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Engineering
Finance
Health
Books
Lately

Engineering
Finance
Health
Books
Lately

Eva Prestamo Jasso

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineer @ Earth

Hey, it's Eva (eh-ee-vah)!

I'm dedicated and passionate about continuous learning, STEM, innovation, finance, books, health, wellness, and much more. If you want to connect my Linked In, Goodreads, and email address are at the very bottom of this page.

Stay for as long or as little as you want, welcome to my mind, and Ad Astra Amigos!

~ EPJ

Engineering

"But there is another kind of hope - it's in the challenge of learning about the world and using our intelligence to change things for the better. In this way it's the individual who is empowered to bring hope to the world... this can only be enabled by the efforts of a scientifically and technologically literate public... A cosmic perspective empowers me to celebrate every day I am alive."

~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

Last updated: 2/7/26

Projects

Pet Projects

Systems Tool Kit (STK)

Modeling an ISS Scenario

(Full video on my YouTube channel, link at the bottom of this page)

STAR-CCM+ Simulation

Good exercise to test my aerodynamics sim abilities since I normally work with aerohydrodynamic sims right now.

CAD design file from free STL online database

Sedan simulation run

(Tutorial in the works)

Automotive Project

Replacing a 5th Gen Toyota 4RUNNER faulty door lock actuator

(Full video on my YouTube channel, link at the bottom of this page)

Home Projects

Fixing a Running Toilet - Flapper Issue

(Full video on my YouTube channel, link at the bottom of this page)

3D Printer

Ender 3 S1

3D Prints

IMG_1445 (1)

Classic 3DBenchy test print Custom SMD name tag trinket for a friend/coworker Custom Wisk project name tag trinket for a friend/coworker

Testing Printing Capabilities/Refinement

Not my CAD designs

Shark trinket gift Dinosaur marker holder gift Jet trinket gift Rocket trinket gift

Current

These are simplified overview of the projects, further information available upon request.

VT Graduate Working MS Thesis (Expected May 2026)

Mission & Objectives

Aerohydrodynamic Simulation of a Supercooled Water Droplet Through Computational Fluid Dynamics to Prevent Aircraft Ice Accretion.

Past

JWST Station Keeping - VT Graduate Orbital Mechanics Final Project (2025)

Mission & Objectives

Long-term stability analysis of the JWST will be used to evaluate station keeping strategies. This is essential in determining pointing accuracy for observation missions and informing ΔV requirements to enable long-term stability. Final Quantitative Goal: Determining the necessary ΔV required to station keep the JWST over a year-long period with varying drift away distances.

Assessing Prolss' Approximations of Thermospheric and Ionospheric Parameters Through TIEGCM Data - VT Graduate Upper Atmosphere Final Project (2025)

Mission & Objectives

This project aims to evaluate the accuracy and applicability of simplified approximations for specific upper atmosphere parameters from Prolss’ textbook by comparing them with TIEGCM data. The specific objectives of this project are the following

Select approximations from Prolss’ textbook; more specifically those related to temperature profiles, exospheric temperature, and ionospheric scale heights.
Evaluate the performance of Prolss’ approximations for specific parameters, including exospheric temperature, temperature profiles, electron density profiles, scale heights, and N₂ number density profiles.
Extract and process relevant parameters from TIEGCM-ICON data.
Assess the limitations of the Prolss approximations for these defined parameters by comparing them with data from the more complex TIEGCM model.
Analyze how the accuracy of Prolss’ approximations varies across different seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) and altitudes.
Discuss the factors that contribute to the discrepancies, such as the assumptions made in Prolss’ approximations and complex processes not captured by the approximations.
Discuss areas of improvement of this study and where deeper research would be headed.

