I’ve been unbelievably busy over the past couple weeks. Last Thursday my boss approached me and asked if I could work over the weekend. He wanted to complete and submit a grant by the deadline (Monday at 5pm). Scientific research grants are not easy to prepare. ~40 pages of forms to fill out, biographies to design for each of the lab workers, budget appropriation plans, animal handling protocol approval forms, plus 12 pages of scientific dialogue explaining the experiment. Now, I know that it may not sound like much, but trust me – it’s a very dense (11 and 9pt Arial font, single spaced) paper which takes about 2.5 hours for me to read from start to finish. Being the only native English speaker in the laboratory, I’m expected to assist in the polishing of its dialogue, as well as thoroughly evaluate its scientific content and offer suggestions. To make a long story short, I worked really hard (really long days) on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to accomplish this. Monday afternoon when it was done (at about 4pm) I went home and collapsed in exhaustion. I don’t know how my boss does it! He worked on it far more than I did, and over that weekend he didn’t sleep much at all. Anyway, in exchange for my over-weekend work I got Tuesday and Wednesday off.
So, what did you do on your mid-week weekend? Well, I knew in advance that I’d have two days to bask in freedom and to do whatever I wanted. I prepared ahead of time by ordering a small handful (I think 4?) of ATMEL AVR type ATTiny2313 chips from Digi-Key at $2.26 per chip. I know I could have gotten better deals elsewhere “Like $1.88 per chip from RoboticsWorld) but the truth is that I had a random assortment of items I wanted to buy, and although all these different companies offered them, I feel I saved in the long run by ordering everything from a single source, cutting down on shipping costs. I also was impressed by the delivery time! I got my boxes in the mail on Monday. Way better (and cheaper) than ordering from the UK or Hong Kong.
The first thing I did with these chips was try to program them. Unlike the embarrassingly-easy PICAXE chips which can be programmed a form of BASIC cod from 2 wires of a serial port, the AVR series of chips are usually programmed from assembly-level code. Thankfully, C code can be converted to equivalent ASM (thanks to AVR-GCC) and loaded onto these chips. The result is a much faster and more powerful coding platform than the PICAXE chips. PICAXE chips are great for rapid development or for a starting platform for microcontroller education, but I feel that I’m ready to tackle something new. Anyway, I built a straight-through parallel programmer for my ATTiny2313 chips. It was based upon the dapa configuration and connects to the appropriate pins of the ATTiny 2313. However I would recommend that you be safe (protect your parallel port and microcontrollers) by installing the proper resisters (~1k?) between the devices, but I didn’t do this. No no. I live on the wild side. I eat danger for breakfast.
I decided to dive right in to the world of digital RF transmission and should probably go to jail for it. I blatantly violated FCC regulations and simply wired my microcontroller to be able to control the power level given to a 3.579545 MHz oscillator. Check out the circuit. The antenna is the copper wire sticking vertically out of the breadboard.
These crystals release wide bands of RF not only near the primary frequency (F), but also on the harmonic frequencies (F*n where n=1,2,3…). I was able to pick up the signal on my (uber-old) scanner at its 9th harmonic (32.215905 MHz). Supposedly the harmonic output power is inversely proportional to n. Therefore the frequency I’m listening to represents only a fraction of the RF power the crystal is putting out at its primary frequency. Unfortunately the only listening device I have (currently) is the old scanner, which can only listen above 30 mhz.
Remember when I talked about the illegal part? Yeah, I detected harmonic signals being emitted way up into the high 100s of MHz. I don’t think it’s a big deal because I doubt the signal is getting very far, but I’m always concerned about irritating people (Are people trying to use Morse code at one of the frequencies? Am I jamming my neighbors’ TV reception?) so I don’t keep it on long. Once I get some more time, I’ll build the appropriate receiver circuits (I have another matched crystal) and install a low-pass filter (to eliminate harmonics) and maybe even get a more appropriate radio license (I’m still only technician). But for now, this is a proof-of-concept, and it works. Check out the output of the scanner.
