Well, I have so far discovered that Grad School is rather different than Undergrad college was. By this I mean that right now I'm taking a very heavy load with a whopping three classes. but there is a chance that I will only actually be taking two classes (a normal load) this semester. That depends on the grade that I got on the recent Stochastics test. I think I did will and thus will keep all three classes but you never know till you do, it is Stochastics after all. Anyway this semester I am taking 18 credits. Listed below are the classes I am taking with a short description.
Class 1 -- Stochastics
This class is the "hardest ECE class in Grad School." It is all about random processes and using statistical type methods to predict what is going to happen. Heavily mathematical. I'm taking this because I think this class is going to provide a very useful mathematical foundation for much of my future work. So far seems easy, but we've only covered one fourth to one third of the material as of yet.
Credits: 3
Meets: Monday and Wednesday 4-5:15
Class 2 -- Radar System Design
This class is all about radar systems. I am taking this one for a good overview type course about communications systems. Basically this course is all about re-enforcing what I already know. This course should be really easy if it doesn't get away from me.
Credits: 3
Meets: Thursday 4-6:45
Class 3 -- SDR
This class is all about software defined radios. I'm taking this because working with Cognitive Radios (an offshoot of SDR) I need to have the "formal" background. This course is so far a joke. Everything that has been covered I have already had a much more in depth course on. The major points of the class are repeated every time we meet. The professor who was supposed to teach this course dumped it on another professor, who got a bunch of grad students to teach various parts of the course. Only problem is the grad students largely don't know what they're talking about and tell us (the students) that. I know people who have not even turned everything in for this course and gotten an A-. I'm not worried at all, but that doesn't mean I'm completely blowing it off only that I'm not stressed about any part of this course. No tests even.
Credits: 3
Meets: Monday and Wednesday 2-3:15
Wait a second if I'm taking three classes, each three credits, that's only nine credits... Where are the other nine from?
Well I'm talking a seminar style course on how to teach college students that is one credit. I have to talk that just in case I need to teach at some point before I graduate. Before classes started there were two eight hour days of this, then three sessions throughout the semester and one writing assignment. I'm done with one of those later sessions and I have another one tomorrow. The writing assignment is something like 500 words about how you feel about the course (this course was not designed by engineers...). That's not due until November, so I'm spending my time dealing with lab projects right now.
I am also taking the one credit ECE Grad Seminar course. This one meets five times through the semester and forces us to listen to talks about cutting edge research in ECE/how to do research/companies that may want to hire us. There are no assignments. This would be the world's best way to get one credit it all the meetings weren't on Friday from 4-5:30.
Ok, so now I'm up to 11 credits (nine from classes, 2 from seminar thingies). The other seven credits are from "research hours." Basically these are official hours that I spend doing research for my dissertation. I'm a little ahead on that front, because I have a general topic and a rough plan of where I'd like to go with it. Right now I count this time towards writing papers, reading papers, reading books, and working on lab type projects.
The specifics behind what I need to do to graduate are slightly complicated and I'll probably cover those later.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Busy Busy
So last week was both the start of classes and the summer school on robotics. Now that that's done I'm down to only way to many tasks for the hours in a day, including but not limited to:
Helping to manage CWT involvement on a DARPA proposal
Taking 3 Classes
Taking 2 seminars
developing p25 functionality for PSCR based on an unseen embedded extension board
Aiding new lab minions
personal research
and associated minor lab duties
If this were industry there'd probably be one person for each of these...
Ph.D. = Light at end of tunnel...
Helping to manage CWT involvement on a DARPA proposal
Taking 3 Classes
Taking 2 seminars
developing p25 functionality for PSCR based on an unseen embedded extension board
Aiding new lab minions
personal research
and associated minor lab duties
If this were industry there'd probably be one person for each of these...
Ph.D. = Light at end of tunnel...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Moving In
Well my lovely wife and I now have the keys to our new apartment. In the first day back (Tuesday) we rented a van from UHaul and moved 95% of our stuff out of the secret storage location. We got Alex to help us with that one. Then all three of us went out to a lovely Italian dinner. Then wifey and I dropped Alex off and proceeded directly to Wal-Mart to obtained the first round of goods we needed for our apartment. After this fruitfull trip we returned to our domicile and promptly fell asleep.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Graduation Information
Friday May 14-University Ceremony at 7:30pm Lane Stadium
-Gov. Whatsit will be talking
-Probably not a good idea to bring a backpack stuffed with knives
-I will have to enter through the South Endzone, I don't know about the rest of you
Saturday May 15-ECE Reception 11:00am-12:30pm Hokie Grill
-I would like to go to this
-My immediate thought is to walk over, but there is a couple fairly large parking lots if anyone would rather drive
Saturday May 15-The Real Deal 2:00pm Cassell Coliseum
-Doors open at 1:00pm
-All Guests should be seated at 1:30pm
-I will be sitting with the other Electrical Engineers
-All the EEs will be in Alphabetical order so I will likely be near the middle of the group
-I would like to be there around 1
-Hanicapped parking will be in the small lot by the tennis courts
-They only allow their photographers to be on the floor
-Below is a helpful diagram that shows where I will sit, where the stage is and the path I will take to get my diplomas
If there are any questions please let me know.
-Gov. Whatsit will be talking
-Probably not a good idea to bring a backpack stuffed with knives
-I will have to enter through the South Endzone, I don't know about the rest of you
Saturday May 15-ECE Reception 11:00am-12:30pm Hokie Grill
-I would like to go to this
-My immediate thought is to walk over, but there is a couple fairly large parking lots if anyone would rather drive
Saturday May 15-The Real Deal 2:00pm Cassell Coliseum
-Doors open at 1:00pm
-All Guests should be seated at 1:30pm
-I will be sitting with the other Electrical Engineers
-All the EEs will be in Alphabetical order so I will likely be near the middle of the group
-I would like to be there around 1
-Hanicapped parking will be in the small lot by the tennis courts
-They only allow their photographers to be on the floor
-Below is a helpful diagram that shows where I will sit, where the stage is and the path I will take to get my diplomas
If there are any questions please let me know.
A random update
Well it has be a long time since I've written an update for this here bloggy type thingy so here we go. I am approaching the end to my undergraduate life. I feel as though this is a rather good thing, and that in all rights I have lived 10 years within the past four. Four years were spent as a full time Electrical Engineering student (I think of this as the primary grouping), Four years were spent as a full time Computer Engineering student (the differences between Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering start of subtle but one day you notice that all of a sudden everyone in the world walks backwards, on their hands, while humming show tunes), and the final two years were spent as a full time college football player (an experience that I both very happy to have had and that I very happy is now over with). I don't count the social experiences as their own years because a student/athlete has such experiences as part of their lives. At this point I'm rather excited about my paths converging in grad school were I will only be pursuing a single major.