Fuel-Efficient Ascent Trajectory Optimization for Multi-Stage Rockets - VT Graduate Numerical Methods Final Project (2025)

Mission & Objectives

With the model of a constrained optimization problem, the main goal is to formulate and solve these mentioned issues. A main challenge is establishing time varying control inputs, more specifically the thrust vector angle α(t), discretized at several control points, and the optimal staging times that steer the rocket from its first state at launch to a discretized final altitude. The thrust magnitude for each stage is considered fixed as its maximum value. The algorithm minimizes fuel consumption, thus maximizing the final mass, m(tf) for a given initial mass, m0. The optimization needs to satisfy a set of path constraints active during the flight as well as terminal constraints on the final altitude. Using first order nonlinear differential equations (ODEs), we can model the ascent trajectory which describes the evolution of the rocket’s state variables over time.

Guitar Playing Prosthetic - USC Undergraduate Senior Design Project (2023)

Won award: Viterbi Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Student Achievement Award for Outstanding Ingenuity and Performance

Mission & Objectives

“Over the last two decades, there have been great strides in the development of novel prosthetic hands and terminal devices… However, even state-of-the art devices lack a combination of high functionality, durability, adequate cosmetic appearance, and affordability”

Playing a guitar requires complex motions → good demonstration of design capabilities
- Not many robotic/prosthetic hands can play guitar
Can be used for
- Rehabilitation/prosthetics
- Animatronics
- Research
Objectives:
- Make a right hand that can strum all of the strings
- Play Itsy Bitsy Spider with clarity

Reverse Engineering a Foldable Drone - USC Undergraduate Computer Aided-Design for Aero-Mechanical Design Final Project (2021)

Mission & Objectives

To meticulously reverse-engineer, model, and analyze the functionality of a foldable drone, leveraging computer-aided design (CAD) and simulation tools to validate and optimize its mechanical performance, with a focus on structural integrity and manufacturability.

Modeling and Design: Reverse engineer a foldable drone from existing photos and hand sketches to create a detailed CAD model that is accurately proportioned and includes all critical design features, such as the battery housing and latching mechanisms.
Drawing and Documentation: Generate comprehensive technical drawings with all necessary parameters, including tolerances, section views, and exploded-view diagrams, to ensure the design is fully documented and replicable.
Motion Analysis: Perform a motion analysis to demonstrate the folding mechanism of the drone and analyze its movement to ensure a smooth, non-interfering transition from an unfolded to a compressed state.
FEA (Finite Element Analysis) Simulation: Conduct Finite Element Analysis on critical components, such as the drone arms and guards, to test their structural integrity under expected flight and impact forces.
Materials and Durability Assessment: Identify appropriate materials for the drone's components and assess their ability to withstand operational stresses, providing recommendations for material changes to improve durability and safety, particularly for impact-prone parts.

Experience: Basic Outline

Full details found on my Linked In (link at bottom of this page)

Full Time

The Boeing Company

Role: Electro-Mechanical Design & Analysis Engineer

Duration: 1.5 years

Part Time

Honeywell Aerospace

Role: Part-Time Mechanical Engineer

Duration: 8 months

USC's Center for Engineering Diversity Mentor

Role: Student Mentor

Duration: 1.5 years

Internships

Honeywell Aerospace

Role: Mechanical Engineering Intern

Duration: 12 weeks

The Aerospace Corporation

Role: Technical Intern

Duration: 12 weeks

Research

Virginia Tech Center for Research and Engineering in Aero/Hydrodynamic Technologies (CREATe)

Role: Graduate Student Researcher

Duration: 2 years

USC Space Engineering Research Center (SERC)

Role: Undergraduate Student Researcher

Duration: 1 year

USC Viterbi Summer Institute Fellow

Role: Undergraduate Researcher

Duration: 3 months

Awards & Certificates

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2025

Sigma Xi: Scientific Research Honor Society 2025

The Planetary Society 2025

The Order of the Engineer 2025

Viterbi Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Student Achievement Award for Outstanding Ingenuity & Performance 2023

Certificate of Flight: DODONA 2022

WiSE Aerospace Corporation Research Fellowship Award 2021

Finance

"Spend less than you earn. Invest shrewdly. Avoid toxic people and toxic activities. Try to keep learning all your life. And do a lot of deferred gratification. If you do all of those things, you are almost certain to succeed. And if you don't, you're going to need a lot of luck.... If you're glued together right and honorable, you will succeed. Get in there and get rid of stupidities and avoid bad people. Try teaching that to your grandchildren. The best way is by example. Fix yourself."

