ROBERT WILLIAM GRESCHKE
906 School of Mines Rd, Apt 11
Socorro, New Mexico USA 87801
Email: robert@greschke.com
EXPERIENCE
* 8 years in the Naval Nuclear Power Program (September
1977-October 1985). Primarily trained as an electrical
operator.
This involved the control, monitoring, and repair of various
types of electrical generation/conversion equipment and their
associated electronic control systems, electrical distribution
equipment, atmosphere control equipment, and propulsion
plant/ship systems auxiliary equipment. During this time I
held a secret security clearance.
* 5 1/2 years assigned to the USS Ohio-SSBN 726 (first Trident
class ballistic missile submarine).
Participated in initial ship, reactor plant, and propulsion
plant construction and testing (January 1980-August
1982). Completed 5 operational patrol cycles (August 1982-May
1985). Performed the duties of a divisional level manager
during both administrative and overhaul/at sea periods
(January 1984-May 1985).
* Assigned to the USS Pargo-SSN 650 (May 1985-October 1985).
Worked as the administrative assistant to the engineering
department head. The ship was undergoing a non-refueling
overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton,
Washington.
* Employed as an Array Operator for the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory, Very Large Array (VLA) facility on the
Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico (March 1986-November 1989).
The VLA is a 27 element radio telescope interferometer which
is controlled from a control building near the center of three
22km long arms along which the 25m diameter antennas are
positioned. The Array Operator controls and monitors the
computer systems used to control the antennas and site
auxiliary systems, monitors and takes corrective action for
equipment malfunctions, modifies observing programs as
required, maintains observing logs, initiates maintenance
callouts, controls traffic of maintenance personnel on the
array, and is responsible for personnel and equipment
safety. In addition to the routine astronomical observing the
VLA antennas were arrayed with the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration's (NASA) Deep Space Network (DSN)
antennas located at Goldstone, California to assist NASA in
the reception of image data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft as
it flew by the planet Neptune in August 1989.
* Employed as the Chief Operator for the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory, Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) project
(December 1989-September 1993).
The VLBA is a 10 element radio telescope interferometer. The
25m diameter antennas are controlled remotely from the Array
Operations Center in Socorro, New Mexico. The antennas are
spread out across the United States from St. Croix in the
U.S. Virgin Islands to Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Chief Operator
is responsible for the supervision of the Array and Correlator
Operators and the management, administration, planning, and
coordination of the daily, as well long range array
activities. The time period of this job covered the main
construction phase of the VLBA when the complement of antennas
went from two operational antennas to all ten. In addition to
normal managerial duties this time period necessitated the
establishment of all operating procedures, test procedures,
and a preventative maintenance system for remote antenna
operations. During this time I also designed, coded, and
implemented several major, mission-critical software programs
including the display systems used by the control room
operators for monitoring antenna systems, the computer to
computer communication system used to command and control the
ten independent antennas as a unified array, an information
retrieval system for online operating documentation, and a
distributed database system capable of tracking shipments of
recording tapes containing scientific data to and from radio
astronomy facilities around the world. Some of these programs
were still in use by the observatory until 2020.
* Traveling/living in the Western Pacific (September
1993-February 1998).
During this time period I lived aboard and crewed on several
sailing yachts in and around the islands of the countries of
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Visits were also made
to Hong Kong and the island of Guam. The last two years of
this time was primarily spent living with a family in a small
fishing village at the southern tip of the province of Negros
Oriental in the Philippines. During this time I operated a
ferry service for the nearby communities and tourists using a
boat I designed and built.
* Employed as an Array Operator for the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory, Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) project
in Socorro, New Mexico (February 1998-July 2000).
The Array Operator controls and monitors the computer systems
used to receive and display the continuous stream of monitor
data sent by each of the 10 radio telescope antenna station
computers, controls the antennas and site auxiliary systems by
issuing commands from the array central control computer,
monitors and takes corrective action for equipment
malfunctions, modifies observing programs as required,
maintains observing logs, initiates maintenance callouts,
monitors weather conditions at each of the antenna sites, and
is responsible for equipment safety. Rewrote and updated the
monitoring and control software that I wrote as the Chief
Operator.
* Employed as a Seismological Software Engineer/Staff
Scientist for the Incorporated Research Institutions for
Seismology (IRIS) Program for Array Seismic Studies of the
Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) (July 2000-February 2020).
The PASSCAL Instrument Center (PIC) develops software and
hardware, and maintains the National Science Foundation's pool
of portable equipment used for monitoring both
artificial/active source, and naturally occurring seismic
activity. My job was developing, writing and maintaining
software applications that are used for monitoring and
controlling seismic recording equipment in the field and in
the laboratory, and software for field quality control
checking of seismic data. I also developed and wrote PASSCAL's
inventory tracking and shipping system. Have travelled to over
20 countries as a field technician with PASSCAL equipment on
scientific experiments using anywhere from a few to thousands
of instruments, ranging in length from days to months, and
from Greenland to the South Pole.
