Hello to Inside Higher Ed!

If you are visiting from Inside Higher Ed, welcome!

(I've just been mentioned on the website here.)

If you'd like to hear what my career has been like, please feel free to peruse these posts.

To read about my Master's thesis, try these.

For all the adventures that this curious grad student has been on, these are my favorite stories.

And of course, I discuss research too. Look around and stay awhile. :) Say hi in the comments if you like, it's a pleasure to meet you.

PhD Committee Building

Well, let's see. I passed quals. I have a thesis card. I picked a topic. I wrote a proposal. What's next?

I need a committee.

The rules are that I need at least three professors on the committee. The conventional grad student wisdom suggests that you want to keep it to as few as possible - because the more advisors you get, the more opinions you have to deal with, and the harder it is to schedule meetings. It may sound silly to worry about scheduling meetings, but it really isn't trivial to get a handful of professors in the same place for an hour. I've seen a couple people who almost couldn't graduate because they couldn't get their last committee meeting scheduled. And trying to schedule the actual defense is a real bear (although come on, who worries about that when you are two years away from that point?).

My own advisor is obviously member #1. I need two other professors.

My thinking is that I am researching several things - a manufacturing process, a precision machine design, and a new material.

I work in a lab for manufacturing, which has a whole bunch of professors involved, each of which have their own individual lab. One of the other professors in this lab specializes in precision machine design. My thought is that he would be perfect for member #2, because he covers the bases of both manufacturing and machine design.

I went to talk to this potential member #2, explained my plans for a PhD and asked if we could discuss any overlap with his lab's interests. Turns out a lot of the ideas I had for machine design are things that his lab has already tried (some worked, some didn't). At first I thought, well, beautiful! This has already been done! But perhaps not so beautiful - if somebody else has already done most of the novel machine elements I was going to design, maybe I need to pick something harder? Or maybe it will just make it a really fast PhD.... :) In any case, the professor actually offered to be on my committee. So, check! Moving on.

My ideal member #3 would have expertise in the fancy material I want to try, and also expertise on the applications of the devices I am making. Even though I am on the "making the chip" side of things, I need somebody on the "using the chip" side to advise me what they actually need. I might not be able to find someone with both of those qualities, in which case I might need a member #4.

I contacted two professors who are on the applications side, and asked if I could come visit and learn more about their labs. I met with both of them, and it was quite useful. I was able to get some good information on what the specifications for my machine/process should be, and what qualities they need from the finished product. They both confirmed that the problem I want to solve is indeed an important problem, which is good to know. One even said if I could do what I proposed, it would be "transformative." That's what I like to hear!

I didn't ask either one to be on my committee, because I'm not sure if a) either one is interested or b) which one would be a good fit for what I need. Of course, not that I'm entirely sure WHAT I need, since I haven't done the research yet... Neither of them have expertise on the materials side, so not ideal. I still have plans to meet with a couple other professors on the materials side. Maybe I'll get lucky and find my ideal member.

In any case, I'm 2/3rds of the way to a committee. That's enough accomplishment for one week.

VTOL

The Marines had a recruitment week here on campus, and one of the coolest things they did was fly in an Osprey.

This is a plane that can take off and land vertically (Vertical TakeOff and Landing), because the propellors can turn 90 degrees to face straight up like a helicopter, and then change to straight ahead like a jet for long flights.

How cool!

Here's me, just to prove I was there... :)

The Marines also flew in a helicopter, and I got to be the first one to take a ride.

The Marine who was flying the helicopter was funny - he was joking with me, saying now normally people aren't allowed to just fly over the city landmarks like this, but we're the military so we are allowed... I tried to say something witty in response, but I was too tangled up in my headset and trying to stay away from the steering mechanisms (I was in the copilot's seat) to come up with anything good!

Since I had a headset, I could listen to the pilot as he talked with air traffic control. He told the controller lady that he was going to be flying four minute flights for the next two hours (shuttling around people who wanted a ride), and the lady told him not to bother reporting every take off and landing... I don't know how you could even log new flight plans that fast, so I don't blame her!

All in all, a great experience, and a wonderful example of the types of opportunities that I get to take advantage of as a student. The grad school life has many perks!

Networking Success

Ever since I discovered the wonderful thing called Google Reader, I have kept up with a lot of blogs. I have a bunch of other bloggers I read, some style/fashion blogs (gotta love daily shoe updates!), a couple design blogs, the news, Digg, etc. I also get updates from scholarly journals every time new papers are published with my keywords in the abstract, and I keep track of a couple technical blogs.

One of those technical blogs recently posted something interesting in my field of expertise, so I sent the writer an email to comment. It turns out the that organizer of the blog is also an alum of World's Best School, and was very interested to hear about my work. After a couple emails back and forth, she mentioned that there is a monthly meeting in my area of people in microfluidics. She sent me an invite to the next montly meeting. How cool!

