MESA day stresses the fun side of science

Los Angeles, CA – In early March, 500 middle and high school students spent a day showing off their STEM skills at California State University-Los Angeles.

The math, engineering and science achievement (MESA) day stressed the fun side of technology, with mousetrap car races, trebuchet launches and concrete bowling, as well as more serious team and solo math competitions.

MESA is a state-funded program to boost the college-readiness of students, particularly those from underserved communities, and encourage them to pursue science-related fields. Technical professionals from companies including Southern California Edison, Boeing, CH2M Hill, the L.A. County DPW, the California Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acted as competition judges.

First-time competitor captures Rube Goldberg national title

West Lafayette, IN – Every year high school and college teams compete to design and build excruciatingly complex machines that perform simple tasks. The occasion is the annual Rube Goldberg competition, sponsored by Purdue’s Theta Tau engineering fraternity. This year the challenge was to replace an incandescent light bulb with a more energy-efficient design.

The team from first-time entrant St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN), a school with 3,000 students and no engineering program, walked away as the winner. The team of science-minded students used a “Mad Scientists” theme. The machine featured mousetraps, magnets, pool balls, lasers and photo sensors and used 239 steps to turn off an incandescent light and turn on dozens of LED lights spelling out “St. Olaf.”

Ferris State University (Big Rapids, MI), a former national winner, took third place with a machine called “House of Rube” that was based on Goldberg cartoons. St. Olaf also won the People’s Choice award.

Sponsors for this year’s event included BAE Systems, Bosch Group, Bose, BP, Lockheed Martin, Lutron Electronics, Omega Engineering, Priio and Rockwell Collins. Next year’s Rube Goldberg contest will require machines to dispense an appropriate amount of hand sanitizer into someone’s hand.

First-time team wins sixteenth Moonbuggy race

Huntsville, AL – In early April the Marshall Space Flight center hosted NASA’s 2009 Great Moonbuggy Race. Rochester Institute of Technology took the college division; Erie (KS) High School-team two and Huntsville (AL) Center for Technology-team two tied for first place in the high school division.

The contest asks students to design, build and race lightweight, human-powered buggies over a course that simulates off-world terrain. Teams build their vehicles from the ground up, typically using bicycle or light motorcycle tires, aluminum or composite-metal struts and parts, and the best drive trains, gears, suspension, steering and braking systems they can find or devise.

More than a quarter of participants this year were teams and schools new to the race. There were sixty-eight teams from twenty states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, India and Romania.

Special awards included most straightforward design for engineering efficiency and simplicity, awarded to the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao; pits crew award for ingenuity and persistence in overcoming problems during the race, to Elk Valley High School (Longton, KS) and Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO); and the “crash and burn” award for the team that endures the most spectacular vehicle breakdown, to the University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY).

Major corporate sponsorship came from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Teledyne Brown Engineering and Jacobs Engineering. For a complete list of winners, lots of pictures and more information, see moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov.

Astronaut Sally Ride brings science to girls

Los Angeles, CA – Dr Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 to create science education programs that engage and inspire young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in the STEM fields. Last October, the festival visited California State University-Los Angeles. The event included a talk by Ride and workshops for girls given by local scientists and engineers.

The girls learned how to extract DNA from a strawberry, take apart a computer, and search for signs of life on other planets, while their parents and teachers attended workshops on supporting girls’ interest in science and math.

Northrop Grumman Foundation is a national sponsor of Sally Ride Science Festivals. For more information on Sally Ride Science programs, visit the website at www.sallyridescience.com.

Former Bell Labs exec named Harvard dean of engineering

Cambridge, MA – Cherry A. Murray will take over as dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) this July.

Murray comes to Harvard after five years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Murray started at Bell Labs in 1978, when she was hired as a staff scientist. When she left in 2004, she was SVP for physical sciences and wireless research.

Murray has published more than seventy papers in peer-reviewed journals and holds two patents. She has received many awards, is well known for her research in light scattering and is a leader in the study of soft condensed matter and complex fluids.

Murray was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, and to the National Academy of Engineering in 2002. She has served on more than eighty national and international scientific advisory committees, governing boards, and National Research Council (NRC) panels; she chaired the division of engineering and physical science of the NRC, and served on the visiting committee for Harvard’s department of physics from 1993 to 2004.

“I have known Cherry Murray for many years as a colleague, researcher, and scientific leader,” says previous SEAS dean Venkatesh Narayanamurti. “She has a deep understanding of the interplay between basic and applied research and the role of engineering and applied science as a linking and integrating discipline connected to the wider world of technology and society.”

