Microfluidic, Thermoelectric and Photonic Energy.

While we were at Lake Powell, we celebrated Landon's 24th birthday.  After he came home, he went back to Southern Utah to run the Red Rock Relay with some friends.  He returned only for a few days to pack up his little car, hook his bike on the back, and head to Palo Alto, California, where he'll be attending Stanford University to pursue a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Landon is living on campus, enjoying graduate school, and is excited that the classes are challenging.

He is working on selecting a lab to work in, but seems to be interested in the Nano Heat Lab.  What is that, you say?  Well, he explained it to me:  the  lab studies heat transfer in electronic nanostructures and packaging, microfluidic heat sinks, and thermoelectric and photonic energy conversion devices.  they also focus on fundamental transport physics and interact extensively with semiconductor and energy companies.

Had to look up "microfluidic?"    Yeah.  Me too.

But, he's having a great time, is excited to be back in a school envionment and feels that the caliber of education he'll be getting there is very exciting.  It doesn't hurt that Jim and Kathie's apartment is 16 minutes away from his.  I'm guessing he'll be getting fed some pretty nice Sunday dinners.

Good luck, Landon!

Empty nest syndrome: a general feeling of loneliness that parents may feel when one or more of their children leave home.

We knew it would be tough...but having our baby chick leave the nest has been a little more difficult than I thought. I've been getting a little emotional every time I walk by her room because it's empty and, well, clean! And that vacant spot on the driveway hits me every time I pull in the garage. Laugh it up, youngsters! Your day is coming!

Well, Lauren and I did have an absolutely hilarious day Thursday as we loaded all of her belongings into the back of her car and mine. We wouldn't have won any awards for efficiency, but even with no man to assist us, we got it all to fit. And once we got it all to Logan, we lugged it inside, and it filled up her room. We pushed a few things aside, and then got busy building the desk, chair, shelves, etc.


We were so grateful that we have been trained to know what an Allen Wrench is. We were able to just pop these things together without hardly even reading the instructions! Almost like a man!

Well, we may have had just a few problems with the desk drawer, but we wisely elected to assemble the desk without one. I mean really....drawers are highly overrated.

So we finally got (most of) the desk assembled properly. Word has it that it was still standing the following morning. Of course, Lauren hadn't yet installed her printer....which weighs approximately 13 pounds.

We're pretty proud of this engineering marvel, the over the bed shelf which assembled without any tools at all. I just hope the shelves don't come crashing down on her head while she sleeps.

The zebra print shower curtain and towels are likely to be the wildest Lauren will get in Logan. Right, honey?

And with a final goodbye (oh, and slipping an extra hundred bucks into her hand as I left) Lauren begins her life away from home! Good luck honey....you'll do great!

Gorgeous Grads

You have to admit, these are some pretty pretty girls! Long ago, we labeled this crew "The Six Chicks" and they've worked their way through school together and remained the best of friends. What's next for them all? Danielle will attend BYU, and is rooming with Megan, who will attend UVU. Haley I. is headed to the U of U in their modern dance program. Lauren is on her way to Utah State to study Mechanical Engineering, and Hailey H. will start at SLCC in elementary ed, and Rachel will also be at SLCC in the Dental Hygiene program.




Our future mathmatician (Danielle) has figured out that in the USA, odds are 1 in a million that someone could have three granddaughters graduate on the same day, from the same school. It was a treat to have papa make the effort to spend this day with his three youngest granddaughters.

Woo hoo! They're done with high school, and moving on!

Graduation Day

Tyler graduated today from the University of Utah with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. It was so nice to have Jim, Kathie and Gavin in town to join us in the celebration!


Tyler was asked to carry the "Mechanical Engineering" sign and lead his department into the Huntsman Center during the processional.

The events of the day were made even more enjoyable by the beautiful weather!

Tyler and three other students received outstanding marks (A+) for the development and presentation of their senior project, an Active Seat Cushion which was sponsored by Dr. Jeffrey Rosenbluth, MD. The invention raises and lowers a wheelchair patient by a computer controlled response mechanism.
Congratulations Tyler!

Jumpin' for the Aggies

Lauren signed a letter of intent last week to compete for the Utah State Aggies next year. (Each day, her therapists tell her she's getting closer to competing again, so we are hopeful that day will arrive soon.) She is contemplating doing an undergraduate degree at USU in Mechanical Engineering followed by a doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Utah. Even though we are dreading the "empty nest" phase, we are thrilled that Lauren has made a decision about where to go, and are excited for all of the opportunities that await her there.

The Answer, My Friend, is in the Movie

In spite of being down to only one child left at home, it seems that we still have our share of entertaining things going on. For example, when Steve Butcher asked Lauren to Homecoming, he had roses and a special message with a decoder delivered to her first period class, and when she decoded the message, it said, "It's no mystery that I want to take you to homecoming." Very clever, although I'm not sure how I feel about sending my daughter off on a date with someone who's last name is "Butcher." But alas, I digress. Lauren's reply was to make a movie which pre-creates the Homecoming evening. She grabbed her cousins to assist in this cinematic masterpiece, and Hailey good-naturedly volunteered to be "the date," and dressed up as a man in one of Landon's suits, and then put on a gorilla mask for the wig. With an eyeliner moustache completing the ensemble, I do not know how they kept a straight face as they filmed this video, but I do know that we laughed and laughed as we watched it....hopefully, Steve, uh Butcher, thought it was as funny as we did.

Robot Mania

It seems that everyone in the Gwilliam family is building a robot, designing a robot, judging a robot competition, etc. Tyler's robot got a test drive down the hall today (see movie, below). His team had to build this robot from scractch. They were provided with motors and a small computer controller (like a mini computer processer). It has to pull a chariot and it also has to be no more than 10" long and 6" wide. It must walk and tow the chariot. The robot uses infrared sensors that they built themselves to find the black line and follow it. When presented with a black line, it can even go in a figure eight pattern in the obstacle course.

Prom

This year's prom was held at Magnolia Reception Center, and Lauren went with one of her best friends from her Jr. High days--Michael Thompson. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo, and was even willing to wear a lilac tie! They matched perfectly, and she had a very fun night.













Lauren was beautiful in her sparkly dress (on loan from Hailey) and Hailey was pretty in pink (on loan from Lauren!). Boy, as parents we are so glad that these girls are the same size!

Out of the Car and Into the Frying Pan

It's official. We have one more engineer in the family. Even during his first year, Landon is already deep into the urge to design and build--a Gwilliam genetic flaw. Landon's assignment was to build four cars that would take an egg and pass it from one car to the next; the last car must fling the egg several feet into a frying pan. Now what kind of sick professor lays awake at night dreaming up this kind of assignment? Well, it's been a challenge, but Landon's group is just about done. Good luck at the competition this week Landon!

P.S. Hey! I wondered where all of my CD's have gone!!!

Sweetheart's Ball

Lauren went to Sweetheart's this year with Mitch Mender (her friend from track camp), who was in town from New Hampshire for the week. Six other couples joined them for the day as they went to the Dinosaur Museum, lunch, the the evening of dinner at Buca de Beppo's, the dance, then games and movies. Lauren was very excited that she got to go to a school dance with Mitch while they were both in high school! (The last time he was here, he went to one of her track practices, and her friends all thought he was 25 years old!) Great times!