Interview with an Electrical Engineer: Berkeman

[Greg Bernhardt]

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post

Interview with an Electrical Engineer: Berkeman

Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

 

[micromass]

Berkeman is simply awesome!

 

[OmCheeto]

Berkeman is simply awesome!

At first, I thought he was just another 16 year old genius, on a motocross.

http://physicsforums.bernhardtmediall.netdna-cdn.com/images/customavatars/avatar8921_1.gif​

Later, I was like; "How could anyone that young know so freakin' much about 'tronics, and be so wise?"

 

[Evo]

Awesome Berkeman!

 

[Borek]

I will never understand how people can cram so much in the same amount of time I have. Geez, I can barely answer my emails and make a tea while you go twice around the world.

 

[Integral]

I am totally disillusioned! I thought you were a youngster, actually you are a old f@rt like Om Cheeto and I!
Congratulations on your volunteer work!

 

[jtbell]

How did you end up at Michigan for grad school? It's kind of a long way from California.

During my first two years there, my roommate was an EE grad student who grew up a couple of hours from Ann Arbor. I grew up less than a day's drive away.

 

[atyy]

As part of my preparation for the volunteer events, I purchased my own personal AED (Automated External Defibrillator), and I used it to resuscitate one heart attack victim recently, who has recovered completely. Wonderful result.

berkeman, was this at an event you volunteered for, or did you just happen to have it nearby?

How do these things work - does the AED tell you whether to do CPR or to try defibrillation?

 

[PrincePhoenix]

Good one. Sort of inspirational. Can relate myself to more than one part. Was confused between physics and EE (although my physics never was very good). Now doing EE and the first year so far (in 2nd semester) has been very bad. Hope I can pull it off nicely from here onward like berkeman did. :)

 

[lisab]

I think there are some very promising new technologies and treatments coming from the medical field. I'm hopeful that over the next decade or so, we will see a lot of progress in dealing with the more serious diseases and injuries.

berkeman, have you ever considered combining your engineering knowledge with your EMT experiences to develop these new technologies?

Berkeman is simply awesome!

Totally agree

 

[berkeman]

berkeman, was this at an event you volunteered for, or did you just happen to have it nearby?

How do these things work - does the AED tell you whether to do CPR or to try defibrillation?

It happened in the parking lot of the Santa Clara Swim Center, where I work out a lot. A woman collapsed and bystanders started yelling for help, and I had just parked my Suburban, so I went to help. She had no pulse, so I grabbed my AED and EMT jump bag from my Suburban, and myself and an off-duty ER nurse did CPR and used the AED to shock her back into an irregular sinus rhythm. By the time the paramedics got there, her pulse was back to 64.

The AED I have (Zoll AED Plus) has a small EKG display on the front, so you can get an idea of what is going on. AEDs will only deliver a shock to a patient when they are in certain kinds of cardiac arrest. They analyze the heart rhythm to figure out if a shock is appropriate, and they tell you out loud if a "shock is advised".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator

 

[berkeman]

How did you end up at Michigan for grad school? It's kind of a long way from California.

Yeah, no kidding! One of the themes of the Bell Labs OYOC scholarship program was to make you a more "rounded" person. So they asked you to do your MSEE year in a different state than you did your undergrad. In fact, they recommended that you try to go to a school that was pretty far away from your home state, and it just turned out that the U of M was far away and a good looking school.

I made it a point to room with local guys when I was there, to get a better feel for the place than if I lived on my own there. I ended up in a 2-bedroom apartment with 3 local guys, and it was a blast.

 

[berkeman]

berkeman, have you ever considered combining your engineering knowledge with your EMT experiences to develop these new technologies?

Some of the consulting I did way back was on some biomedical devices. Definitely interesting stuff. I think if I were a young buck, I'd probably steer more toward biomedical product development. But I don't know if it's practical for me now.

It's funny, as I did more EMT work, I found that I really enjoy the patient contacts. Even with difficult patients, I still enjoy working with them and helping them out. I think that if I knew back in undergrad what I know now about enjoying patient contacts, I probably would have gone into emergency medicine, either as a doc or a nurse.

 

[Borg]

It happened in the parking lot of the Santa Clara Swim Center, where I work out a lot. A woman collapsed and bystanders started yelling for help, and I had just parked my Suburban, so I went to help. She had no pulse, so I grabbed my AED and EMT jump bag from my Suburban, and myself and an off-duty ER nurse did CPR and used the AED to shock her back into an irregular sinus rhythm. By the time the paramedics got there, her pulse was back to 64.

The AED I have (Zoll AED Plus) has a small EKG display on the front, so you can get an idea of what is going on. AEDs will only deliver a shock to a patient when they are in certain kinds of cardiac arrest. They analyze the heart rhythm to figure out if a shock is appropriate, and they tell you out loud if a "shock is advised".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator

That is awesome, berkeman.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I would read one paragraph and would say to myself, "wow, he has this skill/does that/knows this, too." And they just kept piling up...

You're a very well-rounded person with a lot of experience. Thanks for the interesting read

 

[marcusl]

It's good to know that you have our backs--in more ways than one!

 

[freshcoast]

Great read, very inspirational and I'm glad to have a well rounded experienced man like you to be one of our mentors!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

This Interview has been moved to Insights
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/interview-electrical-engineer-berkeman/

 

[Quickbobo]

My BUDS class,USN was a bit of a different sequence.. The instructor tossed all your equipment to the 15' deep end of the pool, and you had to dive down, and put it on, Tank, mask, clear the mask underwater, May West vest, and so forth. Strange, but I never felt truly secure, till I got the weight belt on, and stabilized the flotation factor... Still have my gear, after moving off Long Island, just lost the urge, after moving to upstate, and doing fresh water dives.