Monday, July 30, 2007

Future (eyes wide open)

Yesterday my professor and physics lab manager from UWP flew in. We spent all day today touring labs and talking to people about their research, our research, and plans for the future. I have a stomach full of excellent food, a fridge full of leftovers, and a mind full of an interwoven, interconnected, and unorganized assortment of ideas (try saying that out loud 10x faster).

What does the future hold for me? Do I want to go to University of Central Florida and then work for NASA, North Carolina State University and work for Intel, University of Dayton and work for the Air Force, Urbana-Champagne, Michigan State, Penn State, UW-Madison? Am I interested enough in optics to spend two years of my life and more learning and working in that field? Do I want to head for digital electronics? Do I really even want to go to grad school? How is it that I enjoy chipping paint, breaking old furniture, picking up trash, and washing dishes at the gospel mission as much as I like designing waveguides, filters, and learning about nanofabrication at the university?

There are two worlds and I cannot commit to both of them.

Have I come this far in Engineering merely for the purpose of having a choice? Ten years from now I might be saying "I could have gotten a masters, I could have gotten a job earning six figures, driven a BMW, and joined the ranks of the MENSA-qualified academic elite. But instead I'm doing _____ for the cause of Christ and I don't regret that choice for a second." Or I could plunge into this world of $400k SEMs (scanning electron microscope with 800,000x mag) and multi-million dollar laboratories where the goal is to complete projects, get better equipment, win contracts, and make more money. I respect those who do such things, but I abhor the idea of making it my life. Can my career be engineering and my life be something else? Am I to take this knowledge and go on in my career with my eyes wide open, hating and fearing the possibility of losing sight of what is truly important in life?

One can strive all his life and gain nothing, only to realize that he already had what he was searching for.

In my fatigued and unhealthy (getting a cold again :/ ) condition, I think the best I have for tonight is to keep my eyes open wide. The obvious direction I have is to spread my resume around a little and check out grad schools, so that's what I'll do. I'll also keep looking out for other possibilities, and I know God won't expect me to do anything without showing me first.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The Project

Josh and I have finally started working on Dr. Li's project in earnest now. I'm going to describe the process we'll be going through sometime in the next year.

1. Deposit a um of silver on an SiO2 (glass) substrate.
2. Use an EM field to cause the SiO2 to essentially absorb the silver through ion exchange and "dope" the surface of the glass with silver. This will create a waveguide for light so that a laser shown at the surface will travel along the surface of the substrate.
3. Lithography: Use a photoresist, a mask, and some method of etching to cut away the doped glass to create individual narrow channels. The current mask design will have 24 waveguides, but that may change before it's actually made.
4. Electron-Beam Lithography : Use an electronresist and an E-beam lithographer to Etch different structures into each waveguide. The photo lithography will have features as small as 3 um, With E-Beam lithography we can get down below 100 nm if necessary.
5. Shine different frequency lasers through each waveguide and find out if certain wavelengths have 100% transmission.

The downside to this picking up is that I haven't been able to spend as much time at the mission in the last few days. The upside is that I am more excited about what we're doing than I have been all summer.

Yesterday we toured the Air Force Research Lab where several UD graduates work. It was exciting to see their rather extensive facilities and I was able to understand at least 90% of what the person giving us the tour said to us. I realized that I have learned quite a bit this summer and can picture myself going to grad school for nanofabrication, whether Optics or EE I'm still not sure. I have a few good schools to investigate though. U of Urbana-Champagne in Illinois, North Carolina State University, University of Central Florida, and a Michigan State University all have large clean room facilities and good programs (or so I've been told).

In other news, the rear derailler on my bike needs to be replaced and I'd much rather buy a road bike, so if you know someone who has a decent road bike that they want to get ride of for cheap, let me know :D.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Pictures

Well I haven't blogged in a while so here's some pictures from around the Gospel Mission:
The house we cleaned up: Before and

After


A sideways picture of Mike, the king of the kitchen



Marigold, a semi-offical mission cat



A few guys digging a post hole. Jackie and Jeremy are the two young men there. They are paid by the city to help out and their work ethic is rather lacking, so pray for them.

By my account I just broke the 60 hour mark working there. Today I got to climb around on scaffolding scraping in preparation for painting. It continues to be a blessing to me to be able to help out there and be a part of God's ministry to the poor in Dayton.

