Career

Posted on July 5th, 2009

Hello! I’m Mike. I am a dedicated thinking, an engineer in progress, a developer at heart, and a want to be scientist. I am currently studying Optical Engineering at the University of Arizona. I still have 2 years before I complete my bachelors of science degree.

This summer, starting May 2009, I have been hired on as an undergrad research assistant for the Center of Gama Ray Imaging. I will be re-programming and structuring some of their robotics. I also hope to learn much more about Matlab and CUDA, using GPU’s or a Cluster of Playstations for supercomputing, and how optics pertains to the medical field.

I’m also involved in educational outreach the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). I work on a team of educational scientists and students. We help underprivileged kids learn more about science: Astronomy and Optics related. I am working on an astrophotography project in which my research would help many young scientists learn how to take good pictures of astronomical objects such as: The Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn.

One of the projects that I take pride in happens to be mentoring a FIRST Robotics Team at Flowing Wells High School. I am the Robotics Coach, which is a position much like a High School Teacher, but without the longer hours, lesson plans, dreaded freshman, etc. This list could go on! But it doesn’t, because I work with the creme of the crop, I help empower some of the smartest students in the school. This will be my fifth year on the team and I’m excited for the challenges that FIRST gives us this year.

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