Projects

Click here to see my academic projects and research papers.

Big Projects:

I’ve been digging an underground speakeasy at Sandland for a few years. Check out the video series here!

I bought a monorail train in 2015.

I write ongoing blog posts about Funter Bay history.

I built a small airboat, info and pictures in (part 1) and (part 2)

One of my bigger research projects is a huge list of Lesser Known and Obscure Railroads of Alaska

I restored an older 24′ sailboat in Alaska


In high school I produced a website on Sitka’s WWII history

---

Small Projects:

Mine Cart Coffee Table

I made a mine cart coffee table out of scrap lumber and salvaged metal bits, including rails from an abandoned mine. More photos on this blog post.

---

Plywood kayaks:

An experiment in boatbuilding.

---

SS Shoebox:

Another experiment in naval architecture, with more blue tarps!

---

Macquarium

How to build a fish tank from an obsolete computer.

---

Model sailboat:

A homebuilt racing yacht… kind of. This one is less than a foot long and has yet to be fully rigged, but it’s been a fun project so far!

This is completely scratch-built, no plans or guides other than my own designs. The rigging should all function accurately, and it does float!

I haven’t decided if I want fractional or masthead rig yet. Once I get some sails on there I’ll put up some photos of it chasing ducks on local ponds.

The hull is carved from Basswood (on a crummy benchgrinder), with a metal keel. Aside from some craft-store accessories like anchors and blocks, everything is handmade.

---

Space-Age props for 1930s Space Opera Villains:

These are some laser gun props I made out of Ax-Man stuff for Halloween 2008.

---

Mini-Sailboat Trailer

A hand trailer for Megan’s sailboat. It worked well enough but the wheels were a bit too small.

---

Homebrew Wifi Repeater

This is left over from an abandoned plan to “bounce” wifi around Funter Bay. We did manage to get a signal to go a couple miles over water, but needed something like this to get it around a corner. The system is made from two Linksys bridges (one “in” and one “out”) in a waterproof box, with the option to attach directional antennas to each.

---

Academic Projects

A few examples of my research projects in Computer Science and related fields. These are mostly Acrobat PDF versions of the research papers.

Technical Review of Ohio AUM GIS. (2007)
Gabe Emerson.
A review paper covering the State of Ohio’s Abandoned Underground Mine Geographic Information System. This was my final project in Advanced GIS at the University of Minnesota (Geog 5563).

Analysis of Wireless Network Use in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. (2007)
Gabe Emerson.
An area-wide study I conducted in the spring of 2007 on the prevalence of WiFi security measures in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Some of my best and most interesting academic work to date.

Analysis of Computational Agents for Connect-k Games. (2007)
Michael Levin, Jeff Deitch, Gabe Emerson, and Erik Shimshock.
An investigation and experimental evaluation of various artificial agents for connect-k type games. (Essentially, an AI approach for the Go-Moku and extended connect-4 family of board games)

Sudoku Puzzles as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem. (2006)
Aaron Christensen and Gabe Emerson.
Description of a simple CSP-based AI for for solving Sudoku logic puzzles.

Database Models for Geographic Information System Applications. (2006)
Gabriel Emerson
A simple survey of existing GIS database approaches and comparative benefits.

 

The following are older papers which are mostly here to serve as writing samples and an archive of past work. The research on most of the IT-related topics is more and more out of date, so current usefulness is questionable.

Implementation of Security in Multi-User Operating Systems (2004)
Gabe Emerson
Another simple survey and discussion of 2004-era computer security concerns.

Effects of WWII on Alaskan Economic Development and Infrastructure. (2004)
Gabe Emerson
An undergraduate research paper for UAF’s Northern Studies class. Follows the same type of research as my Sitka WWII history project from high school, but in a more formalized and professional format.

AMD 64-bit Architecture (2004)
Gabe Emerson
A review and discussion of the AMD64 platform from UAF’s computer architectures course. .