I now have less than two weeks left here so it seems like I should have a significant closing thought or two, but I don't (yet).

KTHXBIE

Sunday, July 15, 2007

King's Island


Yesterday I went to King's Island, an amusement park just east of Cincinnati with a bunch of international students. I spent the day with eight French-speaking students (mostly from France, one from Morocco and one from Nigeria). I knew six of them pretty well, so I was very much a part of the group despite knowing very little French. There was one point where Marlene said something in French and I said "What?" and she repeated it in French a little more loudly as if the problem was that I hadn't heard it the first time :D. I take that as a complement that they don't necessarily remember that I don't have their language in common with them. In case you're wondering, I took that picture from the park's mini Eiffel Tower and that is the Vortex, one of their largest roller coasters and one that we rode and enjoyed.

Before yesterday I'd been on a grand total of one (1) roller coaster, and that was a solid twelve (12) or more (+) years ago, so in addition to spending the whole day with non-Americans, the whole death-defying speed thing was a pretty new experience. I went on five roller coasters and four watery dealies, and... yeah. I took a couple videos, but they were on the two wooden roller coasters, so the vids are really bumpy. Fun day though.

Today I spent a lot of time thinking about how relatively isolated from the body of Christ I've been this summer. I've found more friendship at parties where underage drinking, flirting, and smoking abound than at some churches. Part of my reaction is frustration with the body of Christ, and I believe rightly so. But I also know that God allowed this to happen, and it has required me to "fly solo" in my walk with Christ more than I ever have before. I don't recommend doing that by choice, but it has unique opportunities for growth.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Working at The Gospel Mission...

Is pretty much amazing. TGM is a soup kitchen/other ministries center for the Dayton Area. I helped out there a week ago Saturday and last Saturday and today I went in for the morning. I wash dishes, mow, weed wack (today), and pick up food donations from a nearby hospital. Reasons it's awesome:

1. They're located about two miles from UD, so it's only a short bike ride to get there.
2. It's an opportunity to aid an important ministry--helping others in the name of Christ.
3. I get to work hard, something that I enjoy doing but only do when I have tasks given to me.
4. I get a free lunch that is usually quite tasty and is always healthy... and did I mention that it's free?
5. I can be blessed and bless others with fellowship with other believers.

When I remember to get my camera out of the clean room I'll take it along and take pictures, so for now my verbal description will have to do.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

I'm an Uncle

As of 7:00 am Friday morning, Christian Knauss has arrived. He got a steroid shot about six weeks ago because there was a possibility of premature birth, so he's already quite developed as you can see from the picture.On a more serious note, his arrival is a reminder that I'm getting older. You know all the family reunion pictures from when I was little? Okay, so maybe you don't. Work with me! Soon I'm going to be the uncle in those pictures instead of one of the little kids (Hopefully the cool, fun uncle, or one of two cool, fun uncles :). Life moves on, and here is another step away from being a kid and towards being an adult.

Friday, July 6, 2007

"What's Another Way of putting it?"

So last night I went to a drive-in movie theater. Another new experience for me while here in Dayton. On the way pretty much out of the blue someone in the car asked me a question.

"So are you really into your faith?"
"I guess that's one way of putting it, yeah."
"Well what's another way of putting it?"

I really didn't know how to respond. This is part of the issue that I've been thinking about for a couple years now. What is it that separates me from those who say they believe the same thing but live their lives differently? I stalled for time and we were interrupted so I had a bit more time to think about it. When we got back to the conversation I just gave her the whole deal. In brief, I said that I believe that I'm saved by my belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and in response to God's love towards me, I strive to serve him (In retrospect, I unfortunately left the work of the Holy Spirit completely out).

How would you answer that question?

Subtle Racism

Check out this Link for an interesting story about an unjust criticism of a black Supreme Court Judge.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy Independence Day

Hey everyone, happy 4th! I took this picture on Sunday night, which is when the Dayton fireworks were. One of my thoughts about this summer was that I might end up with nothing to do and feel lonely on the 4th. Well... last night I went to a 21st birthday party for one of the guys I play ultimate with. Today I went "Cabrewing," a canoe trip on which some people bring beer. It started pouring rain towards the end, which made it quite an adventure. I also could have hung out with friends from a Bible study I'm in. Later today we may go see the fireworks in Centerville (a nearby town), but for now I'm going to get a little r & r.