STEM on FIRE

Latest Episodes:

57: Harness that FASTER than normal ADHD brain, it’s a gift-Alex Nigh and Peter Shankman Sep 23, 2018

Show notes

This episode is different than the normal flow – we delve in a bit on how to harness the gift of having an ADHD brain. The ADHD brain is faster than normal and it is an advantage, not a deficit once you learn how to harness the power.

Alex Nigh is a Junior in college studying Computer Engineering and delves into some techniques he needed to implement to be successful – has been working to harness since 3rd grade:

Going to the library to study for 2 hours vs going to the library to study and learn was a big difference. Also you should probably triple the amount of time you think it is going to take to get your homework done and learn it.

He Needed to develop a ritual to get ready to go and study and also found that only bringing one subject along so not tempted to move onto another subject that might be easier was key. He also needed to find a place with very little distractions and listens to piano music on a good pair of noise cancelling headphones. The phone! that has to stay out of site, in a backpack in airplane mode – within 5 minutes he can forget it is there and now your are in the zone to study!

Furthermore When you go and study, don’t go with a specific time in mind, go with the intent to learn the material you need to learn.

In his internships, he always writes down a goal and a to-do list for the next day and follows a routine during the day so as not to get distracted.

Peter Shankman is a multiple book author, speaker and entrepreneur, you can find Peter at Peter Shankman
His Faster Than Normal ADHD Podcast.

Peter has has 4 rules:
1) Exercise – that provides the dopamine and serotonin he needs to get through the day.
2) Eliminate choice – and make sure he can get to the end result as quick as possible.
3) Sleep – needs at least 7 hours.
4) Dietary – limits carbs and eats a lot of veggies and meat.

Elimination of choice and Exercise are probably the 2 most important items.
Also you need to be aware of triggers and avoid those triggers.

His “Faster Than Normal Book” which Alex and I listend to on a long drive. Highly recommend this if you are a parent or student harnessing your ADHD.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

56: Mechanical Engineer-Being able to see it, made it the right choice-Bianca McCartt Sep 16, 2018

Show notes

Bianca McCart earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechancial Engineering from The University of Kentucky and is currently a technical career development leader and always involved with engineering.

As a junior in high school she had no idea about engineering as a career and really learned about it her senior year in high school, she always thought she would be a horse trainer or artist. She is a very visual person and hence mechanical engineering with being able to see it and put it together made it the right choice.

She worked in Turbine Engine Airfoil design and moved into a production work then into program management and then back into design, she has evolved her career over the years.

She is really fired up about hybrid electric aircraft engine and going forward she feels you need a somewhat diverse background and programming skills are always valuable.

Early in her career she was invited to be a mentee with one of the chief engineers along with another senior engineer and received different advice. The ah-ha movement was she realized there is not one right answer, so a take away is ask the same question to multiple people.

Best advice is to not get too attached to your plan, important to make a plan but things will change and you will need to adjust that plan.

One of her favorite internet resources is Quora.

The books Bianca recommends are The Broken Ladder
by Keith Payne and Wild Ones by Jon Mooallem.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

55: Industrial Engineer-Without a mentor in college? Who knows! Jessica Rannow Sep 09, 2018

Show notes

Jessica Rannow earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently is a District Operations Manager at AmericsourceBergen which is a pharmaceutical company and heavily involved with SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and is a past president.

Industrial engineering is about process improvement and every industry from banking to parametrical companies needs this and Jessica’s niche is in the distribution of products and has worked to design distribution facilities.

At business camp (what she was thinking in high school), most of the CEOs of companies coming to talk to them were engineers (not business majors) so she went and looked into Engineering and saw that Industrial was kind of a mix of Engineering and Business. There a so many different areas you can take Industrial Engineering.

In high school she was a straight A student but college calculus was challenging and thought she was going to have to drop out of engineering and become a gym teacher. Her mentor in college helped her through that, it’s ok to have a C in calculus and not have a 4.0 in college. Without that mentor-ship through SWE, she would have changed majors. When you get to college find a network of support regardless of your major.

On her first review at work, her manager wrote, not everything has to be perfect – spent too much time worrying about getting it 100% and many times 99.8% is probably just fine.

