| StoreTags: personal update
Author: flies on October 15 2007 Viewed 4109 times. 21 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: Roshi, delete, energygiant, jarvis, Jim, Logo, DrexonField, evilai, mynameismud, Fredo, cbit, daswesen, minisystem, Zanf, adcBicycle, Analog, pault, ignatius, astroid, hecanjog, license
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Hey all,
I started grad school this fall. I'm gonna get my PhD in physics from Rutgers, hopefully in 6 years. I will be 31 when i graduate if i do it 6 years. yowza.
It is much much work. I am not the type to pull all-nighters, but i spend at least a few days a week at school from 9-11:30 doing homework and going to class.
I just had my first midterm and while i'm not sure i aced it i think i did pretty well. I'm taking 3 courses: quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, and electrodynamics. The first is an upper-level undergrad course, and therefore quantum mechanics is my easy course, which i find pretty hilarious. That was the test i just had so i better have done well if i expect to maintain the required B average through all my courses.
Before september i was working from home as a technical writer, which is to say i was wasting all my time on the internet every day. now i don't have time to make myself dinner. Another change is that i'm no longer living with my fiance, she's in the upper-west side now (getting an MS in Journalism from columbia - she's even busier than i am, i shudder to even imagine it). this is a drag, although the two of us may have been a bit joined at the hip there for a while so it's not all bad. plus she's only about 1.5 hrs away by train so i see her most weekends (a little more than half).
I'm thinking of doing biophysics, which is basically using physics methods to study problems in molecular biology. I actually don't know that much about it, but i'm not sure i want to teach (may or may not, we'll see) and biophysics research has good funding prospects within academia and good job prospects without.
If i want to study something in school that i might directly use in industry, then that pretty much means ''Condensed Matter" physics, which means the physics of matter that isn't flying apart (high energy) or undergoing fusion (astrophysics) or some such. For instance, LCD monitors, computer hard-drives, and LED's are the fruit of condensed matter research, not to mention transistors and micro-electronics (which involved collaboration with EE, naturally). While condensed matter has the most practical relevance to most people's lives, it is also a rather dull subject a lot of the time, with topics such as "spin dynamics in semi-organic glasses", which are hard to visualize and don't quite qualify as fundamental physics or applied research. There are some subjects within traditional condensed matter that interest me, such as organic semi-conductors and the practical side of quantum computing (meaning creating functional q-bits and systems thereof).
however biophysics studies problems that seem much more relevant and therefore more interesting. i can study problems such as how prion diseases work link or the specific mechanisms that allow cells within multicellular organisms to specialize and remain specialized. This shit seems much more interesting to me. And apparently i don't even have to know biology to study it ;)
I'm writing this in a little lab. Rather than TA'ing i'm wokring as a research assistant. What i'm supposed to be doing right now is creating a computer program that controls a servo and then starts DAQ, finishes DAQ and then moves the servo to the next spot. (i am stuck b/c i have to send the servo contoller the 'ESC' button, which is apparently rather tricky). This work is something like physics. It has nothing particular to do with biophysics, it's actually support for a neutrino physics experiment, link . Pics are some 40 year old electronics modules that do god knows what, a PMT (converts light signals into electrical signals), the corner of the lab that includes the computer i'm writing on and the PMT (note the 'light tight box' which is light-tighted by covering it with tin-foil. hi-tec.), and a snapshot of the quantum physics test.
do you live in central jersey, make weird music and want to jam? if so emmail me. | |
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10/16/07
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flies
mynameismud said: "WOE is me, flies. i USED to live in central nj, middlesex county even! and make weird music. now i live in brooklyn and i'm at Rutgers- Newark for my masters. HOWEVER, new brunswick has a pretty vibrant music scene..."
tell me more about this "vibrant music scene"...
10/16/07
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Fredo
hahaha, minisystem's comment proves that scientists use badass language too! I imagined a hulking thug with a toothpick in his mouth, pair of brass knuckles on one fist leaning against a light post saying: "I guess I'm more a cell biologist." 
Anyway, totally thrilled for you, man. Have a great time! You is officially MUCH smarter than me for sure!
10/16/07
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minisystem
jdg said: "well those friends of yours saw *someone* buying big synth collections and fancy keyboards..."
these doctors have no idea what their spouses do with their monies.......
10/16/07
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cbit
Wow, exciting stuff! good luck with it flies!
10/16/07
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mynameismud
well... by "vibrant music scene" i mean "tons of sweaty college kids have basement shows" ... ranges from indie rock to noise (noise is big in N.B.) to electronica... if you feel youre too mature for that, the court tavern has good shows link also youre not far from vintage vinyl link which is a record nerds paradise, and they have live shows as well... and the NJ Transit train from NB to NYC isnt such a bad ride...
10/16/07
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flies
dood, where do i find noise show listings? chondritic board?
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