Why I entered Particle Science & Technology (continues)

Dr. Brian Scarlett passed away on 2004 (send me an email if you want a special paper on him). I remember the day he announced he was going to go under treatment for cancer (2003), it was a surprise to me, but even more of a surprise that he passed away so quickly. I had just come on board the previous year and started working on photoelastic methods to determine stresses at the bottom of a photoelastic plate using a Jenike tester.
I was able to find an undergrad student to help me set up a polariscope, we were able to take some pictures, but the stresses were so small that the material barely registered something. I was able to find a manufacturer of photelastic material that had a very low Young's modulus, but from the preliminary tests it was obvious that determining the stresses from the images was going to be a tough task.
It is interesting to find that Dr. Scarlett had a great faith on photoelasticity, he conducted doctoral thesis on its application to powder flow, but for what we wanted to do, it was not going to work as expected.
I love optical methods for stress analysis, I would have stayed in the field if it weren't because of the large amount of people already in it, it so competitive it is hard to make any noticeable contribution. I especially like Moire and Speckle interferometry, using light to measure stresses is really exciting. At that time I knew I had to find a field where I could make a contribution and some impact. I had to put on hold my dreams of working on optical methods for stress analysis.
I am proud of having worked for him, I talked to him a couple of times and he was a man who could carry any conversation in any topic. He loved his students and he truly cared for them, I miss him, things would have been a little different for me if he was living today.

Why I entered Particle Science & Technology

This has been simply an amazing adventure. I am a mechanical engineer by training, but my Ph.D. will be in chemical engineering. I remember my Dad suggesting me entering chemical engineering when I was deciding my major in college. Like many sons, I decided to go against his suggestion and entered ME. Things have come full circle, and now I am doing exactly what he wanted me to do at the beginning. But I also want to do it to honor his memory, my Dad passed away last September 2010.
I finished my MS in MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) with the IMG (Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group) at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (f.k.a. AEMeS) at the University of Florida. Just as another recession (2001-2003) was sweeping the country, and many people were struggling finding work, all this made my employment prospects pretty gloomy, so I decided to start a Ph.D. I would have love to stay at IMG, but there was no room for me. I started looking for another advisor at MAE. I talked to three professors and only Dr. Nicolaie D. Cristescu promised to think about it. At that time, I decided to join a group of friends in a trip to Peru, the experience was amazing. I still feel the peace of walking through the Andes mountains, hearing the water dripping from the glaciers and walking the steps the Incas walked centuries ago, I will never forget that visit.
A few days before coming back, I received an email from Dr. Cristescu asking me to come to his office because he might have an opportunity at PERC (Particle Engineering Research Center). After I arrived, the next Monday I went to his office and he walked me to the PERC building and introduced me to Dr. Brian Scarlett and Dr. Kerry Johanson. I remembered going into Dr. Scarlett's office for an interview with both of them, both made lots of questions about my background in optics, especially photoelasticity.
Next week Dr. Cristescu offered me the position and there I went into Particle Technology and Science.