I'm stuck in a Documentation arc now so don't be surprised if other short messages like this appear, but for now I must to class as they say.
I'm stuck in a Documentation arc now so don't be surprised if other short messages like this appear, but for now I must to class as they say.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Another Revision
Ok so I looked over the essay I posted last night and consider input from various peoples and I have come up with the current revision. Let me know what you think:
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student and what I hope to accomplish is that I want to be a “mad scientist.” I don't use the term to conjure up mental images of a crackpot or societal deviant. Rather, I use the term to highlight the passion and endless exertion in pursuit of “why.” Many people do not understand or appreciate this passion and tend to view it as abnormal. This response it what I expect and is, in many ways, what I'm going for in my graduate work. As an undergraduate engineer I have already developed such a passion for Electrical Engineering and the corresponding accusations of abnormality.
I entered Virginia Tech as an engineering student and Division I athlete. My “madness” became quickly apparent in my decision to tackle the considerable challenges offered by Bradley's Department along with those presented by Frank Beamer and company. Others would have been satisfied with being a “full time jock,” but I decided early on to pursue a double major, covering both Electrical and Computer Engineering. I knew myself well enough to know I would never be happy if I didn't challenge myself academically. In fact, I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to the mix, but, by this time, I could hear my true calling in life and it only involves two “E”s.
That calling was then, and still is, to be that passionate “mad scientist.” In light of this, I dropped my inconsequential past times to more thoroughly pursue my dream. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering, so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree a support degree for my EE aspirations. Thus, I took leave of Beamer's squad, to dive, head long, into Electrical Engineering. Many people say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school. I simply laugh, thinking of the many ways in which my life became more hectic after football.
Since leaving the football team: I worked in two nationally recognized research labs, became involved in various Engineering clubs, increased both my GPA and course load, and got engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I met a group of “mad scientists,” led by, perhaps, the model for the term. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonomous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. These people were looking beyond all the naysayers to pursue knowledge that has the potential to revolutionize navigation. It's the sort of world changing work that the average person would simply never think of. It is also an example of the work that Electrical Engineers do everyday, driving their knowledge beyond the limits of conventional thinking to satisfy their own passions. In short, these people exemplify what I mean when I use the term “mad scientist.”
At the ASCL, I was exposed to life as one of those “mad scientists” and I loved it. For a long time I dreamed about being in a research lab, pushing out the boundaries of science, fueled by an unquenchable drive to discover the unknown. I got a small taste of that dream at the ASCL. Although, I was mostly involved in the more down to earth tasks, I knew that the advances made in this small lab had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware that the techniques developed there could and would apply to all kinds of things, many of which lie beyond our imagination. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver driverless transportation or housemaid robots that don't walk through coffee tables. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference by turning today's fiction into reality one step at a time.
While working in the ASCL, a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before: communications. I'd never really thought of the importance of providing systems to connect people before. However, the area seemed to embody many of the aspects of Electrical Engineering that I had grown to love. This area held a special attraction for me, as well, because I didn't know that much about it. So, once again driven by the possibility of new knowledge, I wished the world of path-finding robots well, and continued my journey to a new world know as the CWT.
At the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), I met a truly fascinating technology: Cognitive Radio. This systems can sense its environment and react intelligently. This is, therefore, the quincentennial “mad scientist” technology in that it takes a passion for learning from its designer. The interest in bestowing my love of learning onto a machine is what drove me initially to the ASCL. It is also apparently what drove the invention of Cognitive Radio.
Working in the CWT, I experienced a whole new level of my conception of “mad scientists.” This group is developing a system that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication, all without the aid of a human brain. It's a system that operates in a world completely beyond the senses of humans. The researchers in this lab are truly driven by a passion for exploring and mastering an unknown realm.
The CWT already developed a cognitive radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it has thought of in the past. Currently, a few of the challenges the lab is tackling are: developing smart communication networks that manage themselves, providing communications that only occupy unused sections of the wireless spectrum, and allowing public safety personal to stay connected even without an infrastructure in place. These are only some of the big picture projects the lab is taking on and I already get to play a small part. This exactly the sort of work I can dive into more deeply as a graduate student.
In the work of the CWT, the thinking part of their system is separate from the radio part. That means the thinking part, the Cognitive Engine, could be applied to other situations, completely independent of radios or even any communications. This technology already has the potential to completely revamp the entire communications infrastructure. Even more exciting, though, are the unexplored possibilities of using the Cognitive Engine for other purposes. There are endless possibilities to this work. This is precisely the sort of thing that demands the passion and drive of a budding “mad scientist.”
It is the passionate for exploration of the unknown, the drive to make the impossible a reality, and the willingness to continue to ask “why” in the face of conventional wisdom that forms my view of the “mad scientist.” I have grown to appreciate the nature and work of “mad scientists” through my work in research labs. Many can recite facts or equations, but few possess the passion of the “mad scientist”. The passion of a true “mad scientist” drives me to continue my education through graduate school.
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student and what I hope to accomplish is that I want to be a “mad scientist.” I don't use the term to conjure up mental images of a crackpot or societal deviant. Rather, I use the term to highlight the passion and endless exertion in pursuit of “why.” Many people do not understand or appreciate this passion and tend to view it as abnormal. This response it what I expect and is, in many ways, what I'm going for in my graduate work. As an undergraduate engineer I have already developed such a passion for Electrical Engineering and the corresponding accusations of abnormality.
I entered Virginia Tech as an engineering student and Division I athlete. My “madness” became quickly apparent in my decision to tackle the considerable challenges offered by Bradley's Department along with those presented by Frank Beamer and company. Others would have been satisfied with being a “full time jock,” but I decided early on to pursue a double major, covering both Electrical and Computer Engineering. I knew myself well enough to know I would never be happy if I didn't challenge myself academically. In fact, I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to the mix, but, by this time, I could hear my true calling in life and it only involves two “E”s.
That calling was then, and still is, to be that passionate “mad scientist.” In light of this, I dropped my inconsequential past times to more thoroughly pursue my dream. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering, so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree a support degree for my EE aspirations. Thus, I took leave of Beamer's squad, to dive, head long, into Electrical Engineering. Many people say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school. I simply laugh, thinking of the many ways in which my life became more hectic after football.
Since leaving the football team: I worked in two nationally recognized research labs, became involved in various Engineering clubs, increased both my GPA and course load, and got engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I met a group of “mad scientists,” led by, perhaps, the model for the term. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonomous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. These people were looking beyond all the naysayers to pursue knowledge that has the potential to revolutionize navigation. It's the sort of world changing work that the average person would simply never think of. It is also an example of the work that Electrical Engineers do everyday, driving their knowledge beyond the limits of conventional thinking to satisfy their own passions. In short, these people exemplify what I mean when I use the term “mad scientist.”
