I think I’m going to approach the coming semester in a way generally new to me. It is my aim to engage the content of my classes. This is the content I would like to be well versed in. Employment will be the test of my abilities to master the courses in the coming semester.
Nuclear Material Science and Engineering
Nuclear Power and Public Policy
Nuclear Reactor Design
Nuclear Reactor Lab
Nuclear Science and Engineering Seminar
Fuck yes.
The seminar is one credit hour, the rest are three. I’m quite excited to learn this stuff. My two graduate courses last semester were not exceptionally more difficult than those of my undergrad. I purchased the books for the public policy course a few weeks ago. This is the mandatory grad-level English class for those in the nuclear department. I tried reading into the required anti-nuclear energy book but that didn’t last too long and now I’m five chapters into the pro-nuclear energy book: Power to Save the World: The Truth about Nuclear Energy by Gwyneth Cravens.
I feel the book is too much like a story. By which I mean, it has much more of a plot than the textbooks I read. The author is toured around nuclear reactors, refineries, mines, and disposal sites by the well spoken nuclear engineer, then she researches the topics and presents her results among a sometimes wordy story of the characters travels.
Ha, I wrote a book review, that’s funny.
Yep, I’ve been reading and chilling in Pueblo for the past while and now I’m ready to engage the content of the semester soon upon us.
Edit comment: The "I think..." and "I feel..." paragraphs of this post are written very differently; I suspect I might even engage the English class.
Peace -- Mike
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Writing what I’m thinking
Which is to say: Lookout, I’m writing and will likely say nothing!
I’m attempting to write what I think in an effort to record something meaningful and worthwhile. It’s tough not to stop after every word or sentence and think ahead to what I may write.
I think the natural breaks that people take when they speak are adequate in length to provide time for the necessary thoughts through what they should say next if they haven’t yet decided. Thinking back on that sentence, yes, it’s obvious, but I feel that to become a better speaker I need to make use of these natural pauses, such that
I need not plan the things I say to the extent I do. I believe this policy will result in me saying more embarrassing or simply incorrect things as it has in trial runs.
I thought much more about the above paragraph than it may let on. I know, I’m describing something as opposed to an attempt to type unfiltered; I’m ok with that. Recording my thoughts in words puts that limitation on this attempt, and the level of clarity I use in the things said here, represents the extent of this limitation.
Anyway...
The world seems much more manageable to me in 2010. My relationship with Sam A has been very rewarding. This summer has allowed us many opportunities, in many different places, to spend time together and I’ve enjoyed it a great deal. We are both very calm people that have a lot of fun and enjoy being in love with each other.
The world seeming more manageable may have something to my shiny new engineering diploma. I still consider myself to be in school because I don’t have a serious job. However in less than a year, it’s a safe bet that I’ll be desperately searching for a very serious job with my shiny new Master’s degree. And once I get said serious job, the second quarter of my life will be just beginning.
I like where I stand in my life. Things are good. Things could always be better and someday they might be. I imagine grad school will be very educational and will require a lot of work.
The above took around half an hour to write, setting a record in my blog. I see this post having many simple sentences.
Peace -- Mike
I’m attempting to write what I think in an effort to record something meaningful and worthwhile. It’s tough not to stop after every word or sentence and think ahead to what I may write.
I think the natural breaks that people take when they speak are adequate in length to provide time for the necessary thoughts through what they should say next if they haven’t yet decided. Thinking back on that sentence, yes, it’s obvious, but I feel that to become a better speaker I need to make use of these natural pauses, such that
I need not plan the things I say to the extent I do. I believe this policy will result in me saying more embarrassing or simply incorrect things as it has in trial runs.
I thought much more about the above paragraph than it may let on. I know, I’m describing something as opposed to an attempt to type unfiltered; I’m ok with that. Recording my thoughts in words puts that limitation on this attempt, and the level of clarity I use in the things said here, represents the extent of this limitation.
Anyway...
The world seems much more manageable to me in 2010. My relationship with Sam A has been very rewarding. This summer has allowed us many opportunities, in many different places, to spend time together and I’ve enjoyed it a great deal. We are both very calm people that have a lot of fun and enjoy being in love with each other.