Something I struggled with for half an hour was how to produce a tone with a microcontroller and the oscillator. Simply supplying power to the oscillator produces a strong RF signal, but there is no sound to it. It’s just full quieting when it’s on, and static noise when it’s off. To produce an AM tone, I needed amplitude modulation. I activated the oscillator by supplying power from the microcontroller with one pin (to get it oscillating), and fed it extra juice in the form of timer output from another pin. The fluctuation in power to the oscillator (without power-loss) produced a very strong, loud, clear signal (horizontal lines). I wrote code to make it beep. Frequency can be adjusted by modifying the timer output properties. The code in the screenshot is very primitive, and not current (doesn’t use timers to control AM frequency), but it worked. I’m sure I’ll write more about it later.
Although I’ve done a lot of random things over the years, I have to say CrazyTerabyte gets the cake. Maybe I’m being a little over-dramatic, but the truth is that while stumbling around the Internet this morning I came across First contact with ATmega8 microcontroller – part 2 in which a small circuit was held together by hot glue! [pictured] I saw this and my mouth dropped open. “That’s amazing!” It’s so simplistic, so rapid-development-style, so convenient, so shotty – it’s the very embodiment of the spirit of ghettorigging! For what it’s worth CrazyTerabyte, thank you, and I love you. You have inspired me to go home and make all of my new circuits out of hot glue. No more perf boards for me!!! (No, seriously, you think I’m joking, I’m not lol). Perf boards are great for fancy stuff, but what the heck have I ever made that was fancy? Exactly. Ghaw, I can’t wait to go home, fire up the glue gun, and make some popsicle stick houses, perhaps somehow incorporating circuitry, but I’ll figure that out when I get there…
Update: After posting this article I continued to google around for “hot glue circuit” and was amazed at the number of people used hot glue in their circuitry, 99% of which used it for terrible purposes!!! Usually they’re totally new to the world of electronics or solder and actually think that hot glue is actual glue. Hot glue is just plastic with a low melting point. It has no adhesive properties! In the image above, it’s perfect for locking resisters into place. It encompasses them all around and holds them together. The connections between the components are soldered and well-soldered at that. A poor solder joint is bad whether hot glue is there or not. Hot glue should only be used for its gross structural properties when it completely envelopes electronic components. Applying hot glue to only one side of a circuit is structurally ridiculous, but you wouldn’t believe how many people (on google imagesearch) do this! For example, check out Dr. Keith Wiley’s page where he used hot glue to fix wires to a circuit board in a quickcam [pictured below]. (btw: I didn’t know he had a Ph.D. in computer science until this moment – now I’m a little intimidated – but I’m going to hold my ground here.)
What exactly are the structural properties of this plastic? How is this benefiting the connection again? IMHO, the only thing hot glue would do when applied to a single side of a circuit is to increase the likelihood that it takes components off with it when it starts to peel away! If that weren’t ridiculous enough, look (on the next page, bottom link of his site) how the same guy uses hot glue to go over connections he soldered on the bottom of a perf board. Why? Why? Why? [buries head in hands].
This practice is amazingly popular on the internet and it scares me. Is there more to this that I don’t know? Am I stupid for thinking that applying hot glue to a single side of a circuit board is a bad idea? Am I arrogant to say so aloud?
I successfully created a speaker/microphone/transmit button circuit for the puxing 777 which probably works for all puxing radios. Instead of simply using circuits found on other websites (always for other radios), I decided to reverse-engineering an earphone/microphone headset that came with the radio to determine how it worked. I can’t claim that I’m an expert in electronics theory, but I can say that I faithfully rebuilt the circuitry within the factory-shipped headset and it worked. The result allows me to leave my handheld radio in its charger while casually listening/transmitting with a button that I made instead of having to reach around and awkwardly squeeze the transmit button on the side of the radio. Once again, I built this circuit and it was successful for me, but there may still be a better way to do it.
The microphone is a 20-cent electret microphone with no special modifications. The speaker I used is a standard 8ohm loudspeaker with no special modifications. The switch is a keyboard-style (push-to-talk) switch, and the capacitor I used is good for 10nF.
