This page will evolve over time, just like I do, so check back whenever your heart desires.
Constructing an understanding of me is left as an exercise for the reader.
About me
*TL;DR
My name is Nicholas Piercy.
- I am indiscriminately curious.
- I am a problem solver at heart.
- I am a welder and a diver (spoiler: I used to do both at the same time for work!)
- I am a tinkerer.
- I love to learn.
- I love to listen.
- I love to smile and laugh.
- I love to travel the world.
- I care deeply about my friends, family, and really, everyone.
Hello there!
When thinking of how to describe myself to the curious reader, I find it hard to put a box around who I am.
In fact, I think describing who I am is somewhat impossible since we are all a work in progress, evolving into new people each and every day, or at least we should be.
“It is not the length of life, but the depth of life. He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I love to smile, laugh, and most importantly, explore. It doesn’t take much for me to be happy. I suppose you could say I am a ‘glass half-full’ type of person. I am not one to derive happiness from gossip, envy, negativity, and shaming others.
I typically have a dry sense of humor and many of my subtle jokes tend to go unnoticed which inevitably leads to me chuckling at my own goofiness.
I am a curious person, and a healthy skeptic. For almost every topic, I desire to have a better understanding of it but I wont blindly agree until I understand. It is impossible to know everything about anything, but I find great joy in broadening my understanding of everything. Suffice to say, I enjoy learning new things.
I enjoy taking things apart to understand how they work and put them back together. I tinker with lots of stuff and I am the go-to fix-it guy for my family. I love fixing stuff and helping others, even if it means I need to carry around tools when I travel or go see friends and family.
It is relatively easy to for me to recognize patterns in everyday life. Perhaps this attribute has contributed to my gravitation toward mathematics and engineering, where an analytic perspective is useful.
I completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, minoring in Physics, from the University of Nebraska - Omaha in 2020. Right back into the crucible, I jumped into a Ph.D. program in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering department at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and I am happy to say that I am nearing the completion of the degree.
History
I suppose a history lesson is a good way to learn the basics of me, so let’s take a look in the past. I’ll share some broad strokes of what I have done with my time with a bit more detail given on other pages of this website. Consider this a general overview, then visit the respective pages if you care to learn more!
Recent
I am currently working as a graduate research assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My work is focused primarily on code development for a computational thermal modeling approach used in Additive Manufacturing (AM) applications. The basic idea is to develop and numerical alternative to Finite Element (FE) modeling for AM. My computational mathematics background leads to a tendency to hone in on the numerical techniques and code development, so my work and code-base supports both myself and my colleagues (who don’t care for writing code).
My particular research has been aimed at Directed Energy Deposition applications, such as wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). That said, the computational techniques for modeling Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes are, in most respects, a stripped down form of DED processes. Since my work has lots of overlap with modeling other AM processes, I mentor several other researchers (currently at Virginia Tech (VT)) to use my code-base for their particular applications. Interestingly, I don’t have any formal training in writing code, nor do I expressly think that I enjoy writing code. Nevertheless, I seem to be fairly good at it. I find it rewarding to think about, then attempt to implement, the complex numerical manipulations needed to maximize computational resources.
Prior to starting my graduate studies, I earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics - with a minor in physics - from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. I financially supported myself and my spouse by working full time, so the degree was obtained over a period of about seven years. I worked at a steel fabrication shop during the day, then went to classes and completed homework in the evenings. While the days were long, I sort of miss the camaraderie and connection I had with like-minded people, both in a manufacturing setting during the day, then a mathematics/engineering environment in the evening.
Originally, my academic goal was to obtain a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. That’s it. I wasn’t interested in the world of academia (nothing has changed here; I am fairly certain academia isn’t for me). The catch? The mechanical engineering program was offered in Lincoln, Nebraska, not Omaha.
Since I was taking courses in the evenings, working full time during the days, I elected to focus on the mathematics portion of the degree, which was offered in Omaha and comprises a large part of any engineering degree. I recall hearing, “If you can get through the math, you’ll be fine in engineering.” Since I enjoyed math, I told myself that I would keep taking math courses, stopping once the things became too hard. Again, I always found math to be enjoyable, but not necessarily easy.
Well, the enjoyment of the mathematics courses waned as the difficulty grew, and my desire for more mathematics came to a natural end right about the point of a bachelors degree.