From what I could tell, this was purely a networking event. Industry, academia, startups, you name it. Oh gees. Such a nerve-wracking event for an engineer.

But I thought, you know, I've been becoming much better at these types of things. I've taken business classes. I've been to a few conferences. I'm learning to present myself well, and I've seen how networking can be valuable to keep contacts alive. I mean come on, networking can't be that hard, the business kids all do it! :)

I went last night to the event, and I just wanted to report that I am very proud of myself. I did everything right. I showed up just a bit after the start time, so there were already some people there. I remembered right before I left to grab my business cards. I introduced myself to people without hesitation, I was charming and friendly (if I do say so myself...), and everybody I met I had a good conversation with. Score for the engineer!

At the end of the night, I had met several truly useful people for me to know. I saw a handful of faces I already knew, which was encouraging. And I ended up with two business cards from people who want to come take a tour of my lab and see my work. Apparently, people in industry and people on the applications side of the field really do like to meet people on the manufacturing side. There are far fewer people in manufacturing than there are on the biology/chemistry side. Yay for a marketable skill set. :)

A couple people even inquired when I would finishing my PhD, to see if I was in a position to be looking at joining a startup... which is of course one of the things I would eventually like to do. So, career opportunities lining up...

This whole experience, of course, is not helping my blog-reading habit. :)

PhD Proposal Advice

I wrote back in January that I had chosen a topic for my PhD. I was tired of my Master's projectand ready to move on. So by March I had written a first draft of my PhD proposal.

During this process my advisor has been very good at moving into the mentoring role - something I realize can often be lacking in student/professor relationships. So what has his advice been?

Earlier this year, I had a really good discussion with my advisor on how to choose a PhD topic, and what the focus of your proposal should be. His points were that you should pick a project that:

1) You are good at

2) Nobody else has done

3) People will care about when you finish

4) Has funding (or can get funding)

5) Has enough depth so that you can work on it for a couple years

6) Ties into the other projects currently under way in the lab

I thought that was a pretty good list. I was surprised that his primary point was that it should be a project that plays to my strengths - I thought the "funding" point or the "people will care" would have been ahead of that. But I'm not arguing. :) So I was thinking to myself, have I managed to do all this?

As a reminder, I have decided to build a machine that puts tiny, precise conductive features onto plastic chips. I was originally planning to put metal onto the plastic chips, but I've had the idea to try conductive polymers as well.

1) You are good at

I'm good at building things, and I ENJOY it. My specialties are machine design and control systems. I built a machine to make plastic chips for my Master's project. I was worried that it wouldn't be advanced or fancy enough to build something for a PhD. I had a conversation with my advisor about this as well. Most of the PhD theses I have seen are on theory, not so much application. So I asked, is there a way I can actually BUILD something for a PhD? My advisor chuckled and said yes, there is. It's just that most people don't like/can't actually build real things. What makes it a PhD-level project, he said, is that you have the theory to explain WHY the thing you build works. You can't just say, "Ta-da, this works. Once." You have to understand the fundamentals.

Okay. I can do fundamental theory, and THEN build something. My proposal is to design, build, and control a machine that puts tiny conductive features onto plastic chips. Actually I've read papers where people have tried this before by various methods, but they were biologists trying it by hand without a machine. It didn't work. That's because you can't do things at the micron scale manually. :) This is an area where I'm doing what I'm good at.

Check!

2) Nobody else has done

People have actually tried to put metal onto microfluidics before, but the only ways that have been successful have been very expensive and slow. Any time someone tried a cheap/fast way, it didn't work because it wasn't precise enough. But I think a good machine design and robust control scheme could fix that - so in this case, nobody else has done it YET. Let the MechE girl take a crack at it.

And actually, people have done what I want to try (inkjet printing and microcontact printing), but NOT IN MY FIELD. They do it for organic LEDs, flat screen displays, and solar cells. So that gives me hope - the concept does work. This is actually a common way people come up with great ideas - I'm taking something that works in one field, and applying it in a new way to a different problem.

Just call me Einstein.

3) People will care about when you finish

I was worried about this one - so I have really tried to reach out to people in industry to see what their needs are. I have gotten consistent feedback from many places that yes, the "putting metal onto the chip" problem is a major hang-up. I talked to a start-up here locally that is launching a company whose product is a small plastic microfluidic chip with metal on it. Turns out they had a bugger of a time getting their chip to work, and the problems were mostly related to manufacturing. They got so excited about my work (both the machine I already built, and the machine I plan to build) that they very nearly handed me a job offer. I've also had people from Singapore contacting me to ask where they can buy the machine I built for my Master's. I gave them a copy of my thesis, and had to tell them unfortunately it's a one-of-a-kind in the world.

Because my expertise is on making the chip, not using the chip, I also talked to a bunch of chemists and biologists who actually use these chips. They told me the same thing. One researcher here at World's Best School actually told me, "If you could build a machine that does this, it would be transformative."

That's what I like to hear - transformative.