If you have any ideas for improvements, let me know! I’ll post some photos once I have my completed little “base station” set up. My ultimate goal is to turn an el-cheapo handheld VHF radio into a decent desktop transceiver by combining it with a nice antenna (located on a balcony at 30ft) and a convenient, easy-to-use switches/buttons/microphone/speaker/etc on a desktop panel.
Over the last couple weeks whenever I had the time I’d work on creating a little DIY morse code keyer. After 6 designs (whoa!) I came up with the winner. The youtube video describes it all I guess. Basically it just uses a bar of aluminum which rocks on a metal pin. Thumb-screws on each side of the balance point (fulcrum?) can be adjusted to modulate the distance the paddle has to go down to be activated, and how high the paddle goes up when released. A couple springs (one pull-type and one push-type) help give it a good bounce between keys. Two potentiometers (knobs) control volume and frequency. I especially like the ability to control the frequency! A capacitor inline with the speaker helps smooth the output a bit too. It’s not professional, but hey – for a couple bucks of parts I made a functional keyer and had a blast doing it. Now I guess I should learn Morse code…
Yes I’ve taken yet another plunge into the geek world by becoming a licensed amateur radio operator. My wife and I both took our technician exam last week (and passed), and this morning I discovered that our call signs have been processed. I’m KJ4LDF, she’s KJ4LDG. I’m a little disappointed that my call sign has an “F” in it. On the air, “F” and “S” sound similar, so I’m more likely to have people asking me to repeat it. The phonetics are Kilo, Juliet, Four, Lima, Delta, Foxtrot. Foxtrot! How lame is that? [sighs] Then let’s go to acronyms. LDF… “long distance fun”? Catchy and clever, but very gay sounding. [sighs again]. Either way, I’m glad I’ve been added to the database, and am now legally able to begin broadcasting on VHF/UHF. Beacon stuff (like I wrote about in the last post) would best involve lower frequencies, which would mean I have to take another exam to get a higher license class. Anyway, I’d better get back to work. Just wanted to share.
I, Scott Harden, in my infinite restlessness and my limited sanity, hereby declare my next [potential] project. The idea is still in the earliest stages of development, and I have much to research (for example, I don’t even know if it’s legal) but it’s a cool idea and I want to try it. I know I’ll learn a lot from the project, and that’s what’s important, right? So, here’s the idea. I want to build an incredibly simple, low power radio transmitter that broadcasts data on a fixed frequency. Data is provided by (you guessed it) a picaxe chip! What data will it transmit? I’ll tell you! It could transmit… uh… err… um… okay it doesn’t really matter and I don’t even know, I just want to do this project! Maybe temperature and light intensity data or something. Who cares. Anyway, I want to put this whole deelibopper (temperature and light sensors, picaxe microcontroller, and transmitter) into a drybox (pictured). Once properly closed, this box will keep everything in pristine working condition by protecting against rain, heat, snow (not that we get much of that in Orlando), hurricanes, and perhaps even Florida panthers and bears (oh my). I’d make a glass (or plexiglas) window on the top so that light could get in, hitting solar panels, which trickle-charges the battery housed in the device as well. Pretty clever, huh?
My idea is to keep construction costs to a minimum because I’m throwing this away as soon as I make it. That’s right! Throwing it away. Parting with it – perhaps forever. My goal is to make it work so I can toss it in some random location (I’m thinking hidden on the roof of some building somewhere) and see how long it will run. Days? Weeks? Months? Years? How cool would it be go go to dental school, come back ~5 years from now, and have that transmitter still transmitting data. Super-awesome if you ask me. I’ve been poking around and I found someone who did something similar. They built a 40mW 10m picaxe-powered beacon (see photos and circuit diagram).
See the PICAXE chip in the center there? Remember, my ultimate goal is to learn from this project. I understand the basics of radio theory and amplitude and frequency modulation (AM and FM), but I’ve never actually built anything that does this. Yeah, I know, I could build a SoftRock radio like everyone says to do, but my educational grounding is in molecular biology. I know little about circuit-level electronics, electrical engineering, and radio theory… so my plan is to start small. This project is small enough to attack and understand, with a fun enough end result to motivate me throughout the process.
