A quick update about what has been happening since Oct. 2011:

• I graduated from MIT!
• I'm going to grad school at UC Berkeley in the Fall!
• I'm working on CMS for the summer at CERN :) Gotta find more Higgs-like bosons!
• The Cosmic Ray Chandelier site is up at http://blondegeek.net/cosmicray/

Back to work!

Labels: berkeley, MIT

Posted by Tess |

It's Family Weekend at MIT! The parents are everywhere, and I had the pleasure of making a presentation to a bunch of them (specifically the bunch associated with physics-lings) on Friday about my research in Neutrino Physics. Click the image below to see the slides. The images of the smiley neutrinos come from Particle Zoo - where you can buy plushies of the Standard Model and beyond!



The talk was a lot of fun. The parents had questions about the CERN-OPERA neutrino result, why neutrinos oscillate, how long have we known about neutrinos, and many others. Alright, bed time for me. I took the physics GRE this morning and am now starting to feel the effects of my 7 o'clock wake-up.

Peace. Love. Neutrinos!

Labels: Fermilab, MIT, physics

Posted by Tess |

Describe the world you come from, for example your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?

I live in two places at once. This is not because I have miraculously achieved a new method to manipulate space-time, but instead because my rural, secluded hometown of Bonsall and the bustling, lively area of San Diego County, surrounding Bonsall, are each homes to separate parts of my personality.

I’ve lived in Bonsall my entire life, in a house atop a grassy, tangerine tree covered hill surrounded by rolling hills and natural silence. Growing up as an only child, I have always entertained myself by satisfying my curiosity. This curiosity has developed into my constant quest for knowledge and my love to express myself by bringing my ideas into physical form.

My parents have always encouraged me and given me the freedom to explore any subject I like: I have made documentaries of local junior sailing events, built two computers (named Hal and Athen), assembled an eight-inch Dobsonian telescope, launched a website and web store (www.blondegeek.net), and I continue to feed my passion for physics and mathematics with growing piles of books. I jazz things up and “bass” about, make a complete mess of the dining room table with scraps of my latest sewing project, and tear up the local trails on my dirt bike.

My interests branch out from one another. Once I became a dedicated “trekker”, I started to develop a quickly growing interest in the cosmos, particles, and theoretical physics. After completing a quilt square for a 7th grade English project, I was ecstatic to realize that I could bring the clothing designs that filled the margins of my notebooks to life. All my hobbies seem to originate from similar happenstances.

Since I’ve been able to drive about the dynamic county of San Diego for the past year, many of my interests have extended far beyond the borders of Bonsall and I’ve become quite a social butterfly, fluttering about the neighboring cities and towns. I’ve met an entire “band” of people including my bass teacher, my current boss, and several friends through playing bass guitar with the Palomar Community College Jazz Ensemble and I’ve just begun to venture into Discrete Mathematics at another local community college. I never know where these new adventures will take me, but I know I’ll always learn something and meet new, amazing people. For these reasons, I consider the entirety of San Diego - its streets, freeways, cities, taco shops and beaches - as home, fostering my on-going passions.

While living in my personal space of Bonsall and the community of San Diego, I’ve created many goals for myself. Some are big, many are small, but all are possible. I want to journey to outer space, record a jazz album, write a hit science fiction movie that will inspire the next generation, sell a million shirts, sew a pair of pants, discover other dimensions that defy all known theories of spacetime and inspire others! I want to challenge my beliefs, thoughts, and abilities and use that knowledge to make a difference in the world, to leave it a little bit better than before. Then I’ll come back to Bonsall and stand on my old back porch and smile to myself as I remember that this is where it all started.

Labels: college essays, MIT, procrastination of homework, projects, summer

Posted by Tess |

Don't worry, Proust is not involved in this post.

I'm currently in San Diego, savoring sunshine before heading back to MIT. Being home has understandably caused an uproar of nostalgia in me. I've been looking through old notebooks, old essays, and other props of my middle and high school years. I figure it's a good way to look at how I've changed (or not changed) over the past 3 years of being at MIT - a good thing to consider heading into scholarship, fellowship and graduate school application season.

So what have I found? T-shirt designs that haven't (yet) made it to the printers, widgets waiting to be built, a finger-painting of a koi fish eating asteroids... you know, ordinary tokens of childhood. It's been very fun digging through my old things, so I thought I'd document this recollection. Maybe you'll find it fun too.

First the finger-painted koi fish. I finger-painted this after taking the SAT - by far the best way to rebel against the creativity-crushing nature of standardized tests.


