User:Rap39

About Me

I am a student in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. I attended Southlake Carroll Senior High school in Southlake, Texas. I excelled academically, but the most distinguishable thing about me was my involvement in sports. I played football, soccer, and ran track. I won a football state championship in the largest division of Texas public schools. Currently I work for the Duke football team as an equipment manager. On another note, my intended major is Biomedical Engineering. But at the same time I am highly interested in Mechanical Engineering, so I'll have to see how my next four years play out.

Name Pronunciation and Origin

My first and last name is Roy Peryea. My first name is just about impossible to mispronounce.My last name people struggle with. The name is of French-Canadian origins. It sounds like "Pur-yay". If someone has difficulty with my last name, I often tell them it is similar to the sparkling Perrier water. My first name is also a French-Canadian name who's proper pronunciation I will not go into.

Current Courses

For the Fall 2012 semester I am enrolled in five classes:

• EGR 103: Computational Methods in Engineering
• EGR 90: Introduction to Engineering
• CHEM 201: Organic Chemistry
• MATH 122: Introductory Calculus II with Applications
• WRITING 101: Academic Writing (El Norte: 100 Years of Mexican Migration)

Extracurricular Activies

I am getting involved in a few groups right now, but it is hard to see which ones I will get involved in...

• Duke Football Equipment Manager (job)
• Motorsports Team
• Flag Football (intramural)
• Soccer (intramural)

Homework 1 - Grand Challenge Articles

Reverse-engineer the Brain

• A Neuroscientist's Quest to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain, Gareth Cook, Scientific American, updated 20 March 2012, accessed 9 September 2012 (Reverse-Engineer the Brain)

Homework 2 - Matlab Help and Demonstrations

My favorite demo was Superquadrics in the Other Demos section. This demonstration was my favorite because it showed the benefits of Matlab. The simplicity of the user interface ( changing only two parameters: vertical and horizontal roundness) disguises the complexity of the program. It is very simple for someone to make cubes, spheres, cylinders and many other ellipsoids.