~ Charlie Munger

Last updated: 9/13/25

Entering the professional world and receiving that first significant paycheck is often a transformative, yet overwhelming, experience. The sudden influx of money can feel limitless, you don’t know what to do with what feels like so much all of a sudden, leading many of us down a common path: impulsively adopting an array of expensive hobbies, dining out frequently, buying expensive clothes, cars, or items, and chasing every expensive concert, trip, or event. This feeling, while exhilarating, can be a trap. We earn more, but we also spend more, often leaving us just as financially strained as before. We fill our lives with material possessions in pursuit of fleeting dopamine hits, often prioritizing things over genuine fulfillment and connection.

I found myself on this exact path. Despite working hard and earning a comfortable salary, my paychecks were quickly depleted by thoughtless purchases and non-essential items. I was living a comfortable life, yet I felt an underlying sense of emptiness, as if my priorities had become misaligned.

In 2020, a friend’s gift changed my perspective. The book, The Wealthy Gardner by John Soforic, was my introduction to personal finance. It was a foundational book that simplified the core principles of budgeting, frugality, saving, and community. This book sparked in me a voracious appetite for financial knowledge. I delved into a rabbit hole of book and online content, learning about financial discipline, self improvement, and finding wealth in non-materialistic pursuits. I came to understand the power of making sacrifices and the importance of giving back to others. This journey into personal finance became a catalyst for broader self improvement, transforming not just my financial habits but my entire approach to life.

Since 2020, I have meticulously tracked my finances using a yearly budgeting spreadsheet.

Overview of spreadsheet contents.

This practice has become a game for me; a challenge to understand where my money goes, to differentiate between essential and non-essential expenses, and to identify areas of improvement.

Example of what the template for each month's expense tracking looks like.

This system has given me a sense of control and empowerment. My mindset shifted from a desire to spend to a strategic question: “How can I save money or pay less for x y and z?”

This new perspective has been guided by a set of personal finance principles that I believe are essential for building a higher quality of life, one less influenced by materialistic desires and more focused on lasting value.

My personal Finance Principles

Knowledge I’ve accumulated from years of exposure to the finance world:

Live Below Your Means
- The cornerstone of financial wealth is spending less than you earn. Automatically allocate a portion of your income for savings and investments before you spend on anything else. This ensures you are always building wealth, not just accumulating expenses.
- By keeping track of, studying, and budgeting your expenses like how I outlined above you will get a good idea of your financial habits, even if you think they might be "fine"
Invest
- Keeping large amounts of cash without investing is a loss. Due to inflation, money loses its purchasing power over time. Find a secure place for your cash to grow, whether in a high-yield savings account or a diversified investment portfolio.
- A great place to start (how I started) is through index funds; such as by investing in the S&P 500, through apps like M1 Finance or Robinhood
Maintain a Healthy Credit Score
- Your credit score is a reflection of your financial responsibility. Avoid carrying a credit card balance, as the interest can negate any benefits. Instead, use credit responsibly to build a strong credit history, which is crucial for major life purchases like a home or a car.
- Make sure you keep up with all fees, bills, and up keeps: car maintenance, paying taxes on time, any debts or credit cards you might have opened a long time ago but forgot about and is unknowingly adding to your debt, etc.
- These tasks might seem daunting at first, causing many people to freeze, not act, and thus creating even bigger problems as fees, extra problems, and rates accumulate. So, attack things head on, create a plan, execute, learn, optimize, reiterate, and do not procrastinate.
Understand Your Investments
- Never invest in something you don't fully understand. Before committing your money, take the time to learn about the risks and potential rewards. Whether it’s stocks, real estate, or another asset class, knowledge is your best defense against bad decisions. For example, while real estate can offer stable, long-term returns, it requires significant time, capital, and market expertise.
Challenge Conventional Wisdom
- Phrases like “you might die tomorrow, so spend today” are popular but flawed. They imply that happiness is a commodity that can be purchased, and that our current lives are insufficient without material possessions. This mindset often leads to the hedonic treadmill - the tendency for humans to return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes. True fulfillment comes not from what you buy, but from who you are and the positive impact you have on the world. While spending on experiences can be more valuable than on things, the ultimate goal should be to use money as a tool for self-expression and contribution, not as a means to fill a void.
Invest in Yourself
- The most valuable asset you have is your own potential. Dedicate resources to continuous learning through books, courses, and seminars. This is an investment that yields dividends throughout your entire life.
Diversify Your Income
- Relying on a single source of income can be risky. While your main job is likely your primary income stream, explore opportunities for passive income and side gigs. This diversification provides financial security and new avenues for growth.

