About me

I was born in the midwest a bit over 35 years ago. I went to college at
Iowa State University and obtained 2 BSs (BSEE, BSCprE) with math
and computer science minors. I also obtained an MS in CprE and passed
the Fundamentals of Engineering/Engineer in Training examination.

Most of my classes focused on computer networking, communications 
systems, and numerical methods. You can see most of my class
schedules on my webpage.

During most of my undergrad life (well, starting in Decemeber 1996) I worked
for the DOE Research Lab on campus, Ames Lab. I worked in the Scalable
Computing Lab. We researched cheap methods of getting higher performance
out of available hardware.

As a grad student, I worked one year for my former major professor (half
as an RA, half as a TA teaching an antenna theory/design course). 
I then moved back to the SCL. 

My last year of grad school I had a summer internship at IBM in Rochester MN
working on the BlueGene/L computer. The internship became an 8 year job there,
starting with BGL, then BlueGene/P, and finally BlueGene/Q. I was the team leader
for the communications stack for the latter part of BlueGene/P and all of 
BlueGene/Q until I left IBM in June of 2012.

Currently I work at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Oak Ridge TN. I primarily
work with climate scientists to parallelize dataset post processing from 
large climate simulations.

I was a member of the Graduate (and Professional) Student Senate
for all of my graduate "career". I was on the executive board starting in April of 2001
serving as the communications chair (I handled the website, all computer
issues in the office, mailing lists, etc)

My interests include 

Model Railroading
Mostly HO scale (it's cheap and plentiful)
See pictures here at www.dsmsmith.com
I have a small N scale layout (only 3' by 5') in my apartment room. I'll post pictures some day.
I've dabbled in O and G scales as well, but they are just too expensive and require too much space.

Welding
I've welded all of the standard metals - aluminum, steels, stainless steels
I love stick welding and am trying to get my tig skills up to par with my stick skills.
I can mig and gas weld too, but my gas skills are not great.
I have a Miller Syncrowave 180SD at the apartment. It is a pain to weld there though. 
Photography - Current Equipment
Nikon D2x
Nikon D100 with MBD-100
Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 DX
Nikon 28mm f/3.5 Perspective Control Lens
Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 35mm f/2.8 Perspective Control Lens
Nikon 35mm f/2.0
Nikon 50mm f/1.8
Nikon 60mm f/2.8 macro
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 Macro Perspective Control Lens
Nikon 5mm f/1.4
Nikon 200mm f/4 macro
Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR
Sigma 600mm f/8 mirror lens 
Nikon 12-24mm f/4 super wide angle zoom
Nikon TC14E2 teleconverter 
2 Nikon SB800 flashes
2 White Lightning X1600 studio strobes
Random B&W-brand filters (IR, solar, ND, close up, etc)
LowePro Nature Trekker 2 backpack
2 Pelican 1610 cases and a 1520
Manfrotto 475b tripod with acra-tech ultimate ball head
Gitzo 1348 tripod
Random other things...

Metal Working
Metal casting
Wood working
Reading
Mostly technical books, occasionally sci-fi
Fine Scotch (30 year Laphroig is my favorite)
Beer
Homebrewing, plus homedrinking, remotedrinking, etc.
Stouts, Belgian Ales, Porters, and Pilseners are the ways to go.

Chemistry 
Mostly pyrotechnics
I've been a member of SCUM since I arrived at Iowa State.

High-energy electromagnetics
Tesla Coils
Jacob's Ladders
Rail/Coil guns
I should post some pictures of our projects....

Microcontrollers (PIC, Arduino, others)
Computers
Mandarin Chinese (I took 2 years in college)
Cooking
Wine
Full-bodied reds are the way to go. 
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Bordeaux Blends
I host an aperiodic Wine and Cheese Degustation Event at the apartment. We've had as many as 35 people there.

Bowling
Rifle and pistol shooting