At the ASCL, I was exposed to life as one of those “mad scientists” and I loved it. For a long time I dreamed about being in a research lab, pushing out the boundaries of science, fueled by an unquenchable drive to discover the unknown. I got a small taste of that dream at the ASCL. Although, I was mostly involved in the more down to earth tasks, I knew that the advances made in this small lab had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware that the techniques developed there could and would apply to all kinds of things, many of which lie beyond our imagination. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver driverless transportation or housemaid robots that don't walk through coffee tables. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference by turning today's fiction into reality one step at a time.
While working in the ASCL, a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before: communications. I'd never really thought of the importance of providing systems to connect people before. However, the area seemed to embody many of the aspects of Electrical Engineering that I had grown to love. This area held a special attraction for me, as well, because I didn't know that much about it. So, once again driven by the possibility of new knowledge, I wished the world of path-finding robots well, and continued my journey to a new world know as the CWT.
At the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), I met a truly fascinating technology: Cognitive Radio. This systems can sense its environment and react intelligently. This is, therefore, the quincentennial “mad scientist” technology in that it takes a passion for learning from its designer. The interest in bestowing my love of learning onto a machine is what drove me initially to the ASCL. It is also apparently what drove the invention of Cognitive Radio.
Working in the CWT, I experienced a whole new level of my conception of “mad scientists.” This group is developing a system that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication, all without the aid of a human brain. It's a system that operates in a world completely beyond the senses of humans. The researchers in this lab are truly driven by a passion for exploring and mastering an unknown realm.
The CWT already developed a cognitive radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it has thought of in the past. Currently, a few of the challenges the lab is tackling are: developing smart communication networks that manage themselves, providing communications that only occupy unused sections of the wireless spectrum, and allowing public safety personal to stay connected even without an infrastructure in place. These are only some of the big picture projects the lab is taking on and I already get to play a small part. This exactly the sort of work I can dive into more deeply as a graduate student.
In the work of the CWT, the thinking part of their system is separate from the radio part. That means the thinking part, the Cognitive Engine, could be applied to other situations, completely independent of radios or even any communications. This technology already has the potential to completely revamp the entire communications infrastructure. Even more exciting, though, are the unexplored possibilities of using the Cognitive Engine for other purposes. There are endless possibilities to this work. This is precisely the sort of thing that demands the passion and drive of a budding “mad scientist.”
It is the passionate for exploration of the unknown, the drive to make the impossible a reality, and the willingness to continue to ask “why” in the face of conventional wisdom that forms my view of the “mad scientist.” I have grown to appreciate the nature and work of “mad scientists” through my work in research labs. Many can recite facts or equations, but few possess the passion of the “mad scientist”. The passion of a true “mad scientist” drives me to continue my education through graduate school.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Essay Revisions Everywhere
Well in talking to Spud about my essay, he mentioned that it might be an idea to shift the tone from "insanity" toward "passion", after thinking about it for a bit and giving it a try I agree. I am including below the latest update. This one should be fairly free of spelling and grammar mistakes as well, but please let me know if you find any. Also let me know what you think.
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student and what I hope to accomplish is that I want to be a “mad scientist”. I don't use the term to conjure up mental images of a crackpot or societal deviant. Rather, I use the to highlight the passion and endless exertion is pursuit of “why”. Many people do not understand or appreciate this passion and tend to view it as abnormal. This response is what I expect and is, in many ways, what I'm going for in my graduate work. As an undergraduate engineer I have already developed such a passion for Electrical Engineering and the corresponding accusations of abnormality.
I entered Virginia Tech as an engineering student and Division I athlete. My “madness” became quickly apparent in my decision to tackle the considerable challenges offered by Bradley's Department along with those presented by Frank Beamer and company. Others would have been satisfied with being a “full time jock”, but I decided early on to pursue a double major, covering both Electrical and Computer Engineering. I knew myself well enough to know I would never be happy if I didn't challenge myself academically. In fact, I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to the mix as well, but, by this time, I could hear my true calling in life and it only involves two “E”s.
That calling was then, and still is, to be that passionate “mad scientist”. In light of this, I dropped my inconsequential past times to more thoroughly pursue my dream. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering, so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree to be a support degree for my EE aspirations. Thus, after taking leave of Beamer's squad, I dove, head long, into Electrical Engineering. Many people say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school. I simply laugh, thinking of the many ways in which my life became more hectic after football.
Since leaving the football team, I worked in two nationally recognized research labs, became involved in various Engineering clubs, increased both my GPA and course load, and got engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I met a group of “mad scientists”, led by, perhaps, the model for the term. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonomous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. These people were looking beyond all the nay sayers to pursue knowledge that has the potential to revolutionize navigation. It's the sort of world changing work that the average person would simply never think of. It is also an example of the work that Electrical Engineers do everyday, driving their knowledge beyond the limits of conventional thinking to satisfy their own passions. In short, these mean exemplify what I mean when I use the term “mad scientist”.
At the ASCL, I got to be one of those “mad scientists” and I loved it. For a long time I dreamed about being in a research lab, pushing out the boundaries of science, fueled by an unquenchable drive to discover the unknown. I got a small taste of that dream at the ASCL. Although, I was mostly involved in the more down to earth tasks, I knew that the advances made in this small had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware that the techniques developed there could and would apply to all kinds of things, many of which lie beyond our imagination. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver driverless transportation or housemaid robots that don't walk through coffee tables. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference in the world by helping to lay the foundation for tomorrow.
While working in the ASCL, a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before: communications. I'd never really thought of the importance of providing systems to connect people before. However, the area seemed to embody many of the aspects of Electrical Engineering that I had grow to love. This area held a special attraction for me, as well, because I didn't know that much about it. So, once again driven by the possibility of new knowledge, I wished the world of path-finding robots well, and continued my journey to a new world know as the CWT.
At the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), I met a truly fascinating technology. Systems that sense their environment and react intelligently had always been the most interesting to me. The interest in bestowing my love of learning onto a machine is what drove me initially to the ASCL. It is also apparently what drove the invention of Cognitive Radio.
Working in the CWT, I experienced a whole new level of conception of “mad scientists”. This group is developing a system that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication, all without the aid of a human brain. It's a system that operates in a world completely beyond the senses of humans. The researchers in this lab are truly driven by a passion for exploring and mastering an unknown realm.
The CWT already developed a cognitive radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it has thought of in the past. Currently, a few of the challenge the lab is tackling are: developing smart communication networks that manage themselves, providing communications that only occupy unused sections of the wireless spectrum, and capabilities for public safety personal to stay connected, even in the face of total loss of infrastructure. These are only some of the big picture projects the lab is taking on and I already get to play a small part, but this exactly the sort of work I can dive into more deeply as a graduate student.