I have found that these principles, while rooted in finance, have yielded an even greater return: a richer, more meaningful life. By prioritizing what truly matters, I have been able to align my spending with my values, ensuring that my financial journey is not just about accumulating wealth, but about building a life of purpose and contentment.

Health

"A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought - they must be earned."

~ Naval Ravikant

Last updated: 9/7/25

My Health Journey

A casual chat with a coworker about blood work served as an unexpected wake-up call. I realized it had been years since my last general check up, and my understanding of health was rooted in outdated beliefs from my childhood. I had consistently exercised for years, but had a knack to avoid proper nutrition which I soon learned had caught up with me.

After the doctor’s visit I had a harsh reality check. My blood work revealed a dangerously high LDL cholesterol level of 173 (100 mg/dL or lower is considered healthy for adults). The resident doctor warned that without immediate changes, I would soon likely require medication and face a high risk of chronic illness. "At 24 years old?" I thought, I was shocked. This was clearly a serious health crisis that required me to take full responsibility.

I immediately shifted from a relaxed mindset to a proactive, problem-solving one. My new goal wasn't to look a certain way but to lower my LDL to a healthy range. I embraced my pragmatic nature, turning my health into a science-based project. I overhauled my diet, adopted a pescatarian plan (due to what my research revealed), and started a consistent routine of at least lifting weights and walking. I spent months immersing myself in health and nutrition research, reading books like Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspe, turning my headphones into a classroom with the help of Dr. Andrew Huberman’s podcast, and hearing from other people's experiences like Bryan Johnson's Don't Die YouTube, documentary, and social media informative content.

After six months of consistent effort and honestly what turned into an obsession, a follow-up test confirmed my progress: my LDL cholesterol had dropped significantly to 87. This achievement was a profound personal victory, affirming my belief that a focused, data-driven approach can conquer seemingly insurmountable challenges.

My journey taught me that accountability is the cornerstone of success. It's about moving beyond excuses, taking ownership of our actions, and using our strengths to build a plan. I now apply this principle to all areas of my life, approaching new challenges with a “level up” mentality. By setting clear goals, maintaining consistent effort, and focusing on personal growth, we can continuously improve ourselves and lead a life of purpose and health.

Ad Astra Amigos

~ EPJ

My Routine

It may sound insane to you, but I eat the same exact breakfast every single day. And I love it. I go to bed excited for breakfast. I love knowing what's waiting for me, going through the motions, and fueling my body with foods that will provide the nutrition necessary to 3D print strong and healthy bones and muscles; allowing me to go the distance, get stronger, think more efficiently, and do better.

My linner (lunch/dinner), however, varies a bit; but the general blueprint stays the same. You'll notice that my nutrition is focused on lowering cholesterol (for my specific goals) and that I consume basically no artificial sugars (I have "cheat days" twice a year, when I see my family, and even then, I don't really go crazy because it's just not appealing to me/doesn't make sense anymore). This is what works for me but note that this might not work for you. If it does great, if not, I hope this is at least a little bit helpful, and I encourage you to play around and find what works for you.

Here it is.

Breakfast

In this order

Creatine and water.

Egg whites (no cholesterol).

Greek yogurt.

Plain black coffee (in a yeti rambler 20 oz cup) mixed with protein powder and collagen peptides.

