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Google’s Green Energy Initiative – They are Hiring

Posted by John Hunter on November 27th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Towards more renewable energy, posted to Google’s blog by Larry Page, Co-Founder and President of Products

Promising technologies already exist that could be developed to deliver renewable energy cheaper than coal. We think the time is ripe to build rapidly on the tremendous work on renewable energy. For example, I believe that solar thermal technology provides a very plausible path to generating cheaper electricity. By combining talented technologists, great partners and large investments, we have an opportunity to quickly push this technology forward. Our goal is to build 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic that this can be done within years, not decades. If we succeed, it would likely provide a path to replacing a substantial portion of the world’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources.

To lead this effort, we’re looking for a world-class team. We need creative and motivated entrepreneurs and technologists with expertise in a broad range of areas, including materials science, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, land acquisition and management, power transmission and substations, construction, and regulatory issues. Join us. And if you’re interested, read about our previous work toward a clean energy future.

Once again the engineers leading Google show a willingness to make decisions that are unconventional. Google has shown itself to be very effective at managing engineers with great success. This will be quite a challenge but it is great to see Google taking it on. I will be surprised if there are not numerous complaints about Google losing focus. And they might but a big part of Google’s success is a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Filed under Future, The Economy, Work | Tags: career, energy, funding, Future, green engineering

$1 Million Grant for National Engineering Education Initiative

Posted by John Hunter on September 24th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Motorola Supports National Engineering Education Initiative with $1 Million Grant

The Motorola Foundation today announced $1 million in support of the National Academy Foundation’s (NAF) Academy of Engineering initiative, which will help create 110 academies in high schools across the country to inspire young people to study science and engineering. In collaboration with Project Lead the Way and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, NAF’s Academy of Engineering initiative will ultimately prepare students for careers in engineering to meet a growing market demand.
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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs requiring science, engineering, or technical training will increase 24 percent to 6.3 million between 2004 and 2014, creating greater demand for critical thinkers fluent in technology. Yet over the past decade, the NAF has seen declining enrollment and graduation rates in post-secondary engineering programs that can be largely attributed to fewer high school students showing an interest in engineering and technology.

Filed under Education, The Economy

High Tech Worker Shortage Threatens Economy

Posted by John Hunter on September 14th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Worker Shortage Called Maryland, USA Threat by Phillip McGowan, Baltimore Sun:

A shortage of workers with high-tech and other skills needed to fill defense and homeland security jobs threatens not only Maryland’s economic development but also the nation’s war on terrorism, according to a report released yesterday.

The Fort Meade Alliance, a group of business leaders that lobbies on behalf of the Army post in Anne Arundel County, argued that Maryland isn’t doing enough to steer students to engineering, math and scientific fields, and the college graduates it is producing lack basic skills in communication, teamwork and leadership.
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Though the United States produces about 72,000 engineers a year, up nearly 10,000 from the 1980s, those numbers “aren’t enough to soak up all the demand,” said Bob Black, deputy executive director of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Start them young “To get a greater supply, we have to make structural changes to our education to get more people in the K-12 science and engineer pipeline earlier,” said Black, echoing remarks of panelists in May.

Filed under Education, The Economy, The National Interest, Work

Senator Proposes Free College Tuition for Math and Science Majors

Posted by John Hunter on August 25th, 2007 | 3 Comments »

Baucus proposing free college tuition for math and science majors:

Sen. Max Baucus wants free college tuition for math and science majors as part of a $25 billion education incentives package that also includes help for rural teachers and more money for pre-kindergarten programs. Baucus, D-Mont., told The Associated Press he hopes to introduce his Education Competitiveness Act in the coming months.

The goal, he said in an interview last week, is to better prepare children for school and get more of them into college to make the United States more globally competitive, particularly with countries like China and India.
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The first provision calls for providing a full scholarship to any high school graduate majoring in math, engineering, science or technology. The scholarship would apply to any university, but students must work or teach in a related field for at least four years after graduation to qualify, Baucus said. Another provision would create 25,000 merit-based scholarships for teaching students in those fields, with a similar caveat that they must teach in that subject for at least four years.

