Bodhi Edwards only has one regret regarding his participation in last year’s Giles T. Brown Student Project and Research Symposium: “In retrospect, I absolutely hate myself for not entering into this research symposium sooner,” he says.
Edwards - who has since transferred to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he is majoring in mechanical engineering - was named the “First Author - Grand Winner” for his research on surfboard tail designs. He received a $1,500 prize to go with the title.
For Edwards, surfboard design is a family endeavor - his father has shaped surfboards as a hobby for more than 40 years, and as a shop assistant, the younger Edwards often watched with fascination as his father turned a blank mold into a sleek surfboard. As he got older and began attending college, Edwards began to apply what he was learning in his science and technology classes to improve further on those designs. “I began applying my gained engineering knowledge of 3D modeling, loading, buoyancy, friction, and turbulence to start making my own comparisons as to why the ideas my father claimed would actually work,” Edwards explains. “Essentially, I wanted to place facts and physics behind this otherwise untabulated knowledge that could either prove or disprove my dad’s ( and many other shapers’) knowledge of surfboard shaping.”
After years of encouragement from OCC Engineering Professor Dr. Angelo Esposito, Edwards finally made the decision to participate in the College’s annual Research Symposium, which gives students a chance to present their research to the rest of campus and compete for cash prizes (and bragging rights!) He chose Esposito to be his mentor, and tapped Architecture Professor Steve Fuchs and OCC Makerspace Coordinator Garet Hill to help him build prototypes of his surfboard tails.
Looking back, Edwards is grateful to have been given the chance to compete in the annual event, which took place mere days before Orange Coast College’s campus was closed and most classes were moved online due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. “I was astonished by how many people I found who were interested in this topic,” he says.”The thing I enjoyed most was chatting with the judges and viewers about the project, and providing details into the aspects that interested each of them most.”
This year’s Giles T. Brown Student Project and Research Symposium is set to take place online on March 19, 2021, and students have until the end of this month (Oct. 30, 2020) to fill out an Intent to Submit form. For more information about the Research Symposium, visit OCC’s website.