She recommends the book Wonder by R.J. Palacis.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

54: Computer Engineer-stop worrying about what you don’t know and just start-Chris St. John Sep 02, 2018

Show notes

Chris St. John earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and a Masters in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from The University of Michigan. Chris is currently a Field Applications Engineer for a large semiconductor company.

Even though his degrees are in Electrical Engineering – his passion is in computer engineering. Chris provides his insights into which path to pursue for computer engineering. Today Chris is focused on reconfigurable hardware in the form of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). As a Field Applications Engineer (FAE) you are not always behind the desk, you are typically our working with customers, solving problems in their labs.

He is fired up about where computing is going to go and where the next generation will take it. And Chris’ ah-ha moment is that he finally needed to go to the professors office hours – stop worrying about what you don’t know and just pick a place to start and move forward. Some advice is don’t be afraid to fail and absolutely develop those study skills and grit!

An attribute for his success is he likes to go for a win-win outcome.

A book recommended by Chris is Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

53: Mathematics and Computer Information Systems and Data Viz-Alli Torban Aug 26, 2018

Show notes

Alli Torban earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Minor in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University and is working in predictive analytics and data viz(visualization). She is also host of the Data Viz Today Podcast.

Computer information systems is more geared around how to use computers on the business side vs computer science would be more about the algorithms and really digging into programming.

State of Place is a start-up company and what she really loves about it is she is able to do many different functions within the company. Her expertise is analyzing data and presenting in a way that is meaningful to people.

She is really fired up about data viz and turning data into action. If you are more on the artistic side look at Info Graphics.

Getting through college, she wished she would have paid attention to what really grabbed her attention in class, i.e. I could do this all day long! Listen to the inner voice and follow it, it could be your passion.

Alli does some mentoring and some advice she has is the most fun people to be around are those that pour 100% effort into whatever it is they are doing, no matter how boring it might be. Some of the best advice is “liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it”. Also remember that no one owes you an opportunity and a habit is to Timebox your tasks.

A favorite resource is a twitter account @becomngdatasci and a book is Data Points by Nathan Yau.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

52: Struggled With Depression; Seek Help and Get a Plan, Electrical / Physics Engineering-Will Knox Aug 19, 2018

Show notes

Will Knox earned an Electrical Engineering Degree and an Engineering Physics Degree from UW-Plateville and is a Power Supply design engineer at Extreme Engineering Solutions. He really likes the Analog (vs Digital) design aspects as it involves a lot of math to keep the power supply stable.

He applied for college without a particular goal in mind and just went to college to learn things. About half way through the semester he gradually stopped going to classes and the last half of the semester did no go to a single class and basically flunked out of college. He had applied and was accepted into Americorps starting in January through the summer. Will then started in college again the following fall and retook the classes and was able to earn a 4.0. Howerver a couple semesters later again stopped going to class and a friend recommended he go see the counseling services on campus. He was able to work though some classes with in-completes over the summer and then worked with an adviser to come up with a plan. The focus and plan really helped him to stay on task and in class and drive towards a degree.

He recommends having a plan but when you notice yourself getting less interested in that plan and not wanting to go to class go seek help immediately with the campus counseling service or your favorite professor. He also recommends that you find a good mentor as well and don’t be embarrassed about being depressed or asking for help.

Will likes Stack Overflow and books he recommends is “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card and “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

51: PHD in Electrical Engineering and MSOE College Professor-Dr. Eric Durant Aug 12, 2018

Show notes

Dr. Eric Durant earned a PHD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering– MSOE and is currently a professor at MSOE

Dr. Durant has done research in Genetic Algorithms which is a form of Artificial Intelligence and adaptive signal processing focusing on applying mathematics in engineering. He is now digging into Deep Learning for Audio Processing.

Going into college he did not plan to get his PHD or become a professor, he got involved in digital signal processing in undergrad via elective courses and learned that it was an area he could learn more about during graduate school and went on to pursue his PHD. The standard advice is to get your PHD from a different university than your undergrad, but not a requirement by any means.

Many times as a professor, your summers are open for you to work in industry, do research, your summers can be very flexible. MSOE is very focused on teaching and is not an R1 Research University – something to ask when you are taking your college tours to make sure the school is a good fit for you.

He is really fired up about deep learning as an engineering tool and especially how it applies to signal processing – this is a whole new realm.

