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I've never personally spotted an albino squirrel, but I still have hope. So far, there are three albino squirrels on record: Thelonious, Baby, and Baby's Baby. Tragically, Baby was carried away by a red-tailed hawk in early 2006, but Baby's Baby is almost certainly around here somewhere. Maybe I'll go on a wild squirrel chase over winter break. Stay tuned for that! Honestly though, the squirrels at UNT can't really be considered "wild." Years of having friendly students around 24-7 have allowed the little fuzzy guys to relax a bit. I hardly ever see the full-tilt squirrel-sprint that's so typical in quieter places. I bet the abundance of on-campus pecan trees has a lot to do with that too. The squirrels at UNT never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. It's always just a lazy walk away.
It's finally time for finals here at UNT, and I am SO EXCITED! I've got a lot to do, but the library stays open 24 hours a day during dead week and exam week, so time is definitely on my side. Today I'm finishing up an extremely professional-looking comparison report for technical writing while I sip a delicious red eye from the library's cyber café. As per usual, I'm trying my best to find something to distract me from my homework, and today my eyes have settled on a giant poster showcasing one of UNT's weirder claims-to-fame: adorable albino squirrels.
Student organizations: They're everywhere. At UNT there are literally hundreds of them. Finding the right organization is not always easy, but it is definitely worth the effort. Student organizations like the Badminton Club and the Campus Cat Coalition are a great way to meet like-minded (and probably awesome) people, but many organizations offer unique benefits to students wishing to pursue careers in engineering. Here is a list of those organizations: IEEE, SWE, SHPE, NSBE, IEEECS, SPE, AGC, NAHB, and UNTRS. That wasn't entirely helpful, was it? Of course not. That's why, throughout the course of this semester, I will be zeroing-in on each one of these organizations. Together we'll find out who they are, how they can help you, what you need to do to sign up. This week, I'll be tackling the biggest, juiciest engineering organization of them all: IEEE. Originally IEEE stood for "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers". These days IEEE (pronounced eye-triple-e) is more of a proper name than an acronym, because the scope of the organization has axpanded to encompass many more disciplines and interests. With this increase in scope came a tremendous increase in membership. Today IEEE boasts more than 375,000 members. Like all engineering organizations, IEEE is a great way to meet your peers and potential employers. Any opportunity to network in your field will prove to be invaluable when it comes time to find a summer internship or full-blown career. The tremendous size and scope of IEEE creates a huge amount of opportunities for the industrious engineer. IEEE is also dedicated to educating members about the latest and greatest technological advancements. Membership includes a free subscription to two magazines, Spectrum and Potentials, designed to bring you the latest in tech news, and access to a wealth of online technical resources. Signing up for the UNT branch of IEEE is as easy as clicking here and filling out that form! Any interested student may join, and I would recommend it to every student with a stake in cutting-edge technology. For more information about IEEE, feel free to visit the organization's website at http://www.ieee.org. Additionally, http://ieee.unt.edu is the homepage for IEEE at UNT.
I drove all-the-way-home for the first time today! As many of you may know, I grew up mostly in Austin, and my family still lives down there. I haven't been able to pay them a visit in ages. This weekend one of my favorite bands was in town, and my family and I all bought tickets.
I took I-35W this time. I-35W is the Fort Worth side of I-35, and it is sensational. Dallas's side is a bit of a mess, especially south of Dallas. On the fort worth side there was a teensy bit of construction, but not enough to slow down traffic at all. The scenery was MUCH better on the FW side. Most of the 35W portion was green fields and trees as far as the eye could see. Really, the satellite photo speaks for itself. Check this out:
So much green on the west side, and so much concrete on the east!!!Most of the tricky parts were actually done in a program I've only recently learned about: Labview. It's great for visually laying-out problems and solutions. I won't bore you with the details, but here's a screenshot of the finished project to whet your appetite:
A long time ago someone told me that UNT had a fleet of vehicles that ran on vegetable oil. Time passed, exams happened, and my memory of the conversation eroded away. The other day it popped into my head again, but I couldn't remember who told me. I looked around a little, and couldn't seem to find any evidence of it. I was starting to think I might have made the whole thing up. Or it was all part of some exceptionally sustainable dream… Yesterday I finally got to the bottom of it! I spent the bulk of the afternoon chatting with a representative from the UNT Office of Sustainability, and she convinced me I wasn't totally crazy. UNT really does have cars that run on vegetable oil. The Recycling Center collects spent vegetable oil from dining services, and converts it into biodiesel. Biodiesel fuel can be used in place of diesel fuel (with some exceptions), and it only costs a dollar a gallon when you recycle! Previously I always expected the weird little vans to be the veggie-powered vehicles. As it turns out, those lil guys are actually 100% electric. That explains why I can't recall ever hearing the sound of one idling. Sustainability is fascinating as heck, and I spent the better part of an afternoon listening to all of the office's plans and ideas. My favorite out of the bunch involved wind power for the new stadium. The Office of Sustainability recently wrote a grant application for three windmills to be built alongside the stadium. These mills could gather energy throughout the week, and then power the stadium on game days. They would also serve as a humongous and impressive demonstration of UNT's interest in sustainability. I think they should paint them Kelly Green for maximum affect. 
