So what does Jason do again?

I have had to answer this question a million times and it's still difficult for most people to understand. To be honest, I don't even understand what I do half the time. So here's a not so little post to hopefully answer some of your questions:

I am a project manager for an engineering firm that specializes in Electromagnetic Interference/Radio Frequency Interference (EMI/RFI) mitigation. What we do is test electromagnetic fields in existing buildings and simulate them in buildings that have not yet been built. Based upon the data we gather we design ways to mitigate any interference. Typically this is done by shielding the source with ferrous materials like aluminum, iron and steel. As a project manager I am involved in every phase from procuring contracts, performing surveys, drawing shield designs in CAD, supervising union ironworkers during the installation of the shields, testing the installed shields, and writing final reports of our findings.

Most of our clients are universities and other research facilities that have sensitive equipment like electronmicroscopes that do not work with elevated EMI fields. But we also do work for many commercial clients who have data centers, server rooms and other computer equipment to protect. EMI fields can corrupt data and also cause computer screens to jitter and not function. We also shield areas for human exposure risks. Prolonged exposure to elevated EMI fields can cause health problems.

I recently returned from Manhattan where I spent a week overseeing the installation of a shield in a new research park on the East River inbetween Bellevue Hospital and NYU Medical School. Bellevue is where all the people who get shot in Law & Order end up.

This is the offload area for all of our materials. This is also the emergency entrance for Bellevue Hospital. We used a lull to boom all of our stuff onto the plaza level. We use 4'x8' and 5'x10' sheets of aluminum. These are 1/4" thick and weigh 180 lbs. each.

This is a view of the East River from where our shield is being installed. That's Long Island across the river. It was rainy and chilly day. The wind blowing off the river certainly doesn't help any.

This is the research park from the ground. As you can see it is still far from completion. We are shielding the plaza area designated by the orange safety fence at the bottom of the picture and also sections of the first floor along the curtain wall. Directly beneath the open plaza are all of the vaults that will house the electical transformers and switchgear rooms that will power all of the building. Using sophisticated software we simulated that these will generate large AC fields. Because this is an open area where people will congregate we designed a shield of 1/4" aluminum and 1/8" low-carbon steel to limit human exposure risks.

This is the plaza area that will be shielded. On the A-frame cart you can see some sheets of aluminum. The ironworkers and some laborers are preparing the floor for the shield. The shield is pinned to the concrete with Hilti powder actuated shots and then bolted in place. Then the aluminum must be seam welded.

This is the first floor which will be shielded.

This is the dual-substrate shield. The steel is on the bottom and the shiny stuff is the aluminum on top.

Here's one of the ironworkers welding the sheets of aluminum together, then a few pictures showing the shield after two days' worth of work. The shield will not be the finished floor. On top of the shield waterproofing will be applied and then another slab of concrete which will then be covered with pavers.

So that's it. If you're still reading you're probably bored. Sorry for the 5 minutes of your life I wasted. But trust me I have wasted more than that explaining all of this to people who just nod their heads like they understand and say things like "wow" and "interesting." So thanks for indulging me and reading along even if you still don't get any of what I do. Don't feel bad. Because neither do I.