In the work of the CWT, the thinking part of their system is separate from the radio part. That means the thinking part, the Cognitive Engine, could be applied to other situations, completely independent of radios or even any communications. This technology already has the potential to completely revamp the entire communications infrastructure. Even more exciting, though, are the unexplored possibilities of using the Cognitive Engine for other purposes. There are endless possibilities to this work. This exactly the sort of thing that demands the passion and drive of a budding “mad scientist”.
It's the passionate exploration of the unknown, the drive to make the impossible a reality, and the willingness to continue to ask “why” in the face of conventional wisdom that forms my view of the “mad scientist”. I have grown to appreciate the nature and work of “mad scientists” through my work in research labs. Many can recite facts or equations, but few possess the passion of the “mad scientist”. I know I have the drive to turn science fiction into reality.
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student and what I hope to accomplish is that I want to be a “mad scientist”. I don't use the term to conjure up mental images of a crackpot or societal deviant. Rather, I use the to highlight the passion and endless exertion is pursuit of “why”. Many people do not understand or appreciate this passion and tend to view it as abnormal. This response is what I expect and is, in many ways, what I'm going for in my graduate work. As an undergraduate engineer I have already developed such a passion for Electrical Engineering and the corresponding accusations of abnormality.
I entered Virginia Tech as an engineering student and Division I athlete. My “madness” became quickly apparent in my decision to tackle the considerable challenges offered by Bradley's Department along with those presented by Frank Beamer and company. Others would have been satisfied with being a “full time jock”, but I decided early on to pursue a double major, covering both Electrical and Computer Engineering. I knew myself well enough to know I would never be happy if I didn't challenge myself academically. In fact, I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to the mix as well, but, by this time, I could hear my true calling in life and it only involves two “E”s.
That calling was then, and still is, to be that passionate “mad scientist”. In light of this, I dropped my inconsequential past times to more thoroughly pursue my dream. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering, so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree to be a support degree for my EE aspirations. Thus, after taking leave of Beamer's squad, I dove, head long, into Electrical Engineering. Many people say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school. I simply laugh, thinking of the many ways in which my life became more hectic after football.
Since leaving the football team, I worked in two nationally recognized research labs, became involved in various Engineering clubs, increased both my GPA and course load, and got engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I met a group of “mad scientists”, led by, perhaps, the model for the term. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonomous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. These people were looking beyond all the nay sayers to pursue knowledge that has the potential to revolutionize navigation. It's the sort of world changing work that the average person would simply never think of. It is also an example of the work that Electrical Engineers do everyday, driving their knowledge beyond the limits of conventional thinking to satisfy their own passions. In short, these mean exemplify what I mean when I use the term “mad scientist”.
At the ASCL, I got to be one of those “mad scientists” and I loved it. For a long time I dreamed about being in a research lab, pushing out the boundaries of science, fueled by an unquenchable drive to discover the unknown. I got a small taste of that dream at the ASCL. Although, I was mostly involved in the more down to earth tasks, I knew that the advances made in this small had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware that the techniques developed there could and would apply to all kinds of things, many of which lie beyond our imagination. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver driverless transportation or housemaid robots that don't walk through coffee tables. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference in the world by helping to lay the foundation for tomorrow.
While working in the ASCL, a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before: communications. I'd never really thought of the importance of providing systems to connect people before. However, the area seemed to embody many of the aspects of Electrical Engineering that I had grow to love. This area held a special attraction for me, as well, because I didn't know that much about it. So, once again driven by the possibility of new knowledge, I wished the world of path-finding robots well, and continued my journey to a new world know as the CWT.
At the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), I met a truly fascinating technology. Systems that sense their environment and react intelligently had always been the most interesting to me. The interest in bestowing my love of learning onto a machine is what drove me initially to the ASCL. It is also apparently what drove the invention of Cognitive Radio.
Working in the CWT, I experienced a whole new level of conception of “mad scientists”. This group is developing a system that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication, all without the aid of a human brain. It's a system that operates in a world completely beyond the senses of humans. The researchers in this lab are truly driven by a passion for exploring and mastering an unknown realm.
The CWT already developed a cognitive radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it has thought of in the past. Currently, a few of the challenge the lab is tackling are: developing smart communication networks that manage themselves, providing communications that only occupy unused sections of the wireless spectrum, and capabilities for public safety personal to stay connected, even in the face of total loss of infrastructure. These are only some of the big picture projects the lab is taking on and I already get to play a small part, but this exactly the sort of work I can dive into more deeply as a graduate student.
In the work of the CWT, the thinking part of their system is separate from the radio part. That means the thinking part, the Cognitive Engine, could be applied to other situations, completely independent of radios or even any communications. This technology already has the potential to completely revamp the entire communications infrastructure. Even more exciting, though, are the unexplored possibilities of using the Cognitive Engine for other purposes. There are endless possibilities to this work. This exactly the sort of thing that demands the passion and drive of a budding “mad scientist”.
It's the passionate exploration of the unknown, the drive to make the impossible a reality, and the willingness to continue to ask “why” in the face of conventional wisdom that forms my view of the “mad scientist”. I have grown to appreciate the nature and work of “mad scientists” through my work in research labs. Many can recite facts or equations, but few possess the passion of the “mad scientist”. I know I have the drive to turn science fiction into reality.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Another Essay Update
Someone be sure to tell Spud that there is another essay update so he is assured that I am not forgetting about this. Also this time I am not posting the requirements.
Here you are then:
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student or what I hope to accomplish is that I would to be a "mad scientist". Probably not adhering to all of the mental images that the term likely conjures, but I believe the fundamentals of expression accurately describe what I wish to achieve. If you take mad to me crazy and the moniker to be applied by some observer, it precisely defines the response I expect to get from some portion of society.
Already I have in many ways achieve a status that is in line with the label of "mad scientist". As an undergraduate engineer most of my work is in fact based in science, and I am already accustom to accusations of insanity from many of my peers. Entering college I played football for Virginia Tech. Very quickly I was labeled as loopy because I decided to not only tackle the considerable challenges presented by Frank Beamer and Company but also all of those offered by Bradley as well. I had decided before begining my collegiate experience that I would persue a double major, covering both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. In fact I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to mix as well, but by this time I could hear my true calling in life.
That calling was then and still is to be that "mad scientist". In light of this I dropped the inconsequential past times I had taken on to more thoroughly persue my new addiction. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering; so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree as a support degree for my EE aspirations. After I had taken leave of Beamer's squad, I dove, head long, into Electrical Engineering. To those who say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school, I display my life since that point.
Since actively rejecting the status of deranged sportsman, I have worked in two nationaly recognized research labs, become involved in various Engineering clubs, increased my GPA and course load, and gotten engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonmous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I ment a group of young "mad scientists", lead by a very kind man, who is also thoroughly outside of the normal thought processes of mankind. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonmous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. To see why I keep refering to insanity, consider the idea that these grown men are attempting to seriously build a boat that swims through the water, guiding itself. This is the sort of thing that science fiction is made of, but much more importantly this is the sort of thing that has the potential to completely the change the world. This just one example of the taskes Electrical Engineers have taken on that both seem far too difficult to complete and have the power to completely alter the world in which we live. In short this the sort of thing that the average person would call someone crazy for attempting.