Ah-ha moment – as a sophomore in college struggling with an assembly language problem in lab, he learned how to debug problems as he struggled to figure out why it was not working. He just stuck with it and finally figured out the small problem he had and that was a very powerful moment. But some advice is when you are not making progress take a break and give your mind a rest and then come back an hour or so later and if still stuck ask a friend or a professor.

He tries to think outside the box, but be you need to be very laser focused on a task but then be able to break away. He likes Feedly to get access to RSS feeds and a book recommendation is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

50: Biology and PHD in Neuroscience researching addiction-Megan Slaker Aug 05, 2018

Show notes

Megan Slaker earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Bethany Luthern College and a PHD in Neuroscience from Washington State University and is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medical College of Wisconsin focusing on addiction.

Megan says that a Biology degree is one of the most versatile degrees there is as it sets you up for many different career paths and she has taken the research path in addiction. She is trying to figure out what is happening in the brain when there is an addiction.

Every day is different, doing behavior experiments, cellular investigation, just depends on the day. If you are interested in checking out Megan’s lab in person, please connect with her on linked in: Megan Slaker. Her lab is in the Milwaukee, WI area.

She loves that we don’t know much about the brain so there are so many things to learn and it is very exciting! Two things that can really help the brain are exercise and sleep.

An ah-ha moment was when she realized that she was suffering from impostor syndrome at the start of graduate school and thought she could not cut it and was overwhelmed. Slowly over time she overcame it by just taking deep breadths and just going for it but taking baby steps.

She wishes in college that she would have tried more new things, it is a great time to explore. Some great advice is if you don’t take time to take care of you, no one will.

Megan really likes twitter and you can follow her at @neuro_meg Neuro_Meg

A book Megan suggests is 168 hours by Laura Vanderkam and for fiction the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

49: Non-traditional route to computer science PHD – Dr. Witty of UNL Jul 29, 2018

Show notes

Dr. Witty earned a PHD in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and prior to that was a researcher at Iowa State University.

Dr. Witty grew up in Thailand and has had many jobs prior to becoming a professor, he worked in restaurants, as a mechanic, and as a translator and speaks Thai and English. One of Dr. Witty’s core strengths is always being curious on how things works.

His undergraduate degree is in Philosophy and after buying a $3000 computer in 1994, he decided he wanted to learn how they worked so he took a class in Computer Architecture, specifically for what he wanted to know and that got him hooked. He had no real background in programming languages and was difficult and challenging. He received a lot of mentorship and guidance from Dr. Morris Chang, a professor at the University of South Florida. One of the main reasons Dr. Witty got his PHD is that he likes to educate people.

What really has Dr. Witty fired up is AI and now having compute power to really implement the dreams of AI.

Many time students come into college with one idea and then end up changing, college allows you to change. Many students lack clarity on what they want, but don’t quit college because there are classes you don’t like it helps to build who you are. If you decide to get your masters, one thing that is different is all the students there tend to be very smart and one of the main differences between grad students is some have perseverance and grit and major challenges do not get them down, and that is a critical trait to be successful.

Dr. Witty’s best advice is to have clarity in what you do and a personal habit for success is being detailed orientated.
His favorite phone app is YouTube and the book he recommends is Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

48: During college realized he did not want to be a traditional Aerospace engineer-Hai Chen Jul 22, 2018

Show notes

Hai Chen earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas.

In Aerospace Engineering you learn a lot about structures, mechanics, dynamics, fluid dynamics to name a few. From a career perspective opportunities exist is companies in Aerospace, defense contractor, Boeing but any company that needs fluid flow engineers like automotive.

Hai did multiple internships as a traditional engineer but realized through those internships he really liked engaging with people and building social environments and being able to solve problems on a larger scale and realized after graduation he did not want to be a traditional engineer but still wanted to leverage his engineering degre. So he joined an international automation company and ran sales and consulted.

His area of expertise now and something he really enjoys is community building and driving growth and feels the world is hungry for authentic connection and communication with each other.

Talking with mentors and peers and what he calls recovering engineers he figured out that you can turn your STEM degree into an amazing career and he would have not taken a different path knowing what he knows now, he would go again for engineering vs a business or marketing degree.

He recommends getting into internships as early as you can to get the real world experience and moving from college into your career you have to be hungry to learn, advance, and have humility.

Book recommendation is “You Are Not So Smart” David Mcraney.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible

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