I've always been a lover of science, ever since my parents made the mistake (?) of getting me a chemistry set for Christmas when I was seven.
Of particular interest to me has always been rockets and nuclear stuff. I love sci-fi, and I think it shows. :)
How cool, then, is it that I am now part of the public relations campaign for the Ad Astra Rocket Company, makers of the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket). (Try and guess which one of the testimonials is mine, I dare you. :))
What's even cooler is that I was personally solicited for the testimonial by a friend of mine who now works on said plasma space rocket.
I think that bears repeating: a real PLASMA SPACE ROCKET.
Awesome.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Circuitry Fun
Seven Channel Mirnov Probe Preamplifier System
I never thought that I'd be an electronics engineer as well as a graduate student, but hey -- it works!
I'm sure you're all saying, "Hey, I thought you studied fusion! What gives?" Still there -- but trying to measure stuff.
My problem is that I'm trying to measure a signal that is O(1 V) that is riding on top of a sea of noise. Noise that's induced in the transmission lines of the cables. Hence the electronics to try and mitigate said noise.
And although the board is a means to an end (i.e. thesis data), and not quite complete (routing I/O connectors, etc) I think it's fun to do. And it looks pretty.
Circuitry Fun
Seven Channel Mirnov Probe Preamplifier System
I never thought that I'd be an electronics engineer as well as a graduate student, but hey -- it works!
I'm sure you're all saying, "Hey, I thought you studied fusion! What gives?" Still there -- but trying to measure stuff.
My problem is that I'm trying to measure a signal that is O(1 V) that is riding on top of a sea of noise. Noise that's induced in the transmission lines of the cables. Hence the electronics to try and mitigate said noise.
And although the board is a means to an end (i.e. thesis data), and not quite complete (routing I/O connectors, etc) I think it's fun to do. And it looks pretty.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Kravlor.com -- Now with Categories!
I may be one of the slowest people to figure out the nifty things that Drupal can do, given that I've used it for several years now.
I just figured out about categories. And now my posts have them. I like it, if not for the organizational purpose just to see my musings on the stuff from time to time. :)
Kravlor.com -- Now with Categories!
I may be one of the slowest people to figure out the nifty things that Drupal can do, given that I've used it for several years now.
I just figured out about categories. And now my posts have them. I like it, if not for the organizational purpose just to see my musings on the stuff from time to time. :)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sometimes, I'm embarrased to be an Ole.
I like being affiliated with St. Olaf College. I graduated Suma Cum Laude with majors in physics, mathematics, and computer science, having a blast while I was there.
And now that I'm an official alumnus, I get the distinct privilege of being solicited for money to give to my alma mater! Fair enough, I suppose -- so I diligently read the mailings and then usually ignore them. (I am a graduate student, after all. :)) However, I recently got one that was so egregious that I had to break my normal Midwestern politeness to chide the College for sending all of us such a steaming pile of -- well, you get the idea. So, I figured I'd vent a bit more here. Anyway, here's what I wrote to the people regarding the letter:
Dear members of the St. Olaf Partners in Annual Giving Program,
As a proud member of the class of 2004, I recently received a customized solicitation for the 2008 Partners in Annual Giving campaign, dated 4/23/08.
I don't mind receiving such solicitations from time to time from the College; in fact, I expect it. However, this particular invitation to donate to St. Olaf was in rather poor taste, as well as containing grammatical and factual errors in the solicitation itself.
For instance, take the following examples, direct from the letter:
"... but its funny how I always know when I meet an Ole."
"About a week ago I figured out why, he's an Ole."
"Whether its on a plane, in our workplace, or on vacation..."
"Its always crazy sharing..."
"... I hope that we reflect on our St. Olaf experience's as positive ones."
The letter also invites the reader to "put [a donation] on your credit card by hitting the link below," without providing a link in the body of the letter.
I was not an English major (far from it), but reading anything with such blatant errors is extremely annoying. And when it's printed on St. Olaf letterhead, it reflects poorly on the institution and all of its alumni -- not just those of us that need a little extra time checking their grammar.
Furthermore, you may also want to tone down the "Oles are better than everyone else" theme espoused in this particular letter. I sincerely enjoyed my time on the Hill, and would do it all over again; however, that doesn't magically make me intrinsically more capable, likable, or otherwise superior to non-Oles in any way.
I will continue to read your mailings; however, if they continue in the current extraordinarily poor taste and quality of the recent letter, I can guarantee you will not be receiving donations from me and many others any time soon.