I'm not sure what the arrow is suppose to represent, and the asteroids look more like burnt popcorn. But, I certainly remember having a great time reveling in an art form that I hadn't practiced since kindergarten.

I'll post some juicy undergraduate college essays later.

Labels: exciting times, itch, MIT, pictures, procrastination of homework

Posted by Tess |

This post is dedicated to Anonymous of the previous post and the Pummelo I am currently trying to demolish. 1/2 of the pummelo has been conquered and the other 1/2 is glaring at me with hostility.

Pummelos are by far the most unruly of citrus. In taste, they are everything I wish a grapefruit would be, but they are a real hassle to peel. Apologies to grapefruit enthusiasts - the bitterness gets to me. But my eating of grapefruit provides ample amusement for others since the bitterness causes me to make twisted sour faces.

Like celery, pummelos must have the "negative calories" deal going for them, just because it takes that much effort for me to get them open. Then again, I have a history of having trouble with peeling things. A great example of this was when I tried to unshell a hard-boiled egg by making the holes on the top and bottom of the egg and blowing through one of the holes. In case you've never seen this done, I refer you to here. Needless to say, it didn't work too well for me. Problem 1, didn't use baking soda. Problem 2, it was a soft boiled egg. Messy.

Thankfully, I have been more successful in other efforts of mine. I've been back from break for two weeks now doing some classwork and working on a healthy amount of outside projects. Semester hasn't actually started yet so it's a more relaxed atmosphere on campus. MIT has winter break for two weeks and then an optional 4-week Independent Activities Period (IAP). We're currently on at the beginning of week 3 of IAP.

IAP has been often compared to rehab since during IAP students can take classes that they wouldn't normally get a chance to take during semester (Ex: Build Your Own Electric Guitar, Make Your Own Decorative Paste Paper, Play StarCraft 2...more here).

I'm currently taking architecture classes for credit, which has been quite a bit of work so far, but plenty of fun. I'm taking an intensive version of the 2nd undergraduate studio course and a free-hand drawing class for architects. Those of you who have taken studio probably think the term "intensive" is redundant.

Besides classes, I've been working on an art installation project with a few friends and plotting schemes of modifying old blondegeek code. I keep mentioning the art project in posts, but I won't say more about it as to not ruin the surprise. :)

I haven't been working on physics since semester ended, but the research group I work with just published a paper! Check it out on arXiv. The paper addresses to how to extend physicists' ability to detect light in detectors (specifically Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers) that utilize strong electric fields. The issue is our light detectors (photomultiplier tubes - PMTs) cannot be used in a strong electric field, since PMTs use their own electric fields to create a signal cascade which creates a signal of approximately 10^10 electrons for every photon detected. Our solution is to use an acrylic lightguide which guides the light through internal reflection from an area in a detector where a strong electric field exists to where the PMTs sit, where there is no external field. The acrylic lightguides are coated with a chemical, TPB, which serves the purpose of shifting the wavelength of signal photons from UV, which our PMTs are horrible at seeing, to blue.

Back to pummeling the pummelo. I'll be sure to post some pics of my architecture projects soon.

Labels: architecture, IAP, MIT, physics, procrastination of homework, projects, pummelo

Posted by Tess |

I just finished modeling a section of a cafe I designed for my design computing class. 1/6 scale models are pretty big, even for a section of a 500 sq ft building. The model is approximately 1' 8" tall x 1' 4" wide by 1' 4" deep, so a huge thanks to my friends who helped my lug it around campus today :)

A bit about the project before I let you loose on the pics. The purpose of the project was to design an "outdoor cafe" under 500 sq ft which can be constructed through pre-fabrication methods, primarily by using a CNC router. The whole point of the design computing course, however is to teach how to effectively communicate design ideas through use of AutoCAD and 3Ds Max as well as rapid prototyping methods, such as laser cutting and 3D printing. So now some pics...


Some renderings primarily of the outside of the cafe. The outer decoration serves as a "rain screen" which protects the outer wall from weathering and creates a pressure differential to promote evaporation. The series of windows that frame the front walls are fold-able doors which can be collapsed to completely open up the two walls to the outside.