ASQ sponsors engineering webinar for students and parents

Milwaukee, WI – The American Society for Quality (ASQ, www.asq.org) offers educators training and tools to apply continuous improvement principles in education. Now the society has launched a Web-based seminar about the “real world of engineering.” The program gives middle and high school students and parents a view of what engineers do and what skills they need.

The kids and their parents also benefit from the inside perspective of successful engineers working on interesting projects. Cheryl Birdsong-Dyer of Sprint/Nextel discusses cell phones, and Chuck Kanapicki of American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises talks about bridge building.

Launched in February during this year’s Engineers Week, the webinar will be online for twelve months. More information at www.asq.org.

Space exploration, aero research soaring at Cal State LA

Los Angeles, CA – In the fall of 2008, California State University-Los Angeles (CSULA) was awarded a $5 million, five-year grant by the NASA office of education. The grant helps further research and educational activities at CSULA’s Structures, Propulsion, Aerospace and Control Engineering (SPACE) center housed in the school’s college of engineering, computer sciences and technology.

CSULA is one of just seven universities around the world to receive NASA’s minority university research and education program awards this year. The SPACE center’s multidisciplinary team of investigators includes Darrell Guillaume, Charles Liu, Trinh Pham and Chivey Wu, all CSULA faculty.

SPACE center director and principal investigator Helen Boussalis, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, notes that “The center offers students intensive training and exposure to NASA-related research that a lot of undergraduate and grad students at other campuses never have an opportunity to be involved with.” Many SPACE center students are hired by Northrop Grumman or Boeing on graduation, or continue on to advanced degrees, she says.

For more about the SPACE center and the NASA research grant visit www.calstatela.edu/orgs/space.

New NSF report on STEM women and minorities

Washington, DC – The National Science Foundation has released its 2009 report Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. The report provides statistical information about participation in science and engineering education and employment.

The report is Web based and data is updated as available. Contents are displayed as charts and data tables organized by topic and group. Presentation slides in the form of charts in PowerPoint, graphic and spreadsheet formats are provided for easy downloading. A complete update of the report is issued every two years.

The report is available online at www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd.

NTID sets enrollment record

Rochester, NY – The preferred college for many hearing disabled students is the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). This year, NTID’s enrollment is 1,450, made up of 1,212 undergraduates, 103 graduate students and 135 hearing students in the sign language interpreting program. The previous enrollment high was 1,358 students in 1984.

A college of Rochester Institute of Technology, NTID was created by Congress in 1965 to offer technical education to college students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Its first class of 70 students arrived 1968. For more info, visit www.ntid.rit.edu.

Merrimack College CE team does earthquake work at Cornell

North Andover, MA – For a month last summer CE professor Dr Aaron Bradshaw and students Gail da Silva and Michael McCue from Merrimack College visited Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). Working with Cornell’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) program, they were researching damage detection and health monitoring of buried pipelines after earthquake-induced ground movement. The work was part of a $1.6 million NSF grant focusing on utility pipelines and systems.

With the help of Cornell grad students and technicians, the Merrimack students and prof spent nearly three weeks working to set up the test inside a pipeline test bed about the size of an eighteen-wheeler truck. After three weeks of prep work the test went off: a four-minute one-shot deal that revealed both bent and cracked joints and telescoping pipe segments.

Armed with their new experimental results, prof and students returned to their home campus for lab work measuring soil properties. From that, they hope to suggest better pipeline installation methods for the future.

CPST names top twenty-five institutions for a BSCS

Washington, DC – In January, the commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) ranked schools by the number of underrepresented minorities (URMs) that graduate with BSCS degrees. The for-profit institutions University of Phoenix, Strayer College and DeVry Institute ranked highest on the list, partly, CPST says, because of the large number of campuses these schools maintain.

It is clear that URM women are far below parity within computer science: URM women in the top twenty-five institutions make up only 36.5 percent of those receiving computer science bachelors degrees.

The one hundred institutions that top the list awarded 4,516 total computer science bachelors degrees to URMs in 2006. 1.6 percent went to Native Americans, 61.6 percent to African Americans, and 36.8 percent to Hispanic students.

To see the complete list, visit www.cpst.org.

Naval engineers visit SWE

Albuquerque, NM – Several Naval surface warfare forces officers from the USS Tarawa attended the SWE Sonora regional conference this January. Lieutenant JG Megan Vehovic and lieutenant JG Whitney Alvarado were at the conference to raise awareness of engineering opportunities in the Navy.