Early last week I did something surprising. Compelled by a newfound sense of freedom (I just graduated with my masters! yay!) and perhaps a little nostalgia, I decided to venture back into the psychotic world of CounterStrike. The game is quite old (released in 2000) but is a classic and is surprisingly well-furnished with online players. As I’m writing this, there are 33,125 (steam version) + 64,975 (version 1.6) = 98,100 players. That’s almost one hundred thousand players online this moment!
Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m not a big fan of paying for software. In the case of Microsoft products, they’re a necessity (sorry linux people – it’s true – it’s often needed), but they’re easy to download/install illegitimately so they’re free. Counterstrike is somewhat similar. However, it’s a little more difficult than most other softwares. Because of the nature of the program (using an internet-based master server to find lists of servers to connect to, and connecting to servers requiring identification etc) any server who wants to be legitimate can block users who aren’t. In other words, with a fresh-out-of-the-box server, non-legitimate counterstrike users can’t play (they must be steam-verified). In fact, it takes a lot of work to set up a server to get around steam. These servers (called non-steam or nosteam) are few and far between, but they ARE usable.
Saturday afternoon I attempted to connect to non-steam servers with relatively good luck. There were lists of 100s of active, cracked non-steam servers I could play on, and I could log into all of them. The problem was my ping. Your ping is the time it takes for a message to travel from your PC to the server and back, usually measured in milliseconds. A low ping (fast rate of communication) is critical for fast-paced gaming. If your ping is 500 (half a second), you try to shoot at something but you’re shooting at where it was half a second ago. Pings around 30 are good. So, like I said, I could connect… but my pings were TERRIBLE! I was getting pings in the 100s, 300s, and even over 1000 (that’s more than a second!). I worked for two whole days trying to figure it out. I did everything. I concluded that only foreigners are smart enough to use nonsteam servers, as most of the cracked servers were in Russia, Western Europe, or South America. Although there were a couple (and I do mean a COUPLE) US-based nonsteam counterstrike servers, they were incredibly lame. Filled with bots (who wants to play against a robot?) and retarded kids. It was so frustrating to be so close to being able to play… but not quite… I got a couple servers to work well, but they were lame.
After two fulls days of pulling my hair out over this I cracked down and shelled-out the $19.99 to buy the stupid game in digital form (never got a box – just downloaded it from the website and created a legitimate steam ID) from www.counter-strike.net. Yeah, I cracked. I know. But, the way I look at it, I spent two full days working on this (everything from trying different wireless networks, wired networks, loading new masterserver files, etc.) for a total of at least 15 hours. If I had just dropped the twenty bucks on Friday, I would have had all of those hours of fun. And by fun I mean “more fun than going to a movie”. You see, movies are my yardstick of cost-worthiness. I know I’m trying to mentally justify myself here, but I’m thinking that going to a movie (with my wife) costs about $16 at the ticket counter and about $8 for a small soda at the snack bar (it’s scary). Movies are only ~2 hours of entertainment. Counterstrike will entertain me for many hours over the span of many days – possibly even many weeks. Therefore, purchasing a legitimate steam ID to be able to freely play counterstrike is a better return on my investment than going to a movie. So, instead of going to a movie on Sunday night, I purchased counterstrike.
I’m still pretty rusty and I don’t understand a lot of the new features (especially those related with the steam network), but if anyone wants to play with me I’d be obliged. I go by the nick “Tyrosine” and if I’m on, you can use GameTracker to find me. I’m playing Counter Strike Source and I go by the name Tyrosine. Yes, Tyrosine as in the amino acid. If you do decide to join me, you’ll have to put up with all of the spray painted signs I incessantly add throughout the levels. Yeah, that’s the molecular structure of Tyrosine. How creative.
For anyone interested here is a random clip of counter strike source being played… (I really just want to test out these new youtube embedding features!)
