A Day in the Life: Matt Boucher (ENG)

Morning

8:00 a.m.
Wake up and have breakfast.

8:30 a.m.
Workout at FitRec. I (try to) get there a couple of times per week.

10:10 a.m.
Discussion section for Psychology 101 in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences on Cummington Mall. Psych 101 is a large lecture course, so we have weekly discussion sections with a teaching assistant and about 20 students to review important topics and ask questions about class material and readings.

11:30 a.m.
Lunch in the George Sherman Union (GSU). I have a group of ENG friends that I don’t see as much anymore since I switched majors from Biomedical Engineering to Mechanical Engineering, so we meet every Wednesday for lunch. I usually try to eat a healthy salad from Loose Leafs, but today I caved in and ordered a grilled cheese from Cheesology.

Afternoon

12:30 p.m.
Research in the Mechanics of Slender Structures (MOSS) Laboratory. I conduct experiments to study the effects of injecting a thin elastica into granular media. This research helps us to understand why thin structures buckle and deform, and how we can use that deformation for a multitude of applications. When I found out about the MOSS lab, I fell in love with the work that they were doing and emailed the professor to set up a meeting about the potential for me obtaining a research position.

Evening

5:30 p.m.
Team meeting in the Ingalls Engineering Resource Center for my Introduction to Engineering Design course. My team has been tasked with designing and building a working shower head fixture that reduces both mechanical and behavioral water waste, and lowers overall energy consumption.

7:00 p.m.
Dinner in the Warren Towers Dining Hall, one of the residential dining halls on campus.

7:30 p.m.
Homework and studying. I try to stay on top of assignments with a “chip-away” strategy so that I don’t ever have a crazy amount to do on any given night. This semester, I’m also taking Design and Manufacture, Engineering Mechanics 1, and Ancient Maya Civilization.

9:30 p.m.
Draft the weekly Engineers Without Borders newsletter. As Vice President of BU’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, I’m responsible for sending a weekly communication from the Executive Board to current members, past members, and sponsors. This student-run organization works to design and implement simple and sustainable quality-of-life improvements in developing countries. Our current project is in Naluja, Zambia, where we are focusing on rainwater catchment.

10:00 p.m.
Wind down with some Netflix. I am currently watching (and loving) The Office, while trying to avoid spoilers as much as I can.

11:00 p.m.
Time for bed.