Nevertheless, I am proud to have finished the degree! I never envisioned myself graduating from college, let alone with a degree in mathematics.
Not so recent
Here’s a brief timeline of some highlights in my life over the years!
Texas
Fresh out of high-school, college didn’t seem like a place I would fit in. Instead, I moved to Houston, Texas to train for a career as an underwater welder. Cool, right? Truth be told, the training is better described as underwater construction, but that just isn’t nearly as catchy.
Arkansas
After finishing training in Texas, I moved to Arkansas where I worked as a commercial diver and millwright welder. It was a unique combo of job skills, unlike anywhere else I have seen. Both sets of responsibilities helped me to grow in areas which I value, welding and diving. I was one of two divers at the company, meaning I had a direct hand in everything we did. From inspections, cleanings, demolition and construction on bridges, inside dams, and in potable water storage (I got to dive in Little Rock, Arkansas’ finished drinking water!), I had a direct hand in it all. I flourished in the sink-or-swim environment, no pun intended.
I was also one of the few welders for the company. Between dive jobs, I traveled throughout the southern United States doing millwright construction work in feed-mills, primarily owned by Butterball and Tyson Foods. It was certainly a dirty job, but very rewarding.
The job required a high mechanical aptitude, which I have always felt is directly tied to a strong imagination, since almost everything we did was custom, non-standard, unique to that job at that mill. In other words, we needed to be masters of the ‘retro-fit’. Most of the mills were built in the early 21st century and, with advancements in technology, needed to be updated to meet requirements of the modern day.
The impact on my personal growth has been profound as a result of this type of work. Really, most everything in life is some form of retro-fitting. We try something new, learn from the outcome, modify the approach, then iterative. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb describes, this is an underpinning of Antifragility. Learning this early in my career has been blissful, leaving the art of the retro-fit as my bread and butter, so to speak.
What goes up must come down. While I liked the job - and I was good at it - I realized that my long-term goals didn’t align with the lifestyle that accompanied the work I was doing. I want a family of my own, and I want to be home with that family often, without financial stress. While working in Arkansas, I developed a burning desire to understand things on a deeper level. And I mean all things. I came to the realization that an education in engineering would support the depth of understanding that I desired.
Since I was young, not married, had no kids, the potential reward of changing things up seemed to outweigh the risk. I chose to move back to Omaha, placing a heavy emphasis on pursuing an education in engineering.
Back to Nebraska
Once in Omaha, I started working as a shop welder for a custom metal fabrication shop. I welded during the day and on weekends, going to school in the evenings. It didn’t take long before I was approached by the office staff to fill the soon-to-be-vacant role of Quality Assurance manager. In full transparency, I think their motivation was to save some salary dollars and they saw an opportunity to do that by hiring me, the youngest guy at the facility, to fill the role. Granted, I did have some background in non-destructive testing techniques and I had been in the welding field for enough years to take the exam to become a certified welding inspector (CWI). Plus, I had completed some projects in my first few months at the job that impressed the working-owners of the company. That said, I definitely had to grow into the role, and I am forever thankful for the opportunity to do so.
My growth was tremendous in this position, both personally and professionally. Learning to gain the respect of the shop was difficult, especially since the majority of the employees doubled my age. They saw me as young and naive, which I was (and let’s be real, I still am). After a few years in the role, I had a personal relationship with almost every employee at the company, built on mutual respect and understanding. When problems arose, I often acted as the liaison between the office and the shop to settle misunderstandings. Though it isn’t always fun dealing with problems and putting out fires, I treasured the fact that nearly everyone was comfortable bringing problems to my desk and asking for help.
The good stuff: Travel
Travel Travel Travel. I think if I had a job that required me to travel and experience the world, I would be in heaven.
Fun fact, I once had a goal of developing a travel blog where I would aim to travel and write about my experiences, attempting to gain some type of sponsor to pay for doing this on repeat.
Common theme: December
If you read through any of my travel posts separate from this page, you’ll notice that most of my travel has occurred in the month of December. Working full time and completing academic coursework meant that my opportunities to travel were primarily focused around the Christmas holiday. Fabrication work slowed since most customers were taking off time from their jobs to be with family or to travel themselves. The academic semester would come to an end, allowing me to figuratively package up the work and set it aside.
December 2016: Fiji
I traveled to Fiji at the end of 2016. It was a fantastic experience and I’d like to go back soon. Read about it on the Travel page of this site.