Prize-driven technological advancement is not a new concept; the $25,000 "Orteig Prize" was first proposed in 1919. It is widely held as the first example of such "incentivized competition", but the prize itself is basically unheard of. The strange thing is, it was single-handedly responsible for Charles Lindbergh's legendary solo-flight across the Atlantic Ocean, AND commercial aviation as we know it (by extension). I'm sorry for going off on an airplane tangent, but I just saw Amelia and the history of flight is fresh in my mind. In slightly more current news, the "X Prize" Foundation has offered similar incentives for space flight, with similar results. The original X Prize, known as "The Ansari X Prize for Suborbital Spaceflight", awarded $10 million dollars, but it resulted in over $100 million invested in spacebound research. Last May the US Department of Energy announced the first government-sponsored technological competition: The L Prize. According to lightingprize.org, the competition "challenges industry to develop replacement technologies for two of today's most widely used and inefficient technologies: 60W incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps." In plain English: The Department of Energy wants a better light bulb. Not only that, they're offering $10 million bucks to the first person to develop one. As it happens, The University of North Texas has been working on just such a thing! Teams from the chemistry department and the materials science and engineering department have collaborated to investigate and perfect Organic Light Emitting Diodes, or OLEDs. OLEDs are 10 times more efficient than incandescent light bulbs, and also require much less energy to produce in the first place. This sort of solid-state lighting is exactly what the L Prize is all about. If you'd like to know more about UNT's OLED research, check out this article from Research Magazine, Volume 18, Number 1.
Two weeks ago, I finally found a performance in my price range: absolutely, positively FREE!!! It was even close enough to walk to! For one night only, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra came up to UNT's very own Murchison Performing Arts Center and treated any student who was interested to a completely free concert.
When I say it like that, it sounds like I owe it all to the generosity of the DSO, but really it was all thanks to UNT's Fine Arts Series. The Fine Arts Series is a 105 year old program dedicated to the cultural enrichment of the UNT student body, and they are doing an awesome job. They're responsible for a lot of really interesting events in the coming months, and not just musical ones, either. In the coming months, the FAS will bring everything from stand-up comedy to serious theatre. But for now, let's stick to the present.
Friday's concert was AMAZING. I have heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony one hundred times in one hundred different ways. And most of the time it is completely, utterly mangled. When I looked down at the program and saw "Ode to Joy", I was instantly overcome with painful memories of middle-school orchestra concerts and pre-teen piano-recitals, tinny ringtones and amateur soprano solos. That poor, poor melody has had a tough life.
But this Friday, I heard the Ode to Joy as it was MEANT to be heard. The dynamics! The choir! The extremely passionate (and slightly odd) conductor! This was an Ode I'd never imagined. I was extremely moved by the performance.
This concert was also the first time I've ever witnessed a symphonic audience, too. There were definitely lots of students, particularly in the balcony, but there was also a great deal of seasoned symphony veterans. I could tell the audience had a tremendous appreciation and respect for the symphony, and that made the whole experience even more magical.
I am so glad I didn't wimp out when I saw this "tired, old melody" on the brochure. I have a feeling I am going to be spending a lot of my Friday nights at the Murchison this year.
I'm going to be updating this blog like crazy with all sorts of posts, and soon it's going to be a pretty overwhelming list. To help make it easier to swallow, I'll be labeling everything. Here is a brief explanation of all of the labels I'm planning on using:
Art- Art is everywhere. This is doubly true for Denton. There are galleries and brilliant artists all over the place, and in the "Art" posts I'll tell you all about them.
Denton- I love this city, and you should too. Read the "Denton" posts to find out why!
Electrical Engineering- This one is pretty self explanatory. I'll be posting interesting, electrified projects and ideas in here.
Engineering- There are many different types of engineers, but they all have at least one thing in common: "The Knack". General Engineering knowledge needs a home, and it will find it in the "Engineering" label.
Event- I'm a reporter at heart, and something is ALWAYS happening at UNT. If you're curious about recent campus events, look no further than the "Event" section.
Music- I might be exaggerating a little bit when I say it, but I feel that Denton, TX might be the most musical city in the entire world. Between the Performing Arts Center, the numerous bands and choirs on campus, and the 100+ local bands, there is always music in the air. Some of it is bound to make its way onto the blog, and I might even be responsible for the occasional chord or two.
I might add more labels as the year progresses and my blog matures, but that's all for now!
I'm Noah. I'm a musician, an artist, and an engineer. I'm working on a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and with a handful of summer classes, I'll graduate in May of 2011. This fall marks my first semester at UNT, and I adore it so far. I transferred from a much smaller school that had a good Engineering and Computer Science program, but nothing else, and I have never looked back. I'm much happier at a school filled with Artists and Scientists, Businesspersons and Philosophers, and everything in between.
I'd like to think that everyone is in between. I love my major, and I love my peers, but there's more to life than your degree plan! No one is ONLY an archaeologist or ONLY a journalist, and I am certainly not ONLY an electrical engineer. I wish I had thought of all of this sooner—I would have started at UNT! I've only been in town for six months, and I've already made a ton of friends and become involved with all sorts of organizations and clubs.
When I'm not on campus, I'm usually spending time in my room, at my desk, working on some sort of project. Lately I've been working on Audio Amplification and Distortion, Clever Furniture (Including the very desk I'm writing this on!), and various Band-Related rehearsal and creation. I grew up in a house full of music, so my hobbies largely grew from that. I don't plan on a career in music, but I have a cool band and music is fascinating as heck!
I listen to a pretty broad range of music, but most of my favorites fall under the headings of either "Indie" or "Jazz". My favorite living band is The Fiery Furnaces, and my favorite dead one is Frank Zappa and The Mothers. Both are usually too "out-there" and "noisy" for most people. It's an acquired taste. My favorite radio station is none other than UNT's own FM 88.1 KNTU. It's always commercial-free (aside from the occasional public service announcement), and it's a great way to hear music I've never heard before. Jazz prevails on 88.1, but every once in awhile they surprise me with something completely different. Sure, I could check the program schedule and figure out what to expect when, but what's the fun in that?