Who wants to be an engineer?

I’d blogged before about my contact with the institute of textile technology in Aachen (ITA). On thursday, I was actually invited there for a preliminary talk with two of their engineers. The fundamental question is whether or not I want to write my diploma thesis at that institute. They are definitely interested in having me for the duration of the thesis, which is nine months.

First about the institute itself: They belong to mechanical engineering, and are staffed mostly by mech. engineers, barring a few construction engineers and one physicist. The institue is awash with company cash, because apparently they do a lot of work that business is seriously hot for. As a result, the institute employs over a hundred people total, while their nominal state funding would allow about a third of that. In short, they’re doing fabulously well from the economic point of view. But what do they do? Textile engineering sounds a little bit like crotcheting, but it’s not. Well, mostly not. They do deal with knitting, weaving and other methods of combining fibres. But for the most part, this is not directed towards clothing, but towards industrial and medical use of tissues. The two people I spoke with hailed from the groups for chemical fibre research and biomedical tissue engineering. The former tries to find new ways of creating fibres, so they don’t actually look for finished products. Instead, they try to perfect known processes and find entirely new ones. The latter group deals with implants and tissue growth. Several kinds of tissue can now be grown from donated cells special for each patient by implanting cells inside a textile scaffold. The cells multiply and slowly replace the scaffold with their natural tissue. A good example is laboratory skin growth for burn victims. Naturally, the tissue has to be medically safe, biologically suitable and of course easy and cheap to process. Other groups deal with different things yet, like textile-integrated electronics (one of their favourite showpieces is the sofa cushion with integrated remote – laundry-safe), or carbon inlays for airplane wings.

After the initial introduction, some of which I was already aware of, I talked a little bit about myself, what I knew already (quite a bit, but very little about textile engineering), what I could do in general skills and what hopes and doubts I had. We had a slight misunderstanding concerning my math skills – I said “the hard math stuff is not my forté”, which one of the engineers took to mean “I’m no good at math at all”. I am familiar with linear algebra, basic numerics, common differential equations, analysis and non-linear dynamics. Just not, you know, the hard stuff. Then we spoke a little bit about what possible topics I could do, and what the physicists before me had done. One of them had apparently set up his own model on polymeres to describe the stretching of polyacride. Excellent work, that. The initial possibilities seem to include simulation, machine experimentation and process control. A colleague of theirs, who will meet me some time in the coming week, wants to do a thesis on acoustic emission process control. Meaning basically that you stick a microphone to your machine and tell from that when something subtle is going wrong. The physics is all classical – no quantum anything. Nevertheless, it is decidedly non-trivial. I’m not at all sure yet that I can actually accomplish much.

That was the prevailing problem: Many of these processes are so fantastically complicated that simulation and modelling is tremendously difficult. I am only just beginning real scientific work, and still quite unskilled and unexperienced. I only have nine months for it, too. Many of the possible subjects have the potential to be ludicrously complicated, and the engineers are no experts at determining the feasibility of such modelling. If I decide to do my thesis there, I’ll have to be prepared for some fun physicist-engineer interaction. On the other hand, I am only too conscious of some of my own shortcomings regarding basic knowledge of economics and machine usage and construction.

In any case, I do not have to decide yet. The institute of laser technology is also still in the running, but has not yet responded to my request for a similar meeting. In doubt, the ILT would be a better match for my studies so far. The ITA might be newer and more exciting, though. It’s just so different; old and yet cool. I like that.

Handyman

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite neologisms: “Handy.” As the german readers of the blog will know, it’s the common german term for a mobile or cellular phone. It’s a kick-ass word: Short, appropriate, memorable. The fact that it sounds very english leads many to think that it’s borrowed from english, but in my experience, most english-speakers look uncomprehending when faced with the word. After holding the opinion for the longest time that I didn’t really need one, I have now acquired a handy, sorry, mobile.

Okay, this is not entirely true. I first bought a cheap mobile with a pre-paid card in Trondheim in august last year. The piece of crap that dared call itself a phone didn’t see much use though, as it was damned expensive, and I used Skype, IM and e-mail for most of my communication needs. After returning to Germany, I started thinking about getting another one (the norwegian phone being SIM-locked to Telenor, and crap anyway). My brother happened to have a Genion contract he wasn’t using, so I decided I’d just pick that one up. For all unfamiliar with Genion: You give a home address, and are allocated a “home zone”, usually spanning a kilometer or two in each direction from your home. While inside the home zone, you can be called by others via a landline number and make calls for landline prices. When not inside, you are still fully reachable via a mobile number, albeit at increased prices. It’s a pretty nifty system, especially given that my home zone covers my room, the nearest supermarkets, the physics building and my brother’s place. Very convenient.