December 2017: New Zealand & Australia
In 2017, I ventured to Australia for a couple of weeks with a quick pit-stop in New Zealand. New Zealand was amazing, and I regret not giving more time to the stop-over. Australia was gorgeous and incredibly diverse. I drove most of the eastern coast between Melbourne and Brisbane, stopping at tons of coastal towns and getting a feel for what life was like. This was a vacation trip, but I was also scouting the cities for potential places to live in the future! I found a beautiful city in the Sunshine Coast, just a quick 30-45 minutes drive north of Brisbane. The town was small but offered all the amenities of a big city. It had a direct train into Brisbane, a Costco just a bit out of town (Costco fanboy here), and was far enough north to have warm ocean temperatures year-round. The Sunshine Coast is a true gem.
December 2018: Caribbean cruise
In late 2018, I hopped on a Western Caribbean Cruise with stops at the Cayman Islands, Cozumel, and Jamaica. If you want to escape away on a cruise, I highly recommend Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL). You can’t really go wrong with a cruise.
December 2019: Oregon - parents
I traveled to Oregon to visit my parents in December 2019, just before the Covid pandemic was about to hit. It was great to see my parents, especially my Mom. Side note: My mom, my sister and me are very similar, both in our view on life, our thinking, and even down to our facial features. I can’t count how many times I have been told some version of “if you had longer hair…,” or, “if she had shorter hair…,” referencing that our hair length is the key visual difference between us.
December 2020: COVID road trip
Since COVID was impacting most of the world at this point, I decided to road-trip to go spend time snowmobiling with a good friend in Idaho. We rented a cabin maintained by the Forest Service, accessible only by snowmobile and equipped with the primitive essentials. What a fantastic experience and, hopefully, an annual tradition!
June 2021: Greece & Italy
In the Summer of 2021, my sister invited me to Greece to sail on a catamaran for two weeks. 10/10 would recommend. I opted to tack on two more weeks at the end of the trip to explore Italy.
October 2022: Spain & cruise to Italy
In October 2022, I went on a week long cruise out of Barcelona Spain with my brother and my mom and dad. My mothers health was declining, so this was a motivator to do something fun with her while it was still possible. At the time, the cruise ship was the largest in the world, the Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas. I again added a week at the end of the trip to road-trip around Spain.
2024-2025: Under construction - check back later!
My mother passed away in late 2023, and some of life’s challenges emerged in 2024. Needless to say, 2024-2025 has been a time of self-reflection and personal growth.
It has been cathartic to work on building this website, which I intend to contribute to for the rest of my life!
So stick around, let’s go on an adventure!
About Chester
*TL;DR
Chester, the good-est boy.
- He is an Australian Shepherd
- He has a “red merle” coat and beautiful blue eyes.
- He loves to play fetch.
- He loves to snuggle.
- He loves going for drives.
Chester joined my life in the summer of 2018. I had a trip planned to visit my sister who was temporarily living in Oklahoma. I found someone nearby to my sister who had a pup and I inquired about the little guy. They sent me photos and explained his personality a bit then, once I arrived in Oklahoma, my sister and her daughter joined me in going to meet the pup. He was so tiny, soft and cuddly. We arranged to pick him up the day before I started my road trip back home.
I remember being so scared after picking him up, thinking that I would not be responsible enough for the pup. Now, many years later, I can confidently say that it was the best decision I have ever made. Chester is my very best companion, helping me get through the difficult moments and right there to enjoy the great moments in life.
Chester is almost always up for playing ball. Fetch is his job, and he is a dedicated worker. Once he starts, there’s no stopping him from going for hours on end! If he is ready for a break, he will stop on his way back from getting the ball and lay down for a bit, catching his breath. Moments later, he’s ready to go again! In the winter months, when it’s terribly cold outside, we will play fetch with soft rubber tennis balls inside.
Car rides are a blast for Chester. Of course, like most doggos, he loves having the windows down. He will stick his cute little nose out the window and continuously sniff, practically sending sneeze-stuff back inside the car! He has a bed that attaches to the center console for when he was smaller. It was a lifesaver for a couple of long road trips. Now that he is a bit bigger, he prefers sitting in my lap as I drive.
Chester is a loyal pup who gets lots of compliments as we are out and about. Both for his cuteness but also his calm nature and obedience.
It’s a shame that doggos have much shorter lives than humans. And for that, I try my best to give him every bit of attention he deserves, and more!