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My first paper on 3D printing is published

Before leaving Chicago State University in 2017, I took a sabbatical to explore a very different avenue of research from which I was originally trained.  I became interested in learning how digital fabrication tools, such as 3D printing, can be used to create inexpensive or customized scientific instrumentation that could be used for education or specialized research applications.  Now at The College at Brockport, I’ve finally put together my first 3D printed scientific instrument, which was recently published in the journal HardwareX.  The article, OMIS: The Open Millifluidic Inquiry System for small scale chemical synthesis and analysis, is open access, which means that anyone can read and download the article by heading here.

I’d like to think that when people do something important (like publish an article) they get interviewed.  Unfortunately, it’s that time of the semester where students are so stressed out, the last thing they want to do is talk to professors about anything other than “what’s on the test.”  So, if I were to give an interview, here’s the questions I’d answer (and ask) about the paper.

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Spooky droids

Knitted BB-8 and BB-9E are ready for some treats.

As you know, Rozenn has done a most excellent job at adding some fiber-art-droid-designs to my office decorations.  She also likes to make sure they are appropriately dressed for the season.  This year, BB-8 and BB-9E are ready for Trick-or-Treat with custom costumes (and matching candy bags).  Remember, if you let your droid go trick or treating, make sure they only get capacitors and ICs for treats; they are allergic to chocolate.

Show your spirit – periodically

It’s Homecoming weekend at Brockport and Mandy, the voice-activated periodic table is showing off her school pride with green and gold periodic trends!

The four blocks of the periodic table.

OK, perhaps her colors are a little bit off, but give her a break; she’s a periodic table for crying out loud.  Does your periodic table have this much school pride?

Atomic weight – green is light and gold is heavy.

 

Periodic pillows

 

Rozenn had bought some awesome periodic table fabric (which I got for my birthday a few months back) and she finally had the time to complete a pair of periodic-table pillows for my office.  They are awesome.

There’s still plenty more fabric, so I suspect there will be another set for my home office as well.

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Mathematica catches the heat

I recently purchased the AMG8833 thermal camera breakout from Adafruit.  It’s an 8×8 pixel array of sensors that can be used to incorporate thermal vision into a project.  I’m interested in monitoring a thermoelectric cooler.  Adafruit provides a number of examples on how to interface the breakout with a Raspberry Pi or display connected to an Arduino.  I wanted to try a different interface and see if I could control it with Mathematica.  It took me longer to write this post than it did to write the software.

Temperature of 30×30 mm2 Peltier cooling device being measured with an AMG8833.

Read on if you’re interested in learning more

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