At the ASCL I was one of those crazy people tackling a new chanllenge that might not have a solution, and I loved it. For a long time I have dreamt about being in a research lab somewhere sitting on the forfront of science and perhaps the world as we know it. I got to live that dream at the ASCL. I was mostly involved in the more down to Earth tasks involved in keeping the dream machines operational, but I knew that the advances made in this small lab had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware, just as the other members of my asylum, that the techniques developed there could and would be apply to all kinds of things, many of which we can not image. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver tansportation that is fast, effiecient and driveless, or maybe the techniques will be the key to unlock housemaid robots that don't walk through a coffee table. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference in the world and the people there are doing exactly the kind of work that I have dreamt about.
While working in the ASCL a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before, communications. Previously I had felt disconnected from the disciple, having a larger interest in making systems make intelligent decissions. However, it seemed like a good idea to experience a new area of a major I had grown to love. So I wished the world of path finding submarines well and continued on to a new world know as the CWT.
The Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT) is were I meant the technology that is the fulfillment of my short life's dream. I mentioned earlier that I have wanted to work as a researcher for a large portion of my life, but I negelected to mention that I wanted to develop a system that senses its environment and reacts intelligently. This is what drove me to look at the ASCL in the first place; it is also a brief an simplified definition of Coginitive Radio.
Now if the staff of the ASCL is crazy, there is not a sufficent term to describe the insanity of the members of the CWT. These people are trying to develop a systems that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication given the information it has gathered, all without the aid of a human brain. If you have seen the movie "Terminator", this is the system SkyNet would use to talk to is drones. It's a system that opporates in an imaginary world (in that humans can not directly sense radio waves) and produces a useful result.
What a result it is, though. The CWT as already made a Coginitive Radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it thought off in the past. Now the only work that's left is developng smart communication systems that never lose connecton, systems that don't interfere with other users of the specturm at all, intelligent networks that update and maintain themselves without need of human supervision, and that's just a few of the things currently being developed. Also that limits the field to communication applications.
On of the biggest advantages of the CWT Coginitive Radio system is that thinking bit is seperate from the radio bit. That means that the part of the Coginitive Radio, the Coginitive Engine, could be apply to other situations and is independent of the radio used.
This technology already has the potential to complete revamp the entire communications infrastructure of the world, let allong what could be done if the Coginitive Engine was applied elsewhere. This is exactly the technology that I've always wanted to be a part of.
The members of the CWT fulfill my definition of "mad scientists"; they are developing the sort of thing only heard in science fiction. If they were biologist Coginitive Radio would be renamed Frankenstein. People look at the work they are doing and just shake their heads, knowing that it can never work, knowing that these people are crazy for trying. This is the spirit of Electrical Engineering, pasted down from manic Maxwell, flaky Faraday, and (one of my heros) twisted Tesla. This tradition of thinking radios follows in the footsteps of the man that originally brought us radios. Tesla is still viewed as being insane because of how far from "the box" he thought, and that is exactly how I would like history to remember me.
Here you are then:
Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student or what I hope to accomplish is that I would to be a "mad scientist". Probably not adhering to all of the mental images that the term likely conjures, but I believe the fundamentals of expression accurately describe what I wish to achieve. If you take mad to me crazy and the moniker to be applied by some observer, it precisely defines the response I expect to get from some portion of society.
Already I have in many ways achieve a status that is in line with the label of "mad scientist". As an undergraduate engineer most of my work is in fact based in science, and I am already accustom to accusations of insanity from many of my peers. Entering college I played football for Virginia Tech. Very quickly I was labeled as loopy because I decided to not only tackle the considerable challenges presented by Frank Beamer and Company but also all of those offered by Bradley as well. I had decided before begining my collegiate experience that I would persue a double major, covering both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. In fact I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to mix as well, but by this time I could hear my true calling in life.
That calling was then and still is to be that "mad scientist". In light of this I dropped the inconsequential past times I had taken on to more thoroughly persue my new addiction. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering; so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree as a support degree for my EE aspirations. After I had taken leave of Beamer's squad, I dove, head long, into Electrical Engineering. To those who say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school, I display my life since that point.
Since actively rejecting the status of deranged sportsman, I have worked in two nationaly recognized research labs, become involved in various Engineering clubs, increased my GPA and course load, and gotten engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonmous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I ment a group of young "mad scientists", lead by a very kind man, who is also thoroughly outside of the normal thought processes of mankind. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonmous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. To see why I keep refering to insanity, consider the idea that these grown men are attempting to seriously build a boat that swims through the water, guiding itself. This is the sort of thing that science fiction is made of, but much more importantly this is the sort of thing that has the potential to completely the change the world. This just one example of the taskes Electrical Engineers have taken on that both seem far too difficult to complete and have the power to completely alter the world in which we live. In short this the sort of thing that the average person would call someone crazy for attempting.
At the ASCL I was one of those crazy people tackling a new chanllenge that might not have a solution, and I loved it. For a long time I have dreamt about being in a research lab somewhere sitting on the forfront of science and perhaps the world as we know it. I got to live that dream at the ASCL. I was mostly involved in the more down to Earth tasks involved in keeping the dream machines operational, but I knew that the advances made in this small lab had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware, just as the other members of my asylum, that the techniques developed there could and would be apply to all kinds of things, many of which we can not image. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver tansportation that is fast, effiecient and driveless, or maybe the techniques will be the key to unlock housemaid robots that don't walk through a coffee table. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference in the world and the people there are doing exactly the kind of work that I have dreamt about.
While working in the ASCL a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before, communications. Previously I had felt disconnected from the disciple, having a larger interest in making systems make intelligent decissions. However, it seemed like a good idea to experience a new area of a major I had grown to love. So I wished the world of path finding submarines well and continued on to a new world know as the CWT.
The Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT) is were I meant the technology that is the fulfillment of my short life's dream. I mentioned earlier that I have wanted to work as a researcher for a large portion of my life, but I negelected to mention that I wanted to develop a system that senses its environment and reacts intelligently. This is what drove me to look at the ASCL in the first place; it is also a brief an simplified definition of Coginitive Radio.
Now if the staff of the ASCL is crazy, there is not a sufficent term to describe the insanity of the members of the CWT. These people are trying to develop a systems that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication given the information it has gathered, all without the aid of a human brain. If you have seen the movie "Terminator", this is the system SkyNet would use to talk to is drones. It's a system that opporates in an imaginary world (in that humans can not directly sense radio waves) and produces a useful result.