Now, a quick snapshot of the 1/6 scale model I took before our review. On top of the model are two other models. On the left there is a model of my first design of the rainscreen, which I ultimately changed the design of to the array of rectangles because the lattice of undulating triangles proved too much of a headache to apply to the larger model and it didn't flow with the rest of the building design. The model on the right is a 3D print of an earlier iteration which proved to be far too heavy and did not really foster the "outdoor" criteria of the project. Nevertheless, it did print well and I kept all the inside detail identical between these two iterations. The pieces for the large and the rain screen model were both cut with a laser cutter.


A closer look at the 3D Print:



If you would like to see how a 3D printer works, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7h09dTVkdw

Likewise for a laser cutter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MAd0WLRuUg

Labels: architecture, MIT, models, projects

Posted by Tess |

Hello! Hello! I'm quite a bit late for checking in this semester; it has been a busy one! I've declared Architecture as my second major and am now no stranger to pulling all-nighters with AutoCAD. Physics has also been really fun/stressful this semester with the notorious (at least among MIT physics undergrads) Junior Lab and a second helping of Quantum Mechanics.

But enough about school, and more about shirts. There's a new one coming in and it's a shirt about everything, seriously. Physicist and friend, Garrett Lisi, has an "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" based on the Lie Group, E8. It's a beaut so naturally it need to be on a shirt! We're taking pre-orders at the moment and expect the shirt in within 2 weeks. Be sure to take a gander at the shirt, Garrett's site and the Scientific American article about Garrett's theory.

Labels: E8, Garrett Lisi, MIT, new t-shirts, physics

Posted by Tess |

it's just that FINALS ARE HERE. I'll get back to you about my adventures of spackling, tea, boxes, adiabatically changing a's and b's, etc. in a few days.

Labels: 18.06, 8.04, 8.044, exciting times, MIT, superposition

Posted by Tess |

Two students are working at two adjacent computers in the Athena cluster in building 12. One of the students, currently taking 8.04, is enjoying a cup of soup from Cafe Four.

The hungry, soupless student turns to the student with the cup of soup and says, "You know you're not suppose to have that in here. The sign on the wall clearly says 'No Food. No Drinks.'"

The student with the soup briefly ponders this and replies. "You know, soup's a funny thing. It's not food and it not a drink."

The other student retorts "That's because it's both."

"No," the semi-soup-saturated student says "it's definitely not both."

"Then what is it?" asks the other student.

"It's a Soup-erposition."

The other student rolls his eyes and continues trudging along on some p-set, while the 8.04 acolyte's wavefunction was observed to be in a souply satisfied eigenstate.

Labels: 8.04, MIT, physics, procrastination of homework, yay

Posted by Tess |

Some photos from the epic blondegeek and MIT Undergraduate Women in Physics booth!


OMB! (Oh my borscht!) It's a booth!

Labels: booth, CPW, MIT, Mondrian dress, new t-shirts, UWIP

Posted by Tess |

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

blondegeek is having another booth event, proudly showing our support of the MIT Undergraduate Women in Physics [MIT UWIP]!

blondegeek extravaganza Part II and Meet the UWIPs!!!
9 am - 5:30 pm
April 8th, 2010
MIT Student Center - First Floor, between stairs and La Verde's

Come get your (blonde)geek on! We'll have new t-shirts, bags, and reprints (because you asked for them)!

See you there amigos ;)

[Pictures soon to come...]

Labels: bags, booth, curls, MIT, new t-shirts, UWIP

Posted by Tess |

Howdy folks!

Catch blondegeek at MIT tomorrow in Lobby 10 from 9am to 4pm March 16th-18th.

Tees will be at the screaming price of $10!

See ya there!

Tess

Labels: howdy, MIT, t-shirts, yay

Posted by Tess |

So, in that architecture class that I'm taking (4.111 - Intro. to Architecture Studio, see studio above) we've begun building models for our first project - building a reading and writing space in a 10' x 16' x 2' wall where a lush meadow meets a calm beach. The material we are "using" to create these spaces in the "heavy" wall is thick insulating foam wedged between two planks of plywood, so it's very rigid and planar. Here are my first four models:

Model #1:

Front (Beach side) - The reading space would be the more angular cut in the 2' wall (right now everything is in chip board so it is a bit hard to tell what is the "wall" and what the added components are, so just trust me on what I tell you.) so the person can recline. And the writing place is the platform where the person can sit on the seat cut into the wall or sit on the platform itself. This design really didn't fit the project goals. Instead of creating a place to enjoy the outdoors if was more like a house and a unnecessarily big one at that.

Here's the open back (meadow side).

Model #2:

This is my transition model. It doesn't look pretty and it doesn't look terribly coherent, but at least I started thinking more about using the wall for creating my spaces.


