Monday, January 9, 2012

First Official Day!

This is my student ID.  P/G stands for Post Graduate, the term for Graduate students over here.  Remember the dates go DAY/MONTH/YEAR, so its only valid until January 8, 2016

So today was my "official" start date, though I did go to campus on Friday for a bit.  I got up a bit late (sleep has been a bit tricky the past couple of nights, I think I am finally feeling the jet lag), but I still was able to make the bus at 8:30 am and was on campus around 8:50.  I went straight the University House, hoping to beat the queue (line) to get my student ID this morning.  When I got there, there was no line, so massive win!  However, I did have to wait a bit, since there were technical difficulties with the card printer.  No worries, though, at the end of it, I got my ID.  (see above)
I then walked to my office in the IMC (International Manufacturing Centre) building and called my advisor, Jay Bal, to speak with him about my project.  I went over to his building, IDL (International Digital Laboratory), which is right next door to the IMC.  There, we talked for about two hours about ideas for my EngD and where I will be starting.
I will be starting this week doing a literature review on what is going on in the area of open source hardware design.  Similar to the ideas of open source programming (like Linux), open source hardware design would be looking at the design of a product and contributing all sorts of perspectives to the design to optimize it.  I will eventually be using the Formula One SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competition here at the University as a case study for this.  Part of what I will be looking at as well will be the aspect of e-learning and how it can apply to open source hardware design.  I think what I have been doing previously at IUPUI with the online course development might give me some neat insight on this, but I also was given several directives from Dr. Bal that I will be exploring this week and seeing where it leads me. 
I am excited for this program.  It was really stressed today that this degree will be what I make of it.  I plan to make something really worthwhile and useful.  :)
Ok, I'm going to try to get some sleep now.  Hopefully my body starts to adjust to the local time soon.
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2 comments:

  1. Meghan M.January 9, 2012 at 2:44 PM

    I'm glad you got your ID and are settling in! Your program sounds really interesting. It's nice to hear academia there is for open source, instead of the fear mongering of idea stealing I have seen in my experiences here in the States. Good luck adjusting, my dear! <3

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  2. Ben PadgettJanuary 9, 2012 at 11:27 PM

    Open source design is a great idea. Its like having a large development team for free. I've only heard of one product that currently uses this concept, and it's been ridiculously successful. It's the MakerBot, which is a 3D printer, or rapid prototype machine: http://www.makerbot.com/(the video on the first page is lame so don't bother watching). I saw another video with the creator saying some of their best improvements came from random people looking at their plans and trying to create a MakerBot without ordering from the MakerBot company. Very cool concept and great way to improve a design without having to pay the pounds to do it. I'm proud of you and excited to see where you take this project! <3

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