Projects
Balloon tracking antenna device
Uplink communications ability
Imaging platform stabilization
Corporate Sponsorship

Bio:
I grew up on the Salmon River, and the Snake River, and finally at my house between the Salmon and the Snake. My first job was tying stays on barbwire fences for $50 a mile when I was 10 years old. I've been taking things apart ever since I could hold a screwdriver. As a kid, I always wondered how components made things happen, it always seemed like magic. Keep in mind we didn't have a phone until 1992, and that the grid stops three miles from my house. That means I grew up without TV, video games and all the other conveniences that we all take for granted.
After a failed attempt at the U of I, I joined the Marine Corps in 1997. The ASVAB indicated that I should choose a MOS involving electronics. After 14 months of school in Twenty-nine Palms, the Corps claimed I was technically proficient enough to maintain the AN/TRC-170 V5 Broadband Troposcatter Microwave radio and the AN/MRC-142 Broadband LOS Microwave radio in combat conditions. Then in the fall of 2000, my unit sent me back to 29 Stumps for three more months for a class III soldering certification. At my End-Active-Service date, I took a technician position with Global Microwave Systems,Inc. While at GMS, during lulls in production, the engineering department would have me work on products in development. While all the engineers ( six total?) were always availible to answer questions, one in particular, Silvano Padoan, became my unofficial mentor. Then in August of 2003, the opportunity to return to Moscow appeared. By fall of 2004, the U of I graciously allowed me back in and I started working my way up the math ladder from the first rung.

Working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories this summer and fall has given me a new perspective on power. The amount of complexity required to keep the grid from collapsing is mind boggling.

Future/Professional Interests:
I really am not sure as to where my post degree path will take me. I would love to stay in Moscow and start a business. At this time the concept contains vague fuzzies of design and manufacture of communication devices. But I also have a strong interest in renewable resource energy converters (wind, hydro, bio-fuel), so perhaps that is a niche to be filled.
The fact that over 75% of the current engineering workforce is scheduled to retire in the next five years is comforting to my job security, but scary for the future of our nation.

Contact Info:
Phone: 208.669.0990
e-mail: moc.liamg|xocliwydor#moc.liamg|xocliwydor (prefered)
Callsign: KE7GDZ