To make use of it, however, I needed a phone first. My brother filled the breach temporarily by lending me an old Motorola he still had lying around. It has an extendable antenna, measures maybe 14×5x3 cm, and runs on four NiMH AA batteries. Yes, that’s right, 4xAA. As you can guess, it’s not new, and not particularly convenient. It looks kind of like the Maglight version of a mobile, with the phone function being only a decoy for the fact that you are carrying something blunt and heavy. Next german slang term: “Opinion amplifier.” That’s what people call objects like that. For the duration of its use I have fondly christened it the Deadmaker.

However, it’s tenure came to an end, when, after some search for the most price-efficient offer, I bought myself a used mobile on Ebay. My choice was a Nokia 6210, which is already a little bit older, but still a sturdy no-nonsense phone. I hardly ever write SMS, I don’t play games, watch television or whatever on my mobile. It has only two functions: To save a list of phone numbers, and to call those numbers. For that, I require mostly good battery life, robust construction, a decent keyboard, sensible menus and good voice quality. The Nokia seems to have the last four; the battery is a little bit old and only lasts about four days. Maybe I’ll get a new one. Nevertheless, the phone fulfills my expectations and I have been using it very successfully. I had a lot of phone calls to make to procure information and arrange paperwork in the last few days, and it was very handy (haha) for that. It has already saved me a lot of trouble once, when my car broke down on saturday. The only thing I will still have to do is pick a suitable ring tone. Brahms’ hungarian dance #5 seemed like a good idea, but sounds really childish when it suddenly starts playing in the middle of a conversation.

Breather Week

On tuesday, me and my partner finished the protocol for the fourth experiment, putting our practical completion meter to 80%. The fifth and last isn’t until tuesday next week, so I have roughly a week to get some other stuff done and relax. So far I’ve been dealing with some administrative stuff. Sending letters to places, filling in the employment contract for my TA job (more than forty fucking pages!), getting a tax certificate… well, most of you will know the deal. I usually don’t deal with bureaucracy much, for which I am very thankful. Hopefully, some time next week everything I’ve started now will be over and done with.

I’ve also taken the time to re-contact the institute for textile applications (ITA) with my questions about a possible master thesis under their guidance. Apparently, my mail server lost the first mail. They definitely didn’t mention ever getting the first attempt. In fact, the guy who got the mail forwarded it to his responsible colleague, who mailed me back and got a phone call from me to set up an initial meeting – all within a single day. I love it when things go smoothly. This guy is pretty positive about physicist theses; he said he’d done several before and never been disappointed. If I take the place (instead of laser technology), I will try to continue that. The ITA deals with all sorts of textile applications. That means a little (but very little) work on clothing, a lot on fiber production and QA, some on textile observation methods (IR spectroscopy anyone?) and some on really industrial textile applications. These are the guys that *sew* airplane wings. They also seem to be looking for three new ways to make better fibers at any given moment. Wouldn’t be surprised if they had a guy working on twined carbon nanotubes. I’ll have the meeting next thursday, and the engineer I spoke to and two of his colleagues will spend one or two hours showing me some of the stuff they’re doing and try to find out where I can be of use. It’s definitely rather unlike the physics I’ve been doing in the past two years, but I am capable of learning, fortunately.

My hobbies do not rest, either. I’ve started a new book, “Breaking the Spell” by Daniel Dennett, free thinker extraordinaire. It tries to be a study of religious behaviour as a whole. Anyone who has met e.g. christians, moslems and buddhists cannot deny that there are certain similarities in beliefs, rituals and morals. Dennett looks at how these things evolved, what benefits they have for us and what forces and convictions are carried by them. I haven’t gotten much past the first forty pages yet, but I’ll continue soon. Besides reading, I’ve been busy drawing. As always, look at “My Art” for two semi-careful plant studies I did as home exercises for my drawing course. We met again yesterday, and started on the subject of shading. I once again managed to pick out an overly ambitious motive (I have a talent for that; must stay simple) and completely blow the time. Despite that, I pick up new stuff all the time. I’m definitely not hitting ‘intermediate’ yet, but on the other hand, that means that I am still making rapid progress. The crassest mistakes are normally easiest to fix, after all. I am, however, noticing that drawing takes time. A lot of the problems with my drawings derive from time-saving carelessness. Repetitive strokes, low number of shading layers… I had the same problem with the color pencils, when filling an A3 paper with multiple layers took hours and hours. Sometime soon, I’ll have to go more for quality than quantity. Quick works like the Canada flag or the Sheezy Hangup don’t really do it.

Long time no post

I haven’t posted in forever, I know. It’s been two weeks since I moved into my room, and I’ve adapted pretty well. Got to know some of my neighbours, and all the ones I have regular contact with are nice people. I can’t say much about the others, but there don’t seem to be any assholes, at least. I have also discovered (by committing it) this floor’s cardinal sin: Leaving your washed-up dishes standing around to dry. People really seem to hate that, but don’t mind the dirty dishes standing around on the kitchen counter top. I guess every student kitchen has its unique and interesting ideosyncracies. I’ve also met a guy I knew from Trondheim when he moved in next to me. It’s a coincidence, but not a completely mind-blowing one: I knew he was from Aachen, and there were several other people from here in Moholt. Still, for him to move onto the same floor in the same dorm I sub-rent a room in… that is remarkable.

