John Engelbrecht
An electronics hobbyist building custom instruments with Surface Mount Technology
Age 63 in 2013, currently giving grandchild care and eager to share electronics experience
Married 39 years
Senior member of IEEE (not a PE)
former member Technology Association of Georgia (Education Collaborative)
former Georgia Home Education Association
former Augusta Linux User Group
18 years experience developing circuits for IBM
12 years experience training adults in community college
Cisco Networking Academy instructor for first four semesters
Certified secondary educator
CompTIA certified for A+
Texas Oaks Baptist Church
Apart from project class, able to consult for EMC (FCC compliance), design analog circuits, and prototype circuits.
Resume: www.home.earthlink.net/~johnenge
(512) 773-9266 johnenge@earthlink.net apartment at Slaughter Lane at West Gate Blvd.
Circuit conversations and prototyping foster understanding, your EE and ME courses will go much better
Transistors, FETs, op amps
Sample topics: impedance matching, feedback, parasitic oscillation, EMC, wideband, how transistors operate, how capacitive coupling in amplifiers works
The instructor is an electrical engineer who was employed for thirty years in Texas doing technical work. (Not a certified, professional engineer.)
His employment started before microprocessors, so he started in mainly-analog design and did not get into the mainstream of microprocessor work. His experience is some in digital but more in analog, an area reputed to be magic, and in EMC (electromagnetic compatibility), a specialty area known for certain to deal with magic ;^) His EMC work for IBM was so successful that IBM awarded him two corporate-level awards.
The instructor enjoys hobby work and seeks to share this fun with young people. Whereas athletics has a wide following, technical hobby work is done by few young people, and they generally can't find adult mentors. Solder & Circuits is a way for electronics-, science-, and math-minded young people to get some guidance.
The cost of electronics projects is low. A resistor is $.01, a transistor is $.05, and a custom-etched printed circuit board is $10. The cost of tools far exceeds the component cost, and tools can be shared. (soldering iron, long-nose pliers, cutter, wire stripper, tweezers, knife, files, drill and maybe a Dremel tool kit, magnifier, digital volt ohmmeter (DMM), hacksaw)
The instructor is evangelical and is interested not only in fostering technical knowledge but also in the social and spiritual development of young people. Interacting with adults and seeking resources are important pursuits for Solder & Circuits participants. There are problems when young people stay submerged in a gaming culture or "youth culture."
The instructor was successful in the Austin Area Math and Science Fair in 1967. He has interests in meteorology, astronomy, and the Ubuntu flavor of Linux.