My Life!

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Born weighing 11 pounds on a cold January morning in the year 1975 to Wayne and Dorothy Emsley, I was the perfect child. My life started in the glamorous and spectacular Wilmington, Delaware, the envy of the world. Actually you wouldn't have guessed it unless you've been there, but Delaware is practically at the heart of the East Coast. Located almost equidistant from Washington DC and NYC, Delaware had a lot to offer to this suburban born child.

My parents are both in the education business with my mother teaching first grade and my father an administrator. My life was greatly influenced by my parents specifically my fathers interest in science. I remember working together with my father on science projects in grade school such as the ever fascinating "Erupting Volcano" and the always-entertaining Heat Transfer In Different Mediums. Yes, my life was filled with so much entertainment and extravagance that there could only be one course of study for me -- Engineering.

You guessed it; Electrical Engineering was the life for me. After completing high school I set my sites on the Nittany Lions. Nestled in Happy Valley, The Pennsylvania State University was the perfect place to hone my learning skills. Penn State had so much to offer, including the best college football team in the nation. I have to admit, even though the education there was superb, my fondest memories are of the Nittany Lion games. But I digress. Upon a stellar college career I received my Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in December of 1996 (a full semester early), but I would not be done.

Realizing the need for higher education, and also aware that my sleeping habits would not have allowed me to have a 9-5 job, I decided to continue on in grad school. Now here in the spectacular Boston, MA, I am studying EE again at Boston University. Located in the heart of Boston, BU is the perfect counter part to Penn State. From cornfields to skyscrapers the two schools couldn't be more different, but both have been very exciting. I am currently in my first year as a Masters student at BU focusing of VLSI Fabrication Simulation and Modeling. The most exciting part of my work here has been as a Teaching Fellow for 3 separate undergraduate courses. As a TF I am responsible for running lab sections and discussion sections, where I get to be in front of the class for an hour teaching the students of all the fascinating uses of the Transistor. I have to admit that my parent's education roots must have filtered into my genes because I am crazy about teaching.

Updates

2016

A new old job! I went back to Analog Devices to work on some revenue generating products. My first stint at the company was in research and development, and now I'm happy to be back working on the outcome of that initial work, products that are actually selling. This year Tori started first grade and Charlie entered his second year of pre-school.

2015

Snow, snow, more snow, the year started with the highest snowfall total in Boston winter history. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but it was too deep for them, or rather they are a bit too small to get the full experience. The new house is great and the extra spaced seemed to fill quickly with all the kids gear, and kids. Tori started kindergarten this year.

2014

A new home! Our new house was finished in early January so we started the year with a move and ended it with an extra kid. Elanna Elizabeth, another girl!, is born in August, making Rachel and I minority managers of the new household.

2013

What was once an ample size house for Rachel and I, has seemingly shrunk under the weight of us plus two little ones. This year we pulled the trigger on building a new home in North Reading, MA about 20 minutes north of our current home in Melrose. We ended the year with a quick and relatively painless sale of our first home. Though it happened just a little too soon to move into our new house, but the buyers we kind enough to rent it back to us for two months.

2012

It's a boy! Charles Jacob is born in September making one child seem like a breeze.

2011

A new job, twice! I started working a Varian Semiconductor on ion-implanted solar cells doing process development. Soon after I started Varian was acquired by Applied Materials.

2010

It's a girl! Our first foray into parenthood is success with the birth of Victoria Ruth... Tori for short.

2009

Rachel graduates!... again. For the first time in years neither of us are in school. Rachel successfully graduated from Law School and passed the Bar exam to become the first Emsley lawyer. I'm so proud. After graduation we had her party, and in September had a great weekend excursion to Acadia National Park in Maine.

2008

Rachel and I took spectacular trips to Istanbul and Bermuda - go to the photo section for some pictures. The motivations behind the trips were friends' weddings, but they both offered a great opportunity for vacations.

2007

The salad years... still married Rachel and I would probably agree that things are going pretty well. She doing well in law school and work - me doing, well, work. No changes to report. In a geo-economically-conscious maneuver, and because my previous vehicle no longer "worked", I bought a Prius.

2006

Marriage!... On July 29th, Rachel and I got hitched. It was a great wedding and we had a great Honeymoon in Napa Valley and San Francisco. There was lots of work in the months leading up to wedding, but it went beautifully. In June, Rachel switched careers, and began working in a Patent Law Firm as a Technical Specialist, the first stage of becoming a Patent Attorney.

Spring 2005:

In January 2005 I took the role as Chairman of the IEEE Laser and Electro-opitcs Society (LEOS) Central New England Chapter. IEEE is the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers and is the largest technical organization in the world. LEOS is the Society of IEEE that fits in with my research and work. We won Chapter of the Year in August! In other news Rachel was accepted to Suffolk Law school in Boston. She plans to pursue patent law.

Fall 2004:

Engaged! Rachel succumbed to my begging and pleading and agreed to marry me. I proposed to her in the middle of Boston Common in the evening of December 8th. The plan is to be married in July of 2006.

Spring 2004:

Entered the working world! Or at least the industrial/non-academic working world. I started at Analog Devices, in Wilmington, MA in January. In other news Rachel and I began looking for a house and in May found the one we wanted. We bought a great place in Melrose, MA, pictures can be viewed in the photos section.

Fall 2003:

Dr. Emsley continued his work at Boston University, now as a Research Associate, working on optical interconnects. I traveled to Switzerland in November for the last time on our joint project. My role was to make more device for my research and to train the next in line grad-student, Steve Menn. We took a weekend excursion to Milan which can be seen in the photos section.

