life at eiu

Hey there! I hope that your reading this lets you know more about EIU and life as an Eastern student, but I’m also hoping that you’re at least a little entertained by it. With this in mind, I’ll try to keep my blogs more lighthearted for you guys.

That being said, I’ll now introduce myself. My name is Daniel Rolando, and I do a little bit of everything here at EIU. I am a member of Mortar Board (a senior service/academic group) and Omicron Delta Epsilon economics honor society. I am also Chancellor of the Knights of Columbus council here on EIU’s campus, Vice President of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Correspondent for Phi Sigma Pi national honors fraternity, and Recorder for the Society of Physics Students. I worked as an orientation leader this past summer, and I now am currently employed as an RA in Douglas Hall and as a grader for the Physics Department. And to top it off, there are the 21 semester hours with departmental honors in both physics and economics and the undergraduate research that I’m involved with this semester. This is just what I’ve done in two years…

Now I didn’t list all of that just to get up on a soapbox and brag about my accomplishments. I just wanted to show the diversity of involvements offered here at EIU. If just one guy can do all this, imagine what’s available for the entire campus community! And now, on to what else I’ve been up to lately.

The past week was a busy one for me with regards to my undergraduate research. I am working with Dr. Jie Zou in the physics department on phonon dispersion in crystal lattice structures. Basically the gist of the research is to improve heat conduction in small scale devices so that the circuits don’t fry when they heat up during use. Improvements in this field will impact cell phone, computer, and medical technologies as they all attempt to make their devices smaller and more efficient. On top of this, I have been working on a research grant proposal with Dr. Linda Ghent in the Economics Department that we will be submitting this week. We are attempting to look at the impact of internet job search sites and resumes as well as social networking sites like Facebook and My Space on employers’ hiring of employees. This research will have a more direct and beneficial impact on students looking for jobs after college.

Now that you know all the “boring” stuff I’ve been doing, I can tell you about the stuff outside of academia. Homecoming is coming up this weekend, so that means there are all kinds of activities this week. Yell Like Hell is essentially a cheer competition for students on EIU’s campus, and that’s always a ton of fun. Then, the day after Homecoming, my ultimate Frisbee club team is traveling to IN for a huge 30 team tournament which is going to be a blast!

That’s just a little summary of my life for now. I hope you all have enjoyed reading it, and if not, then let me know by commenting! Look again next month for another update into my goings-on, but until then, take care.