What a result it is, though. The CWT as already made a Coginitive Radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it thought off in the past. Now the only work that's left is developng smart communication systems that never lose connecton, systems that don't interfere with other users of the specturm at all, intelligent networks that update and maintain themselves without need of human supervision, and that's just a few of the things currently being developed. Also that limits the field to communication applications.
On of the biggest advantages of the CWT Coginitive Radio system is that thinking bit is seperate from the radio bit. That means that the part of the Coginitive Radio, the Coginitive Engine, could be apply to other situations and is independent of the radio used.
This technology already has the potential to complete revamp the entire communications infrastructure of the world, let allong what could be done if the Coginitive Engine was applied elsewhere. This is exactly the technology that I've always wanted to be a part of.
The members of the CWT fulfill my definition of "mad scientists"; they are developing the sort of thing only heard in science fiction. If they were biologist Coginitive Radio would be renamed Frankenstein. People look at the work they are doing and just shake their heads, knowing that it can never work, knowing that these people are crazy for trying. This is the spirit of Electrical Engineering, pasted down from manic Maxwell, flaky Faraday, and (one of my heros) twisted Tesla. This tradition of thinking radios follows in the footsteps of the man that originally brought us radios. Tesla is still viewed as being insane because of how far from "the box" he thought, and that is exactly how I would like history to remember me.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Essay Update Again
Many thanks to all of you that contributed. Even the "need more emphasis on desire to be mad scientist" comments proved helpful. So here is the latest update, again with instructions include so you all know what I have to do with this essay.
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
Since the 19th Century Electrical Engineers have changed the world more than any other group of professionals. Almost all of the advances of the modern age are in some way based on the work of Electrical Engineers, including the use of electricity, radioes, and computers. I have experienced some of the cutting edge of this group during my work in some of the research labs at Virginia Tech. I have so far worked in both the Autonomous Systems Control Lab at Virginia Tech (ASCL) [check name] and the Center for Wireless Telecommunications at Virginia Tech (CWT). Each lab focuses on a different aspect of the broad and influencial field of Electrical Engineering. The ASCL workes on autonmous aquatic vehicles, where the CWT workes on cognitive radios.
In my work at the ASCL I worked on developing a submarine that sensed its environment to decided how to move through it based on a set of mission goals, as discribed by the operator. At this lab I worked more as an outsider offering help to Graduate Students, but the level of inaction with the Graduate students was enough to pick up a falvor of Graduate student life. Most of the work I did her was support of the research projects going on in the lab by mantaining and reconfiguring the hardware of the submarine, however in this work I saw first hand the sort of research projects that were going on within the lab.
In the CWT I take on the role of a "Junior Graduate Student" in many ways. Once again I am working in support of the various research projects of the labs, but the nature of these projects is different. There is not a heirarchy of work in CWT; rather, all the work done in the lab is of a higher level. I am more connected to research done in this lab, more involved in the research. I have already started to consider taking on my own research project within the lab, much in the same way that the true Graduate students of the lab do. Within the CWT I have advanced the experience gained from the ASCL to come closer to life as a Graduate student, with a little more freedom and responsibility that than of an undergrad.
In both of these labs I was experiencing life as a graduate student, but more importantly to me I was advancing a life long dream. In both cases of my lab work, I was helping to design systems that sense their environment and react in a useful way. This is what I wanted my life to be about for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I viewed Engineers as the people that made science useful to people; since then I have not experienced anything that would make me reconsider this view point. As I continued my education I discovered Electrical Engineering, a profession that has made the largest impact in research history and certainly has the potential to continue reshaping the world for decades to come. I became enthralled with the idea of creating systems to take care of the work that I didn't want to consider.
This combine with my interest in working a research lab on the leading edge of knowledge, drives me to my goal of acheiving a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering. I know that this is the best way to achieve my goals of changing the world. Already in my work in the ASCL and CWT I have experienced systems that have the potentail to impact the entire world. The implications of developing even a submarine that can autonmously map waterways or a radio that can intelligently navigate a wireless specturm are endless. Beyond even that, though, I see the possibility of extending the knowledge gained through these endevours to impact everything. If I can help to master the techniques required to design systems that can dynamically access various bandwidths to provide efficient and durable usage of the wireless specturm, I believe those same techniques can then be extended to design a system that, given a clearly defined task, can go on to gather all the required information and provided a efficient and reliable way of completing its goals.
These systems will certainly change everything that they can be integrated into, providing a more "optimal" outcome with least effort from humans. This will allow humans to spend their time and effort on more difficult problems or tasks that are less clearly defined. Naturally all of this is decades away, but these are the exciting possibilities of the work I would like to do in Electrical Engineering. Part of the sucess of computers is based on a concept know as abstraction, the separation of outcome from implementation; I believe abstraction can be applied to some of the cutting edge research being done in communications and controls to provide general thinking systems.
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
Since the 19th Century Electrical Engineers have changed the world more than any other group of professionals. Almost all of the advances of the modern age are in some way based on the work of Electrical Engineers, including the use of electricity, radioes, and computers. I have experienced some of the cutting edge of this group during my work in some of the research labs at Virginia Tech. I have so far worked in both the Autonomous Systems Control Lab at Virginia Tech (ASCL) [check name] and the Center for Wireless Telecommunications at Virginia Tech (CWT). Each lab focuses on a different aspect of the broad and influencial field of Electrical Engineering. The ASCL workes on autonmous aquatic vehicles, where the CWT workes on cognitive radios.
In my work at the ASCL I worked on developing a submarine that sensed its environment to decided how to move through it based on a set of mission goals, as discribed by the operator. At this lab I worked more as an outsider offering help to Graduate Students, but the level of inaction with the Graduate students was enough to pick up a falvor of Graduate student life. Most of the work I did her was support of the research projects going on in the lab by mantaining and reconfiguring the hardware of the submarine, however in this work I saw first hand the sort of research projects that were going on within the lab.
In the CWT I take on the role of a "Junior Graduate Student" in many ways. Once again I am working in support of the various research projects of the labs, but the nature of these projects is different. There is not a heirarchy of work in CWT; rather, all the work done in the lab is of a higher level. I am more connected to research done in this lab, more involved in the research. I have already started to consider taking on my own research project within the lab, much in the same way that the true Graduate students of the lab do. Within the CWT I have advanced the experience gained from the ASCL to come closer to life as a Graduate student, with a little more freedom and responsibility that than of an undergrad.
In both of these labs I was experiencing life as a graduate student, but more importantly to me I was advancing a life long dream. In both cases of my lab work, I was helping to design systems that sense their environment and react in a useful way. This is what I wanted my life to be about for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I viewed Engineers as the people that made science useful to people; since then I have not experienced anything that would make me reconsider this view point. As I continued my education I discovered Electrical Engineering, a profession that has made the largest impact in research history and certainly has the potential to continue reshaping the world for decades to come. I became enthralled with the idea of creating systems to take care of the work that I didn't want to consider.
