About

May 29, 2019 RyanBrooks

Aidan Brooks

Résumé|Certificates

I’m an undergraduate student of mechanical engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. I’m currently planning to graduate in the Spring of 2021 with a minor in mathematics. After completing my undergraduate degree, I intend to pursue graduate education.

The main purpose of this website is to document my extracurricular projects, but I also intend to share a few of my favorite photos and drawings whenever I’m struck by a stray artistic inclination.

I enjoy learning new things about our incredible universe, good science fiction, and thinking about things to build later. A few of my other interests include overcomplicating things with Python, reading XKCD, attempting to play Dungeons & Dragons, and occasionally fooling myself into thinking I’m artistic.

Other Things About Me

Extracurricular Activities

I was involved with the Mars Rover Design Team at MS&T for the 2018 and 2019 competitions as a member of the Manipulators subteam working on arm end-effectors. Previously, I spent time on the now-defunct R&D subteam researching composite manufacturing methods.

Recently, I have been working as an undergraduate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Bristow and Dr. Robert Landers on visual process control of glass 3D printing. Due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic my involvement has waned, but I hope to return reinvigorated for the fall semester.

Influential Authors

I believe that someone’s personality is shaped predominantly by their experiences. Those trained in the ancient art of the written word are empowered to immerse themselves in a reality different from their own and imagine things they would have never otherwise dreamed of.

By living briefly in the world of the author, practitioners of written language may expand their experiences beyond the bounds of any physical or temporal restraint.

With that in mind, my favorite authors include J.R.R Tolkien, Ben Bova, Sir Terry Pratchett, George Orwell, Jules Verne, Greg Egan, and Homer Hickam Jr.

Action at a Distance

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to know how things worked. As a child, I loved disassembling things to get at their inner workings. Occasionally, I would even understand the operation of something well enough that, after taking it apart, it would still function once I reassembled it.

When I disassembled something, I knew how physical things like gears worked and, very generally, how electrical things functioned. Magnets, however, escaped my ability to rationalize. Like gravity, I knew how magnets behaved but not how they worked. For that reason, they fascinated me.

I understand much more about the principles behind magnetism today than I did as a child, but the interest remains. Presently, I’m still learning more about electromagnets and enjoy considering applications for controllable “action at a distance.”

A Few Favorite Quotes

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” – Carl Sagan

“Science is the only self-correcting human institution, but it also is a process
that progresses only by showing itself to be wrong.” – Allan Sandage

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consistent with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.” – Carl Sagan

Recommended Books

  • The Martian – Andy Weir
  • Incandescence – Greg Egan
  • The Three-Body Problem – Cixin Liu
  • Rocket Boys – Homer Hickam Jr.
  • Wool – Hugh Howey
  • 1984 – George Orwell
  • The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
  • Shild’s Ladder – Greg Egan
  • Footfall – Larry Niven
  • Sand – Hugh Howey
  • The Colour of Magic – Sir Terry Pratchett
  • Good Omens – Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  • The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien
  • Proxima – Steven Baxter
  • Ultima – Steven Baxter

Suggested YouTube Channels

  • 3Blue1Brown – Visualized mathematics
  • Veritasium – Reliably interesting STEM topics
  • The Slow Mo Guys – Some things are best viewed in slow motion
  • Physics Girl – Her subject matter is often somewhat practical rather than purely theoretical
  • Minutephysics – Short videos about STEM Topics
  • Scott Manley – He plays Kerbal Space Program and does video updates on the space sector

Recommended Movies

  • The Martian
  • Moon
  • Contact
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Interstellar
  • Predestination
  • Apollo 13
  • Hidden Figures
  • The Return of The King (or any of the LOTR series, but probably watch them in order)
  • Prospect