The world seeming more manageable may have something to my shiny new engineering diploma. I still consider myself to be in school because I don’t have a serious job. However in less than a year, it’s a safe bet that I’ll be desperately searching for a very serious job with my shiny new Master’s degree. And once I get said serious job, the second quarter of my life will be just beginning.
I like where I stand in my life. Things are good. Things could always be better and someday they might be. I imagine grad school will be very educational and will require a lot of work.
The above took around half an hour to write, setting a record in my blog. I see this post having many simple sentences.
Peace -- Mike
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Mountain Flying Dream
Josh was driving an orange truck, very similar to Sam’s truck, and I was in the passenger seat. We stopped by Ian’s house to pick up a cooler. Ian was outside with an older man and a younger child, he brought the cooler up to the truck and we drove on. We drove a couple blocks to a house that I understood to be Josh’s. Preparing to back into the driveway, Josh passed the driveway and began reversing. He turned the wheel the wrong way and instead of going into the driveway he sent the truck slowly over a ~20ft cliff backwards. The truck made a complete back flip, landing on its wheels. I looked over at Josh and watched his eyes roll back in his head. I guess I lost consciousness as well. I woke up on a nearby embankment. I could see a highway in front of the dirt road we had fallen off of. I knew I was dreaming; so it became time to fly. I saw The Rocky Mountains way off in the distance and prepared to break my dream flying speed record. The acceleration to maybe 30 mph took ~5 seconds. The next 30 miles went by blindingly quickly, I would say another 5 seconds. (Aside: I think flying in my dreams comes in stages: takeoff, initial acceleration, crazy acceleration, and impact / landing.) With my feet forward I landed on a very pleasant hillside, featuring very green grass, a blue sky, sunshine, an amazing view, and a father and son playing catch. I watched for a bit thinking that I should do something other than flying. I walked around a bit, sat for a bit, and looked at the sun through my fingers. Facing the sun, I floated up to ~40ft above the mountain top and, staring into the sun, everything went white.
I came to lying at the bottom of the hill (the peak) that I had lifted off from. It was night and a superhighway was in front of me almost blocking my view of the truck accident. I looked at the stars and considered taking my flying to the next level. I lifted off originally towards the moon, but once I got ready to begin accelerating the moon wasn’t there. I saw a nearly empty circle of stars in the sky with one in the center and ~4 more orbiting it very quickly. Naturally (or not), I began my acceleration towards it. Once I began crazy acceleration I found myself walking into a mansion. The butler walked over to me and said nothing. So I told him I was dreaming and that he could do anything he wanted to. I continued walking in the house, found the chef, and told him the same. I went to the front window and realized this house was on the green hill from earlier.
I awoke thinking that I didn’t want to live in a mansion. This dream was interesting because I visited the same places a few times but the place was different in lighting and contents. This dream was also very beautiful; everything was in full detail, I could see very far in most directions, and the content and color of everything I saw was simply beautiful.
Peace -- Mike
I came to lying at the bottom of the hill (the peak) that I had lifted off from. It was night and a superhighway was in front of me almost blocking my view of the truck accident. I looked at the stars and considered taking my flying to the next level. I lifted off originally towards the moon, but once I got ready to begin accelerating the moon wasn’t there. I saw a nearly empty circle of stars in the sky with one in the center and ~4 more orbiting it very quickly. Naturally (or not), I began my acceleration towards it. Once I began crazy acceleration I found myself walking into a mansion. The butler walked over to me and said nothing. So I told him I was dreaming and that he could do anything he wanted to. I continued walking in the house, found the chef, and told him the same. I went to the front window and realized this house was on the green hill from earlier.
I awoke thinking that I didn’t want to live in a mansion. This dream was interesting because I visited the same places a few times but the place was different in lighting and contents. This dream was also very beautiful; everything was in full detail, I could see very far in most directions, and the content and color of everything I saw was simply beautiful.
Peace -- Mike
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Graduated
It seems that I haven’t yet posted about my final semester as an undergraduate, so here we go.
Nuclear Reactor Physics, King, A: This class double counted for my undergrad and graduate degrees. Most of the kids in the 5-Year Nuclear Master’s program were in this class and Radiation. The class was graded solely on six (or maybe five) assessments: An exam on Nuclear Reactions and Interactions, a public service announcement on Reactor Core and Operation Basics (I want to get a copy of the movie my group made), a Reactor Kinetics computer model (Micah and I wrote one sick Mathmatica notebook), a take home test on Neutron Diffusion, and an exam on Feedback Effects. Overall, this was a great class. A few too many of the classes were spent in groups trying to solve problems before he had shown us a similar example. The take home test is the only thing I ended up getting an “intermediate” (B) on… it was quite tricky. But overall, I hope the rest of Grad school is similar to this class; lectures and exams.
