Neuromorphic Engineering Workshop

I am looking forward to the next week. This weekend is the begining of the 2010 Neuromorphic Engineering Workshop in Telluride, CO. I have been wanting to attend this workshop for a couple of years now, and I have finally gotten the chance. I've looked over the schedule and it is pretty busy. I am glad because I hope to get alot out of this and meet the leaders in the field. I am also excited about seeing Telluride. I have never been there before and my boss tells me it is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado.

One of the aspects of this conference I am most interested in the opportunity to learn about analog VLSI. There is a part of me that laments at some level that we live in a digital world. Mostly because I only find digital technology so interesting. It is obviously usefull, but for me it is aesthetically ugly. I personally find analog electronics more interesing. You feel like you are really buidling something physical when you design in analog. I am kind of a hands-on guy so this apeals to me. You are right there staring at the physics. The problem is implementing analog can be a pain for a variety of reasons. Analog VLSI looks like a possibility to make analog scale more easily. Especially during prototyping. I am really excited about the possibility of implementing very low power sensor nodes using analog VLSI. The possibilities are really exciting.

If you are interested in learning more about neuromorphic engineering this link will take you to the workshop website.

Telluride Conference

Nick Smith Goes Home

Today I found out that my old friend from CSU died today from bacterial meningitis. This guys was a great person and he really knew how to run a lathe. We worked for thousands of hours together at CSU our senior year and got to know one another very well. Please pray for his family. His wife is six months pregnant.

Here are some stories about Nick.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/23998107/index.html

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100622/UPDATES01/100622012/Meningitis%20claims%20Nick%20Smith%20%20hockey%20player%20and%20soon-to-be%20father

More than just a vise

I have been wanting to post the progress of my efforts for quite some time now. This is my first attempt to chronical my work. Right now I am visiting Philadelphia, PA. While I was here I visited the Museum of Art and came across the vise you see here. This vise struck me as the best fusion of art and functionality I have ever seen. Generally a vise is a somewhat blunt industrial item. The craftsman who made this item took the time to carve a face into his casting tools and made an item that most people would consider unsophistaced into a work of art. This vise illustrates the boldness I want to capture in my own work, and inspire in the students I mentor.