Spring 2003:

I did it! I am now Matt Emsley, Ph.D. I finished up my doctorate in Electrical Engineering in May by completing my dissertation entitled "Silicon Resonant Cavity Enhanced Photodetector Arrays For Optical Interconnects". This summer I'll continue to work at BU as a Research Associate while I look for a job in industry, hopefully in the Boston area.

Fall 2002:

I took another trip to Switzerland to finish fabricating photodetectors for my research. I also went to go to Scotland where I was awarded the IEEE 2002 Laser and Electro Optics Society (LEOS) Graduate Student Fellowship. The other big event was that I passed my prospectus for my dissertation, essentially a proposal of the goals I need to graduate. I was about six months late in doing the prospectus but it also meant that much of the work had been completed. I'm now on target to finish in May 2003.

Summer 2002:

This summer was a pretty eventful one. First, for July and August I was in Lausanne, Switzerland working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). There I worked in an amazing fabrication facility where I was able to do the complete fabrication of my photodetectors on 4" silicon wafers. I was also able to take some time off and travel around Switzerland and parts of neighboring Germany. Also, in July I won the IEEE 2002 LEOS Graduate Student Fellowship that will be awarded to me in Scotland in November 2002. Lastly, and really the most important of all, my brother and his wife, well just his wife I guess, gave birth to their second child, Evan George Emsley.

Spring 2002:

Not a very eventful spring. School continues as usual, world seems chaotic as has become usual. Rachel and I took a nice little trip to Sarasota, FL for her brother's college graduation as well as a relaxing break from the Boston weather. I also found out that I will spending part of the summer in Switzerland working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Fall 2001:

Kind of a dark Fall for everyone. Continued with school as usual in this most unusual period of time.

Summer 2001:

For my first travel to Europe, Rachel, my lady friend, and I went to Italy. It was a fantastic 12 day excursion that took us to Rome, Florence, and Venice. The food in Italy was amazing! I could live there simply for food, let alone all the magnificent sites.!

Spring 2001:

2001 The Odyssey continues. Not much to different these days. Still continue towards that never ending goal. This past March I was awarded the H. J. Berman "Future of Light" Prize in Photonics at Boston University's Science Day 2001. The prestige and honor I shall await no more...

Fall 2000:

It works! This semester I was able to successfully fabricate my first working photodetector. It took some last minute efforts but everything worked in the end. I was also able to present some preliminary results at a conference in Puerto Rico. Yep it's a tough life in grad-school. This was my first conference presentation so I was a bit nervous but everything went great. I will be continuing this work with the goal of fabricating high-speed devices. I'll let you know when they work.

Spring 2000:

I passed! I officially passed the subject qualifier for the PhD program! I still have to take the math qualifier this summer, but if all goes well I will definitely be continuing my schooling for another few years. I finished and passed my masters thesis, entitled "Reflecting SOI Substrates for Optoelectronic Applications" in March of this year. The project is a portion of the greater picture of making the photodetectors, which should be working sometime by early summer. I take the math qualifier in May - wish me luck!

Fall 99:

Well I returned from the beautiful Northwest to the wonderful Northeast. This semester I will work on the design of a high-speed photodetector for use in optical communication networks. I will mainly be doing simulation work in preparation for the device fabrication, which will take place in the spring. I will also be preparing once again for the PhD qualifier in January. In December I became an uncle! My brother and his wife had their first child Connor William Emsley.

Summer 99:

Living on the west coast isn't as big a change as I would have thought. Even though I'm 3,000 miles from home it really doesn't feel that far. Portland is a really beautiful area especially with Mt. Hood as a backdrop. Working at Intel has been really enjoyable. It may sound a bit nerdy, but working for the company that was founded by the inventors of the microchip is a real kick. Currently I'm doing research on thin gate transistors that will be used on chips in 2002! Cool, huh?!?! Although I'm enjoying my time here I'm looking forward to returning to my friends in Boston and getting back to the school schedule. Next fall I'll finish up my master's and begin working towards a PhD.

Spring 99:

Well pass I did not, but stay I must! So I didn't get by this time but I haven't been deterred and will stay for more. Now nearing the completion of the Masters program I have decided to switch research directions. I will now be working to develop the fabrication steps involved in producing a photodetector made on silicon. The process will rely heavily on the new SOI (Silicon On Insulator) technology being used by the silicon industry. In a career-related note I will be starting an internship this summer in Portland, Oregon with Intel Corporation. This should be an exciting chance to see new scenery and see what industry is all about. I hope I can adjust my work schedule.

Fall 98:

Now in my second year at BU I'm really feeling quite at home. I am currently a Teaching Fellow/Research Assistant so I get to stay pretty busy. I will soon be taking the PhD qualifying exams in an attempt to prolong the joy of academia, and in an effort to postpone the need for a "9 to 5" job. Actually this past year has gone by so fast that an additional four years for the PhD doesn't seem like that long of a time. I also have been enjoying teaching so much that I want to keep my options open after graduation. I'll let you know if I pass!

Spring 98:

Well, my feelings towards teaching have paid off big! I was named the Boston University Electrical and Computer Engineering Teaching Fellow of the Year! I have finished my first year as a graduate student and now I am moving into research. This summer I will be performing research on Boron penetration through thin Gate Dielectrics. Sounds exciting, yes! Actually it is a really important aspect of tomorrows MOSFET's which are used in practically every electronic device in existence. Stayed tuned for my results.

See you, Matt