Radiation Detection and Measurement, Greife, B: The first half of the semester was lecture covering basic principles of radiations detection, error analysis, and other nuclear concepts. In the second half, teams of two made measurements of radioactive sources and analyzed the spectrum given off. From the spectrum the contents, abundances, and relative geometries could be determined and included in a fairly lengthy write-up. Being new to grad school, I wanted to get the lab write-ups done and out of my hair. However, my lap partner Nate decided not to respond to my emails and in-class reminders until the last week of class. So that weekend we wrote all three write-ups… and by ‘we’, I mostly am referring to myself. For one of the labs I spent a few hours in front of Mathcad and by the end I felt that I deserved a metal.
Senior Design, Hecht, B: Continuing from last semester Helen, Caitlin, Jasmin, Paul, and I designed a Locking Ring to lift a rail wheel for Kiewit. We did a good job overall, ending with a 3D printed prototype of a well tested (in SolidWorks Simulation) design. The bolt and shackle were off the shelf components. At the last minute we did have to remove a few of the complex curves from the design to lower the cost of manufacturing. There was also an essay for the class with a pretty-bogus prompt, which I felt I wrote a quality paper for.
Linear Algebra, Bridgman, A: For some reason I’ve always wanted to know linear algebra and I’m really glad I took this class. Just like probability, I really took to the material and aced the exams. Looking back on my undergraduate career, I’m very glad for every math class I took: Calc 2, Calc 3, Diff Eq, Prob Stat, AEM, Probability, and Linear. For extra credit I played some setgame.com. I have a few more free electives to fill in grad school and high-end math looks like a very intimidating option. I might be held back by my lack of programming skill but who knows; perhaps partial differential equations are for me.
Intro to Robotics, Steele, A: Albert and I built and programmed some pretty cool robots. The robots consisted of a Handy Board, sitting atop a Lego creation, programmed in visual C. Most of the labs introduced a new sensor and a new way to solve the physical maze Dr. Steele had setup. Our first robot bumped into the walls blindly, if it hit a wall it would turn right, if it quickly hit another it would turn around (thus making a left turn at the wall) then drive forward. By the end our robot had IR sensors in front and off to one side, it would follow one wall of the maze until it made it to the end then optimize the path it took, such that it would not fall into any dead ends. Overall, I would recommend this class, although the grading was a bit nit-picky at times.
Well… That‘s that. On May 14th 2010 I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Colorado School of Mines. The ceremony went well and I enjoyed spending the weekend with Sam and the fam. Pretty soon after I was on my way to California for an awesome time. Pictures are on Facebook and a few write-ups of what we did early on can be found on Sam’s blog: spiffysam.wordpress.com/
Peace -- Mike
Nuclear Reactor Physics, King, A: This class double counted for my undergrad and graduate degrees. Most of the kids in the 5-Year Nuclear Master’s program were in this class and Radiation. The class was graded solely on six (or maybe five) assessments: An exam on Nuclear Reactions and Interactions, a public service announcement on Reactor Core and Operation Basics (I want to get a copy of the movie my group made), a Reactor Kinetics computer model (Micah and I wrote one sick Mathmatica notebook), a take home test on Neutron Diffusion, and an exam on Feedback Effects. Overall, this was a great class. A few too many of the classes were spent in groups trying to solve problems before he had shown us a similar example. The take home test is the only thing I ended up getting an “intermediate” (B) on… it was quite tricky. But overall, I hope the rest of Grad school is similar to this class; lectures and exams.
Radiation Detection and Measurement, Greife, B: The first half of the semester was lecture covering basic principles of radiations detection, error analysis, and other nuclear concepts. In the second half, teams of two made measurements of radioactive sources and analyzed the spectrum given off. From the spectrum the contents, abundances, and relative geometries could be determined and included in a fairly lengthy write-up. Being new to grad school, I wanted to get the lab write-ups done and out of my hair. However, my lap partner Nate decided not to respond to my emails and in-class reminders until the last week of class. So that weekend we wrote all three write-ups… and by ‘we’, I mostly am referring to myself. For one of the labs I spent a few hours in front of Mathcad and by the end I felt that I deserved a metal.