The conference, with the theme “energizing women in engineering,” featured a career fair, technical tours, workshops and award banquets. “Attending the conference enabled me to broaden my view of engineering and helped me realize how critical engineering will be in shaping our country’s future success, not only economically but environmentally as well,” said Vehovic.

GEM awards achievers

Washington, DC – In September of 2008, the GEM Consortium honored students, teachers, industry leaders and legislators for leadership and commitment to science, technology, engineering and math. GEM works to increase enrollment of underrepresented groups at the masters and doctoral levels. Corporate and university partners work to offer opportunities for talented students to obtain MS and PhD degrees through paid summer internships and full tuition assistance.

Non-Asian American students of color are underrepresented in the population of students seeking a degree in science, engineering or technology. Only 9 percent of new PhDs in these fields are students of color, although people of color make up nearly a third of the U.S. population.

Those recognized include employer of the year: William Albright, director of quality of work life and benefits, at MITRE; university member of the year: Dr Renetta Tull, assistant dean for graduate student development, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; GEM fellow of the year: Rachel Phillips, graduate student, University of Michigan; alumna of the year: Gwendolyn R. Tobin, field technical sales specialist, IBM; and U.S. representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson and Silvestre Reyes. For more information, see www.gemfellowship.org.

San Jose State U team makes ice using solar energy

San Jose, CA – Working under the guidance of associate prof Jinny Rhee, a team of San Jose State University students have created a solar ice maker.

The electricity-free alternative to refrigeration and air-conditioning uses heat from the sun to drive a chemical reaction that separates a liquid refrigerant from a solid absorbent during the day. The solid absorbent stays in the solar collector, while the liquid refrigerant is driven away and stored in a separate evaporator.

At night, the chemical reaction runs in reverse, and the solid absorbent sucks all of the liquid refrigerant back into the collector, without pumps, valves, or any mechanical components. In the process, the liquid refrigerant evaporates and any water touching the outside of the evaporator is frozen to ice.

The project, dubbed Solar Ice, was a finalist in the 2008 California Clean Tech Open.

Cmdr Yvette Davids fills warfighting readiness role for the Navy

Coronado, CA – Cmdr Yvette M. Davids has assumed duties as the military executive assistant to the executive director of Naval Surface Forces (SURFOR) at command HQ at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. Davids is assisting the director in his task of improving the warfighting readiness of surface ships.

Davids brings more than nineteen years of naval experience to the newly established post. Before reporting to the Naval Surface Forces staff, she served as commanding officer of the guided missile frigate USS Curts, homeported in San Diego, CA. Under Davids’ command, the frigate completed
a successful deployment to the Persian Gulf with the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Davids graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD) in 1989 with a degree in oceanography. Her new post, she reflects, calls for a positive outlook, optimism, hard work, integrity, and “being able to look at the big picture of the needs of the boss and the Navy.

“I’m fortunate to be assigned to this position.”

Women of Vision awards honor prominent techies

Palo Alto, CA – The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) presented the 2009 Women of Vision awards this April. The awards honor women who made significant contributions to technology in three categories: leadership, innovation and social impact. Winners are selected from a field of highly qualified women in technology professions in industry, academia, NGOs and government.

“The winners of this year’s awards have earned the recognition because they have positively impacted the world through their work with technology and women in technology,” says ABI CEO Dr Telle Whitney. “These women are all leaders in their fields as well as strong role models for women of all generations.”

Winner of the leadership award was Mitchell Baker, chair of Mozilla Corp, for her work leading the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to openness and innovation on the Internet.

Yuqing Gao, senior manager of IBM’s T. J. Watson research center, received the innovation award for her work in speech-to-speech translation.

The social impact award went to Jan Cuny, program director of the National Science Foundation, for the NSF’s “Broadening participation in computing” program to help women and underrepresented minorities find careers in technology.

Corporate sponsors of the event include Lockheed Martin, Cisco, NetApp and SAP. For more information visit www.anitaborg.org.

Black engineers of the year announced at BEYA STEM

Baltimore, MD – The annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) STEM global competitiveness conference was held this February. At the conference, seminars and workshops offered information on topics affecting African American technology professionals: career advancement, diversity programs and specialized industry updates.

A career fair brought engineers, scientists and students together with employers. Completing the three-day event, the BEYA awards ceremony recognized the achievement of African American engineering leaders. The awards and their winners include:

Black Engineer of the Year: Dr Wanda Austin, president and CEO, the Aerospace Corp.

