I am an academic and a practicing engineer. More information about my teaching, research, and professional practice is available elsewhere — this site is for something different. Through my job and other roles, I spend a substantial amount of time thinking about the future, sometimes my own future, but mostly the future of young people who are finding their way towards fulfilling and productive technical careers. For better or for worse, the path that I have taken and advocate for others to take towards these goals is frequently different than the orthodox approach.
Increasingly, I see that these orthodox paths do not lead to where they used to, and global conditions are making it more and more challenging to follow them.
“Countercurrent” is my personal website for sharing information and opinions that could be useful to others in a non-professional and non-academic context. Using a standard website for this kind of communication is more appealing to me than engaging in social media or other commercialized communication platforms. I am not interested in building a brand, influence, or chasing increasing numbers of subscriptions or “followers.” If this website serves a primary purpose, it might just be for me to force myself to gather my thoughts and advice to others in an organized and coherent fashion. If a few fellow humans (or non-humans!) benefit from my writings, either through them communicating useful ideas or just being entertaining, I will be more than pleased.
If you choose to read further than these few paragraphs, you will find that I have named the website aptly, and as you follow your own path in life I hope you join me moving against the current.