Senior Design, Hecht, B: Continuing from last semester Helen, Caitlin, Jasmin, Paul, and I designed a Locking Ring to lift a rail wheel for Kiewit. We did a good job overall, ending with a 3D printed prototype of a well tested (in SolidWorks Simulation) design. The bolt and shackle were off the shelf components. At the last minute we did have to remove a few of the complex curves from the design to lower the cost of manufacturing. There was also an essay for the class with a pretty-bogus prompt, which I felt I wrote a quality paper for.
Linear Algebra, Bridgman, A: For some reason I’ve always wanted to know linear algebra and I’m really glad I took this class. Just like probability, I really took to the material and aced the exams. Looking back on my undergraduate career, I’m very glad for every math class I took: Calc 2, Calc 3, Diff Eq, Prob Stat, AEM, Probability, and Linear. For extra credit I played some setgame.com. I have a few more free electives to fill in grad school and high-end math looks like a very intimidating option. I might be held back by my lack of programming skill but who knows; perhaps partial differential equations are for me.
Intro to Robotics, Steele, A: Albert and I built and programmed some pretty cool robots. The robots consisted of a Handy Board, sitting atop a Lego creation, programmed in visual C. Most of the labs introduced a new sensor and a new way to solve the physical maze Dr. Steele had setup. Our first robot bumped into the walls blindly, if it hit a wall it would turn right, if it quickly hit another it would turn around (thus making a left turn at the wall) then drive forward. By the end our robot had IR sensors in front and off to one side, it would follow one wall of the maze until it made it to the end then optimize the path it took, such that it would not fall into any dead ends. Overall, I would recommend this class, although the grading was a bit nit-picky at times.
Well… That‘s that. On May 14th 2010 I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Colorado School of Mines. The ceremony went well and I enjoyed spending the weekend with Sam and the fam. Pretty soon after I was on my way to California for an awesome time. Pictures are on Facebook and a few write-ups of what we did early on can be found on Sam’s blog: spiffysam.wordpress.com/
Peace -- Mike
Monday, July 12, 2010
Flying Dreams
In the past week I've had three lucid dreams. In each of which, I decided to fly. To date, these are the only times I’ve flown. I would estimate that I’ve had maybe a dozen lucid dreams in my life.
In the first of these recent dreams, I was in an apartment talking with Sam. I didn’t recognize the room and it seemed oddly empty of room-things. So I thought that I might be dreaming and that I should float. As soon as I started thinking about floating, I was. I floated out into the hallway then floated to the end, over to the front door. I was moving around walking speed. When I got to the door, someone I don’t know let someone else I didn’t know into the apartment. The living room of this apartment had typical living room things and boxes piled on top of them. Most everything I remember from the dream was very white.
The second dream went on for a long time before I became lucid. It began with a few sword fights with people in armor; I then ran through a dark village place and attacked a few unarmed people. Somehow I wound up in a movie theater lobby. Sam was the only one around; I think we spoke for a bit before I realized I was dreaming. I wanted to fly more ambitiously than last time so I jumped and punched through the four layers of ceiling standing in my way. The view was spectacular as I emerged from the building with my sword. There was a perfectly green park in front of me, a forest off to the left, a giant parade to my right, people and cars lining the streets, mountains off in the distance, and a very blue sky. I kept rising and flew over the park. I did a few circles over the perimeter of the park, but I couldn’t really control my elevation as I flew. I was always rising and flying with my chest pointed in the direction of my travel. I would guess that I was going around 30mph.
The third dream also went on for a long time before I became lucid. I don’t remember much of it, but I was outside in a desert town running from someone. I dodged some bullets by lying in an aqueduct and hid behind a tree for a bit. I’m not sure how I became lucid this time, but I tried jumping to start flying and it didn’t work. I then just thought about it and I was up in the air. I had full control of my elevation this time. I saw some plateaus off in the distance, from takeoff to landing I would guess it took me around 10 seconds to get on top of a plateau on my initial horizon. I then quickly flew to a city park area and landed on a tall building. I looked around, but don’t remember the view. I landed on the ground and a young boy walked up to me and started talking to me. I didn’t really want to talk as my dreams don’t usually last long after I become lucid. He asked me if I knew the meaning of life; I closed my eyes and slowly fell backwards such that I was lying on the ground. A few seconds later I floated back to a standing position and told him I didn’t know. We walked together at the park and he asked me for butter. Conveniently, right in front of us there was a bowl / trash can / art thing with some butter inside of it. I scooped out the butter and handed it to him. He asked if I would be around again and I said I usually arrive by train in the middle of the day. It was night time and I tried to get one more flight in but woke up instead.
