61: From Mechanical Engineering to a Water Resource Engineer-Brad Arnold
Brad Arnold earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The Milwaukee School of Engineering and a Masters in Agricultural & Natural Resource from UC Davis.
You can also reach Brad directly by email barnold.engr@gmail.com
[1:30] Brad found his interests in environmental engineering and tied it in with his knowledge of hydraulics gained through mechanical engineering classes and parlayed that into a sensor system design in grad school. He then got involved in water management and ties it all together in the podcast.
[4:15] How can you get a undergrad in mechanical engineering and then get a masters in civil engineering?
[8:50] What really has Brad fired up in water management?
[10:45] California is sinking – ground water subsidence – has dropped many feet in the last century
[11:40] An ah-ha moment – he started to understand the bigger picture.
[14:40] Don’t get scared off by the math and science requirement, it gets easier when it gets applied. Also look at the course catalog from the schools you are looking to see what the focus might be, for example is the mechanical engineering degree automotive focused or more general?
[18:10] Lightening round time: best advice, personal habit, phone app and book.
Interesting Links, courtesy of Brad:
USGS resource for ‘land subsidence’ in California: Based on our discussion of the land sinking due to overdrafting of groundwater supplies for agriculture, mostly in the Central Valley.
This ‘California Water 101’ from the Water Education Foundation out here also provides some good details on our water systems.
STEM courses from major universities and companies, for instance, any high school student could enroll in ‘Python Basics for Data Science’ to start learning programming
website: Coursera
book: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner.
You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
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