An interesting proposal. There has been quite a bit of talk the last few years about increasing government incentives to support students studying science, engineering and math. View the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act (COMPETES) Act, which, if I read the web site correctly, is now law (Public Law 110-69). The provisions include:

Requires the NSF Director, during the four-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, to expand the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program so that an additional 1,250 fellowships are awarded during such period to U.S. citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents. Authorizes appropriations.

That language was in the bill passed by the House. I can’t tell if it is in the law though.

Filed under Education, The Economy, The National Interest

Engineering with People in Mind

Posted by John Hunter on July 20th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Change Management: Combining Management with Ancient Philosophy:

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is one of the rare Indian government undertakings that are completed on schedule and within budget.
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DMRC’s uniqueness lies in how it has managed “soft issues” related to the general public affected by it. To ease out traffic snarls and general chaos around construction sites on main roads, DMRC deployed special personnel to assist Delhi Police. Cars driving through muddy construction areas were treated to washes by DMRC personnel. Other similar initiatives showed DMRC’s commitment and built strong public opinion in favor of it. DMRC’s concern for the commuter can be gauged from the fact that even the elevators feature ‘sari’ meshes to stop the flowing robes from getting caught in the gap. And now that the Metro Rail is in operation, DMRC is training National Cadet Corp (NCC) students (NCC is similar to Boy Scouts) to teach travel etiquette to the infamously unruly Delhi public.

The man behind this is a 74-year old, yoga practicing civil engineer. E. Sreedharan is famous for building Konkan Railway, the biggest railway project since India’s independence. With the public sector’s reputation so tainted, Sreedharan has attained an iconic status and is one of India’s most respected personalities. And business management students as far away as Harvard are visiting India to study the secret of its success.

There is more to engineering than, for example, calculating that the design will work in practice and not fail under real world conditions. That is obviously very important. Additionally, successful engineers manage projects in a way that not only result in safe and efficient systems but also that make those that take into account the people that will be impacted by the systems (as the system is used and, as in this example, as the system is being created).

The ability of engineers to understand the mechanical, project management and financial realities is a big reason engineering is the leading field of study for S&P 500 CEO’s, in my opinion (add to those qualities leadership, vision and understanding the human impact of product features… and you have a great CEO candidate). The data shows that engineering (23% are engineering graduates, economics is next at 13%) is the leading field of study – the reason for why so many engineering graduates become CEO’s is what is my opinion. Engineers get a great start by having to find solutions that work in practice. Given those that want to move into leadership a great base from which to build – perhaps all the way into the CEO’s office.

Filed under Society, The Economy | Tags: career, design, project management

Engineering Fly Ash Bricks

Posted by John Hunter on July 5th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Follow the “Green” Brick Road?

Each year, roughly 25 million tons of fly ash from coal-fired power plants are recycled, generally as additives in building materials such as concrete, but 45 million tons go to waste. Fly ash bricks both find a use for some of that waste and counter the environmental impact from the manufacture of standard bricks.

“Manufacturing clay brick requires kilns fired to high temperatures,” said Henry Liu, a longtime National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee and the president of Freight Pipeline Company (FPC), which developed the bricks. “That wastes energy, pollutes air and generates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In contrast, fly ash bricks are manufactured at room temperature. They conserve energy, cost less to manufacture, and don’t contribute to air pollution or global warming.”

Supported by NSF’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Liu has been working since 2004 to develop the bricks. The first phase of support enabled him to make fly ash bricks more durable by engineering them to resist freezing and thawing due to weather. Liu is now working from a second-phase SBIR award to test the brick material’s safety and prepare it for market.

Filed under Future, The Economy, The National Interest | Tags: green engineering, manufacturing, materials engineering

Engineering a Better World

Posted by John Hunter on June 26th, 2007 | 10 Comments »

MIT’s Amy Smith on appropriate engineering, Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, California. Food, water, medicine — in the developing world, these basic needs can be impossible to meet. Amy Smith and her students design smart, low cost tools to improve the life of the poorest in our world.