Sincerely,
Michael W. Bongard '04
As a sidenote, my wife, a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is now mocking St. Olaf even more. *sigh* As she aptly pointed out, if she submitted a cover letter to a job application of similar awful quality, it'd earn her information a quick trip to the document shredder.
I also thought I should have added the following for good measure, but since it wasn't directly related to the letter's blatant errors I withheld it:
Such snobbery is not only anti-social, but is extraordinarily counter-productive to your aims of soliciting money from alumni who happen to interact with a majority of non-Oles on a daily basis. (Some of us even have the audacity to marry outside the school!)
Sheesh. There must be better ways to get money out of us than throwing this kind of crap our way.
And now that I'm an official alumnus, I get the distinct privilege of being solicited for money to give to my alma mater! Fair enough, I suppose -- so I diligently read the mailings and then usually ignore them. (I am a graduate student, after all. :)) However, I recently got one that was so egregious that I had to break my normal Midwestern politeness to chide the College for sending all of us such a steaming pile of -- well, you get the idea. So, I figured I'd vent a bit more here. Anyway, here's what I wrote to the people regarding the letter:
Dear members of the St. Olaf Partners in Annual Giving Program,
As a proud member of the class of 2004, I recently received a customized solicitation for the 2008 Partners in Annual Giving campaign, dated 4/23/08.
I don't mind receiving such solicitations from time to time from the College; in fact, I expect it. However, this particular invitation to donate to St. Olaf was in rather poor taste, as well as containing grammatical and factual errors in the solicitation itself.
For instance, take the following examples, direct from the letter:
"... but its funny how I always know when I meet an Ole."
"About a week ago I figured out why, he's an Ole."
"Whether its on a plane, in our workplace, or on vacation..."
"Its always crazy sharing..."
"... I hope that we reflect on our St. Olaf experience's as positive ones."
The letter also invites the reader to "put [a donation] on your credit card by hitting the link below," without providing a link in the body of the letter.
I was not an English major (far from it), but reading anything with such blatant errors is extremely annoying. And when it's printed on St. Olaf letterhead, it reflects poorly on the institution and all of its alumni -- not just those of us that need a little extra time checking their grammar.
Furthermore, you may also want to tone down the "Oles are better than everyone else" theme espoused in this particular letter. I sincerely enjoyed my time on the Hill, and would do it all over again; however, that doesn't magically make me intrinsically more capable, likable, or otherwise superior to non-Oles in any way.
I will continue to read your mailings; however, if they continue in the current extraordinarily poor taste and quality of the recent letter, I can guarantee you will not be receiving donations from me and many others any time soon.
Sincerely,
Michael W. Bongard '04
As a sidenote, my wife, a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is now mocking St. Olaf even more. *sigh* As she aptly pointed out, if she submitted a cover letter to a job application of similar awful quality, it'd earn her information a quick trip to the document shredder.
I also thought I should have added the following for good measure, but since it wasn't directly related to the letter's blatant errors I withheld it:
Such snobbery is not only anti-social, but is extraordinarily counter-productive to your aims of soliciting money from alumni who happen to interact with a majority of non-Oles on a daily basis. (Some of us even have the audacity to marry outside the school!)
Sheesh. There must be better ways to get money out of us than throwing this kind of crap our way.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
My Software's International Now!
I don't toot my own horn very often, but I feel like this is a good time to do so.
I spent the first year or so of my PhD research developing an obscure, cross-platform library called mdscwrap that lets certain programming languages (LabView, C, and Igor Pro) easily interface with MDSplus, a data archival and storage system that has become the de facto standard to the fusion community. After getting the package off the ground, I started doing science with it and have gone from there.
From time to time, I get requests from research groups across the nation to try out my library. I just got my first international request today. So, my distribution's gone global. Not bad for a graduate student project, huh? :)
My Software's International Now!
I don't toot my own horn very often, but I feel like this is a good time to do so.
I spent the first year or so of my PhD research developing an obscure, cross-platform library called mdscwrap that lets certain programming languages (LabView, C, and Igor Pro) easily interface with MDSplus, a data archival and storage system that has become the de facto standard to the fusion community. After getting the package off the ground, I started doing science with it and have gone from there.
From time to time, I get requests from research groups across the nation to try out my library. I just got my first international request today. So, my distribution's gone global. Not bad for a graduate student project, huh? :)
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