September 28 Meeting: Summary

We continued introducing the Arduinos this week. Here are some of the slides we covered. The complete collection of slides can be seen on the page "Arduino Intro".

 

September 28 Meeting: Preview, Part 2

We will be voting on the T-shirt designs. All the submissions can be seen above ("T-Shirt").

September 28 Meeting: Preview, Part 1

This week we will continue with the introduction of the Arduino and the sample circuits.

September 21 Meeting: Summary

We started the Arduinos this week. Here are some of the slides we covered.

September 21 Meeting: Preview, Part 3

For future reference, SLAC tours can have up to 25 people, and one person can register 4 people.

Here is the information they require:

September 21 Meeting: Preview, Part 2

For the people who wanted to attend the SLAC tours in October, you must register on Friday, September 21, 9:00 am.

	Friday, Oct 5, 3:30pm	Friday, Oct 19, 3:30pm
Primary Driver	Chris	Scott
Secondary Driver	Ivonne	Justin
Person #3	Juniper	Taniela
Person #4	Isaac	Pedrum

 To register, go to http://www.slac.stanford.edu/. Click on Public Events > Tours of SLAC.

September 21 Meeting: Preview, Part 1

We will be introducing the Arduinos. If you do not have any experience with programming or circuit building, please look at the page "Arduino Intro" above for general information about parts and programming. We will be performing eight sample circuits; those are listed there as well.

September 14 Meeting: Summary

John's talk went well. He mentioned cleanrooms used for semiconductor manufacturing.To learn more, here is a view inside Intel's new Arizona microprocessor plant:

September 14 Meeting: Preview, Part 2

We are getting closer to starting the Arduinos. If you do not have any experience with programming or circuit building, please look at the page "Arduino Intro" above for general information about parts and programming. We will be performing eight sample circuits; those are listed there as well.

September 14 Meeting: Preview, Part 1

This week we will hear about John's educational history, work at Nordson MARCH, and what he looks for in an engineer.

About Nordson MARCH:
"Nordson MARCH is the global leader in plasma cleaning and treatment equipment, and plasma applications technology. The company has been engaged in the plasma equipment business for more than 25 years and has broad experience in the areas of advanced semiconductor packaging and assembly, wafer level packaging (WLP), printed circuit board manufacturing, life science & medical device assembly, and various large-scale industrial applications."

"Nordson MARCH's ProVIA™ System is specifically configured to meet the demands of today's high throughput PCB manufacturing operations. Plasma treatment uniformity is a key operational feature in desmear and etchback applications for HDI, flexible and rigid circuit board manufacturing technologies."

"Video showing the new FlexTRAK™-WF plasma treatment system, a low-cost, cassette-based automated plasma treatment system that handles five wafer sizes with minimal hardware change-over. An integrated robot and aligner automate the processing of a wide variety of wafers and other flat substrates. The system offers high throughput, ranging up to 50 wafers per hour, while maintaining superior plasma uniformity for ashing, etching, and descum for wafer level packaging and general wafer-based processing applications."

September 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 2

We voted on attending the SLAC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory tours.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is having an open house on Saturday, October 13, from 10am to 3pm.

SLAC has tours on Friday, October 5 and 19, at 1:30pm and 3:30pm.

September 7 Meeting: Summary, Part 1

Jon's talk went very well. People had a lot of questions about internships. Hopefully, next week, we can answer any additional questions people might have.

Jon mentioned Tactus's technology being presented at the Society for Information Display (SID). Here are two videos about their technology at this convention.

SID 2012, Boston:

SID Mashable:

September 7 Meeting: Preview, Part 2

Many members have asked about tours and field trips. 

Here are some ideas we are thinking about:
1. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is home to a two-mile linear accelerator—the longest in the world. Originally a particle physics research center, SLAC is now a multipurpose laboratory for astrophysics, photon science, accelerator and particle physics research. Public tours are offered on the 1^st and 3^rd Friday of each month at 1:30 pm, and 3:30pm. Registration opens on the 3rd Friday of the previous month at 9:00 am. Each tour lasts approximately 1.5 hours and includes a visit to the lab's 2-mile linear accelerator. Next tours are on October 5 and 19.

2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Berkeley Lab is a member of the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science. It is managed by the University of California (UC) and is charged with conducting unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Tours begin at 10:00 AM, last approximately 2.5 hours, and are offered to the public one Friday per month.  Next tours are on Sept 14 and Nov 16.

3. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

Main Site: Tours of the Main Site offer visitors a view into some of our exciting state-of-the-art research programs and facilities. Tour stops may include: National Ignition Facility, the world’s largest and most energetic laser; the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center; and the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Tours are conducted on Tuesdays at 8:30 a.m. and last 3–1/2 hours. Tour participants must be at least 18 years of age. The maximum number of visitors per tour is 14.

Site 300: Site 300 is a 7,000 acre compound used by the Laboratory for non–nuclear explosives testing. Site 300 tours are scheduled as needed and as resources allow. A minimum of six visitors is normally required to conduct a tour, and the participants meet in the Site 300 main parking lot, off Corral Hollow Road. The tour involves a significant amount of travel by van through rolling hills on windy roads. Once the driving tour starts, there are no restroom facilities. For your comfort and safety, please wear flat–sole, closed–toe and closed–heel shoes. The maximum number of visitors per tour is 13.

 

 

4. NASA Ames Rocket Building

Interested in how things get into space? Come to the NASA Ames Visitor Center on Saturday, September 22, between 8:30 and 10 a.m. to build your own rocket and see what it takes to launch. Volunteers from LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, will be available to help guests assemble their own rockets. After passing a safety check, rockets will be approved to launch from the Moffett Federal Airfield at NASA's Ames Research Center near Mountain View, Calif. The rocket models and first engine are free; however, due to time and resource limitations, this event is limited to the first 50 registered guests. After the launch, rockets can be taken home.

September 7 Meeting: Preview, Part 1

This week will hear about Jon's internship experience at Tactus Technology.

About Tactus Technology:
"What if buttons could morph out of the surface of your device? Tactus Technology has developed a new tactile user interface for touchscreen devices that does exactly that. Tactus provides a new dimension to touchscreens by enabling real, physical buttons that rise up from the surface on demand, and then recede back into the screen, leaving a perfectly flat, transparent surface when gone."