I was poking around the internet looking at various ways people made smooth-fading LED circuits and I came across the site of a guy who did something pretty creative that made me smile. Before I got too far, I wanted to mention that I saw a ton of plans involving fading LED intensity utilizing 555 timer ICs, but for my purposes an in-line (series) capacitor before the LED should do fine. Here’s the site which documents the project. Basically it’s a skull with red LED eyes which glow in response to hard drive activity. The capacitor makes the eyes fade in and out smoothly, as opposed to the jerky on/off flashing of standard hard drive activity LEDs. Video of the project result (.6MB XVID AVI) shows the effect. Very clever!
I know this type of thing has probably been done countless times, but I’d like to provide my contribution to the world of Google Maps Anomalies. At the coordinates of 28.486942,-81.727869 I located an airplane flying over a lake in central Florida. The thing that impressed me was that the blades of the plane appear to be standing still. How fast was this image taken? This plane is moving well over a hundred miles an hour, but it’s crystal clear. You can almost make out the pilot too. How cool is that? If you want to try to see this plane yourself, go to google maps and just search for the coordinates I provided. Good luck!
All right, here’s the scoop! I want to get my amateur radio license, but I’m a busy guy. I’ve decided to study from the pool of questions on the ARRL website. I downloaded the text version of the questions, wrote a python script to analyze it, and vwala! I generated a pretty and clean study guide that can be printed on 11 pages (double-sided), which is WAY better than the 120+ pages I would need if I printed their official PDF!
Here you can download no-nonsense questions and answers for the Technician license exam.These questions should be valid through June 30, 2010
After several years of persistent writing on this website I was forced (by my undergraduate university’s difficult course loads) to stop adding to this blog – something I consider to be one of the most significant projects I’ve ever worked on, with brain-to-text recordings of my thoughts spanning almost a decade of time. After a few years of suspended writing, Google went from loving me (sending me thousands of pageviews daily) to forgetting about me (nothing. silence. nada.). Now that my thesis requirements have been completed, I’m trying to re-energize my writing in an attempt to document the projects I work on which, without this website, would likely be forever forgotten even by me. It appears that the burst of new writing has regained Google’s attention. Google for terms such as “data smoothing in python” and it favors my site. Google is slowly, but surely, re-indexing my pages and assigning them values of relevance which are approaching (but still a tiny fraction of) what they were before my hiatus. Here’s a chart from google’s analytics demonstrating an estimation of IP visits per day (visitors) and their locations. Do I have fans in South Africa? I didn’t know they had computers in South Africa! (I’m sorry if you are that person in South Africa, and were offended by that statement)
I was poking around my digital camera’s SD card this morning and I stumbled upon a video I made a few weeks ago showing a little comparison between a rubber duck and a homemade 2m jpole antenna. Let me make a few things clear. When I built the jpole, I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what I was doing. I’m not an antenna expert, I’m not a radio expert, I just get bored sometimes. The antenna has not been properly tuned. Yet, it works leagues better than my standard antennas. Even though its resonance properties leave much to be desired (untuned, remember?) I think its success has to do with its location. It’s on the balcony of my apartment, 3 stories in the air, and facing across Orlando (where most of the 2-meter repeaters are). The video itself isn’t that significant, but I wanted to post it so it doesn’t get forgotten.
Two hours after getting home from work I’m already basking in the newfound carefreeness thanks to the successful completion of my thesis defense (and graduation requirements). Yesterday I went to skycract, early this morning I posted a schematic diagram of a basic circuit concept for a radio/microphone interface box with tone generating functions, and this afternoon I finished its assembly. It’s hacked together, I know, but it’s a PROTOTYPE and is for functional use only. What does it do? It’s complicated, and I described it in the previous entry. It’s basically just an exercise in microchip programming! Here are some photos…
Here’s that internal photo I promised I’d get posted yesterday…
Here’s the little setup with the main control unit and a DC to DC regulated power supply / serial microchip programmer I made.
Here’s the main control box. Notice the “2-way lighted switches” which I described in the previous entry (I posted the schematic). I found that proper grounding (floating pin prevention) was critical to their proper function. I’m still new to these chips, so I’m learning, but I’m making progress!
Getting a little artsy with my photographs now… this is the core of the device. It’s a picaxe 14m!