It seems the trick for me to have lucid dreams is to sleep in. Each of these was the last dream I had that day and the last two occurred around 9:00a. I’ve also had a few nightmares recently that occurred in the middle of the night. I suppose I should stop accepting scary things as scary and start challenging them in the likely event that I’m dreaming.
Peace
-- Mike
In the first of these recent dreams, I was in an apartment talking with Sam. I didn’t recognize the room and it seemed oddly empty of room-things. So I thought that I might be dreaming and that I should float. As soon as I started thinking about floating, I was. I floated out into the hallway then floated to the end, over to the front door. I was moving around walking speed. When I got to the door, someone I don’t know let someone else I didn’t know into the apartment. The living room of this apartment had typical living room things and boxes piled on top of them. Most everything I remember from the dream was very white.
The second dream went on for a long time before I became lucid. It began with a few sword fights with people in armor; I then ran through a dark village place and attacked a few unarmed people. Somehow I wound up in a movie theater lobby. Sam was the only one around; I think we spoke for a bit before I realized I was dreaming. I wanted to fly more ambitiously than last time so I jumped and punched through the four layers of ceiling standing in my way. The view was spectacular as I emerged from the building with my sword. There was a perfectly green park in front of me, a forest off to the left, a giant parade to my right, people and cars lining the streets, mountains off in the distance, and a very blue sky. I kept rising and flew over the park. I did a few circles over the perimeter of the park, but I couldn’t really control my elevation as I flew. I was always rising and flying with my chest pointed in the direction of my travel. I would guess that I was going around 30mph.
The third dream also went on for a long time before I became lucid. I don’t remember much of it, but I was outside in a desert town running from someone. I dodged some bullets by lying in an aqueduct and hid behind a tree for a bit. I’m not sure how I became lucid this time, but I tried jumping to start flying and it didn’t work. I then just thought about it and I was up in the air. I had full control of my elevation this time. I saw some plateaus off in the distance, from takeoff to landing I would guess it took me around 10 seconds to get on top of a plateau on my initial horizon. I then quickly flew to a city park area and landed on a tall building. I looked around, but don’t remember the view. I landed on the ground and a young boy walked up to me and started talking to me. I didn’t really want to talk as my dreams don’t usually last long after I become lucid. He asked me if I knew the meaning of life; I closed my eyes and slowly fell backwards such that I was lying on the ground. A few seconds later I floated back to a standing position and told him I didn’t know. We walked together at the park and he asked me for butter. Conveniently, right in front of us there was a bowl / trash can / art thing with some butter inside of it. I scooped out the butter and handed it to him. He asked if I would be around again and I said I usually arrive by train in the middle of the day. It was night time and I tried to get one more flight in but woke up instead.
It seems the trick for me to have lucid dreams is to sleep in. Each of these was the last dream I had that day and the last two occurred around 9:00a. I’ve also had a few nightmares recently that occurred in the middle of the night. I suppose I should stop accepting scary things as scary and start challenging them in the likely event that I’m dreaming.
Peace
-- Mike
Monday, January 04, 2010
Senior Year
Maybe there is a light at the end of the education tunnel. The passing of this most recent semester represents my seventh of ten to complete at Mines, provided all things continue to go well.
Macroeconomics, Kulkarni, A: Compared to my other classes this semester, Macroeconomics had a surprisingly high level of Curtis. Before class we typically spent some time memorizing an arbitrary sheet of facts that I had laminated (mainly numerical facts). I’ve still got most of them lying around in my head. Also, before the break I printed out a second sheet with facts about states, presidents, primes, and squares. I don’t think I’ll be able to completely memorize this one as easily. Anyway, the class was pretty slow paced; oh, 300-levels… Each class covered one main topic to be known for one of the four exams throughout the semester. No single topic was particularly hard to grasp, but to perform well on the tests it definitely helped that I had simply memorized all of my notes since the last test. The jokes were corny and repetitive, but it didn’t really bother me.
