Saket Vora

After lunch today we’re packing into the vans and heading four hours southeast towards Valdez, AK. On Saturday we are taking a day cruise, and on Sunday we’ll settle down at Glennallen. It is a small town about 20 minutes away from the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). Reading the Internets about the HAARP is humorous due to all the conspiracy theories that surround the HAARP.

My experiment time is Tuesday, 6pm. I gotta figure out exactly what to do. I’m probably going to join the VLF Group guys to go service some sites, perhaps even put up a 15 foot antenna in Dot Lake. We spent two hours at Lowes yesterday figuring out how to build it.

I’m unsure of internet access at Glennallen, but we’ll see.

What a wonderful day.

We start with a seminar on the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar which was focused on engineering (yes!) rather than physics. Then another one on some physics that I wasn’t so much interested in.

Anyway. After lunch we head out about 45 minutes away to the High Power Auroral Stimulation (HIPAS) facility started and run by UCLA. They can shoot up several megawatts of high frequency signals into the  ionosphere and can cause ‘airglows’. They still don’t know quite what’s going on there. The site manager is a gentleman who got a degree in natural resources, served in law enforcement, and has lived for 30 years near the HIPAS facility. He got the job of site manager less than a year ago. He also is a keeper of two BEARS at his home. Nader and his VLF buddies stuck around to get scrap parts for their antenna mast.
After HIPAS, we went to the Chena Hot Springs resort. I went swimming in this outdoor rock pool with some of the PARS folks. After dinner, we were taken on a tour of the facilty by Gwen Holdmann, vice president of the Chena Springs geothermal plant. She showed us the greenhouses they built where they get the produce for the whole resort and try out experimental hydroponic tomatoes. They have an ice palace with chandeliers, an ice bar, intricate ice sculptures, etc. Apparently Fairbanks is home to the world ice sculpting championship. Gwen described how the owner of the hot springs, Bernie, was really forward thinking and wanted to put up a geothermal plant even though others said the water wasn’t hot enough. Price per kilowatt is close to 20 cents. Gwen got it working and now the whole facility is powered with it. He wants to use leftover power to generate hydrogen. Nader and I were really impressed by what they have done as a private company and landowner. Popular Mechanics and the Discovery Channel are coming by next month to profile what Gwen has done at Chena Hot Springs.

After this, we saw a moose in the river against a mountain background.

Then, we saw the BEARS. The site manager invited us to home to watch him feed the bears.  YES. He has two black bears, Samson and Delila. Samson is just enormous, almost the size of a Smart Car. Samson’s family was displaced when a felled lumbar tree destroyed their den. Delila’s mom and sibling was killed by a poacher or something. The site manager and his wife have taken in these bears to take care of them. When Samson was a few months old, he even suited up and went in an emulated the bear’s mother. It’s pretty astonishing. It was a thrill to see these animals up close.

We have another day in Fairbanks, then we depart for Valdez on Friday. We’ll go on a cruise on Saturday, then to Gakona on Sunday or Monday where we’ll stay until Thursday. I’ll post pictures and edit this post to embed them shortly. Heading to bed now.

Just a quick note for today — I’ve created an photo album page for all the pictures I’m taking while Alaska. The PARS folder has to do with general University of Alaska-Fairbanks matter, while special day trips and visits will be designated in kind.

http://www.saketvora.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6630

After four rebookings, seven flight delays, and a mad sprint I’ve finally made it here in Fairbanks, Alaska. Every single flight I was scheduled to take or actually took (except one) was delayed by 1 hour or more. This caused me to continually miss my connecting flights, which demanded all the rebookings. Minneapolis was the worst. The flight from Newark was 2 hours late, and when I land my watch says that the Fairbanks flight left 15 minutes ago. I’m talking with the gate counter and the lady says the best she can do is 8am Monday morning. Sigh. I was supposed to get there 1am Sunday Alaskan time. But she doublechecked the Fairbanks flight again and says “oh wait, that flight is delayed too…” She calls the gate agent, points towards the gate, and I take off sprinting. Two concourses later I make it to the gate and board. Whew.

First reaction to Alaska: wet. This is the rainiest time of the year. Fairbanks is the 2nd largest city, with 50,000 people living within 20 miles of its center. The University of Alaska-Fairbanks is just four miles from the airport. The head of PARS, Dr. Roger Smith, was waiting for me at the airport and kindly got me settled. Nader met up with me at the dorm. We’re living up here on the third floor, hall style dormitories. Last night I got a snack and the two of us plus an Indian student from the University of Maryland-College Park took a walk around the campus a bit and talked well into the night about a lot of different things. It was nice.

We’re heading down to breakfast soon.

In a few hours I’ll be leaving for Alaska to attend the PARS summer program on polar aeronomy and radio science. I’ll be returning to the Triangle on August 3rd. I’m looking forward to catching up with Nader and seeing Alaska for the first time. I have no idea on my cell phone coverage or internet access there.

I also have a request for anyone reading this. My friend and apartment-mate since August had a serious problem yesterday evening when training at the pool for her triathlon. She had to be brought back and is in an intensive care unit right now. She’s fighting hard, but I don’t think we’ll know anything for sure for another 48 hours. This trip to Alaska is coming at a bad time for me. In whatever way that is meaningful to you, please wish her a speedy and full recovery. She and her family and I would sincerely appreciate it.

Ok so I don’t think I’ll be finishing the road trip blog. I’ll try to post up a summary of it later. Summer continues and I’m really enjoying it. I’m working at RTI International, a research institute up in RTP in their department of commercialization. My bosses, Abhi Gupta and Brent Ward, are terrific and the other interns working in the office are great. We have students from the MBA and Engineering Management program from Duke and a rising senior in Economics from Carolina. And of course, my close friend Greg Mulholland, who continues to lighten people’s spirits and makes me laugh like no one else can.

It’s nice to see people. On Friday I visited NC State and had lunch with Tara, who took us to the State Club. I got to see my friend Win Bassett, Greg, Kelly, and our Silicon Valley trip accomplice Jessie Jeppsson again. This week Donny Katz has been in town from New Jersey attending a CAD 3D class. Greg and I had dinner with him at the Village Drafthouse and we later caught up for bowling on Friday. We discussed his trip to Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar. He has some vacation time next September, so I’m strongly considering flying out to India before my semester at Stanford starts up and check out Kolkata (Calcutta) with him. When we departed at the bowling lane, it was tough.
Dad is off to Beijing again for another business trip. Last trip he got me an Omega watch. Don’t worry, at $20 it’s not a real one. :) Sapana is enjoying her break, and Sachi is feverishly planning her pending trip to India. Mom likes having all of us home.

I’m heading to Alaska in a week for the Polar Aeronomy and Radio Science summer school. Last week was hectic trying to do research and write my experiment proposal. Nader assures me that I’m more prepared than I think I am. So far this summer Nader, myself, and Sapana have had a lot of fun playing Rise of Nations together. It’s a good stress reliever. Next week I hope to go to Jordan’s movie night and catch up with him, and have lunch with my buddy Jordan Price sometime in the Park. He’s working at Sony Ericsson. Hey, Jared is working there too so I need to shoot him an email as well. I’m having lunch with Mike tomorrow — I want to see how his game development studio is coming along.

There is still a sense of normalcy this summer, but the undeniable winds of change are stirring….