Beers with Engineers

#69 – Brendan Conboy: Buffalo Engineers
The old grain elevators in Buffalo, New York are painted to look like a 6-pack of Labatt’s Blue.
Can you pronounce Scajaquada Highway in Buffalo, NY.
Where is it pop and where is it soda?
Chose engineering because it was a good way to get a job, and from a family of engineers.
Used to be fascinated by the guy cooking hot dogs.
Last eephus pitch in MLB was Oct 1, 2023.
A beginner’s engineering kit gift box contained pocket protectors and a slide rule.
Many pocket protectors are available. Leather(ish) ones here.
Rowed in high school. After playing football.
Rowing shell – any rowing boat. Rowing scull – each rower has two oars.
Calspan in Buffalo influenced both Bert and Brendan to be engineers.
Writes code for air traffic control systems.
Software testing is much more sophisticated today than years ago.
A little about altimeters and Die Hard 2.
Take any opportunity you can.
 
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#68 – Maria Shcherbakova: Brains, blood, and boats
Maria is a neuroengineer in Philadelphia, from Luxembourg
Petrichor – that smell after it rains (sometimes)
Maria likes Guinness and California cider
"Shch” in her last name stems from being born in Moscow Russia and having a Cyrillic passport.
Luxembourgers and Liechtensteiners – competitive with each other over banks and cows.
Saw her first open brain surgery at 18 – hooked her the field
Spent a summer shadowing a neurosurgeon
Created her own major at Stanford
Briefly, neuroengineers are trying to map the pathways of the brain so they can externally perturb he system to fix it. Think Neuralink
Specializes in movement disorders.
A different form of blood doping. Will it work?
Are blood donors doing it already?
PRP therapy – platelet replenishment therapy – locally promotes healing
Also used for acne
Ham sandwich – rowing term and yoga term
Good practical jokes
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Adjustable Inserts – www.bertsinserts.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

Show Notes
#67 – Rachel Cox: UFOs, aliens, and em dashes..
Engineer turned writer who considered art.
Kelly Slater is a surfer
Co-oped and worked for NASA and worked on a lunar robot
Transition to writing was gradual.
Rachel and Bert like using the em dash.
UFOs and aliens are fun to get into.
UFO or UAP? Unidentified aerial/anomalous phenomena.
Movie Arrival – the aliens look like octopi.
Cuttlefish Video
The Drake Equation
Did aliens help with the pyramids?
Grew up in Louisville but never went to the Kentucky Derby
Rachel recommends Becoming A Best Boss
Did design for color blindness
Color palette information
Bang Wong – science-based color pallettes
Martin Krzywinski – prettier than Bang Wong’s
Paul Tol – further improvement for engineers and scientists
Mitch Albom is a great writer. “Tuesdays with Morrie” and others
Rachel likes mixed-medium art.
Rachel wants to meet aliens smarter than us.
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#66 – Topher Anderson: Textiles are Everywhere
Topher is short for Christopher: Textile Topher.
FYI, Bert is short for Robert.
Likes to drink Westvleteren 12, a Belgian beer.
Warp and weft – warp is up and down and weft is weft and white
Everything is interesting if you look at it close enough.
Ropes are a type of textile.
Old mills are very nice functionally and architecturally.
Vast majority of textiles are not apparel.
Persian flaw – an intentional defect.
Skin is a bio-composite textile.
Cotton threads are stronger when wet.
Stitching is also very important.
The Wright Brothers’ mechanic was Charlie Taylor
Current favorite fibers are conductive fibers.
Smart textiles have been 5 years away for 20 years.
Interest in textiles and origami seem to be related.
Topher loves Argentine tango dancing
To reach Topher topher@textile.org, Textile.org
Bert’s Companies – www.dexterityeng.com, bertsinserts.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#65 – Jay Patel: DFV – Design for Volatility
CEO of Amtech – a family business started by his parents.
Not a beer drinker – enjoys Arnold Palmers
SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound
For college chose computer science over engineering.
Learned all about the electronics business.
Amtech builds products that build the products that you know.
Company podcast is Hardware is Forever
Apple started Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit.
Is everybody quick turn or not?
Lots of people say that – is it always true?
They like to engage before the design is locked, DFM, DFA, and DFV (design for volatility.)
BOMsense.com to check tariffs on your materials.
Just-in-time doesn’t eliminate inventory, it moves it.
Learned Five-S, Lean, and Six Sigma from Wikipedia?
We give kids agency and then we take it away.
Benjamin Hardy books: Be Your Future Self Now, 10X is easier than 2X
Man’s Search for Meaning Victor Frankl
Jay’s company Amtech
Amtech’s company podcast is Hardware is Forever
Bert’s Companies – www.dexterityeng.com, Bertsinserts.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#64 – Justin Finke: Astrophysics at the Improv
Justin works for Naval Research Laboratory, so this is the first podcast with a disclaimer.
“Ways and Means” and “Monumental” are beers from DC area breweries.
Used a telescope as a kid
Special relativity can be derived with high school math.
“Atom” by Isaac Asimov – not sci-fi
“A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking
FYI, grad school for chemistry and physics is generally free.
Big display pendulums have motors.
Buy them from Academy Pendulum Sales
Is he an astronomer, an astrophysicist, or physicist?
How old is the universe? The Hubble tension.
Did the speed of light change?
Does gravity change?
Discussing improv classes
AI – generative, at least – not affecting astrophysics too much. Yet.
Prefers putting together a talk more than giving it.
Bert lists five great things about being an engineer.
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Let Jen get rid of your pain - Improv for Pain
https://academypendulums.com/
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#63 – Amy Barrickman: “Feng Shui? No way!”
Amy studied interior design, acting, and a little improv comedy.
Likes a beer brewed with raspberries called framboise. Amy thought it was German but the internet says it is Belgian.
Who wants a Beers with Engineers recipe exchange?
Interior designer versus interior decorator.
Feng shui is still a thing, but Amy doesn’t like it.
She was an actress before being a designer.
In pharmaceutical sales for a while. Hated it!
Engineers make choices with math; designers with heart.
She wrote her book “The Living Room Design Formula” because designers are often snobbish or rude.
“Good design is what you want and good design is what feels good to you.”
A business idea (or two) shared with the world.
The open concept layout is starting to swing back to more separation.
Design is shifting from cooler colors and white to brown.
If it looks level, it’s level. Amy and Bert agree.
Designers use more math than you might expect, even pi.
Amy’s Company: https://barrickmandesign.com/
Amy’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Room-Design-Formula-Style/dp/B0DX4BK5VR  or www.lrdesignformula.com   www.gallerywalltips.com
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 