This is a ~? to 5v regulated power supply I built. The headphone adapter is for easy connection to the serial port. It has a power switch and a program/run switch (allowing use of pin 13, serial out) while still “connected” to the PC.
I wanted to toss this picture out there. I’ve slightly improved the connection between my radio’s coax cable to the ghettorigged jpole antenna I made.
I’m able to get relatively AMAZING results from this very unimpressive hack job, but it’s probably not likely to do much to my assembly skills (and lack of tuning), and more likely due to the fact that I have a beautiful unobstructed view of middle/southern Orlando from the 3rd story of my apartment balcony! I could probably wire up a rubber duck on a stick and get impressive results with that view! I’ll miss my reception when I move.
I just realized I didn’t post an image of the inside (complex wiring) of the device. Maybe later.
I successfully defended my thesis yesterday, thereby securing the final facet of my degree requirements making graduation inevitable! A master’s in molecular biology and microbiology… Yeah, it sounds boring, but it is what it is – ya’ know? I indulged in a celebratory visit to Skycraft Parts and Surplus immediately after the successful defense, and spent the evening relaxing and winding-down after a stressful week of preparation. After a few hours of building, breaking, ghettorigging and accident-prone sodering, my wife and I had “breakfast” (french toast, pancakes, etc) at Denny’s at 11pm. Yes, what a relief. I will post more as to my current project in a later entry, but for now let me disclose the super-simple circuit diagram! I’m using a PICAXE 14M microcontroller to serve as an intermediate between my microphone and my ham radio. The goal is to use this device to control the “TALK” button, giving the option of a series of beeps before and after my talk (turned on/off by switches). Additionally, I’ve added two buttons. One of them will beep-out my call sign in Morse code when pressed (with the pitch of the beeps or the speed of the beeps set by a knob), and the other will serve as a manual Morse code keyer, beeping when it’s pressed (frequency controlled by the knob). I haven’t completed the circuit diagram depicting its interaction with the radio, but this is the schematic of the prototyping setup I’ve already assembled. It couldn’t be simpler! The whole thing is actually built into a disposable micropipette tips box similar to the one I built my homemade ECG machine in (although I don’t think I’ve posted a final picture of that yet).
After drawing this schematic in Inkscape I realized how useful such a design is for a general-purpose prototyping board. I mean, all 6 outputs control LEDs, with pin 13 controlling a LED and a speaker. All 5 inputs are used, taking in a combination of switches, buttons, and a potentiometer. Before you yell at me, yes, I understand that it is a waste to control LEDs directly by output pins and I get that. You could greatly expand the number of LEDs while reducing the number of output pins used by adding in a $2 shift register but since I don’t need it for my project, I’m not adding it! So there! I didn’t include the values of the resister because it depends on your input potential and current. Figure it out yourself. You could be like an electrical engineering student and perform mathematical calculations to determine the proper degree of resistance, or you could be like me and reach into a bag of random resisters and start testing them until you find one that makes the LEDs glow without getting too hot. Qualitative analysis. Nice.
UPDATE: I decided to also post a schematic more representative of the switches I used. Although the above schematic diagram is accurate, each of the switches are actually 2-way switches. Their function is not intended to be on/off (enable/disable), but rather switching between two modes (ie: using the know to adjust frequency or speed). I wanted lighted verification of the state of the pin in either case, rather than a single LED (where on means one thing, off means another thing). More specifically I wanted one LED on when the switch was one way, and a different LED on when the switch was the other way. I accomplished this with a minimum of parts and of ultimate simplicity using the following scheme. Briefly, power is supplied to the switch. If the switch is to the right, the right LED lights up, and the microchip (input pin) gets some of the power and a “high” sate is detected. If the switch is to the left, the left LED lights up, and the microchip (input pin) doesn’t get voltage so its state is “low”. To prevent a floating state (where the pin is connected to nothing, causing unpredictable behavior which makes the pin randomly and sporadically switch between high and low for apparently no reason) the input pin is grounded by a high-impedance resistor. The resister between the 5V and the switch is just to prevent the LEDs from getting too much power. Pretty simple and sweet. The final effect looks awesome, and doesn’t take up any output pins.
note: the “on” and “off” should probably be written as “high” and “low” and simply refer to the presence or absence of significant positive potential being applied to the input pin
As a motion of full disclosure (motivated by my persistent desire to reliably document my life), I present to you my dental application essays! Note that I was accepted into dental school (yay!) at the University of F|0R1D4. Why do I write it like F|0R1D4 instead of spelling it normally? Because would rather not have google associate me (and this essay) with the specific university I will be attending.