Probability, Navidi, A: I believe that I was the only non-math major in the class. Unlike Macro, I believe the average grade in this class was significantly lower than my own. I definitely felt like a curve killer on all three of the tests, with a perfect score on the second one… Something about this kind of math, the way Dr. Navidi presented it, and my previous probability experience made the class meaningful and simple for me. I also found this class rather entertaining, while there were occasional corny jokes; I found the subtle, and not so subtle, nuances to be far more humorous. Should I ever find myself in the roll of an instructor, I will attempt to duplicate many of the structures Dr. Navidi used. Class always began exactly on time with, “Welcome to another exciting day of class, first are there any questions?” pause (silent class) “Ok, are there any comments?” pause “Is there anything anyone would like to say for the betterment of the class?” pause “Alright, I can see you’re all quite eager to get started, so here we go.” He also presented the material with a remarkable layout; all theorems began with an underlined “Thm:” proofs with “Proof:” remarks, corollaries, asides, equations, and notes were all introduced with their respective abbreviation and an oral overview of what was to be written before anything else was written on the board. Any one of these could occupy exactly one quarter of the board area, written in a perfect column from top to bottom, never squeezing information off to a side or jumping to another board location.
Senior Design, Turner, Zeles-Hahn, A: Eh, lecture was boring but required. Our team, among the busywork, analyzed a WaterPik flossing device. Paul, Helen, Diana, Ryan, and I received high scores on our reports and overall did a good job on the reverse-engineering project. Scores were publicly posted by Mines I.D. number, and I was quite shocked to learn that I had the second highest grade in the class (95%) of approximately 180 seniors. I would be willing to bet that the person with a higher grade was on my team. After the first twelve weeks or so, this two-semester class shifted to its main purpose, actual engineering design. Of note, this is the first semester senior design has had a reverse-engineering project before the actual design project. For the second phase of the class Helen, Paul, Jasmin, Caitlin, and I are designing a rail-wheel crane attachment for a very hard to contact client. Our group was assigned to the ever-judging Norm Hecht. Weekly meetings include the members of our team justifying their position on the team.
Advanced Mechanics of Materials, Ciobanu, B: Not the best professor and not the best class. I felt the class was just linear algebra applied to the most basic mechanics equations as opposed to advanced topics not covered in basic mechanics. Too many of the class periods were spent watching, very impressive, derivations of the complex equations necessary in the class. Many of the students made it clear on the evaluations that we trust what we see, and if we don’t need to know how to derive these equations, then it’s not necessary to derive all of them. There were remarkably few graded assignments in the class, which is partly where I place the blame for my poor performance. While grading the midterm, Ciobanu only checked for correct answers and did not award partial credit for procedure, which sounds like the whines from a student with a sore grade, which it just might be. However, the majority of the classes missed at least the same question on the midterm, so I believe that question, at least, should have the procedure graded.
Nuclear Physics, Cecil, A: I believe I was the only non-physics major in the class. While much of the quantum mechanics went right over my head, the methods Dr. Cecil chose to present the material made it very relevant. Often topics were rooted in simple well-known experiments, then built by relevant research papers, and concluded with a homework assignment not so different from an in-class example. One such homework assignment that sticks out in my mind, went as follows: Given a graph of the relative detection intensities at varying angles for different target materials of high energy alpha particles plotted against the particles deflected angle, show evidence that nucleons are incompressible. The solution to said, poorly-reworded, problem is as follows: Looking at the graph of intensity vs. angle we notice a generally decreasing function (as angle from the target increases it’s less likely for an alpha particle to be deflected in that direction) with a slight vertical oscillation as it decreases. So we think to ourselves… hum self, I’ve seen this kind of function before, why it looks like the intensity of a double slit experiment as one moves away from the center. All particles act as waves, so via the DeBrogle equation we then find the “wavelength” of an alpha particle. From an intensity graph we find the angle between relative maxima or minima and assert that this difference in angle represents a single wavelength of the alpha particle as it was bent around the target nuclei and constructively or destructively interfered with itself. Throw some trig at the problem and the diameter of the nuclei can be found. Repeat for different target nuclei and plot distance across nuclei verses the total number of nucleons. Apply a best fit function to the data and notice that the diameter of a nucleus is proportionate to the cube root of the total number of nucleons. Ah, that’s interesting we think… The diameter of a sphere (or other shape) is also proportionate to the cube root of that sphere’s volume. So, nucleons are probably incompressible. This effect is only observed at high alpha particle energy, as it is necessary for the particle to overcome the coulomb barrier (alpha and nucleus both being positively charged repel each other) and “hit” the nucleus to scatter. (Editing note: I don’t know why I left this example in)
Well, that about covers it for classes. These 15 credit hours at a 3.8 GPA bring the cumulative up to 3.717. In the spring I am registered for 15 hours with 6 of those double counted towards: Masters of Science (Nuclear Engineering), Non-thesis option. Program Requirements: 36 total credit hours, consisting of core coursework (21h), seminar in a participating department (2h), additional elective courses (9h) and Independent Study (4h) working on a research project with a faculty member working in nuclear science and engineering. Fun fun.