* Changed to a Hardware Technician position with IRIS/PASSCAL
(February 2020-present).
This job entails testing and maintenance of several
brands/models of the digital seismic recording systems from
manufacturers such as Quanterra, Refracton Technologies,
Nanometrics, and Fairfield Geotechnologies. Testing and
maintenance of all associated support equipment is
included. Processing of time series data resulting from
internal bench tests, and "cold" tests performed in
an environmental chamber tests is also performed. While in
this position I have also developed several pieces of software
and hardware for offloading and initially processing of data
from the field and internal tests, and well as for monitoring
and analysis of the performance of laboratory GPS repeater
systems and equipment GPS systems.
Have had experience working with the following computer
systems/programming languages:
--Many older mainframes and mini-computer systems at civilian
and military locations dating back to the time of punched
cards.
--Macintosh and IBM-compatible micro-computers; C/JAVA
programming, setup, real-time engineering data display; Linux,
Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X/macOS
--Languages used: BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C, JAVA, SAIL, UNIX
Korn/bash/tcsh shells, Z-80 and 68000 assembly, SQL, HTML,
tcl/tk, Objective-C, Python/Tkinter
--Database programming: dBase II/III+/IV, SQL (MySQL/MariaDB),
development of many custom database systems
Have had experience working with, and working on, the
following seismological instruments:
--Refraction Technologies (Ref Tek) 72A -06, -07 and -08 data
acquisitions systems, RT125 and RT125A single channel
recording systems, and model 130 (RT130) recording systems
--Quanterra Q330, Q330S, Q330HR and Q8 acquisition systems,
PB14F and B44 data recording balers
--Nanometrics Taurus, Pegasus and Centaur recording systems
--Fairfield Geotechnologies ZLand Three-Channel Seismic Nodes
--SmartSolo Three-Channel Node recorders
--Guralp seismic sensors, models 40T, ESP, 3T
--Streckeisen seismic sensors, model STS2
--Many different geophone and accelerometer sensors
EDUCATION
* Basic Electrical and Electronics School, Naval Training
Center, San Diego, California (December 1977-March 1978).
Circuit theory, transistor theory, electronic circuit
troubleshooting.
* Interior Communications Electrician "A" School,
San Diego, California (April 1978-June 1978).
Basic logic theory, alarm and indicating systems, amplified
communications systems, gyrocompass guidance and tracking
systems, basic electrical motor and generator theory.
* Naval Nuclear Power School, Orlando, Florida (September
1978-March 1979).
Thermodynamics, fluid kinetics, electrical generation and
distribution theory, power plant chemistry control, nuclear
reactor design and reactor kinetics, reactor plant accident
analysis, and basic physics.
* Naval Nuclear Power Plant Prototype training, Kesselring
Site, Ballston Spa, New York (April 1979-October 1979).
Required training at an operational reactor plant facility
leading up to qualification as a nuclear power plant operator
and radiation worker.
* S8G Design School, Kesselring Site, Ballston Spa, New York
(November 1979-December 1979).
A school which covered the design of all major propulsion
plant and reactor plant systems for the Trident/S8G plant (8th
General Electric submarine propulsion plant model) presented
by the various system design engineers.
* Machinery Vibration Analyst Course, General Dynamics -
Electric Boat Shipyard, Groton, Connecticut (March 1980).
Acoustic fundamentals, measurement and analysis techniques,
vibration calculations. Electrical, mechanical, and fluid
systems sound silencing methods.
* Leadership, Management, Education and Training School, Naval
Submarine Base, Bangor, Washington (May 1983).
Basic management concepts, techniques, and their application.
* Ship's 3M Coordinator School, Naval Station, San Diego,
California (May 1984).
Ship or command level management and operation of the Navy's
scheduled preventative maintenance system (Material
Maintenance Management System).
* Computer science, mathematics, chemistry, management and
business administration courses, Chapman College, Orange,
California and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology,
Socorro, New Mexico. No degree completed.
PAPERS WRITTEN
Operating the Very Large Array, the Very Long Baseline Array,
and the Millimeter Array: A Comparative Study.
Web: http://http://library.nrao.edu/public/memos/alma/main/memo258.pdf
CURRENT EMPLOYER
IRIS/PASSCAL
100 East Road
Tech Industrial Park
New Mexico Tech
Socorro, New
Mexico USA 87801
(575)835-5070
2022-07-24