From Memories of Stas Ionov
Work with Stas at HRL
I am an employee of HRL in the Information Sciences Lab, however I've always found it difficult to stay in just one research area. I did undergraduate work in Physics at BYU and then became involved in Information Security. I was accepted at Caltech as a graduate student in Electrical Engineering working in optics while working at HRL. I wanted to get involved in research in optics at HRL so I sat in on the yearly meetings where researchers discuss their results. I was very impressed by Stas' accomplishments and I approached him later that day with a proposal to work for him for free on his research. After a long discussion about my status/experience/desires, he accepted and arranged a meeting with the head of HRL to make sure everything was ok.
After clearing everything, I started working with Stas on his research in developing satellite communication systems utilizing optical networks and fiber optic components. I can't even begin to say how much I learned throughout the year with Stas. I learned invaluable lab skills as well as a better understanding of how research in optics and at a research lab is done. He was always patient with me, even when I broke a one of a kind fiber we were planning to use for some special experiments. He was always sure to give me a smile, even when I had broken or ruined something to let me know that "that's just the way research is sometimes, you have to stay with it."
During this year, my wife and I adopted 3 boys who we had been foster parents for. It was a scary experience for us and we were thankful to all of our friends who helped make it a special time. Stas was wonderful. He came to our adoption day celebration despite feeling under the weather and gave us a wonderful bookstore certificate, which we used to buy several books (our kids' current favorite pastime is reading!) His support meant a lot to me. He cared about what was happening with me and my family.
After the first year together, my classes were more demanding at Caltech and I had to stop working with Stas on his research, however he was always available to me when I had questions, even about my work at Caltech. I returned to him again and again with questions, ideas and for advice and he always made time to talk with me.
I brought a troop of boy scouts into the labs to learn about what a scientist does a month or so before his death. I asked Stas among others at HRL to give them a short presentation about his research. As always, he was willing to give his time to helping others. One of the scouts who apparently is notorious in his family for being undecided about his future came home and declared to the surprise of his parents that he wanted to "do what that Russian scientist at HRL does." Stas had made a very big impression on him, enough to convince him that he wanted to be like him. Stas made a similar impression on me. I will be a good scientist if I can be like him.
I was sick and at home when the accident happened and so I was not able to attend the funeral. I wanted so much to tell his wife and daughter how much I appreciated Stas and what a difference he made in my life. As a result of working with Stas, I had the experience to really help my group out at Caltech and do some very good work that convinced my advisor there to accept me into the PhD program. I feel that Stas was directly responsible and I'm very thankful. Even though I "worked" for free for Stas, I know that I was helped more than I helped him. Stas was a very good scientist and a mentor to me in more ways than one. I won't forget his example.
Troy Rockwood
troyrock at hrl dot com
