Hard to believe it’s been five years! The GEARS workshop hit a major milestone in 2025, celebrating half a decade since our first gathering in 2020. Over the years, we’ve relentlessly refined the workshop, constantly seeking the perfect balance to deliver maximum information, keep things engaging, and ensure you retain every vital skill; all in a short, action-packed time.

This year’s format was a direct result of four years of experience and our successful experiment with daily half-day labs during the UTEP travel workshop. We’ve always had great workshops, but this schedule really clicked. It felt settled, hitting a sweet spot that worked perfectly for both the students and us. Minor tweaks are always on the horizon, but we’ve found our rhythm.

Day 1: More Than Just Instruments

We kicked off the first day with a tradition that’s about more than just science: our live fire exercise. It might seem unexpected, but knowing how to use a fire extinguisher is a vital life skill. Someday, that confidence could save a home, a lab, or even a life because someone wasn’t scared or unsure. We’re incredibly grateful to the Gentry Fire Department and Chief Dr. Vester Cripps for leading this. Their time, supplies, and expertise make this a truly impactful start.

Next, we moved into the classroom to dive into the big picture of a field instrument. The morning was focused on making your gear bulletproof: how to harden instruments for tough field or lab conditions, and what it takes to power them reliably and cleanly. We also introduced the group projects and tackled one of the most fundamental questions in electronics: “What is Ground?”

Huge thanks to Arvest Bank and our fantastic banker, Kurt Price, for donating lunch. Kurt is a shining example of community service, even taking students out on his boat one year to collect data on a nearby lake. His involvement immediately shows our attendees what working together in a tightly knit community is really like.

The afternoon took us into the shop for a hands-on walkthrough. Instead of sitting through slides on fabrication methods, we went straight to the machines. We demonstrated each one, and just like last year, all the custom parts came together to create a workshop “trophy” signed by every participant. This section was a hit, though it ran a little long. Next year, we’ll be simplifying a few parts to keep those cycle times moving fast.

Day 2: From Industrial Fabrication to Ohm’s Law

We kicked off Day 2 with a tour of Nance Machine, a local machine shop we’ve regularly worked with on complex projects. Stepping inside a large industrial production shop like this is invaluable. It gives students a chance to see a different scale of machining and hear directly from seasoned machinists about best practices in design and, most importantly, safety.

After the tour, we headed back to the shop to talk electronics. We focused on critical skills like transducers, voltage measurement, and practical basics. This is always a balancing act: we’ve got some participants eager to deep-dive into operational amplifiers (which we’ve done before), while others are simply reacquainting themselves with the foundations, like Ohm’s Law. We aim to give everyone something to build on.

A massive thank you to Jim and Heath at Nance Machine for their generosity and for providing lunch for the students. They’ve been involved since the very first year we hosted this workshop, and their commitment is truly appreciated!

In the afternoon, we unveiled what we consider the single biggest improvement to this year’s workshop: splitting into two smaller groups for longer, complementary lab periods focused on soldering and field wiring. This model proved its success at the UTEP travel workshop, and the feedback confirmed it was the key. Limiting the groups and maximizing the hands-on time simply works better.

Day 3: From Theory to the Power Grid

Day 3 started with a couple of lectures to wrap up our electronics discussions, focusing on signal conditioning. We then shifted to a more mechanical focus, talking about how to design parts that are easier to manufacture and cost less. In the trade, this is called Design for Manufacture (DFM), but here the focus is on helping students avoid drawing designs that aren’t physically manufacturable or are just too difficult to make. Better preparation to work with machinists and consultants like us will help them save significant money on custom parts.

Next, students had time to plan their projects, followed by more lab blocks. Today’s focus was on multimeters and oscilloscopes, the two main tools used for electronics troubleshooting. These are the essentials for learning anything about a system you’re working on, and with just an hour of training, anyone can be proficient in the basics.

Lunch was generously provided by SPIDI Technologies LLC. Sid Sperry founded SPIDI to forecast ice hazards to the power grid and has been a customer of ours for years. His forecasts rely on sensor data, exactly what the students have been learning about all week, and he’s committed to helping develop the next generation of data producers and scientists to work in the field. We truly appreciate his support of our company and the workshop.

Day 4: Project Payoff and New Skills

The morning of Day 4 was already packed. We had three smaller lab blocks covering hand tools/fasteners/materials, solar power systems, and calibration. Because we had to push one block from Day 3, it was a little tight, but we made it work. After the labs were done, lunch was generously provided by the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce. The chamber works with many local businesses, and as a former Siloam-based business, we’ve maintained our membership.

We were also able to provide each student with a pair of dial calipers to keep, donated by Phillips, our local Haas dealer. Ben has been our key point of contact for all things Haas and machining, and he made this happen. Now everyone can leave with a solid and accurate pair of calipers. If we need to know anything about machining, we call Ben, and we want the students to see that relationship and go develop one of their own!

Last year, we tried a semi-defined project, but it relied on fieldwork, which is always risky with pop-up storms, and only allowed for one night of data collection in an Earth system that runs on 24-hour cycles. The pressure to obtain perfect scientific data also caused some angst. We wanted students to focus more on sensor engineering, not direct science, as there was simply too little time.

We also built a set of “logger boxes” to better match the time constraints of the workshop. In previous years, students were expected to build instruments, connect a data acquisition system, and learn enough SSH to access Raspberry Pi–based loggers, all within a few hours. That proved to be too much. This year, we replaced that workflow with touch-screen Raspberry Pi loggers mounted in weather-resistant Apache cases. The systems were easy to use, could be deployed outdoors if desired, and were also incorporated into several lab activities. Each logger streamed data to FieldWatch, our live dashboarding service, allowing us to remotely monitor instrument telemetry in real time.

Day 5: Wrap-up, Presentations, and Electives

The final day of the workshop started with a few summary-style talks on troubleshooting and general advice, like building a great tool bag and where to source components. After that, students had a dedicated block of time to finalize their presentations. We then regrouped to see what everyone had accomplished. The groups presented on a range of projects: stream stage measurement (using laser and float), stream stage measurement (using pressure and ultrasonic), radiation shielding for temperature sensors, and black-globe temperature measurement. We also had our traditional guest presentations by Mike Stock and Shannon Dulin, sharing stories of how they’ve used all the skills the students learned in the past week during their careers. All of those presentations were recorded and are linked above, so be sure to check them out!

The Gentry Chamber of Commerce provided a wonderful lunch on our final day. Since moving to Gentry, we’ve felt incredibly welcomed by Janie and others in the community. The Gentry Chamber is a great supporter of local small businesses, and we’re so grateful for their active involvement and for being so welcoming to our students. Janie even arranged for McKee Foods, the makers of Little Debbie, to donate a ton of snack cakes for the students. They are all made just up the road from the shop!

For the rest of the afternoon, students could rotate among elective stations. These sessions were designed for participants to learn about and then get hands-on experience with welding, mill/lathe work, and the laser cutters. There are just too many valuable skills and tools to cover in a single week, so we’ve tried this elective style for a few years with great success. It also provides a flexible end to the week, allowing students to leave as needed to get to the airport.

Final Thoughts

We’re really proud of what we’ve built with GEARS over the last five years and are looking forward to year six. There are a few new things we’ll try, because we never want to stop improving, but overall, this was our most successful and low-stress workshop to date. Again, I want to thank all of the businesses that helped make this year’s workshop a reality. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2026 workshop, and we’ll see you there!