CURRENT MISSION

Making the world a better place for one and all... :->

ABOUT ME

June 2024: Clearly, i'm not "78", but i don't feel that CS needs to know all about my b-day, which is then public to the world (esp since i'm an old-schooler here, and clearly have a LOT of CS experience, if you look through it). I have the same policy at FB. So you can ask me q's about my actual age etc. once you get to know me. :->

July 2015: Well, let's see: got my BS and PhD at UC Berkeley in physics (spending several years at SLAC, an particle physics accelerator at Stanford, and then was a visiting researcher briefly at Caltech also). was for 3 years a cosmology postdoc at Ohio State Univ, in Columbus, OH. *Quite* a change from growing up and being in CA all my life, but you know.. change is good. and Columbus was cooler than i'd expected going out there. and i love what i do, feel lucky to be paid to do it, so that helps a lot. :->

Spent 4 months in 2010 as a 'visiting postdoc' at a national lab of physics in Brazil, which was a great and very academically supportive experience.

Feel free to also (web)surf around at: mandeep.org you can find a fair amount of info about the science side of my life here, and as for the rest -- you'll just have to get to know me!

PHILOSOPHY

Peace, love, velorution, beauty, adventure -- and Mystery.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosted several people in Columbus, Ohio when I lived there (more people than I expected pass through there, it seems to be kind of a crossroads of sorts), and a few in Mpls, MN.

Have also stayed at a number of great CS hosts' places, as you can see in the references below.

Hosted a few folks in the Hayward/Union City, CA area, as well.

Also created 2 CS groups some while back..

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Quite a bit by now, always adding to the rich list of experiences: a number of stays with great folks found through CS, and hosted a fair bit as well (see references below for both).

It was initially more surfing than hosting, but actually more of the latter than former in recent years.

Also several other times in life, BC ("Before CS" ;-> ).. in CO, CA, VA, Mexico, etc. -- lots of good memories. :>

Interests

Outside of science, i'm rather an outdoorsy person, I mountain bike when I can, do some rockclimbing, and I've also done a bit of social justice and environmental work in various arenas..

• cycling
• surfing
• physics
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Lots... LOTR (Tolkien), Patricia McKillip (also epic fantasy), both the scientific and philosophical writings of Ole Al (Einstein) and most things by Carl Sagan are favorites, for example. And Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Stood underneath a massive waterfall roaring down from above in Yosemite NP, barely able to breathe (Vernal Falls). Lo many years ago...

Teach, Learn, Share

Fixing bikes, teaching about how the Universe came to be, and where it may go, what the smallest bits of matter are. etc.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Russian Federation, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, India, United States

• 

•