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“I like a challenge,” says senior Rachel Pilling of Deer Isle, Maine, a graduate of Deer Isle-Stonington High School. “I would like to do a project that will contribute something, either to the science world or to the department or to myself in the knowledge and experience that I gain by completing the project.”
Marquis Scholar Rachel Pilling is warming up to a departmental honors project in thermoelectric refrigeration.
“I am going to do a project on thermoelectric refrigeration,” Pilling explains. “This type of refrigeration harnesses a phenomenon known as the Peltier effect. If you connect two dissimilar metals and supply a current to flow through them, a temperature difference is created. Stick the cooler end inside your refrigerator, and presto! you have cooled an area without using a circulating coolant as everyday refrigerators do.
“I really enjoyed my thermodynamics class last year and I would like to continue to investigate further some of the topics of the class that we didn’t get enough time to cover,” she says.
Working with Pilling is Richard A. Merz, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
“Rachel came to me and explained she had found something of interest to her. I saw this as a learning experience for both of us,” Merz says. “In one sense, it will truly be an independent project.”
“One goal we have here at Lafayette is to never deny a student the opportunity to learn, to grow,” Merz continues. “I’ll follow her work, learn with her, and provide general oversight. She’ll become the expert in some ways, and I the student.”
Working on an independent project is appealing to Pilling.
“I am interested in doing a design project where I can work independently,” she says. “I like a challenge and I would like to do a project that will contribute something, either to the science world or to the department or to myself in the knowledge and experience that I gain by completing the project.”
Pilling is enrolled in Lafayette’s distinctive new five-year program that allows students to earn a B.S. degree in chemical, civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering and an A.B. degree in international studies that combines foreign language, literature, government, law, art, economics, and history.
Merz says, “This project will prepare Rachel for the real world, where she will be working for a client and will have to explain her procedures to that client. It should be solid prep for when she enters the professional arena.”
Another Side of Rachel
She is serving as Student Government’s representative to the faculty. She is a Writing Associate in Lafayette’s College Writing Program, assisting first-year students and sophomores with their writing assignments, and a participant in Lafayette’s Barge Mathematics Competition. A member of the French Club, she also is a tutor in the English as a Second Language program, one of more than 25 programs of sustained voluntary service conducted by students each year under the auspices of Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center. That’s not all! She’s also a member of the Residence Hall Council, ROTC, the Lafayette Christian Fellowship, and the string ensemble.