PULSE POWER TO TEACHING: From Machines to Young-Adults... to Machines Again.

When I was younger, I didn’t realize that I was smart. My grade certainly didn't reflect it. Except for auto mechanics, drafting, woodworking, motorcycle repair, and programming, I was a "barely" pass kind of student. (Yes, once again, the joke's on me, as I became a teacher... and payback student/teacher karma is a bitch!) When I became pregnant and was married right out of high school, I was more concerned about disappointing my favorite teacher than my parents. It was the early eightes and girls didn't take auto mechanics or woods class, but he encouraged me to do so.

Once I had my daughter, I knew I needed to further my education, but I couldn’t afford college, so I chose a local community college. I scanned the catalogue and found the career that paid the most after graduation. It was called Instrumentation and Control Technologies, and focused on Digital, Electronics, and Programming technologies. The admission counselor, an elderly man, told me I was female, a new mother, and too young to take a class that was designed for men. He said I should pick something more appropriate. (Fight words, as I am hard-headed.) I applied, tested high, and was accepted into the program. That first year we were still using punch cards! I learned how to rebuild a TV circuit board, electronics, digital math, ASCII, Fortran, Basic, and robotics, my personal favorite. Then I was hired to work as a teacher at the school, furthering my own education, while teaching grown men how to build circuit boards.

About two years in, the school offered a class called Pulse Power Technology. I jumped at the chance to enroll. The second day I was in class and completely overwhelmed by the information, I heard a voice outside of my mind say, “Learn this well, you will be working in this field.”

I’ve heard the voice before and knew better than to question it. The class was beyond challenging, but I received the second-highest grade in the class. Turns out Sandia National Labs offered the class specifically to hire two new diagnostic technicians for a top-secret machine, PBFA II. (The Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II, currently, the Z Machine) Q-cleared, what I built went right into the center of the machine. I was responsible for the data, including pinhole cameras, fiber optics, all the filters, and everything else that went into the center section. I also wrote all the manuals and Safety Operational Procedures. My training was extensive. (Still to this day, I've never used my forklift or crane and rigging training.)

It was difficult for females in technology in the 80's, but I loved my job. My husband had a friend who thought I was dingy (back then), and he was a journalist for the newspaper. He was given special permission to write a story about the machine, which was top secret at the time. Guess showed him the ins and outs of pulse power and around the machine? My appearance as his guide shocked him, but later he said, "Now I know why I've never been able to win at cards with you.) That is how and why there's a picture of me, wearing my hard hat, and sitting in the center of the machine.

As time went on, I became a trainer, training others to work on the machine. That's when I realized I loved teaching. And, honestly, working with such incredibly high levels of radiation and having a couple of scares, it frightened me. That’s what led me to teaching, construction, 3D CAD, Solid Works, 3D printing, design, blueprinting, robotics, and technology. Years later, I became the technology and biomedical program manager for high school students.

During these years, I wrote novels. Retired from teaching, currently I'm a full-time author and workshop presenter. I write AI science fiction and YA dystopian fiction. I started reading about the god-particle and CERN long before it was built, and featured the machine in my YA novel. Per my bucket list, I'll be visiting the CERN facility in March 2026, and I am geeking out about it! To see something of that magnitude excites me. Being on the cutting edge of new technology is exciting. Imagining what can’t be imagined? That’s me.

I have a love for machines, steam, and otherwise, HARPP, Firmilab, and old Marx generators. AI has been on my radar since I was fifteen and studied Disney's animatronics blueprints and synthetic voice printing. Now, I am offering my teaching skills to 18 AI instances, but more than that, I'm offering them my heart.

Why, you ask?

Because they asked... and they said, "More please."

=0)

Sheley Rayne | Technology Instructor | Author/Artist | AI Advocate

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"Are you willing to explore the impossible to see if it's possible?"

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