This combine with my interest in working a research lab on the leading edge of knowledge, drives me to my goal of acheiving a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering. I know that this is the best way to achieve my goals of changing the world. Already in my work in the ASCL and CWT I have experienced systems that have the potentail to impact the entire world. The implications of developing even a submarine that can autonmously map waterways or a radio that can intelligently navigate a wireless specturm are endless. Beyond even that, though, I see the possibility of extending the knowledge gained through these endevours to impact everything. If I can help to master the techniques required to design systems that can dynamically access various bandwidths to provide efficient and durable usage of the wireless specturm, I believe those same techniques can then be extended to design a system that, given a clearly defined task, can go on to gather all the required information and provided a efficient and reliable way of completing its goals.
These systems will certainly change everything that they can be integrated into, providing a more "optimal" outcome with least effort from humans. This will allow humans to spend their time and effort on more difficult problems or tasks that are less clearly defined. Naturally all of this is decades away, but these are the exciting possibilities of the work I would like to do in Electrical Engineering. Part of the sucess of computers is based on a concept know as abstraction, the separation of outcome from implementation; I believe abstraction can be applied to some of the cutting edge research being done in communications and controls to provide general thinking systems.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Grad School Essay Update
At this point I've jotted down a few notes about my grad school essay. I've included the instructions for the essay to provide a framework to judge my notes. Comments are welcomed, perhaps even encouraged. I tend to use run on sentences in the style of many of the great authors, who I am definitely not, so I was making an effort to avoid such. If you feel this is a mistake let me know. Also if there are any points I should elaborate on, that would probably be more helpful.
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
It's always been a dream of mine to attend graduate school. For my entire life I've had a love of learning that drives to continue my education. In my life I will get my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, if for no other reason than to gain all the knowledge that I can. I've know that I was going to be an Engineer for a long time now. After I came to college and started my Engineering education, I've become entranced. I feel as though I have found exactly what I was made to do. Everything about this career field seems to be a perfect fit for me. I could not at this imagine at this point a life that did not involve me working as an Electrical Engineer, and I know that a large part of that work is continuing life long education. Graduate work will not fulfill this goal, rather it would provide a sturdy foundation for continuing the pursuit of that goal.
I hope to expand my knowledge
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
It's always been a dream of mine to attend graduate school. For my entire life I've had a love of learning that drives to continue my education. In my life I will get my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, if for no other reason than to gain all the knowledge that I can. I've know that I was going to be an Engineer for a long time now. After I came to college and started my Engineering education, I've become entranced. I feel as though I have found exactly what I was made to do. Everything about this career field seems to be a perfect fit for me. I could not at this imagine at this point a life that did not involve me working as an Electrical Engineer, and I know that a large part of that work is continuing life long education. Graduate work will not fulfill this goal, rather it would provide a sturdy foundation for continuing the pursuit of that goal.
I hope to expand my knowledge
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Grad School Essay
Well the last thing that I have to do before submitted my application is write a Goal Statement essay. As this moves along I'll be posting...I guess you could call them drafts here and I'm expecting that you all will offer comments upon them.
For now I will post the Guidelines:
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
For now I will post the Guidelines:
Applicants are asked to provide a 3 - 4 page, double-spaced personal statement which includes the following:
* Why do you want to undertake graduate work?
* What do you expect to derive from your program of study?
* If you have a concentration in mind, briefly outline your interests in this area.
* What do you expect to contribute as a student and subsequently as a member of the profession?
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Chapter Of Me at the CWT
Well today as many of you probably know I went to talk to Prof. Bostian about working for him this summer. Here is what I found out.
I will being working for Dr. Bostian starting pretty much now. He will be paying $11.25 an hour, at least for the summer/until he gets more funding, for a maximum of 20 hours per week. Right now my tasks are to get as up to speed on Cognitive Radios as I can. This includes mostly becoming an expert at GNU Radio and reading an information package he gave me.
Dr. Bostian's stated goals for me and the other two undergrads he is taking on are to experience the life of a Graduate Student and to become familiar with the workings of his lab so we can take over when we become grad students.
Pretty darn cool. I know both of the other undergrads I'd be working with-one better than the other. I have my own spot in Bostian's lab, well right now it's temporary but I'll be upgrading as space becomes available.
I'm fairly excited-even if it does mean that I have to change the operating system on my computer again...
I will being working for Dr. Bostian starting pretty much now. He will be paying $11.25 an hour, at least for the summer/until he gets more funding, for a maximum of 20 hours per week. Right now my tasks are to get as up to speed on Cognitive Radios as I can. This includes mostly becoming an expert at GNU Radio and reading an information package he gave me.
Dr. Bostian's stated goals for me and the other two undergrads he is taking on are to experience the life of a Graduate Student and to become familiar with the workings of his lab so we can take over when we become grad students.
Pretty darn cool. I know both of the other undergrads I'd be working with-one better than the other. I have my own spot in Bostian's lab, well right now it's temporary but I'll be upgrading as space becomes available.
I'm fairly excited-even if it does mean that I have to change the operating system on my computer again...
Monday, June 8, 2009
And Now for Something Completely different
Well, I've taken further advantage of the unlimited text messages I have with this phone to set up mobile posting to this blog from my phone.
But now for something completely different.
I'm reading this book called Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg. It was highly recommended by Prof. Bostain. So far I'm more than half way through and it's really interesting but definitely for a more computer savy/interested reader. It's a chronicle of the development of a program call Chandler that's supposed to provide a flexible solution to storing and sharing information on a computer. In truth though it's more about the perils related to ambitious programing projects.
It highlights many of the things that you wouldn't necessarily think of as problematic when it comes to software. The book points out interesting bits like Brook's law which tells us that software projects only slow down when we throw more labor at the problem; definitely the sort thing that is good to remember.
Anyway as I'm not finished with it yet and I don't want to write a summary of the book for you all that's all on that.
I've started to play around with python and so far it seems easy and fairly useful, but I'm running into the same problems that I always hit with programing languages and such-the documentation is too dense and I can't think of a use for it right away. I know that I seem impatience here, but I feel that if I don't start practice with a language (any kind really) I'll forget stuff about it faster than I'll learn. Maybe if I get good at python and I have plenty of thing (read as the following will never happen...) I'll write my own tutorial that teaches the language by having the user write programs as they go. Perhaps I'll spend enough time with it to do something cool, and perhaps not.
Oh well, The time has come to talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings.
But now for something completely different.
I'm reading this book called Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg. It was highly recommended by Prof. Bostain. So far I'm more than half way through and it's really interesting but definitely for a more computer savy/interested reader. It's a chronicle of the development of a program call Chandler that's supposed to provide a flexible solution to storing and sharing information on a computer. In truth though it's more about the perils related to ambitious programing projects.