#62 – Jeff Kildow: Engineering Menaces
Jeff is a retired aerospace engineer turned author.
He writes alternate history novels.
His latest is Nazi Menace. Get it at Amazon.
As a 10-year old, sent a letter to the Northrup Institute of Technology, and got a reply.
Jack Northrup handed him his diploma.
GM and Northrup started universities to train employees.
So did Arthur D Little
Eventually went to school there after being in the Air Force.
There, they didn’t teach theory, they taught knowledge.
The Aleutian Islands were invaded during WWII.
“Baa Baa Black Sheep” 1970’s TV show.
Started writing in junior high – wasn’t very good.
Gave it go again after being disappointed with a book he read.
In “Nazi Menace”, Germans develop a heavy bomber, which can bomb New York.
American soldiers have more latitude than most.
Hierarchy is necessary…until it isn’t.
There are similarities between writing and engineering.
Some writers are planners and some are pantsers – they go be the seat of their pants.
Jeff’s novel – Nazi Menace
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#61 – Irene Chan: Planning NASA Space Flights
Irene is a flight planning engineer at a NASA supplier who drinks stout.
Teachers encouraged her to try a career in math.
Fear of gangs in East LA was real.
Spent a lot of time at libraries as a child
Both Irene and Bert read the encyclopedia for fun.
“Stand and Deliver” great movie and true story
Initially she struggled with calculus and physics in college.
Partially due to involvement in student engineering organizations, which she recommends.
Her stubbornness let her persevere.
She struggled in basic classes but excelled in high level ones.
Flight planning priorities are the humans, the vehicle, and then the mission.
Weather is main reason for scrubbing a flight.
The issue is less the flight but in the event a rescue is needed.
Is an ion engine an ion motor?
Sometimes the acronym comes first and then the acronym.
She wants NASA to resume support of STEM programs.
Do astronauts train on how to go to the bathroom in space? Probably.
A brief visit from Irene’s daughter, who likes magna-tiles and marble run.
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
French onion soup recipe - French onion soup.pdf
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".

#60 – Elliot McAllister: Butterfly net for alien microbes
Elliot McAllister, founder and CEO of Skyphos Technology in Blacksburg, Virginia, and winner of a Beers with Engineers T-shirt giveaway for being the 1,001st connection. We discuss hands on tinkering and cycling the Iditarod Trail. Engineering wise, we discuss materials science and microfluidics. Sorry, but you’ll have to listen to find out how aliens and butterfly nets fit in.
Likes Two-hearted IPA
He didn’t choose engineering, it chose him.
Elliot and Bert are both cyclists.
Elliot wanted to be a bike designer
Worked on an all-wheel drive bike.
Raced a bike on the Iditarod trail.
Story about 1988 Giro d’Italia, “The Day the Strong Men Cried”
Materials are always important.
Got the idea for his company Skyphos during a class in microfluidics.
Similar to electronics but typically much smaller volumes.
Why sneakers squeak.
Elliot first saw ET while wearing a red sweatshirt.
National Outdoor Leadership School in Pacific Northwest
Volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and uses the Habitat Restore
Worked a few years as a roofer.
Hiking and skiing with his 3 kids.
Analysis of warmest sleeping positions
Elliot’s company - www.skyphos.tech
Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com
Merchandise - www.beerswithengineers.shop 
 
Hat tip to Joseph McDade for free use of his music "Mirrors".