Clubs

None that I know of. Would you be interested in starting one?

I am the Physics Lab Coordinator at ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah. We have a small machine/model shop with a few very abused and neglected machine tools. I am currently "upgrading" the shop and fighting an ongoing battle with people that want to use it for storage rather than a workplace. So far I am winning.

At some point in the future (year or two) we are going to replace most, if not all, of the major machine tools with new ones.

Some of the stuff we do (or try to do) is kinda interesting. In high vacuum work the external finish on parts is not usually critical... but how tight we can make things fit and seal is VERY important.

We do work in stainless, tool steel, brass, bronze, copper, lead, glass, lucite. etc...

Most everything we make is a one off... no production work. Which means it never gets boring ;-)

I am very interested in sharing and learning techniques from others that may be specialists in certain areas. My requirements is that I be a generalist and be able to do a quality job on a very wide range of materials and parts. Unlike much larger institutions with dedicated staff and facilities we have to make do.

Ever been to Princeton Plasma Physics Labs? (where they build and operate tokamaks) We visited them last fall semester... they have some seriously cool stuff there (and Billion$ to spend on it). Thanks to our machine shop and a very motivated student we now have one of our graduates doing research there.

-David Utidjian- Ramapo College of New Jersey dutidjia somewhere_close_to ramapo.edu

yahoo groups has the NJ logan lathe club. Over 100 members.

....

Do you provide support for graduate or undergraduate labs, or both?

I'm interested to learn that ramapo has an experimental effort, I grew up in the area, and am currently a research engineer.

Jim

YOu can get some nice equipment from the goverment before it goes onto the internet auction. It involves some paperwork but it would be worth looking into.

John

Would like to find the feasibility of starting one.

As you may know, Ramapo is primarily a small 4 year liberal arts college. We do have some graduate students but I think those are mainly in teaching and business programs (masters not doctorates).

I support any project that our Physics undergrads are interested in. Research or otherwise. I also support any research projects that the faculty may request.

My "primary job function" is supporting the labs and making/building demonstrations for the lectures. Unlike most other lab coordinators I know, I have (re)written our Fundamentals of Physics, Physics with Calculus and Modern Physics lab manuals. Still a work in progress.

Being "the physics guy" and "the guy who knows how to make/fix things" I tend to get a very mixed set of requests (which makes my work interesting (to me)). Kinda like being paid to do the hobby I like... but not paid very much :-(

I also tend to be the person that people ask when they want to use Linux for something. The computers in Physics are all Linux/Windows (with Linux the default boot) and Mac OS X. The college library website runs Linux and Solaris which I helped them set up. The Arts unit used to have a Linux webserver but they lost interest in having a web page.

My personal interests tend to be physics, computers, robotics, "systems", and basically science and technology of all sorts.

We are currently working on making the Physics major we offer more of a Engineering/Physics major. Working with RCC for some of the more engineering oriented courses and with local corporations for co-op and internship programs.

Our website is

-David Utidjian-

Where would I go to look into it?

Thanks.

-DU-