Supplements (outlined below) taken with electrolyte sugar free water.

Morning walk or head to the gym.

Supplements

In addition to the previously listed creatine, protein powder, collagen peptides, and electrolytes.

Putting my supplements in a pill case makes it so much easier.

Fish Oil. Heart health.

Psyllium Husk Caps. Digestion. Once I reached a solid veggie intake, I stopped taking these.

B12. Brain.

Magnesium L-Threonate, Vitamin C & D3. Cognitive function.

Pre/ProBiotics. Gut.

Vitamin C. Immune system.

Appetizer

Snack on while cooking linner.

Nuts. Almonds and cashews.

Raw vegetables. Carrots and hummus (not pictured) and cucumbers and guac. I usually eat a bit of both every night, sometimes more carrots sometimes more cucumbers.

Linner (Lunch/Dinner)

In this order

Fermented foods. I alternate every day between heart of palms and baby corn.

Cooked vegetables. Rotate between: mushrooms, broccoli, mixed vegetables (sliced carrots, peas, corn).

Protein. Rotate between: crab cakes, salmon, tuna, lentils stew, beans stew.

Carbohydrates. I've been starting to re integrate carbohydrates into my diet again, now that my cholesterol LDL is healthy. It's made me nervous and hasn't been easy (in fear that I'll fall down the rabbit hole and be back at square one again) but I try to eat at least one type of carb at linner. I rotate between: half a potato and half a cup of brown rice.

An example of what a linner meal looks like on a different night.

Fruit. There are few things greater in this life than the taste of a ripe nectarine.

The last thing I eat are 2 squares of dark chocolate (>78%).

Afternoon walk: Started with 15 mins, now I usually do 30 min walks.

Top Fitness Milestones

El Camino de Santiago, French Route (Starting city: Sarria) ~110km/68mi. covered in 6 days (2025)

Surf City Half Marathon (2024)

SB Wine Country Half Marathon (2024)

San Diego Rock n Roll Half Marathon (2023)

Books

"Primary intellectual stimulation came not from school, but from books they read at home - alone"

~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

Last updated: 9/6/25

Currently Reading

why-we-sleep-9781501144325_hr Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (Matthew Walker, PhD)

2115549612-0 Dopamine Nation (Anna Lembke, M.D.)

Recently Read

Cant-Hurt-Me Can't Hurt Me (David Goggins)

Rating: 5/5

Review: David Goggins' gut check on the limits we impose on ourselves is truly next level in his Can't Hurt Me memoir, a true force of nature. His story is a raw, unflinching, "in your face" look at what it means to forge unbreakable will. This book is a real wake up call for anyone who feels the strong urge to push past "good enough" and redefine their own potential.

While I haven't walked in Goggins' exact shoes, I resonated with the core of his message: the solitary, relentless, unwavering pursuit of greatness. His journey speaks to what he refers to the experience of often being "the only" in your field/area/situation, of navigating a path not many understand or are willing to take; a reminder that true growth often happens in "the path of most resistance" if you tap into your 100% to keep collecting your cookies for your "cookie jar". His "being the only" story validated my own experiences of pushing through barriers and achieving what was deemed "unattainable" or "uncommon" by certain people around me comfortable with the status quo or sometimes just downright jealous naysayers.

What most struck a chord with me was his health transformation. As someone who has also been there and has undertaken my own journey of physical and mental renewal, I felt a deep sense of connection to his health struggles and triumphs. I understood the discipline, the pain, and the unwavering commitment required to rebuild oneself from the ground up (body and mind), allowing me to see the story not just as a feat of physical strength, but as a total reclamation of self.

For those who "stay hungry" and seek others who have also built an unstoppable mindset, this book is an absolute must. Even just skimming through a few pages will ignite a fire within, yielding a stark reminder that our greatest limitations are often self imposed and more within our control than we let on.

David Goggins is truly an inspiring person, and his story is a testament to the power of radical discipline and a refusal to succumb to the perceived limitations of others and yourself. It left me not just inspired but utterly in awe of the human capacity for resilience.

