| Welcome! My interests center primarily about the areas of physics and computer administration and security, so this page will deal mostly with those areas. I completed a B.S. in Honors Physics from Brigham Young University in August '97. I recently finished a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Sep 2005). If you're looking to hire me, you're too late -- I already have a great job. But if you want to try anyway, you can view my on-line résumé or print a 1-page, 2-page, or 3-page .pdf version. |
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My interests in physics started when I was pretty young. Like most budding
scientists, I took apart everything; unlike many, I couldn't put anything
back together. I like physics because I want to find out knowledge about
our world at the most basic level. Therefore I am interested primarily in
theoretical physics. Because I have strong skills using computers, I have
devoted most of my efforts to writing computer simulations of physics. This
led to my Bachelor's thesis on Quantum Computers.
My research at UIUC is in the field of Lattice QCD. In my first
summer of research I worked on using potential models
to predict the mass spectrum (and other properties) of charmonium.
My research area, Lattice QCD, is a more advanced look at similar problems. We use computers to do a full simulation of Quantum Chromodynamics. I'm working with the Fermilab lattice gauge theory group and using their beowulf. If you're a physicist, you might want to search our publications. If you want to see the ugliness of internal reports and intermediate results, you can try to find your way through my lattice QCD research webpage. |
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While not doing physics, I spend most of my time in front of a computer. I
started with them when I was pretty young (about 5), and have used just
about every operating system since then.
In 1998-99 I was trained in the ways of the system administrator. In the second half of '99, the physics department decided to stop supporting UNIX, which meant our sysadmin was out of a job and many research groups had no support. I filled the void by adopting three research groups. Of course, maintaining several research groups greatly enhanced my skills, and I was soon able to find jobs as a system administrator. I continue to help out as a consultant to the Imaging Technology Group in the Beckman Institute, and to an astrophysics research group in the physics department. Sysadminning has its drawbacks, though, called users. Typically, the best cure for a luser is for a BOFH to apply a LART (you'll have to read the legend of the BOFH to understand that). In the absence of a suitable LART, though, a career-change is advisable. My long-term goal is to use system administration as a stepping-stone to a career in computer security. I have all the makings of a security researcher: background in physics prepares me for detailed research, background in system administration helps me understand the real-world problems, and I have a disturbing knack for finding bugs in software (it's rare for me to use any major software product for more than 15 minutes without finding a bug). Other than reporting bugs, I've been able to contribute to a few projects. For example, I suggested the creation of a security_fixes package for the SGI freeware site. This gives strong encouragement to sysadmins to update vulnerable packages. I've also submitted patches to the following projects: OpenSSH, Numerical Python, and ClamAV. Finally, I wrote milter_watch, a tool to test the availability of milters so they can be restarted if necessary. |
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I (very) occasionally do things besides physics and
hacking on my computer.
In high school, I was a pole vaulter, taking first place in my
division in the state (NJ) with a height of 11'6" my senior year (what does that
do to your image of a physics/computer geek that's either 200 pounds overweight
or a 90-pound weakling?). I haven't
jumped much since then because I don't have access to the right equipment.
I also enjoy reading. My favorite author is Michael Crichton. I've read (almost -- it keeps changing) every book by Crichton. I read several of John Grisham's novels, but probably won't read [m]any more, since they're pretty much all the same. [Quick plot summary: new law-school graduate is top in his class, and has a very attractive young wife (tan, long legs, supported him through law-school, etc) and no kids. In his first year out of school, he somehow gets involved in a really major lawsuit. The kind people will kill for. Suddenly his life (and his wife's) is at stake, along with a lot of money if he can get the right verdict. Invariably he does. Notice I didn't specify which book? There's a reason for that....] I love taking things apart, and occasionally put them back together. I recently spent some time restoring a classic Tektronix Type 647 Oscilloscope. I've diagnosed and fixed various other little things, though I have to admit that I depend more on luck than on skill. Finally, I am an amateur photographer. Although I don't take pictures often, I am careful that those I do take come out well. I invite you to browse through some of my best photographs. I have to confess I am slightly biased about which brand of camera I use, as my father worked for Nikon. |
This is just for links pointing all over the place. Some to my own pages, some to
other sites I find interesting and/or want to support.
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menscher@uiuc.edu