Nuts and Volts - College Professor James Antonakos
T&E Engineer
Posts: 1,396
All,
I got a free issue of Nuts and Volts in November and saw there were 2 articles writen (Review: Performance Electronics for Cars, Lets get technical: The Zilog Z8Encore! XP microcontroller). They were written by my Community College Professor James Antonakos. I didn't notice his name right away as I have been out of school for a few years now. I subscribed to Nuts and Volts and got my first paid issue for January. This time for some reason, I read an article (Let's get technical: Why I am glad my computer crashed) and saw it was from Professor Antonakos. I immediately emailed him as it has been a few years (1995). I had been staying in touch periodically over the years but I was amazed again by Professor Antonakos.
http://web.sunybroome.edu/~antonakos_j/
He emailed me back and said that I am the #1 past student that has stayed in touch with him. He was amazed. He also said he writes for N&V sister magazine "Servo".
In 1992 I just got out of the Navy after 10 years of duty as an Electronics Technician. I went back to college in my Hometown of Binghamton, NY. Out of all my professors, Professor Antonakos was the one that inspired me the most. He is a great man that I really admire. I could not beleive how smart he was when I first learned about electronics (college level - besides what the Navy taught me) and microprocessors as he was·a little older·than myself back then. He was very patient and I did very well with a 3.8 GPA upon graduation (but I think my Navy electronics training helped).
Professor Antonakos was my hero and inspiration and we worked on a couple of IEEE projects together. One of which is still at the school hanging on the wall. It is a Reaction timer·with 100 LEDs and an 8085 microprocessor and 2 Frogger push buttons. As the LEDs fall from the top to the bottom starting at a random time based on an interupt, the 000 clock starts counting up and you hit a button to get the shortest reaction time. It is smart too in that you can't cheat and hold your hand on the buttons. It even shuts off automatically after 5 minutes of non usage. It's still one of the few IEEE student projects hanging on the wall at the schools EET department for new students to try - 10 years later.
http://www.sunybroome.edu/~ieee/projects.htm
I had a great time in my first two years and will never forget how he helped me grow and learn. He had written many technical books (microprocessor and electronics) when I was in school. I was simply amazed that someone a little older than me could have done all this. I taught him some 3D animation on my Amiga 3000 computer as he was very interested in that. He taught me microprocessor theory and related electronics. It was because of him I transfered into Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY (where he also went for his BS - He later got his MS and PHD in SUNY Binghamton) to get my BS in Electrical Engineering Technology in 1997. I·have now more than quadrupled my income after my AS degree in 10 years due to me wanting·to learn and·be more like him. ·I self teach myself what I don't know and not afraid to take risks in learning as he taught and inspired me.
In September I bought myself a BOE-BOT from Radio Shack as a birthday present to myself. I liked the BOT feature but what I enjoyed the most was self teaching myself the BS2. Within a couple of months I moved up to the professional development board and programming in SX/B for the SX-28 and also the BS2px.
Great inspiration and support came from all the forum members but especially people like Jon Williams, Chris Savage and Bean. There are so many others too (so forgive me for not mentioning everyone). The great support we get on the Forum and Parallax technical support is un matched.
Where this is all going to is because of the initial inspiration and drive to push myself and learn·taught to me by·Professor James Antonakos as·the desire·still lives inside me today. I am almost addicted to my projects with the BS2 but I love it!
My hat goes off to one amazing man - Professor James Antonakos.
If anyone knows him, let me know.
Thanks for listening,
Timothy Gilmore
Post Edited (tdg8934) : 1/5/2006 2:03:06 AM GMT
I got a free issue of Nuts and Volts in November and saw there were 2 articles writen (Review: Performance Electronics for Cars, Lets get technical: The Zilog Z8Encore! XP microcontroller). They were written by my Community College Professor James Antonakos. I didn't notice his name right away as I have been out of school for a few years now. I subscribed to Nuts and Volts and got my first paid issue for January. This time for some reason, I read an article (Let's get technical: Why I am glad my computer crashed) and saw it was from Professor Antonakos. I immediately emailed him as it has been a few years (1995). I had been staying in touch periodically over the years but I was amazed again by Professor Antonakos.
http://web.sunybroome.edu/~antonakos_j/
He emailed me back and said that I am the #1 past student that has stayed in touch with him. He was amazed. He also said he writes for N&V sister magazine "Servo".
In 1992 I just got out of the Navy after 10 years of duty as an Electronics Technician. I went back to college in my Hometown of Binghamton, NY. Out of all my professors, Professor Antonakos was the one that inspired me the most. He is a great man that I really admire. I could not beleive how smart he was when I first learned about electronics (college level - besides what the Navy taught me) and microprocessors as he was·a little older·than myself back then. He was very patient and I did very well with a 3.8 GPA upon graduation (but I think my Navy electronics training helped).
Professor Antonakos was my hero and inspiration and we worked on a couple of IEEE projects together. One of which is still at the school hanging on the wall. It is a Reaction timer·with 100 LEDs and an 8085 microprocessor and 2 Frogger push buttons. As the LEDs fall from the top to the bottom starting at a random time based on an interupt, the 000 clock starts counting up and you hit a button to get the shortest reaction time. It is smart too in that you can't cheat and hold your hand on the buttons. It even shuts off automatically after 5 minutes of non usage. It's still one of the few IEEE student projects hanging on the wall at the schools EET department for new students to try - 10 years later.
http://www.sunybroome.edu/~ieee/projects.htm
I had a great time in my first two years and will never forget how he helped me grow and learn. He had written many technical books (microprocessor and electronics) when I was in school. I was simply amazed that someone a little older than me could have done all this. I taught him some 3D animation on my Amiga 3000 computer as he was very interested in that. He taught me microprocessor theory and related electronics. It was because of him I transfered into Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY (where he also went for his BS - He later got his MS and PHD in SUNY Binghamton) to get my BS in Electrical Engineering Technology in 1997. I·have now more than quadrupled my income after my AS degree in 10 years due to me wanting·to learn and·be more like him. ·I self teach myself what I don't know and not afraid to take risks in learning as he taught and inspired me.
In September I bought myself a BOE-BOT from Radio Shack as a birthday present to myself. I liked the BOT feature but what I enjoyed the most was self teaching myself the BS2. Within a couple of months I moved up to the professional development board and programming in SX/B for the SX-28 and also the BS2px.
Great inspiration and support came from all the forum members but especially people like Jon Williams, Chris Savage and Bean. There are so many others too (so forgive me for not mentioning everyone). The great support we get on the Forum and Parallax technical support is un matched.
Where this is all going to is because of the initial inspiration and drive to push myself and learn·taught to me by·Professor James Antonakos as·the desire·still lives inside me today. I am almost addicted to my projects with the BS2 but I love it!
My hat goes off to one amazing man - Professor James Antonakos.
If anyone knows him, let me know.
Thanks for listening,
Timothy Gilmore
Post Edited (tdg8934) : 1/5/2006 2:03:06 AM GMT
Comments
I know James! He is working on a project using the SpeakJet and my new Text to Speech IC for an upcoming series of articles for Nuts and Volts. I have exchanged e-mail with him over the past year but only spoken to him once. I was supposed to be a short call but it ended up lasting over an hour because we had some many things in common. He's an interesting and motivated guy!
Thanks for the write up. It's always good to hear about inspirational people and even better when you know them.
Ken
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