According to the intersphere I’ll graduate May 14, 2010 and May 13, 2011. This, if you ask me, is pretty far away.
What else… I’m one long chapter away from finishing the book I’ve chosen to read over break: Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3rd ed., J. Lamarsh, A. Baratta. One of the graduate classes I’m taking in the spring posted a partial syllabus with six textbooks on it. Huzza for reading the entire textbook in advance. I’m also halfway through two of the other four nuclear textbooks I have. So with any luck I’ll be able to finish one of those up before the semester starts. Unfortunately, neither of those two is on the syllabus; whereas, the two I haven’t started are. Oh well, good to get them off of the reading pile.
I should be finding out about a summer internship at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in the next couple days. Needless to say, it would be really sweet to land this gig and get some experience in the Nuclear Field.
Well, that’s probably enough of an academic update.
Hello 2010. How are you?
Peace -- Mike
Macroeconomics, Kulkarni, A: Compared to my other classes this semester, Macroeconomics had a surprisingly high level of Curtis. Before class we typically spent some time memorizing an arbitrary sheet of facts that I had laminated (mainly numerical facts). I’ve still got most of them lying around in my head. Also, before the break I printed out a second sheet with facts about states, presidents, primes, and squares. I don’t think I’ll be able to completely memorize this one as easily. Anyway, the class was pretty slow paced; oh, 300-levels… Each class covered one main topic to be known for one of the four exams throughout the semester. No single topic was particularly hard to grasp, but to perform well on the tests it definitely helped that I had simply memorized all of my notes since the last test. The jokes were corny and repetitive, but it didn’t really bother me.
Probability, Navidi, A: I believe that I was the only non-math major in the class. Unlike Macro, I believe the average grade in this class was significantly lower than my own. I definitely felt like a curve killer on all three of the tests, with a perfect score on the second one… Something about this kind of math, the way Dr. Navidi presented it, and my previous probability experience made the class meaningful and simple for me. I also found this class rather entertaining, while there were occasional corny jokes; I found the subtle, and not so subtle, nuances to be far more humorous. Should I ever find myself in the roll of an instructor, I will attempt to duplicate many of the structures Dr. Navidi used. Class always began exactly on time with, “Welcome to another exciting day of class, first are there any questions?” pause (silent class) “Ok, are there any comments?” pause “Is there anything anyone would like to say for the betterment of the class?” pause “Alright, I can see you’re all quite eager to get started, so here we go.” He also presented the material with a remarkable layout; all theorems began with an underlined “Thm:” proofs with “Proof:” remarks, corollaries, asides, equations, and notes were all introduced with their respective abbreviation and an oral overview of what was to be written before anything else was written on the board. Any one of these could occupy exactly one quarter of the board area, written in a perfect column from top to bottom, never squeezing information off to a side or jumping to another board location.
Senior Design, Turner, Zeles-Hahn, A: Eh, lecture was boring but required. Our team, among the busywork, analyzed a WaterPik flossing device. Paul, Helen, Diana, Ryan, and I received high scores on our reports and overall did a good job on the reverse-engineering project. Scores were publicly posted by Mines I.D. number, and I was quite shocked to learn that I had the second highest grade in the class (95%) of approximately 180 seniors. I would be willing to bet that the person with a higher grade was on my team. After the first twelve weeks or so, this two-semester class shifted to its main purpose, actual engineering design. Of note, this is the first semester senior design has had a reverse-engineering project before the actual design project. For the second phase of the class Helen, Paul, Jasmin, Caitlin, and I are designing a rail-wheel crane attachment for a very hard to contact client. Our group was assigned to the ever-judging Norm Hecht. Weekly meetings include the members of our team justifying their position on the team.