Outliers: The Story of Success (Malcom Gladwell)

Rating: 4/5

Review: If I ever become an airplane pilot I will try to make sure that my Mexican PDI (Power Distance Index) doesn’t get in the way and channel my American PDI side more, thank you Malcom Gladwell lol.

In all seriousness it was very cool to learn how our environment, century or decade or year or even month we were born in, upbringing, culture, language, parents, etc. can influence us in so many ways without us even realizing. At first I felt discouraged by this book as I felt that although the science and studies were interesting, the findings and conclusions he drew felt too pre deterministic. But as I got towards the end I accepted it as simply a way for people to understand the world, themselves, improving self awareness, and using these findings to our advantage however we can. Whether that’s being aware that you come from a country with high PDI and working at being more assertive towards authority when needed and if your environment demands it, or creating, seeking, and placing yourself in environments that combined with your hard work and 10,000 hours (lol) will probably give you very promising results. I think the pessimist reader will take the contents and try to use them as an excuse for all of their woes in life and an optimist go getter will take these contents purely for understanding the world and themselves better and then use it as fuel to get a better edge and benefit from the advantages of putting yourself in the environments (of course the ones that are within our control, for example being around charismatic people to work on improving your own charisma/suaveness/soft skills) Gladwell talks about.

Finally, I do think one of the final points he makes (literally the veryyyy last page or two) which is urging people to build a world where everyone has maximum opportunities available is great. I just think the whole book could be better rounded by touching more on the actionable aspects or the “what can we do about it”; not just applying this to your children by pushing for building a better future set of systems in a society but also to the likely grown individual that is reading the book.

So to summarize: On the emotional side of things I didn't love the way most of the book made me feel (felt too pre deterministic without balancing enough clear actionable aspects if an environment isn’t ideal) but the science (not sure if science is the right word but it makes sense to me lol) or studies and theories/discussions made sense and I accepted them while eventually figuring out how I can use them to my advantage; the latter being something I think he could have touched on a bit more if he wanted to give us a more optimistic/go getter/self-starter tone… which seems wasn’t his intention and that’s fair I guess.

58438618 Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing your Blood Sugar (Jessie Inchauspe)

Rating: 5/5

Review: “It sounds like magic, but it’s science”

i-who-have-never-known-men I Who Have Never Known Men (Jaqueline Harpman)

Rating: 4/5

Review: Loved the story but I was a bit disappointed that despite her extensive research and having dipped her toes into the medical field in her early career Jaqueline Harpman neglected oral hygiene as an important factor when considering 21st century humans’ survival of the fittest. This would undoubtedly be a common cause of death if a group of people go from a world where dentists constantly attend to cavities, gum infections, root canals, etc. to one where dentists seem to not exist; the “past world” being the one that the women describe as Earth as we now know it, so assuming that Darwinism principles haven’t taken into effect and the species hasn’t evolved from 21st century homo sapien biology. Basically, I thought oral hygiene should have been included as a part of the various mentioned medical ailments in this story, and if it wasn’t an issue then mention how they took care of their oral hygiene to prevent it from being an issue (like how Richard Matheson did in ‘I Am Legend’). She seemed to account for everything else (at least that I can think of) regarding the intricacies that one might expect to occur to humans in survival mode over the span of about 3/4s of a century…. Not a big deal and it doesn’t take away from the beauty of the story and it’s messages, but definitely something I couldn’t help but pick at and find peculiar as she seemed very thorough in the rest of her research.

______
Quotes I loved:

“Death is sometimes so discreet that it steals in noiselessly, stays for only a moment and carries off it’s prey, and I didn’t notice the change.”

“Only now, I tell myself that what I’d felt for her, the trust that slowly built up, the constant preference for her company, and the joy each time I was reunited with her after an expedition were probably what the women called love.”

____
Also loved these excerpts in the afterword by Sophie Mackintosh which gave me “aha” or “yup!!” moments:

“Harpman shows the worst of what humans can conflict on humans, but also the best that love and togetherness can do.”