Initial essay:
Of all the knowledge and skills that I gained while pursuing my Master of Science degree, it is the experience I gained while conducting independent research that will contribute most to my career as a dentist. A future in dentistry will allow me to utilize my unique combination of talents to help people in need, and I know that the unique combination of my talents, academic potential, social skills, personal motivation, and my desire to serve others will allow me to excel in this profession. However, in order to fully appreciate the unique qualities I possess which set me apart from many other students my age who are pursuing similar goals, it is first necessary to understand how I reached the point where I am today.
Although I skipped my senior year of high school to begin college a year early, I found the transition to be an exciting one. Tuition assistance from F|0R1D4’s Bright Futures scholarship program gave me the flexibility to take classes other than those required by my major, without having to endure their financial impact. I was fortunate enough to have taken many courses in subjects I was interested in (including programming classes and math classes through Calculus III), expanding the field of knowledge I possess today. While pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Tennessee, I became very active in the biology and chemistry departments of my university. The more I learned about the intricacies of living systems, the more I became amazed by their complexity. I served as the elected representative for the junior class in Union University’s chapter of the Student Affiliation of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) and I spent many days volunteering in community outreach programs sponsored by the department. However, it was the introduction into independent research that proved to be the most life-changing. While developing my senior biology research project, I became captivated by the process of scientific investigation. I discovered that I was able to combine logic and knowledge with creativity, mixing my new understanding of biology with previous computer and math skills to create truly novel experimental designs. My senior project, “An Improved Assay for Measuring the Effects of Acetylcholine, Caffeine, and Nicotine on the Heart Beat Rate of Larval Triops”, won the faculty-voted award for the best research project of the department in the spring of 2007.
Although I intended to begin dental school in the fall of 2007, the admission departments had other plans for my future. Taking my initial rejection in good stride, but still strongly desiring to become a dentist, I decided to expand my knowledge of biology and develop whatever other skills I could by pursuing a graduate degree with the intention of re-applying to dental school. While pursuing a Master of Science in the field of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, I have gained more knowledge than I would ever have imagined. I also obtained valuable experience developing personal relationships in a professional environment, figuring out how to study at a graduate level, and polishing my fine motor skills by performing incredibly small and intricate surgical procedures on animals. Working under the guidance of Dr. Zixi Cheng, I am conducting cardiovascular research via multiple projects simultaneously. The most unique of which is the development of a method to measure the density of immunohistochemically-labeled neurites in thick heart tissue (something that has been previously considered to be impossible) with the goal of assessing the effects of diabetes on the heart and working toward effective treatments. Such research requires me to work with microdissection tools under a surgical microscope, performing intricate and precise procedures on the hearts of living mice. This has enabled me to develop a high degree of eye-hand coordination, familiarity working with microsurgical instruments under high magnification, and a level of fine motor skills that are becoming near those of a seasoned surgeon.
It has been my dream for many years to become a dentist, and following acceptance into dental school I will work hard to become a prominent figure in the community and a great example for all those who have similar dreams. My undergraduate and graduate school experiences have both equipped and energized me to pursue a career in dentistry, and the skills I have acquired along the way have prepared me well to pursue my dream of becoming a dentist.
Supplemental essay:
It is often said that a person is the sum of their experiences. To understand more about who I am as a person, why I have the personality that I do, and even why I am applying for dental school, one can look at the experiences I had that shaped me into what I am today. Growing up as a child in a family of dentists I had the unique opportunity to observe all aspects of the profession. Not only was I exposed to discussions of dental procedures and observed first-hand doctor/patient interactions, but I also had the chance to see the intricacies of how a successful practice was run, from maintaining and managing the office environment to developing strong relationships between the dentists and staff members. The importance of education was always emphasized in my family, and as a result I have a strong desire to work hard to make my own academic career a successful one.