Most of the past two weeks have been taken up by that particle physics practical I was talking about. The good news is that after two weeks of concentrated work, we are 70% done. We’ve had seven days of experiments so far, and we’ve handed in the protocols for the first four days, and I’m currently working on the protocol for days five and six. For those who can’t imagine what a “particle physics practical” looks like, here a short summary of the experiments we’ve done so far:

1. Neutrons:
   Using an alpha-radiator as a neutron source, we did some experiments on activation. That’s what happens when stable nuclei catch a neutron and become radioactive as a result. You can use it to measure half-lifes and neutron flux around your source.
2. Paul particle trap:
   It’s a little hollow metal cube that gets some funky voltage applied to its sides. As a result, charged particles can be trapped on closed trajectories inside the cube. Mostly, we sprayed aluminum dust inside and watched it circle with a camera.
3. Z-Resonance:
   We just got a small data set (a couple Megabytes only) from an old CERN experiment, and were supposed to do some number crunching to analyze the set. In the end, we had all sorts of clever numbers about muons and quarks and Z-bosons and whatnot.

Most of the experiments expected very little knowledge. Of course I know a little bit about radioactivity and charged particles in fields, but damned if I really know what a muon behaves like. Some of the tutors were almost insulting in their total lack of expectations; even if we have no experience in the field, we can still pick some stuff up pretty quickly. Oh well. Soon, it will be over. And then, I’m finished with all the practicals, I’ll have all my credits and I need only worry about my exams and my thesis.

Somehow, I’ve made time for more artistic endeavours. Not only did I complete three drawings (click “My Art” on the right to see them), but I also entered a weekly course for beginner’s drawing. The guy who teaches it is a forty-year old art major, and while he doesn’t hesitate to tell you you’re really making a mistake, he’s also constructive about it. I like it so far, despite being rather overstretched with drawing thistles. I won’t be posting any of those drawings, simply because after ninety minutes course time, they are laughably incomplete. My drawing of a whole fan of thistle leaves has two leaves complete, but unshaded. In fact, we’re not supposed to do shading yet, that will come later. Nevertheless, I think I’m doing okay. There are a lot of completely unpracticed people in the course, and a handful that are really good. I’m somewhere in the lonely middle, but I don’t plan to stay there.

Well, that’s it so far. More has happened, but that shall be the topic of later posts.

Moving Again

Yesterday, I moved into my new room in Aachen. I am only subletting this from its principal occupant, so I can’t stay for more than two months, but it will take care of my particle practical at least. My new residence is on the fifth floor in the outer west of Aachen right beside the big university hospital. I don’t have much of a view because of bigger buildings a hundred meters away, but the interposed space is lawn and trees, so that’s nice at least. The room itself is 15 m^2, has its own toilet and shower and shares one kitchen with the other twenty occupants of the floor. At least I’m in good company. I’ve already met a few of my neighbors, and they seem to be quite nice. I have no idea where the rest of the floor is, though. Although given that it’s the holidays at the moment and that I have been out quite a lot, that’s probably natural.

I moved in yesterday, with a few boxes full of clothing, books and general junk and my computer. The girl I am renting this room from was there packing up, and her boyfriend helped me carry my stuff in. All was set up quickly, but of course I’d forgotten a number of things. A trash can, a cooking pot and a pan, knifes and a few cereal bowls still need to be organized. On the bright side, I managed to get the internet connection working right away, thanks to the cooperation of one of the local admins. Later on, I went shopping and got some basic food stuff. Bread, toppings, a few noodle dishes for emergencies, fruit and cereal (for which I don’t have bowls yet, true). I can’t cook anything yet, so until that is remedied, I’ll get some stuff in the city when necessary.

I also took the opportunity to visit one of my friends in Aachen on foot; he lives a little bit further away than I thought, so I spent eighty minutes slugging through Aachen, even at high speed. I took the bus back home, and had a nice conversation with a friendly Kuwaiti man named Enasser sitting opposite of me. Later that day, I went shopping close to where my brother lives and saw him return from his two week business trip to South Corea. He was pretty jet lagged, but still invited me in for an hour before going to bed. Seems the South Corea is a nice place, but not really big on individualism. They don’t really seem to like their neighbors China and Japan too much.

I spent the night on the very soft and very baggy mattress that they have here; I seriously ought to think about putting a different one in. Nonetheless, I slept well. Today I got some things at the hardware store – light bulbs for the bath room, a power cable for my Hg lamp, antenna cable for my TV card. Of course, I miscalculated the distance again and had a two hour walk. Trondheim may have been bigger than Aachen, but there I had better overview of what is how far away. That will come with practice, I’m sure. And now I’m off to visit my brother again.