Coxie's Replacement

The next phase for my research is beginning just as Coxie's replacement is coming out of the machine shop.

Newest reactor, still needs a name.  Suggestions?

I'm going to try and take this little reactor on a plane in the morning to St. Louis University.  Wish me well!

Angry

Research lab gossip tonight suggests that this new bill that Walker is trying to pass may take away my health insurance completely as I'm simply a research assistant.  I'm trying to say the world's water supply and the government is saying "while we can't afford to be without water, we also can't afford to insure your health." 

...if this research lab gossip holds true.  Which I sincerely hope it does not.

Tough Time for a University of Wisconsin Graduate Student

If you've watched the news anytime in the last week you've probably heard a little bit about the protests in Wisconsin about the proposed budget bill.  Currently, the number of protestors at the capitol near 60,000 as estimated by the Madison Police Department.  During the week the number was closer to 25,000.

The proposed budget bill would change the following (copied from the message I received from the Governor last Friday):

• Pension Contributions – Currently, state, school district and municipal employees who are members of the Wisconsin Retirement System contribute very little toward their pensions.  The bill requires that WRS employees, including myself and my cabinet officers, as well as employees of the City and County of Milwaukee, contribute 50 percent of their monthly pension contributions.  This amount is estimated to be 5.8 percent of salary for 2011, which is about the national average for private sector employees.
• Health Insurance Contributions – Currently, state employees pay approximately 6 percent of annual health insurance premiums. This bill requires that state employees, again including myself and my cabinet officers, pay at least 12 percent of monthly premiums, which is still less than half of what the private sector pays.  In addition, the bill directs the Group Insurance Board to implement changes to health insurance plan designs to further reduce premiums by 5 percent and will implement health risk assessments for all state employees beginning on January 1, 2012.  Local employers participating in the Public Employers Group Health insurance program operated by the state will be prohibited from paying more than 88 percent of the lowest cost plan.
• Collective Bargaining – Given the above changes, the bill also makes various changes to limit collective bargaining to the base pay rate. Total increases cannot exceed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unless approved by a referendum.  Contracts will be limited to one year and wages will be frozen until the new contract is settled.  Collective bargaining units will have to take annual votes to maintain certification as a union.  Employers will be prohibited from collecting union dues and members of collective bargaining units will not be required to pay dues.  These changes take effect upon the expiration of existing contracts.  Local police and fire employees and State Patrol Troopers and Inspectors are exempted from these changes. 

I don't have any problem with paying more for my health insurance - it's way under what private employees pay and I think way under the national average as well.  I would have a problem if I did not work both as a graduate student and in industry because my industry job pays far better than my research assistant ship.  One could argue that at least I have health insurance - I know a lot of graduate students don't.  I didn't when I was going through my masters degree.  And as a graduate student I don't receive a pension nor am I part of a union.

I do worry about the state's ability to attract well-qualified students into its graduate programs if benefits are being cut.  We shall see.

Winning the Future

A note from the President about his education initiative.  Interesting, but we still have a long way to go - I don't think we have everything we need to compete.



"Companies like Intel struggle to hire American workers with the skills to fill their needs."

To give you further perspective on that:
My research group is made up of 9 graduate students.  Of those, three are American.  One is an undergraduate, one is a masters student, and one is a doctoral student.  My company employs roughly 16 engineers (majority having doctorates).  Of those, 13 are Americans.  My company needs a specific type of engineer to help us create new products, unable to find an American candidate we're interviewing people from China. 

Picture Shanghai

I may be heading to China in a few weeks.  My company does quite a lot of business in China and I'll be heading there for a meeting.  The majority of the trip will take place in Nanjing but I imagine it will include a stop in Shanghai.

I've never been to China, I don't speak Chinese (though I'm taking a Chinese language class this term), and I honestly know very little about it.  Since my company has a very large presence in China, I feel I must learn in order to be competitive in the workplace. 

I saw these the other day (by way of tweet none the less) and thought I'd link to them here as well.  Really incredible pictures of just how much Shanghai has changed in the last twenty years.

Starting off Right

The new semester started on Monday.  I typically make lofty plans about how I'm going to get to the lab early in the morning, eat right, get lots of sleep, exercise, etc.  And it hardly ever happens.


I really hope this term is different.  So far I've done a good job of getting to the lab by 9 AM.  I've gone home for lunch and have not gotten distracted.  I've stayed in the lab well-beyond a typical 8-hour work day.  Well, week one of a sixteen-week period was successful.  Let's see how the rest of the term goes.

Making Math Fun

Was math class your favorite class in grade school?  Mine certainly wasn't.

I think math teachers have hard jobs.  Teaching the material is only one part - you have to make students interested in the topic.  How do you make kids interested in math?  Dressing up as a mole for mol day only gets you so far and that's really more for chemistry anyway.  

I'm bringing this up because I recently came across this article on Vi Hart and recreational mathematics.  I'd never head of her or the subject of recreational mathematics but I find what she's doing very encouraging.  I do hope her videos, such as the one I've linked below and found in the NY Times article, inspire young students to pursue careers in math (or science and engineering for that matter!) - or at least show them that not all math is bad.