One of the most interesting features of my personality is that I have a persistent, intense desire to excel at whatever I work on. This inclines me to be drawn toward hobbies, projects, and perhaps even careers that are notoriously difficult, but that have the ability to be mastered. In my early teen years, I enjoyed using computers, but my desire to master the subject pushed me to learn as much about them as possible. After becoming fluent in 11 programming languages, I was able to get a job writing software for a small engineering company that developed GPS tracking devices for fleet vehicles. When I began college, I enjoyed learning math, and my desire to excel pushed me to take (and master) extra courses in the mathematics (through Calculus III). When I began working on a senior biology project as an undergraduate at Union University, my desire to do my best led me to develop something far beyond the requirements of the project, eventually resulting in novel research data that was voted (by faculty) the best of all students. My strengths are my passions, and I become passionate at whatever I work on. I have been studying molecular biology and microbiology for the last two years in graduate school. When I started the Master’s program, I had little knowledge or interest in molecular biology, and knew even less about the intrinsic cardiac nervous system (the subject matter of my thesis). However, after I was given the opportunity to learn the material in the classroom and use my hands to practice delicate operations in the laboratory, my skills increased, my interest heightened, and I became passionate about what I was learning and working on. It is my desire to excel at my work that makes me succeed at whatever I begin to work on, and I look forward to beginning (and eventually succeeding at) my dental career!
Obviously, there is much more to dentistry than academics alone. After spending so many years in a college environment, it is easy to become detached from the rest of the world and assume that everybody else sees the world the same way that you do. One of my lifelong desires is to always be able to communicate and relate with the people I work with, and never lose perspective as to the needs of the people around me. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to be exposed to different cultures throughout my life. Surprisingly, a great source of experience in communicating with people from every conceivable background was a job I held for approximately two years as a waiter in a restaurant in the F|0R1D4 Mall in Orlando. Although it was not glamorous work, it helped me perfect my communication skills and learn how to relate with and try to please many different types of people from all walks of life. In 2002, I visited China for a few weeks while my family adopted my younger sister Hannah. It was an unforgettable experience that opened my eyes to the needs of the world. I saw first hand that, even near some of the most successful cities of China (Kunming and Guangzhou), absolute poverty prevented many people from obtaining even the most basic medical services. It is easy to look at America and assess its needs, forgetting that there is an entire world in need. My father’s parents (a dentist and a dental hygienist) taught me the importance of dental charity work, both locally and internationally. As a child I would listen to their stories about traveling to Guatemala and Peru helping villagers with their dental needs, working on people who had no ability to pay them back in any way. I always hoped that one day I could become a dentist too, so that I could help people in a similar way.
However, one does not have to travel the world to help those in need. My wife’s childhood story is completely different than my own, and getting to know her has really opened my eyes to the needs of the community. Growing up as the daughter of illegal Mexican immigrant with an African-American mother in poor health, having almost nothing, with barely enough money for food (let alone medical and dental services), my wife has opened my eyes to see the world from a completely different perspective. She had never been to the dentist before I met her (a concept that was shocking to my family of dentists!). Getting to know her has opened my eyes as to the way that much of society views many issues, including the field of dentistry. It is a service that is both a need and a luxury – something that must be made more available to all people, but in a way that does not diminish the quality of the work. I know that there is no perfect solution for how to treat all of the people who need dental work but cannot afford it, but that does not mean that we (dentists) can not try to improve the situation. I feel that there is more to being a successful dentist than simply being fiscally productive. I believe that dentists have the ability to make a true impact on the world, because they offer such a valuable service that so many people need. I have no doubt that I possess the skills, desire, and motivation to become a successful dentist, and I look forward attending dental school at the University of F|0R1D4 to help me reach my goal of becoming one. As a dentist, I will strive to continue my family’s legacy of providing quality dental work to those who can afford it, while also offering charity dental services both locally and internationally for those who cannot.