I remember traveling with my father as he worked on appropriate technology projects while I was growing up. Engineers can make huge difference to truly improve people’s lives. The video does a nice job of explaining how combining engineering know how with a passion for improving people’s lives have a huge impact. Amy Smith is a MacArthur Fellow (2004-2009)

Filed under Society, The Economy | Tags: appropriate technology, design, making a difference, Society, webcast

Engineers Look More to Nature for Answers

Posted by Tom Juliano on June 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

Engineers are responsible for solving a variety of increasingly-complex problems, but oftentimes nature has already figured out the best solutions. For example, velcro was invented in 1941 after a Swiss engineer looked under a microscope to see how the seeds of a burdock plant stuck to his socks. Before this time, there was no good way of producing cheap and reusable adhesion for everyday applications. More recently, engineers have been studying the microfilaments of geckos that enable it to scale walls and leave no residue behind. A synthetic version of gecko feet could enable you to scale walls one day while wearing a special suit (just like Spiderman).

Natural molecular motors made of ATPase, studied by researchers at Cornell a few years ago, have been found to be about 50-80% efficient, a feat thought to be impossible with our current technologies. In the area of heat transfer, structures like termite mounds and bee hives have been shown to be some of the most efficient convection cooling systems in the world. (read Adrian Bejan’s “Shape and Structure, from Engineering to Nature” for more details and examples.) The increasing plea for building “green structures” will likely be addressed by already-existing natural solutions.

Industry is already sinking their teeth in. Pax Scientific has created impellers based on the shape of the calla lily. Pax’s patented impellers can circulate 4 million gallons of water through industrial storage tanks while drawing no more electricity than a couple of 100-watt lightbulbs. Researchers at Daimler-Chrysler recently spent time studying boxfish to find a better way to streamline their automobiles.

The big payoff will ultimately be cheaper and more efficient energy usage. Places looking to such natural solutions will be in a very favorable spot as resources become more scarce.

See this article in Business 2.0 for more details.

Filed under Society, The Economy

Building for a Hurricane

Posted by Kristen Farole on September 19th, 2006 | 1 Comment »

While engineering advances have allowed for the construction of “hurricane proof” homes, such structures remain a rarity, even in the most vulnerable coastal areas of the United States. The reason: building homes that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane is prohibitively costly.

Kurt Gurley, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Florida writes:

“There’s a cost associated with every degree of wind resistance. It can be done physically but it would be tremendously expensive.”

By definition, a Category 5 hurricane packs sustained winds of greater than 156 miles per hour, and storm surges in excess of 19 feet. Currently, few structures are built to withstand such forces, even in Miami-Dade County, considered one of the most hurricane prone regions in the country.

Estimates suggest that constructing homes to withstand such extreme enivornmental conditions could cost the homeowner an additional ten to twenty percent. And with only three Category 5 hurricanes making landfall in recorded history, such reinforcement is seldom deemed neccessary. Instead, many opt for the addition of storm shutters, viewed as a more economically viable alternative.

Image courtsey of www.noaa.gov

Filed under The Economy

Inconvenient Engineering

Posted by Sydney de Lapeyrouse on July 5th, 2006 | 1 Comment »

Global warming has become a political crusade rather than a rational engineering policy decision. While educational and insightful, highly-publicized movies such as An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car may only serve to polarize the issue even further. In light of such movies, Robert J. Samuelson writes in the Washington Post that:

The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential calamity, the only salvation is new technology�.The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral crusade when it’s really an engineering problem. The inconvenient truth is that if we don’t solve the engineering problem, we’re helpless.

While the nation�s engineers are certainly up to the task to fight the impending energy crisis, the nation�s budget may not be. As reported in Engineering &, projects that address this issue are generally radical, large scale, and expensive, and the government is regrettably allotting fewer and fewer R&D funds in these areas. Read more from Samuelson�s call for engineers and political truce in the Washington Post.

Image courtesy of www.climatecrisis.net