Self-Study, Academics, and General Interests
I did a bit of exploring in STANJAN and Cantera combustion simulation platforms. I found it very interesting adjusting the reaction conditions and seeing what different chemical species resulted. It reminded me how much I enjoy studying and applying chemistry. Also, I thought it was pretty cool using a local emulation of MS DOS to run STANJAN.
I got really interested in Game Theory after taking a class on it. I've been looking at mixed strategies and how they apply to aerospace control. Conditioning disturbances as adversarial game problems is a really interesting way to frame stability. Whether that's in a combustion engine, navigational system, game driver, etc. Glad I could dive into the subject.
Coded up my own Hess-Smith panel method 2d aerodynamic solver. I then carried on and created a Trefftz Plane 3d aerodynamic solver using my Hess Smith framework.
Creating New Stuff
Elbow-Grease to Take Things Off-The-Page
Using Software to Better Design, Exploring Software as a Medium
A book on how AI affects leadership. Got it from a leadersip course I'm taking. Interesting perspective on meditation and it's role in leadership. Beyond that, not my favorite.
The different chemical species I encountered when doing combustion simulations got me wondering more about rocket propellant chemistry. So I wanted to read this to learn a little more about the history of rocket chemistry.
A leadership book that I was given as a part of a leadership course. Honestly a pretty interesting read. I thought that the author's points on vulnerability were pretty valuable. There were also a couple interesting points on how to make sure you are leading according to your values, keeping yourself accountable.
Awesome sci-fi series. Really enjoyed the first 6 books. Planning to take a little break and then finish up the last three soon. Really great story though, I would highly reccomend. The fifth one (Nemesis Games) in particular is pretty good, I enjoyed that one a lot.
My benchmark for all fiction. I reread the series every couple of years, and this is my favorite. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is a very meaningful section, it feels like genuine art.
Really cool book that helped inspire my passion for propulsion. At many points it almost feels like a thriller. Or maybe I just geek out about cool planes. Either way, awesome book, would highly reccomend. Also very digestable, doesn't get too technical.
