Alfred Hubler's Physics Lab

While at the Santa Fe Institute, one of the things we experienced was going through Alfred Hubler's physics lab -- learning about the physics of nonlinear dynamics. It was a ton of fun, highly educational, and the first time I'd been in a lab in many years.

Below are a few photos from the lab. See many more here or watch them as a slideshow.

Rafting Down the Rio Grande

A photo of our group after two hours of whitewater rafting down the Rio Grande River. See more of my photos here or watch them as a slide show.


(click image for larger size)

You can see photos of me in action in the raft (in the middle on the right) here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I'm very sad to be leaving Santa Fe tomorrow. The past month has been such a fantastic experience intellectually, socially, and experientially -- I hate to see it end. It will be tough saying good-bye to everyone tonight.

Rodeo Photos

Here are some more pictures I took at the Santa Fe Rodeo last week. See many more here or watch them all as a slideshow.

The Santa Fe Rodeo

Here's a shot I took at the Santa Fe Rodeo last Wednesday. More pictures coming soon.

Great Sand Dunes

Here are a few of my favorite photos from a trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, with a stop by Taos on the way back to Santa Fe last Saturday. We climbed to the top of a 750-foot sand dune and I can still feel the sand in my shoes. You can see many more photos here or watch them as a slideshow.

Tough Hombres!

A photo taken while exploring downtown Santa Fe with friends.

Sunset in Santa Fe

Photo of the Day: The Lucky Sombrero

A scene from a BBQ at the Santa Fe Institute on Friday. See many more photos here, including how a social contagion got started with this sombrero. You can also view all of these photos as a slideshow.

In case you can't tell, I'm continuing to have a fantastic time out here in New Mexico!

Photo of the Day: Overlooking Santa Fe

A view from a 2.8 mile walk I took with several other students yesterday afternoon from the Santa Fe Institute back to St. John's College, where we are staying for the next month.

Arriving at the Santa Fe Institute

(A view from the balcony of my dorm.)

I arrived in Santa Fe yesterday afternoon after a wonderful weekend visit with Aunt Ruth, mom, and dad in Kansas City. If tonight is any indication, this is going to be a fantastic month. I am here until July 4th for a summer program in Complex Systems Analysis with the Santa Fe Institute.

There are students here from all over the world from disciplines ranging from biology, physics, and engineering to public policy, geography, and economics -- most either working on or having finished their PhDs in their respective fields. I met many of the other students tonight and without exception had fascinating conversations with all of them. We are staying in dorms at St. John's College and the scenery here is both breathtaking and serene.

The Santa Fe Institute has a wiki set-up with details on our schedule, the faculty involved, profiles of student participants, and more. There is also a readings page. I also found this older version of the readings page that has another good bibliography. Here is a link to my profile page.

Looks like it will be an informative and fun-filled June full of new friendships, new knowledge and skills, and new adventures!

Santa Fe, Here I Come?

Looks like I may need to break out my cowboy hat. I just found out yesterday that I was accepted to Santa Fe Institute's Complex Systems Summer School this summer:

The Complex Systems Summer School offers an intensive four-week introduction to complex behavior in mathematical, physical, living, and social systems for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the sciences and social sciences. The school is for participants who want background and hands-on experience to help prepare them to do interdisciplinary research in areas related to complex systems.

The school consists of an intensive series of lectures, laboratories, and discussion sessions focusing on foundational ideas, tools, and current topics in complex systems research. These include nonlinear dynamics and pattern formation, scaling theory, information theory and computation theory, adaptation and evolution, network structure and dynamics, adaptive computation techniques, computer modeling tools, and specific applications of these core topics to various disciplines. In addition, participants will formulate and carry out team projects related to topics covered in the school.

I'm still waiting to hear if I get a teaching position for the summer but if all goes well, I will attend this program in June and then teach and work on my dissertation in July/August.