     This week, Ms. Bullis informed us about the requirements for our product and the amount of work necessary for it to be successful. We spoke on Tuesday, the 7th, and she approved the latest version of my product. I have decided to not contact NASA about their contacts, but rather invite NASA as one of the participating presenters for my product.


     This week, I created a personal deadline calendar for my product, and spoke to Mr. Moss concerning the feasibility of it. He approved the product and a possible date for it. I am hoping to host the event on the last Tuesday of March, with at least 10-12 companies attending and 50+ students attending.


     The first thing on my long list of things to get done is to contact aerospace companies in the Houston area concerning speaking at my event.

12/9/13-12/13/13

    This week, we finished with oral presentations. I went on Tuesday. Overall, I thought I did a good job. I should have slowed down and spent more time on my product because I started talking about it at the seven-and-a-half minute mark when the cutoff was eight minutes. I also think that I got too excited and passionate for the audience.

     I also did a peer review for one of my fellow students. It was overall a decent paper. I learned that I don't want to be an English teacher for a living though.

     I also sent my second rough draft to my mentor. He had mostly technical comments and he helped me solidify my conclusion. I have yet to look at the peer edit and that will help my paper more.

     I have yet to begin on my product. I'm not sure why I keep putting it off. I have to call the JSC and ask about companies they contact.

12/2/13-12/6/13

     This week, I have been listening to peer presentations during class. They help me in that I know where I should be with my project compared to other students. Many of them have been very interesting and all of the students that have presented thus far are very knowledgable on their respective topics. I have not yet presented and I hope to do as well as my fellow students because they are all presenting very well. 

     I have been working on my rough draft, getting it ready to submit on the 6th. I am very confident in my paper as both my mentor and mother didn't have very many revisions to make. For the final draft, all I have to get done is add a Works Cited and get feedback on the new conclusion I put in over the Thanksgiving break. 

     I still need to contact the Office of Public Affairs at the Johnson Space Center for my product which hasn't yet been approved by Ms. Bullis. But, the comments she made were mostly logistical comments and I sorted them all out in my revised product proposal. 

11/18/13-11/22/13

     This week I finished writing my first rough draft. I also sent a copy of it to my mother, an English major, and my mentor who will correct factual inconsistencies. I have also started on my annotated bibliography, which is due on the 25th of November. Once I turn that in, I can spend Thanksgiving break on editing my rough draft.

     I also want to start contacting the Johnson Space Center concerning companies that they regularly contact in hopes of contacting those companies and organizing a job fair for the upperclassmen.

11/11/13-11/15/13

    This week I started heavy work on my rough draft. I also did some last minute research, like the ore density of asteroids, for my paper. I finished my intro, and started work on my first main body paragraph. I plan on finishing my first body paragraph on Friday during class, and finishing the majority of the paper over the weekend.

     Next week, I will be doing my annotated bibliography which will probably take the majority of my class time next week.

11/4/13-11/8/13

     This week, I talked to my mentor about my product. We have decided to attempt to amend the National Aeronautics and Space Act which is essentially the NASA constitution. I want to change the clause that states that any invention created by NASA or one of its employees or contractors can be given, license free, to another entity. I want to change it so that NASA would receive some sort of monetary compensation for the use of their invention. This would in effect, bring in more money for NASA, by NASA, without increasing the government's spending on NASA. This would require me to draft an amendment, which I will do using the assistance of lawyers in the family. I will then write a letter to my congressman asking him to bring this proposal to Congress.

    

10/28/13-11/1/13

     This week was relatively productive. I wrote and turned in my outline which is key for writing a successful paper. I sent it to my mentor and got his feedback on it and his opinion was generally positive. I also fixed gaps in my research concerning un-supported topics I am planning to write about. I currently have all of the research that I require unless something comes up.

     Next week, my primary goal will be working on my product proposal. I have to meet with my mentor so we can discuss a viable and meaningful product. I am thinking of either an internet petition or maybe a symbolic fundraiser, i.e., I as a student can not raise the money necessary to start intensive research on the topics I am discussing, but it can be seen as inspiration for future fundraising.

     Some sources I found this week are various essays discussing some award-winning NASA Spinoff technologies like "Hearing is Believing" which is about the creation of the cochlear implant by a NASA engineer. This particular technology is meaningful to me because by brother is deaf and has a cochlear implant and it has made a large impact on his life.