User:Chalkdusted

Academic interests
I recently graduated from Harvey Mudd College with my BS in mathematics. My thesis was in lubrication theory, a subfield of fluid dynamics relating to thin films. As I was writing my thesis, however, I came to the realization that theoretical mathematicians don't get enough toys, so I made a precipitous leap into experimental physics and haven't looked back (... much). As of the fall of 2006, I'm in graduate school, doing research touching on device fabrication for protein crystallography.

Apart from mathematics and experimental physics, my primary academic interests are in the Classics (mainly Greek and Latin languages) and philology, but I have a broad curiosity in just about any topic.

Idle pursuits
I have a passionate interest in alternate reality games and can often be found lurking on the Perplex City and unFiction fora. Eric Harshbarger's Alice is Lost! was going to be my current guilty pleasure, but got axed at the las second, much to my disappointment. I'll just have to wait for the next Mystery Hunt.

I've also been known to spend more time than is probably prudent playing Nethack and Kingdom of Loathing.

... and apparently I have an unhealthy fondness for userboxes. Sorry about that.

Edit philosophy
Mostly, I prefer to copy-edit and patrol vigilantly for typos. I have no particular stomping grounds; my usual method is to hit Special:Random until I find something that looks like it wants some tidying up. Unfortunately this often means that I have no particular knowledge of the topics I find myself editing. In these instances I do my best to restrict my edits to pure style and mechanics, so as not to step on any toes; if I inadvertently err, I hope you'll let me know so I can make amends.

Contacting me
The easiest way to get in touch is, of course, to leave a note on my talk page. Feel free to chat there – I don't bite! But I'm also not a very active editor, so please don't be offended if I don't respond instantaneously.