From the front (to the left) you see the writing area with a cut in the wall so that a person can either is with a desk built to be infront or recline into the wall.


From the back you can see the reading space which is accessible by a ladder that leads up to a little room (one that you can just crawl around in but not stand) with a window that overlooks the meadow.

Model #3:

Here's where I begin to get a bearing on the concept of my design. I started using graph paper to fold identical boxes and then placed those boxes within the wall. Each box is average out to be about 6' x 3.5' x 3' (life size scale, this model is at 1/2 scale so 1/2'' = 1 ft.)


From the back (meadow side) you can see both the reading and writing places. The reading place is elevated and once again accessible via ladder. The person is also once again suppose to recline. The writing space, which opens up to the beach (I just didn't want to cut holes in the boxes in case I wanted to use them differently.)


From the front (beach side).


Model #4:

I made this model today after we had our in-class "pin up" (when everyone presents to their groups their current design and ideas). It's very similar to Model #3 just with more boxes, an additional cutout of the wall, and no ladders.


From the back there is a block to hop onto to get into the reading space (elevated once again, and once again I haven't put holes in the boxes where they will go in the final model). There is also the entrance to the writing area which will be a seat in the wall that can be hopped over to access the beach. Lots of hopping and climbing in this one, like climbing boulders at a rocky beach. The third hole in the wall is intended for direct access to the beach, to add yet another place to sit, and to make it a bit easier to climb up to the reading area if one is not up to climbing up 3'.


From the beach side we see the other half of the writing area set on top of another box that acts as a patio and a way to access the beach.


And from above:


That's as far as I've gone so far. I'll post the Google SketchUp version once I have that in the works around next week.

Gotta go study for by 18.03 and 8.022 exams for this week. Ciao!

Labels: 4.111, boxes, MIT, models, photos, projects

Posted by Tess |

So for some reason, the past two weeks have been fairly light in workload. Probably a combination of tests scheduling in nicely and just not having a website to redesign. Because MIT has a 4 day weekend coming up and I don't have any work to do until Thursday, I've been going though options of what I can do with this spare time because I am itching to do something. Do I draw up dress designs, do I sew a bit, do I sketch buildings, try and cramp some Russian into my head, play the big ole' bass, go to the gym, read, sit on me arse and stare at a wall... So far, postering and reading are the early winners. Making tea is another. I also enjoy fits of prancing down the hallway.

And about the postering, if you do see any blondegeek posters (around MIT) and read this, if you could tell me where you saw the poster that would be incredibly excellent. This particular postering event had a Norah Jones music theme (that would be what I was listening on my iPod). When the posters where well distributed about the posterboards in the infinite, Stata, and various Athena clusters, I walked back to Simmons via the track which is all lit up around 10 pm, which I find to be pleasantly awkward since it makes me feel stretched between day and night.

Tomorrow is Election Day in the States. I'm definitely excited about it. Part of that excitement is that it marks the end of this round of campaigns. The rest is just the uncertainly of how this election is going to swing.

Happy voting, happy p-setting, happy tea-making to all!

Labels: code book, itch, jumping, MIT, norah jones, postering, prancing, spare time

Posted by Tess |

Seriously, November came out of nowhere! I just looked at the calendar this morning and it said NOVEMBER! and I was like AHHHH! but YAY!!!! It's just a bit difficult to believe that I've already been at MIT for 2 months, the time has really flown past, but many people said that it would.

Hope everyone's Halloween went along nicely. Some of my fellow floor mates and I went to "Spooky Skate" as it's called at the on campus ice rink, where I received much positive feedback (sorry about the ebay terminology there, but I've been playing with ebay today and it hasn't been playing nice. Apparently, you are not suppose to have any outside store urls listed, which is lame, but oh well that's how the cyber cookie crumbles) about my Mondrian dress. Makes me think that I should give a crack at sewing a few more getups, especially now that I found out that McCormick (another one of the MIT dorms) has a sewing room...*plot, plot, plot*

This is a resting weekend for me, when I pretty much will just stay in the dorm and work on homework, personal projects (ebay and facebook and inventory), and room maintenance (which so far is maintainable). I've done some recording with the wockets of me sitting and running. Unfortunately, the intermediate receiver seems to have trouble getting one of the wockets (maybe because of a bad battery or position on the wocket side) but its not bad enough to not get the gist of the data.

Catch you cats later! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Labels: ebay, MIT, Mondrian dress, november, wockets

Posted by Tess |