It highlights many of the things that you wouldn't necessarily think of as problematic when it comes to software. The book points out interesting bits like Brook's law which tells us that software projects only slow down when we throw more labor at the problem; definitely the sort thing that is good to remember.
Anyway as I'm not finished with it yet and I don't want to write a summary of the book for you all that's all on that.
I've started to play around with python and so far it seems easy and fairly useful, but I'm running into the same problems that I always hit with programing languages and such-the documentation is too dense and I can't think of a use for it right away. I know that I seem impatience here, but I feel that if I don't start practice with a language (any kind really) I'll forget stuff about it faster than I'll learn. Maybe if I get good at python and I have plenty of thing (read as the following will never happen...) I'll write my own tutorial that teaches the language by having the user write programs as they go. Perhaps I'll spend enough time with it to do something cool, and perhaps not.
Oh well, The time has come to talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Actually Bored
Well, classes are winding down quickly now. Everything seems to be coming to a close and I am getting bored because I don't have the same level of homework that I did before. I guess I should enjoy it though, because I know I'm going to have plenty to keep me busy next year. Oh well. Short post today.
I had my last stat test today and it was really easy, to the point that I feel like I forgot something... Oh well I guess I'll find out soon.
I had my last stat test today and it was really easy, to the point that I feel like I forgot something... Oh well I guess I'll find out soon.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Big Event
Well, every year VT has a day of service called the Big Event. It basically consists of the students organizing themselves and descending on the town of Blacksburg to complete various service projects. Yesterday there were about 5,800 volunteers involved. I was part of the representation of TBP (the national honors society for engineers). We had 17 people show up and were thus assigned three projects, Pick up trash and pull weeds, rake leaves, and paint a porch. We split up into 3 groups, trash and weeds the biggest at 10 people was the one I was in. So we arrive on site, a clean little neighborhood in Blacksburg and discover that they have a path by the highway that gathers trash from the cars. It was short so most of us started on that while other people started on the pulling weeds. Well, when you get a bunch of highly motivated engineering honor students together tasks don't take that long. We quickly finished with the trash and moved on to help the weeders, again we finished quickly. There were two more jobs wait-trim a grass/bush thing-like those plants that used to be in ma's yard, and clear some drain pipes. Again we split up to conquer these tasks-I got to cut up the bush thingy. Again we quickly crushed our tasks. Then we went to help out the leave raker guys-with the added help it took maybe 5-10 minutes to finish everything. We did not go to help the painting folk because they had limited brushes. All told though I left the apartment at 8:45 and was back and showered at 12:45-which is really cool. It is amazing how quickly a bunch of engineers can complete any task.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Past Week or So
So the past week or so has been crazy busy. I've signed up to be on the Smart Radio Design Challenge team. This is the team that works with Dr. Bostian and won basically all the major awards ever given in both the Smart Radio Design Challenges. I had to fill out some of the paperwork for that.
I had threeish tests-Apparently I got the highest score on two of them, and the third one is yet to be graded. Oh, I got the highest score on the Stat test too, but so did 4 other people (we all got 100s). So that's going really well and makes me happy.
Labs are winding down, which is good because I'm definitely getting tired of dealing with them.
Had a project all about modeling the solution to Laplace's equation within a region defined by known voltages. I wrote a nifty matlab program that simulates various situations and comes up with a solution by numerical iteration. The report on that was 36 pages. I'm very happy with the program but not as much with the report, it was kind of a victum of time. In any case I most happy that that one is done.
And just incase you think my life is 1000% about school, yesterday Dake, Paula, and I are sitting in AC Circuits. Just before that class Paula and I had a test in E-Fields, both of us feel pretty good about that one, but Paula was super nervous going into it because she didn't do as well as she would have liked in the first test. Anyway, in as AC was finishing Paula and I we just happy to be done with a long week or so of tests and projects and such, and Dake was happy cause he's Dake. So Dake suggests going out on the town after we all finish our various labs that night. Definitely some of the most fun I've had in a while. Dake, Paula, Angelia, and I made up the EEs for the group, but we brought Angelia's roommate (Linsy the Bio major) and Jen allong to round out the group. Started the night with Salsa Dancing becasue Dake is a big fan of such and surprising good. This was not a fair start though, because Dake is taking creative dance, Angelia is from Peru, and Linsy is from Puerto Rico <-cheaters! I can not salsa. Jen is throughy ok with this because Dake took her for one dance and she apparently doesn't salsa really well either. Paula, (from the Philippines) apparently knew how to salsa too. So Jen and I were just surprised and not so good. Anyway, after all this we went to VT's (the bar that Paula works at), which was made even cooler by the fact that of the 10 people in the bar our group made up 6. That was fantastic! Nathan, in town for the memorial, showed up at VT's around 12 ish. Then all went to Ihop, throughly good times.
Ok that's enough stream of thought for you (no I can not spell)
I had threeish tests-Apparently I got the highest score on two of them, and the third one is yet to be graded. Oh, I got the highest score on the Stat test too, but so did 4 other people (we all got 100s). So that's going really well and makes me happy.
Labs are winding down, which is good because I'm definitely getting tired of dealing with them.
Had a project all about modeling the solution to Laplace's equation within a region defined by known voltages. I wrote a nifty matlab program that simulates various situations and comes up with a solution by numerical iteration. The report on that was 36 pages. I'm very happy with the program but not as much with the report, it was kind of a victum of time. In any case I most happy that that one is done.
And just incase you think my life is 1000% about school, yesterday Dake, Paula, and I are sitting in AC Circuits. Just before that class Paula and I had a test in E-Fields, both of us feel pretty good about that one, but Paula was super nervous going into it because she didn't do as well as she would have liked in the first test. Anyway, in as AC was finishing Paula and I we just happy to be done with a long week or so of tests and projects and such, and Dake was happy cause he's Dake. So Dake suggests going out on the town after we all finish our various labs that night. Definitely some of the most fun I've had in a while. Dake, Paula, Angelia, and I made up the EEs for the group, but we brought Angelia's roommate (Linsy the Bio major) and Jen allong to round out the group. Started the night with Salsa Dancing becasue Dake is a big fan of such and surprising good. This was not a fair start though, because Dake is taking creative dance, Angelia is from Peru, and Linsy is from Puerto Rico <-cheaters! I can not salsa. Jen is throughy ok with this because Dake took her for one dance and she apparently doesn't salsa really well either. Paula, (from the Philippines) apparently knew how to salsa too. So Jen and I were just surprised and not so good. Anyway, after all this we went to VT's (the bar that Paula works at), which was made even cooler by the fact that of the 10 people in the bar our group made up 6. That was fantastic! Nathan, in town for the memorial, showed up at VT's around 12 ish. Then all went to Ihop, throughly good times.
Ok that's enough stream of thought for you (no I can not spell)
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