Spring Break
Professor adds enthusiasm to technology
Kelsey McKinney, Contributing Writer, kelseym@smu.edu
Issue date: 9/26/06 Section: News
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A student is waiting outside of Dr. William Gosney's office. As he turns, it becomes clear he isn't here for homework help. A strange contraption is strapped to his back, and he is clutching the attached gun-like trigger in one hand.
The contraption is straight from 1984 - not George Orwell's book, but the Sci-Fi flick "Ghostbusters." Thiago Nascimento, a concert piano major, constructed a replica of the proton pack and is waiting to show off his handiwork to his former modern electronic technology professor.
Gosney invites Nascimento into his office and marvels over the student's ingenuity.
"All riiight!" said Gosney. "That's fantastic!"
The two have just enough room to talk, crowded in by stacks of papers, tangled electrical cords and homemade projects.
The professor's office is filled to capacity with presentation projects, everything from a stationary bike rigged with light bulbs to a homemade telescope with dog treat lids as end covers.
Gosney "needs an office three times that size and somebody to hold a gun to his head to keep him from bringing anything else in," said his Administrative Secretary Dorothy Ramsey.
Before accepting an endowed chair in the Electronic Engineering Department in 1986, Gosney worked in the semi-conductor industry for 17 years, where he accrued the majority of his 14 patents. Gosney worked with Texas Instruments for eight years and then Mostek for nine years.
"If you're an engineer it's like being called. If you don't have the talent for it no amount of work can overcome it," said Gosney.
He is most proud of two patents he filed three decades ago. They were the precursors to today's flash memory. The technology was first used in electronic TV tuners, which remember the voltages of channels so the TV can receive those channels.
"We didn't know what we had," said Gosney. "We were too busy working on other things."
According to Gosney's online description, the modern electronic technology class was created in the late '80s in answer to former SEAS (School of Engineering and Applied Science) Dean Robert Fossum's request to the engineering faculty to develop courses for liberal arts undergraduates.
The contraption is straight from 1984 - not George Orwell's book, but the Sci-Fi flick "Ghostbusters." Thiago Nascimento, a concert piano major, constructed a replica of the proton pack and is waiting to show off his handiwork to his former modern electronic technology professor.
Gosney invites Nascimento into his office and marvels over the student's ingenuity.
"All riiight!" said Gosney. "That's fantastic!"
The two have just enough room to talk, crowded in by stacks of papers, tangled electrical cords and homemade projects.
The professor's office is filled to capacity with presentation projects, everything from a stationary bike rigged with light bulbs to a homemade telescope with dog treat lids as end covers.
Gosney "needs an office three times that size and somebody to hold a gun to his head to keep him from bringing anything else in," said his Administrative Secretary Dorothy Ramsey.
Before accepting an endowed chair in the Electronic Engineering Department in 1986, Gosney worked in the semi-conductor industry for 17 years, where he accrued the majority of his 14 patents. Gosney worked with Texas Instruments for eight years and then Mostek for nine years.
"If you're an engineer it's like being called. If you don't have the talent for it no amount of work can overcome it," said Gosney.
He is most proud of two patents he filed three decades ago. They were the precursors to today's flash memory. The technology was first used in electronic TV tuners, which remember the voltages of channels so the TV can receive those channels.
"We didn't know what we had," said Gosney. "We were too busy working on other things."
According to Gosney's online description, the modern electronic technology class was created in the late '80s in answer to former SEAS (School of Engineering and Applied Science) Dean Robert Fossum's request to the engineering faculty to develop courses for liberal arts undergraduates.
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