Posted by Jennia Herold on October 29th, 2010 | No Comments »
From December 13 through December 16, 53 early-career engineering educators will convene in Irvine, California for the second Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) symposium. The selected educators, from academe, government labs, and industry, had to be nominated by either a senior engineer or a dean. A complete list of attendees, as well as their affiliate institutions, is available for perusal.
The topics for this years symposia will focus on engineering education and developing new ways to better captivate students while also ensuring that they come away understanding the fundamentals of engineering. It is hoped that the discussions at the symposium will enable engineering educators to prepare their students for becoming productive and skilled engineers.
Thanks to the many sponsors for the symposium, those selected to attend will not have to pay registration fees and there is a also travel stipend available.
Posted by Jennia Herold on October 1st, 2010 | No Comments »
Photo courtesy of the USA Science and Engineering Festival
The Inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival will be kicking off the start of two week’s worth of events, exhibits, contests and more on October 10. The festival, held in Washington DC on and around the National Mall, is completely free to all who wish to attend. According to the festival’s official website, their mission is to, “re-invigorate the interest of our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science gatherings in the United States.”
The highlight of the festival will be the expo taking place on October 23 and October 24. During the expo, there will be over 1500 interactive science activities, more than 75 stage shows and performances, and a number of talks and performances hosted by the many exhibitors.
Even though the festival hasn’t begun yet, there are many ways to already get involved! There are a number of contests to enter, including a Rubik’s cube tournament. You can also choose to purchase a t-shirt, sign up as a volunteer, or find out more from the performance schedule. Be sure to stay up to date by following the blog and signing up for the newsletter.
Will you be there when science takes over the nation’s capital?
Today, scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematicians from across the country will team up with K–12 schools for project-based learning experiences for National Lab Day. National Lab Day is a long-term program/collaboration between STEM professionals and K–12 classroom teachers.
A coalition of educators, science and engineering associations, philanthropies and other organizations today announced the launch of National Lab Day, a new grassroots initiative designed to reinvigorate science and math education in the nation’s schools and after-school programs and lead to increased U.S. competitiveness.
President Obama applauded the education initiative and others in a speech at the White House. “Lifting American students from the middle to the top of the pack in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) achievement over the next decade will not be attained by government alone,” he said. “I applaud the substantial commitments made today by the leaders of companies, universities, foundations, non-profits and organizations representing millions of scientists, engineers and teachers from across the country.”
National Lab Day aims to inspire a wave of future innovators and foster U.S. competitiveness by improving the quality STEM education in America. A collaboration between government and more than 200 public and private-sector-organizations, National Lab Day will connect students in grades 6-12 to hands-on learning experiences and promote tinkering in laboratory settings.
National Lab Day will promote hands-on learning throughout the year and culminate each year with special events the first week of May. Volunteer science and technology professionals and educators will work together with students to improve America’s science labs and offer inquiry-based STEM experiences in classrooms, learning labs, and after-school programs.
“We wouldn’t
teach football from a textbook,” said John P. Holdren, President Obama’s science advisor. “It is even more important that America’s youth have the opportunity to learn math and science by doing. The President and I strongly support efforts to raise the level of project-based learning, to help cultivate the next generation of doers and makers.”
Jack D. Hidary, chairman of National Lab Day,
praised President Obama’s announcement. “Our children deserve a world class science and math education that includes exciting, hands-on lab experiences,” said Hidary. “Whether you are a Nobel-prize winning scientist, a Mythbusters fan, a tinkerer or a parent, you can help bring students the enjoyment of learning through real challenges.”
The National Lab Day website will automatically match volunteers to requests from educators to participate on the basis of geography and interests. The website also provides resources and ideas for hands-on learning experiments and invites the public to suggest new materials. Read the rest of this entry »
In October, Washington DC will be host to the USA Science and Engineering Festival, the country’s first national science festival. “The Festival promises to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States.” Two of the fifteen days of the Festival will be an Expo in which over 500 science and engineering organizations will come together to encourage and inspire future scientists and engineers.
With over 500 organizations participating, there will definitely be something for everyone! From building one’s own rocket to finding out if a dog can be smarter than a human, the festival seeks to accomplish it’s mission of re-igniting youths’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math.
There are many exciting ways to get involved with the festival before it begins. Contests to begin preparing for include a jingle contest, a Rubik’s Cube tournament, and a Kavli science video contest.
Stay up to date with the USA Science and Engineering Festival on their blog.
“Will you be there when science takes over the National Mall?”
“Jeanine Plummer has demonstrated a remarkable passion for teaching and mentoring students since she came to WPI {Worcester Polytechnic Institute}. It is particularly fitting that her remarkable efforts are in environmental engineering. She and her students are literally engineering a better future for the planet and its people, and her skill and leadership in working with students is outstanding…” said WPI’s senior vice president, John Orr.
Plummer became a faculty member of WPI in 1999, after having received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University, and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a MS in Environmental Engineering and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering. During her studies, she received many fellowships and awards, including a fellowship from the National Science Foundation and the United Technologies Outstanding Graduate Woman in Engineering Award. She was honored with WPI’s Board of Trustees’ Award for Academic Advising in 2005 and the Board of Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2006. In 2007, she became director of WPI’s environmental engineering undergraduate program. In 2008 she was named the Massachusetts Professor of the Year.
ASEE’s Prism magazine celebrates Plummer and the accomplishments she has made thus far in her career. It recognizes her dedication to her students, as shown by her advisory of numerous students. Read more about Plummer and the impact that she is having on our future’s engineers here.