Advanced Mechanics of Materials, Ciobanu, B: Not the best professor and not the best class. I felt the class was just linear algebra applied to the most basic mechanics equations as opposed to advanced topics not covered in basic mechanics. Too many of the class periods were spent watching, very impressive, derivations of the complex equations necessary in the class. Many of the students made it clear on the evaluations that we trust what we see, and if we don’t need to know how to derive these equations, then it’s not necessary to derive all of them. There were remarkably few graded assignments in the class, which is partly where I place the blame for my poor performance. While grading the midterm, Ciobanu only checked for correct answers and did not award partial credit for procedure, which sounds like the whines from a student with a sore grade, which it just might be. However, the majority of the classes missed at least the same question on the midterm, so I believe that question, at least, should have the procedure graded.
Nuclear Physics, Cecil, A: I believe I was the only non-physics major in the class. While much of the quantum mechanics went right over my head, the methods Dr. Cecil chose to present the material made it very relevant. Often topics were rooted in simple well-known experiments, then built by relevant research papers, and concluded with a homework assignment not so different from an in-class example. One such homework assignment that sticks out in my mind, went as follows: Given a graph of the relative detection intensities at varying angles for different target materials of high energy alpha particles plotted against the particles deflected angle, show evidence that nucleons are incompressible. The solution to said, poorly-reworded, problem is as follows: Looking at the graph of intensity vs. angle we notice a generally decreasing function (as angle from the target increases it’s less likely for an alpha particle to be deflected in that direction) with a slight vertical oscillation as it decreases. So we think to ourselves… hum self, I’ve seen this kind of function before, why it looks like the intensity of a double slit experiment as one moves away from the center. All particles act as waves, so via the DeBrogle equation we then find the “wavelength” of an alpha particle. From an intensity graph we find the angle between relative maxima or minima and assert that this difference in angle represents a single wavelength of the alpha particle as it was bent around the target nuclei and constructively or destructively interfered with itself. Throw some trig at the problem and the diameter of the nuclei can be found. Repeat for different target nuclei and plot distance across nuclei verses the total number of nucleons. Apply a best fit function to the data and notice that the diameter of a nucleus is proportionate to the cube root of the total number of nucleons. Ah, that’s interesting we think… The diameter of a sphere (or other shape) is also proportionate to the cube root of that sphere’s volume. So, nucleons are probably incompressible. This effect is only observed at high alpha particle energy, as it is necessary for the particle to overcome the coulomb barrier (alpha and nucleus both being positively charged repel each other) and “hit” the nucleus to scatter. (Editing note: I don’t know why I left this example in)
Well, that about covers it for classes. These 15 credit hours at a 3.8 GPA bring the cumulative up to 3.717. In the spring I am registered for 15 hours with 6 of those double counted towards: Masters of Science (Nuclear Engineering), Non-thesis option. Program Requirements: 36 total credit hours, consisting of core coursework (21h), seminar in a participating department (2h), additional elective courses (9h) and Independent Study (4h) working on a research project with a faculty member working in nuclear science and engineering. Fun fun.
According to the intersphere I’ll graduate May 14, 2010 and May 13, 2011. This, if you ask me, is pretty far away.
What else… I’m one long chapter away from finishing the book I’ve chosen to read over break: Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3rd ed., J. Lamarsh, A. Baratta. One of the graduate classes I’m taking in the spring posted a partial syllabus with six textbooks on it. Huzza for reading the entire textbook in advance. I’m also halfway through two of the other four nuclear textbooks I have. So with any luck I’ll be able to finish one of those up before the semester starts. Unfortunately, neither of those two is on the syllabus; whereas, the two I haven’t started are. Oh well, good to get them off of the reading pile.
I should be finding out about a summer internship at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in the next couple days. Needless to say, it would be really sweet to land this gig and get some experience in the Nuclear Field.
Well, that’s probably enough of an academic update.
Hello 2010. How are you?
Peace -- Mike
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