Time has flown by (ahem, no log updates recently) and I've been busy, busy. I finally finished the set of problem sets in soil mechanics and am proud to have read about three dozen offshore geotechnical engineering scientific papers, mostly relating to wind turbine foundations. Sometimes a 2,000 word paper takes more than an hour to read because it's technically very dense. After learning the lingo and becoming more accustom to the topics, however, I can read them faster, or just skim them to get a pretty good gist of what's going on.
Much of what I'm reading is my supervisor's previous work. A top tier academic, he has a long (somewhat daunting) list of publications. It's awesome to have the co-authors of papers sitting right next to me in the office, so we can discuss the work and ask questions. I remember hearing about Google, DropBox and other technology companies debating the pros and cons of various office layouts. It really does have an effect on the office culture. Our office has a bit of a start-up feel. We're in a big room with high ceilings and the desks can roll around. No walls.
In addition to delving into my thesis topic (which will most likely be helical screw piles for offshore wind turbines, more on that later), I've been exploring broadly the intersections of ocean management and technology. The 2nd International Ocean Research Conference is coming up in Barcelona (beach!), and there will be special talks on underwater vehicles for exploration and on how technology can be used to better manage the ocean. This is a topic I'm especially interested in from an engineer's perspective. I hope to either attend in person, or watch the online broadcast. This week I also had the good fortune to attend Capital Link's Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility in the maritime shipping industry in London. In addition to getting to enjoy the afternoon in the beautiful One Moorgate Place, I met some incredible people. One of the delegates at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) invited me to be a guest delegate at the IMO the next day. What an experience!
I also attended a meeting of the Oxford Animal Ethics Society on the topic of plastics in the ocean. It inspired me to write something about the topic again, because there is much misconception about the issue, and there really is too much plastic and trash in the ocean. We can all do something about it.
Much of what I'm reading is my supervisor's previous work. A top tier academic, he has a long (somewhat daunting) list of publications. It's awesome to have the co-authors of papers sitting right next to me in the office, so we can discuss the work and ask questions. I remember hearing about Google, DropBox and other technology companies debating the pros and cons of various office layouts. It really does have an effect on the office culture. Our office has a bit of a start-up feel. We're in a big room with high ceilings and the desks can roll around. No walls.
In addition to delving into my thesis topic (which will most likely be helical screw piles for offshore wind turbines, more on that later), I've been exploring broadly the intersections of ocean management and technology. The 2nd International Ocean Research Conference is coming up in Barcelona (beach!), and there will be special talks on underwater vehicles for exploration and on how technology can be used to better manage the ocean. This is a topic I'm especially interested in from an engineer's perspective. I hope to either attend in person, or watch the online broadcast. This week I also had the good fortune to attend Capital Link's Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility in the maritime shipping industry in London. In addition to getting to enjoy the afternoon in the beautiful One Moorgate Place, I met some incredible people. One of the delegates at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) invited me to be a guest delegate at the IMO the next day. What an experience!
I also attended a meeting of the Oxford Animal Ethics Society on the topic of plastics in the ocean. It inspired me to write something about the topic again, because there is much misconception about the issue, and there really is too much plastic and trash in the ocean. We can all do something about it.