“The other caged humans they discover have died terrible deaths, but the narrator admires those who have died calmly, facing the terror, unafraid. It is human to be afraid of death, of unimaginable pain, and it’s another kind of humanity to transcend it.”

“The smallness of one person left alive in the vast and mysterious world is a daunting concept.”

2021-09-brief-welcome-universe-cover A Brief Welcome to the Universe: A Pocket-Sized Tour (Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott)

Rating: 5/5

Review: I usually enjoy Neil deGrasse Tyson’s books but was unsure what to expect with this one as he had two other co-authors I was not as familiar with. I’d say none of the three of them disappointed. I found myself breezing through the pages and wanting to know/learn more about the intricacies of the theories, outlooks, principles, etc. they presented. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I was especially captivated by the way Gott presented Copernican principles; he closed off the book elegantly with his final chapter on that subject matter. As is true with my experience with most of deGrasse Tyson’s books I was left with a feeling of awe of our universe/science, a very (imo) realistic/pure understanding of our (the human race) current situation and history, and the immense work to be done if we are to ensure our survival by colonizing even just one neighboring planet like mars. It further fuels my optimism and fulfillment in the current work I am doing in the aerospace sector, and I cross my fingies in hopes that the Copernican formula proves to be on our side….
“While there’s life, there’s hope” - Hawking

______

Excerpts that I liked from this book
Funny excerpt from deGrasse Tyson:
“If we found life forms in Europa [a moon of Jupiter], we might just have to call them ‘Europeans’!”

Concluding excerpt from Gott:
“If we look around, we can see the universe showing us what we should be doing. We live on a tiny spec in a vast universe. The universe tells us: spread out and increase your habitat to improve your survival prospects.… We should spread out before we die out. We have a space program only a little over a half a century old that is capable of sending us to other planets. We should make the wisest possible use of it before it is gone. Will we venture out, or turn our backs on the universe?… Our intelligence gives us great potential, the potential to colonize the galaxy, and become a super civilization, but most intelligent species must not have been able to achieve this – or you would be special to find yourself still a member of a one-planet species… We are weak, and we have not been around for very long. But we are intelligent creatures, and we have learned a lot about the universe and the laws that govern it – how long ago it started, how long it’s galaxies and stars and planets formed. Stunning accomplishment whose story we have told here.”

Lately

Last updated: 10/7/25

As of 10/7/25

The last eighteen months I've spent deep in water droplet simulation research using STAR-CCM+ has given me a clear view of the software's power in multiphase flow, but also some of it's challenges.

I've noticed that STAR-CCM+ was very good at combining models like Volume of Fluid (VOF) for detailed interfaces (i.e. large droplets) and Lagrangian Multiphase (LMP) for tracking discrete, dispersed droplets, which is a huge efficiency gain. It also has solid built-in models for surface tension which allow for realistic physics within the simulation.

However, you need to balance using the most accurate model (VOF) against the computational time and resources of a faster, less-detailed model. Additionally, yielding a high-quality mesh that correctly resolves the fluid-fluid interface and near-wall physics (prism layers) for dynamic, complex geometries can be tricky and time-consuming.

Regardless, STAR-CCM+ is clearly a great tool for addressing a wide range of fluid-related challenges in automotive and aerospace design and I believe the advantages outweigh the challenges.

As of 9/8/25

As you might have seen in the "Books" section, I am currently reading Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. I'm about halfway through it and I'm learning so much more about myself than I thought. I've read quite a few of what people call "self-help" books, but none of them have given me the straightforward, calling out, no BS experience that I've gotten with Goggins.

So, I've been reflecting on my endeavors, and focusing on maximizing the 100% work and effort everyday principles Goggins talks about. I have been getting in the habit of using my physical planner and writing out solid challenging goals. I've found that as I cross things off, I'm inspired and reminded every day to keep going and keep trying. The idea is that if I put in the work every day and execute, I am almost guaranteed to be better today than who I was yesterday; that is what inspires me each and every day to get out there and try with 100% of me.

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