4) Has funding (or can get funding)

Check. I have funding to work on microfluidics all the way to the end of the PhD.

5) Has enough depth so that you can work on it for a couple years

Here I think the key is that I am really looking into two things - the manufacturing process (with the associated design and fabrication of a machine to carry out that manufacturing process), and the material (using conductive polymer instead of metal). I am combining a novel manufacturing process with a novel material, using a novel machine, in a novel field. That's enough to last me a year or two... Also the knowledge I generate by solving all those issues will be applicable to broader fields than just my own sub-field, which is useful. A PhD should contribute some general findings to truly have an impact.

Planning to attack several areas should also get me some papers along the way. Never a bad thing.

6) Ties into the other projects currently under way in the lab

Remember how I mentioned that the manufacturing processes I want to try (inkjet and microcontact printing) are currently used in other fields? Such as solar cells? Well the two newest students in the lab have funding to research continuous microcontact printing of solar cells. So the work I do to put metal onto single chips will tie into their work with putting metal onto long rolls of solar cell material. And whatever they learn about alignment issues, I can put to use in my machine design.

My advisor is especially pleased about this. It's a great thing for a PI to have interlinked projects that can feed off each other.

So let the PhD begin!

The Shop Equipment Bit Me!

Every lab has particular occupational hazards. Chemists have to watch out for nasty acid splashes, biologists perhaps worry about inhaling exotic strains of bacteria. In a mechanical lab where you actually build things, you will occasionally need to work in a machine shop. And in a machine shop, no matter how careful you are, it's easy (for me at least) to eventually end up with various scrapes and bruises. It's the nature of the beast, and I keep band-aids in my desk to deal with small nicks (aluminum burrs are sharp little buggers).

I often use a piece of machinery called a waterjet - it cuts out 2-D shapes from almost any material.

You put your piece of material on the slats, and then a high-pressure jet of water and abrasive shoots down and cuts through the material.

On my waterjet, the slats are farther apart than shown in that picture. I had cut out a small little shape of aluminum, and I was cleaning off the abrasive from the finished part. Clumsy me, I then dropped the piece. Now if the piece falls to the bottom of the tank, you are never getting it back. It's just not possible.

So when I dropped the piece, silly me didn't even think about it - Quickly I reached between the slats, to catch the small piece as it fell between the slats toward the bottom of the tank. The good news is, I rescued my part.

The bad news, those slats are sharp. You see, the waterjet abrades away the slats under your material as well as your material - over time, the slats look like this:

Those little buggers are sharp. And they bit my arm.

Dang it. Had to go to medical and fill out a "workplace injury" form, which is a nightmare of paperwork. I felt like saying, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be clumsy, I'm just here because I need a slightly bigger band-aid than I have in my desk...

But they fixed me up nicely. And now I tell people I was knifed in a bar fight. I don't think they believe me... :)

So, lessons learned:

1) Don't be so clumsy.

2) Sacrifice your part, not your arm.

3) Be nice to the waterjet, or it will bite you.

Vegetable Stock

Man, guys, how long has it been since I did a cooking post? Wow, January!

Oh, yeah, that was before the semester started and I had classes. Well, now classes are over and I get to cook again!

So, because I *haven't* been cooking, I have a lot of vegetables in my fridge that are a little past their prime... but I feel guilty tossing them out. So, while they still are in pretty good shape, I made vegetable stock.

Start by chopping up everything - scraps, ends and all - and tossing into the pot. See those bright red slices? Beets. How did I ever think I was going to eat beets when I don't have time to cook? Silly me...

Add water to cover the vegetables. Or fill the pot. Hopefully one comes before the other.

Simmer, simmer away! I added some herbs and spices, whatever felt good to me. Let that baby cook in all those fantastic juices, while the whole room smells delicious. If it doesn't smell delicious, you either a) used vegetables that were so far gone as to be MOLDY, or b) your gut feeling for spices needs some help.

But we carry on.

I have a strainer to separate the broth from the veggies, ice cube trays for freezing some of the broth, and not shown are baggies to store the rest. I like to freeze stock, because goodness knows it would spoil in the fridge if I kept it there. I don't, unlike the store varieties, have preservative #1304 on hand to mix in for that extra kick.

Strain out the vegetables. If the vegetables had been fresh, I'd eat them. But they were not. So I don't.

Do you know why that stock looks pink? Beets! Do you also know why my white cutting board looks like somebody died on it? Beets!

Proper storage - two ice cube trays, a bowl with a 1C. amount and a bowl with a 2C. amount. This is to make it easy when making soups. Unless I need a soup with 1.5C. At that point, I think I add 2C. and expect leftovers. Because life's too short to hack away at a frozen chunk of vegetable stock.

So what do I do with ice cubes? These are for thinning out of things. If I make a soup or sauce too thick, I can add a small amount of broth. More flavorful than adding water. Also good for adding to the water when making rice, for flavor.

Also, makes pink rice. :) Beets!