Back again with 365 Days of Academia
It’s been an awful time. dusts off the cobwebs around the blog Things have been rough, but I figure it’s time to try and blog regularly again.
So what’s new?
Humanoid bipedal robot for balance testing, 100% designed and built by me!
Well, I’ve finished my Master’s degree in mechanical engineering and built a whole robot — shown above — (okay well half a robot, but we one cared about the legs), I’ve moved across the country to start my PhD in biomedical engineering, one year down, four to nine left (not serious… okay maybe a little serious). I made a huge career path jump, but there is so much knowledge in the world and I really want to learn EVERYTHING. It’s hard, but I’ve learned a lot about design and control systems, so I’m ready to learn about something new. The lab I’m working in specializes in brain-machine interface systems, so this fits well with my prosthetic design ambitions and of course a perfect fit for the Lunatic Labs mission itself.
Since I’ve been here I’ve helped design and build a unique prosthetic for a child who wasn’t a good fit for other free prosthetics — see above — we’ve been finishing it up over the summer and should be delivering the final product soon (photos of the final product along with everything needed to make your own will be shared!).
It hasn’t all been success though…
I attempted my qualifying exam, unfortunately the defense portion didn’t go well. I was asked to modify my presentation and do it a second time. It wasn’t a total fail so that was good, but it wasn’t a pass either. If I had failed I would get one more attempt before I was kicked from the program. Thankfully was just asked to modify my presentation, so that is the good news. It was humbling for sure, but it’s also an opportunity for reflection and growth. To be honest, it is also the thing that precipitated my return to my blog. I’ve decided to kick off the start of the new school year with a personal project I am calling 365 Days of Academia. So without any more build up let’s talk about what that means!
The 365 Days of Academia goal
Everyday I will blog (even if it is just a short post) and cover some of the work I am doing. I may cover some goals for the day/ week/ month/ etc. and I may talk about some of the things I’ve been learning, some concepts, basically this will not only serve as a record of what I’ve been doing over the next 365 days, it will also be a notebook of sorts where I try to better understand some of the concepts and work I’m doing now. I am kicking this off officially tomorrow and calling it Day 1. I’ve created a new category and tags to make it easy to find and organize, but it won’t be hard since you should see a new post daily.
Lunatic Laboratories 
But enough about us, what about you?