Enginerd Alert!

I have been very happy to be busy lately. Of course, with this comes a lack of any updates to the site. But for those who may wonder what has been keeping me so busy, let me now tell you a little about my life as a graduate student.

Ah, yes: Grad school! Unable to escape my true science-nerd self, about a month ago I officially started a Masters program in Materials Science & Engineering. If you are like most people I have talked to, you are wondering, “What is ‘Materials Science & Engineering’?” Putting aside the fact that the discipline’s title is self-explanatory (were it Systems Engineering, or Civil Engineering, or Aerospace Engineering, or even Mechanical Engineering, or any other engineering I could understand. I mean, how does one engineer a system? What does that even mean?* Or how does one engineer civilly? or mechanically? and so forth.), let me tell you about it.

Materials Science Engineering is the engineering and scientific study of materials. Yep, I’d say that just about sums it up. Any questions? OK, I’ll try to stop being the obnoxious-Nick-Burns-Computer-Guy-esque science jerk. A lot of what materials scientists & engineers do is to study how materials behave (i.e. break, corrode, conduct, react, etc.) and to engineer how to make better materials.

Being more of a basic science than most other engineering disciplines it can be less engineering of practical, end-use applications and more basic scientific study. But the advantage of its basic nature is that it is so broadly applicable. Just think about the types of applications that use materials – everything using materials! So there are lots of multidisciplinary applications. This is good because it keeps my options open.

When I’m not learning about materials in my Crystallography class or my Thermodynamics of Materials class, I’m working on my research in a lab. I work in a Microfabrication Lab which means it is a lab where very small things are made (”micro-” = a millionth of a meter). They call it a “clean room” which to mean conjured images of the lab in Independence Day at Area51 where the President is all like, “Open these doors” and the scientist is like “But this is static free…” and the President is just like “Open them!” and the people inside are dressed like this guy:

But it isn’t really like that. I do have to where a coat and a hat and latex gloves and booties over my shoes, but it isn’t actually that clean.

Basically, I stand in that lab most of the day and make very small things. Maybe I can write more about what I actually make on another post. I realize this is already way too much nerdy, boring stuff for most people to tolerate.

* – it is widely accepted among most real engineers that Systems Engineering is not real engineering, but more like business for engineers. It is generally frowned upon and regarded as a lesser discipline.