March 24th is celebrated as Ada Lovelace Day, a day dedicated to celebrate the achievements of women in science and technology. On this day, people across the world have pledged to blog about their favorite female scientist.
Agusta Ada King, or simply Ada Lovelace, is credited as writing the first computer program. Ada was born in 1815 and taught mathematics at an early age, helping her develop skills that would aid her later in life. In 1833, she met Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine.
According to Wikipedia, “During a nine-month period in 1842-43, Lovelace translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea’s memoir on Babbage’s newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. The notes are longer than the memoir itself and include in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, which would have run correctly had the Analytical Engine ever been built. Based on his work, Lovelace is now widely credited with being the first computer programmer and her method is recognized as the world’s first computer program…In 1953, over one hundred years after her death, Lovelace’s notes on Babbage’s Analytical Engine were republished. The engine has now been recognized as an early model for a computer and Lovelace’s notes as a description of a computer and software.”
Lovelace’s name is still highly well known. A U.S. Department of Defense computer language has been named after her, as well as another language named after her birth year, a sticker representing her image, and a medal in her name.
“Queen of the Hurricanes,” World War II aeronautical engineer, Elsie MacGill, was the world’s first female aircraft designer. According to Wikipedia, having grown up encouraged by her mother to study engineering, she became the first women to achieve a long list of accomplishments. MacGill became the first female Canadian to earn an aeronautical engineering degree when she graduated in 1927 from the University of Toronto. Further pursuing aeronautical engineering, she was awarded a masters degree in this field from the University of Michigan, becoming the first woman in North America to have done so.
Starting her professional career, she became an Assistant Engineer at Montreal’s Fairchild Aircraft and then later became the Chief Aeronautical Engineer at Canada Car and Foundry, “the first woman in the world to hold such a position.” She was also elected as the first woman to be elected to membership in the Engineering Institute of Canada. MacGill designed and tested the aircraft, Maple Leaf II, as well as oversaw production of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft, hence the reasoning of her nickname, “Queen of the Hurricanes.” On these fighter aircrafts, she also designed solutions so this aircraft could be operated in the winter time.
Elsie MacGill went on to start an aeronautical consulting business with her husband, E.J. Soulsby, and did much fighting for women’s rights in the 1960’s, all the while earning the title of ‘first woman’ to other accomplishments, including becoming the first woman to chair a UN committee. She lived from 1905-1980.
MacGill became so popular, a comic book was created about her.
Posted by Rashida on March 18th, 2010 | No Comments »
Male Pipefish and Seahorses are the only male species able to get pregnant and give birth, but a new study conducted by Kim Paczolt and Adam Jones, researchers in the Department of Biological Science at Texas A&M University have found some fascinating links on how pipefish bond with their offspring during the postnatal period. The father who usually carries the embryos in a specialized sac during the prenatal period are quite nurturing but some fish alter their relationship with offspring after birth in accordance with their fondness for the mother.
The study looked at the reasons why some offspring flourish while others do not. Almost all the studies confirmed that the offspring who survived most often the male were fond of the female. Showing an important link between the male’s mating choice and its offspring.
“The bottom line seems to be, if the male likes the mom, the kids are treated better,” Paczolt explains.
“Why this occurs, we don’t fully understand, but our findings are quite specific about this relationship between the male pipefish and its mate. If the male prefers the female, he treats their mutual offspring better.”
According to the National Engineers Week Foundation, the percentage of female engineering undergraduate students stands only at 20%. The number of women in the professional engineering workplace is less than that, at around ten percent.
In January, American Society for Engineering Education’s President, J.P. Mohsen, attended the Roundtable on Practical Approaches to Attracting and Retaining Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics {STEM} Fields, sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers. A main topic of discussion was the need of continual increases in the number of minority groups, especially women, in STEM. One point brought up in the discussion of why a female presence is so important in engineering is the fact that “Diverse perspectives lead to better solutions.” It is true that there is a lot being done to celebrate women {past and present} in these fields and to encourage younger females to become involved, however, there is still more to do.
There are many wonderful organizations and groups, conferences and competitions, programs and publications that celebrate and encourage women and young girls in what they are currently doing and in what they can do in the future in the world of engineering. In an attempt to shed more light on this topic, this Engineeringand… blog will be sharing stories of women who have made or are making significant impacts in the engineering and science world, as well as about organizations and programs that encourage and support females in science and engineering.
Posted by Rachel Levitin on October 8th, 2009 | No Comments »
International Future Energy Challenge winners, Jonathan Baker and Christopher Hamilton created a low-cost wind turbine that transfers a maximum amount of energy to a battery. How did they do it? They contribute their success to time spent doing undergraduate research.
Photo Courtesy of Gustavo Gamboa from CentralFloridaFuture.com
Baker, Hamilton, and two fellow electrical engineering majors spent over a year preparing their “low-cost wind turbine energy maximizer” for the International Future Energy Challenge in Australia last July.
The two-some invented a three-phase AC/DC converter (also known as “The Pegador” to its creators) to make the energy produced by wind turbines more efficient. The Pegador took home first prize.
After enjoying the success of placing first, Baker and Hamilton garnered success among engineering peers from universities worldwide.
Their participation in undergraduate research is what they claim to be the ultimate stepping-stone for future success within the scientific community and public-at-large.
“Going from book knowledge to tangibility experience has really accelerated my future career,” Baker said. “I’ve graduated with not only an honors degree, but an actual invention and experience.”
“Today’s engineering students want to make difference in the world … they want to make the world a better place through technological innovations that save lives and help clear the environment.” – Issa Batarseh, professor and director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Batarseh also oversaw the project.
There is no release date for the turbine at this time.
