The Sun Bulletin -- December 15,1993 -- Page 3 |
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| Bruce Hodge's electronic mortarboard had a 'can do' attitude | |
Grad uses his head(lights) |
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| MORRO BAY - Bruce Hodge knows how to light up graduation - and did so
Saturday when he got his degree from Cal Poly. The Morro Bay resident was easy to spot; his was the only mortarboard that spelled out messages to family, friends and instructors, featured moving graphics, and performed a variety of other illuminary tricks. About three weeks ago, Hodge came up with the idea of designing a thin panel of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and computer chips to sit atop his mortarboard. He says it took him about two weeks to design the device, build it and write the computer program for |
the chip that controls the 9-by-5 inch light panel. The panel sits nicely on the mortarboard. LEDs in red, green and yellow start out by spelling "I finally graduated," then spell out thank-yous to several teachers, greetings to parents and relatives, and sends a love note - an arrow shoots across the panel to a red heart - to his girlfriend. Hodge, a five-year resident of Morro Bay, worked as a technician for several years "before deciding I didn't want a career of fixing other peoples' problems." So he went back to school, and Saturday was awarded his bachelor's degree in computer engineering. |