Career achievement-government: Lloyd Reshard, chief, flight vehicles integration branch, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

Most promising engineer-industry: Alana Tyler, senior ME II, Raytheon.

Special Recognition for career achievement: Charles Henry, VP, Verizon Telecom, IT Revenue Assurance; and Trena Lilly, project manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.

For a complete list of winners, see www.beya.org.

Sandia researchers win INCITE grant

Albuquerque, NM – Sandia National Laboratories researchers Mike Heroux and Laura Frink received a 2009 Department of Energy (DoE) Innovative and Novel Computational Impact of Theory and Experiment (INCITE) multiyear grant of one million processor hours on Oak Ridge National Lab’s Cray XT machines. They expect to use the time to produce high-fidelity simulations of complex biological membranes.

Their work targets better understanding of the role of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), an innate part of the human immune system. Heroux and Frink plan to simulate a wide variety of AMP geometries and chemistries, varying the peptides’ energies and positions relative to simulated membranes to better understand peptide function. The goal is to understand how diseases penetrate the lipid bilayers that protect human cells, potentially enabling new treatments.

INCITE award winners are selected by DoE’s office of advanced scientific computing.

NASA names Fellows

Pasadena, CA – In February, NASA announced its 2009 astronomy and astrophysics Fellows, recipients of the 2009 Einstein and Sagan fellowships. These post-doctoral appointments let young researchers conduct independent research at institutions around the country.

“The new Fellows are among the best and brightest young astronomers in the world,” says Jon Morse, director of the Astrophysics division at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. “They already have contributed significantly to studies of how the universe works, the origin of our cosmos and whether we are alone in the cosmos.

“The fellowships will serve as a springboard for scientific leadership in the years to come, and as an inspiration for the next generation of students and early career researchers.”

The Sagan fellowships were created in 2008 to support
five scientists whose research is connected with NASA’s exoplanet exploration program. The program seeks to discover and characterize planetary systems and Earth-like planets around other stars. The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology and JPL administer this program. The recipients include Subo Dong, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; John Johnson, University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy; and Eliza Miller-Ricci, University of California, Santa Cruz. For more information, see nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan/fellowship.shtml.

The Fellows in the Einstein program conduct research broadly related to the mission of NASA’s program on the physics of the cosmos. Its science goals include understanding the origin and destiny of the universe, the nature of gravity, phenomena near black holes, and extreme states of matter. The Chandra X-ray Center (Cambridge, MA) administers the Einstein Fellowships for NASA. Recipients include Tamara Bogdanovic, Rodrigo Fernandez, Eduardo Rozo and Aurora Simionescu. For more info see cxc.harvard.edu/fellows.

Purdue works on greener biofuels production

West Lafayette, IN – Researchers at Purdue University are proposing a new approach to producing alternative fuels, hydrogen and electricity from municipal solid wastes, agricultural wastes, forest residues, sewage sludge and the like. The new method could supply as much as twenty percent of transportation fuels in the U.S. every year, says Fu Zhao, a Purdue assistant professor of ME.

The system uses carbon-containing wastes like paper, wood, plastic and rubber. The wastes are ground up and fed into a gasifier, which turns them into a gas rich in hydrogen, CO, CO2, methane and other hydrocarbons.

Cleaned up, the product becomes synthesis gas: syngas. It can power a turbine to generate electricity, or be converted into gasoline and diesel fuel.

The new process could also create ethanol, jet fuel and other biofuels, researchers believe. They estimate the method can be economically competitive with petroleum-based fuels, and plan to develop a simulation model to test the technique with a variety of feedstocks, including waste plastics.

Vets with hearing loss welcome at RIT/NTID

Rochester, NY – Hearing loss is the leading cause of disability claims for military folks serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the fall of 2009 a group of vets with hearing losses will attend RIT/NTID to take advantage of the school’s access services. Classroom captioning, sign-language interpreters and note-taking services will help them study for bachelors and graduate degrees.

“It makes sense for us to welcome the men and women serving our country who could benefit from the education and access services we offer,” says NTID President Alan Hurwitz. “Our talented faculty and staff have experience helping those who have suffered a sudden hearing loss. We feel that RIT/NTID is a perfect option for vets seeking to continue their educations, and we are happy to help the men and women who have already sacrificed so much to serve our country.”

The first veterans are expected to begin classes this fall. As many as ten vets could be admitted each year. Check out www.rit.edu/ntid/veterans to learn more about the program.

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