Welcome to The Engineering Mind Blog

Musings from the minds of our many talented engineers and #TeamEZ members about subjects they are passionate about.

  • The Edison Effect

    The year is 1880 and Thomas Edison was several years into his quest to perfect an incandescent light bulb. It was important to him the bulb produce a light which was both bright and safe, qualities not found in lighting solutions of the day. It was e...
  • Rising to the Challenge

    At this time of year we would normally be bringing you news about our ADI mentors and their FIRST robotics teams. We would be sharing their successes and stories of how they increased efficiency, power or dexterity for their robots while munchin...
  • Music on a Beam of Light

    I’m back with another mash-up of high-tech, marketing, and my hobby of antique radio restoration. And, once again, we will be talking about a product from the Philco Radio Corporation. Ever the innovators, the folks at Philco were first, in 193...
  • A Bad Reputation?

    I have found that stories of advancements and failures in old tech can provide lessons for both the engineer and marketer of today’s high-tech products. Today I look at how a bad (perhaps undeserved) reputation was born, spread, and survived for eighty years…
  • The $4 Billion Omelet, Part II

    In Part I of this series I wrote about a part of Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel Project (a.k.a. the Big Dig.) The goal at this interchange south of Boston was was to connect the Massachusetts Turnpike (from the west,) the Southeast Expressway (...
  • StataHenge

    Sometimes, the Engineering Mind wanders. The body, having little choice in the matter, follows. All of us who work at a computer know that when you are “heads down” most of the day, looking up can be a revelation. You notice things. We he...
  • The $4 Billion Omelet: Part I

    This is the story of a $4 billion omelet. Only this one is not made of eggs, vegetables and cheese, but steel, concrete and massive amounts of innovation. The Engineering Mind has possibly never worked harder. Our story begins in the 1970s when Bosto...
  • What's Next for Project Playtime?

    The timeline for ADI’s Project Playtime is ending, but the mission, relationships, and project development will continue. What’s next for the teams spotlighted in previous Engineering Mind blog posts? User Feedback, Please! A common theme...
  • Boston's Back Bay: The Original Big Dig

    It was a project so big, it still boggles the mind. Two Boston entrepreneurs would stretch the limits of the era’s technology when, in the mid-1800s, they filled in 568 acres of fetid swampland, enabling its transformation into one of America&r...