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Hydrogen Properties for Energy Research (HYPER) Laboratory Cool. Fuel.

Welcome Cougs to becoming professionals

Yesterday I stood in the center of the Round in the Spark as one of four faculty to address 270 of our incoming freshman engineers.

I’ve thought about this moment for years — going way back to my time as an undergrad. What would I tell a freshman on their first day as an engineer? What was I told on my first day?

Flashback – briefly – my first day on campus as an undergrad was the start of football camp. The first night of which drunken seniors rounded up the freshman and shaved all of our heads — some better than others. — I’ve … » More …

Despite the statistical ‘evidence’

In high-school I was too light (250 pounds), too week (280 pound bench), too slow (5.5 s 40 yard time) to be a ‘good’ offensive line football player — but somehow managed to lead a team to the 5A state title game, set school rushing records, and land a D1 college scholarship to play for Tom Cable, an offensive-line guru.

In college my SAT scores were too low (1240/1600), GPA too low (3.26/4), GRE scores too low (720/800 quantitative), qualifier scores too low, to be a ‘good’ researcher in mechanical engineering — but somehow managed to win the Outstanding Senior Award in ME at Idaho … » More …

Never _____ what a student should

1. Never teach what a student should — stop holding office hours, hold group study instead; stop pontificating, assign them a forum post/essay instead; stop answering, start questioning.

2. Never present what a student should — stop lead authoring, they need to learn to write; stop presenting at conferences, they need to learn to talk; stop pitching to businesses, they need to reel ’em in.

3. Never design what a student should — stop estimating, they need to learn the “back of the envelope”; stop questioning clients, they need to know when to speak up; stop calling suppliers, they need to know who to talk … » More …

Authority, feedback loops, and the setback

One of the characteristics of the HYPER lab community and alumni is authority and ownership over projects. I work very hard to fulfill the role of coach, a.k.a. service leadership, and to not take ownership of experiments away from the people actually doing the work. This is a fine balance and requires lab wide standards to ensure safety and performance. This scaffolding is a key reason great students keep coming to the lab — freedom to own a difficult project with the necessary coaching and resources to succeed. This is very different from authoritarian micro-managing environments typical of business and academia in the US. … » More …

Taking Land-Grant for granted

“What’s Land-grant?”

“What do you mean ‘What’s Land-grant’? You’re sitting in one.”

We were preparing to start our weekly lab meeting when the entire meeting was derailed by that innocent question. As usual, I looked around the table to allow someone else to answer, nothing. So I asked who in the room knew what a Land-Grant Institution was. Nothing. So I asked who knew what Morrill Hall on campus was named after? Nothing. I’m starting to hyperventilate. I’ve got the best students in the College in my lab. Sometimes I kid myself though. So the next week I asked a Junior … » More …

Summary of Summer 2017

The summer of 2017 will be known as the summer when we put all the pieces together. We finally have assembled all of the facilities to complete the entire Design-Build-Test cycle for cryogenic systems entirely within the HYPER lab. To my knowledge, we may be the only cryogenic or hydrogen laboratory in the US with distinct spaces for all three parts of this cycle. I can’t wait for next summer.
Rachel Johnson and the CLEAN bench system

In this research position I was responsible … » More …

So just how dangerous is hydrogen fuel?

When I tell people I work on hydrogen fuel, they immediately say something very wrong like, “Are you worried about a mushroom cloud over your lab?” — Mushroom clouds are from a nuclear bomb detonation, and I don’t plan on starting thermonuclear fusion anytime soon in my lab, and if I did, it might save the planet. The other statement I often get is, “Wow, don’t want another Hindenberg!” Again, very wrong. Detailed studies from NASA and others have shown that … » More …

How to write a resume

Want to see my resume?

You’re looking at it.

Here’s why.

This too.

 

Want to know what I’ve done with, well, anything?

Use the search bar.

When’s the last time you saw a resume with a search bar?

 

Sigh.

But that’s not why you’re here.

You’re here because they expect you to have one.

They don’t expect you to have a searchable body of work yet.

Wouldn’t that be a fun surprise?

 

What’s that you say?

They don’t want to see your body of work?

Then what are they hiring you for?

 

Indicators of performance like GPA, merit badges, … » More …

Agile versus Waterfall for the big one

Two of my PhD students are in the middle of writing their theses/dissertations. No surprise, they missed the awesome seminar by Lean/Agile software pioneer Ryan Martens yesterday. During the seminar Ryan brought up a classic image representing the engineer’s design-build-test progression. The point is to illustrate when and how many times you have to learn in the traditional waterfall engineering design-build-test progress: once, at the end, when you usually don’t have time to revise. The Lean/agile approach to design necessitates that you test (and learn!) about something as quickly as possible. Sometimes you even write the test specification before you begin designing!

At this point, Dr. … » More …