CCNY student business helps Harlem go green
New York, NY - A group of students at the City College of New York (CCNY) are learning entrepreneurship and environmentalism. They are planning to build a business that will help Harlem residents and property owners retrofit buildings with green roofs. The venture, called greenproofing, is a business arm of CCNY's interdisciplinary Environmental Engineering and Entrepreneurship Program (EEEP).
Green, or "vegetative," roofs are essentially whole-roof planters. Growing media and plants replace traditional roofing materials. In addition to holding rainwater to mitigate runoff, the roofs help reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by keeping the buildings cooler in hot weather.
The students began to focus on green roofs after Gary Chan, a senior CE major, received a $24,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to install a green roof on Steinman Hall, the home of CCNY's Grove School of Engineering. This spring the students started similar projects at five New York City public high schools.
"We're working with the schools to gain more experience and refine our business model. Eventually we intend to market our services to members of the Harlem community," explains Katie Cole, a senior majoring in earth and atmospheric sciences.
For more information on the project, check out www.greenproofing.org.
L'Oréal USA presents fellowships for women in science
New York, NY - L'Oréal offers several programs to support women in the sciences. One is the L'Oréal USA fellowships for women in science, which recognizes up-and-coming female techies who are conducting groundbreaking research in the sciences. The program offers $40,000 grants and networking and mentoring programs.
The 2007 fellowship awardees are Dr Kim Woodrow, Yale University (New Haven, CT), biomedical engineer; Dr Jaime D. Barnes, University of New Mexico, earth scientist and geochemist; Dr Sarah Clinton, University of Michigan Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Research Institute, neuroscientist; Dr Julie Huber, Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA), oceanographer; and Dr Maria Krisch, University of California-Irvine, physical chemist.
The program is designed to recognize, reward and advance the role of women in research, to identify exceptional female researchers to serve as role models for young women and girls, and to raise awareness of the contributions of women to the sciences. It was launched in 2003 as the U.S. component of the UNESCO-L'Oréal International Fellowships program.
L'Oréal gives international fellowships for women in science to one prominent woman on each continent, and fifteen to young researchers in the life sciences.
The firm also sponsors the L'Oréal Ingenius contest for engineering students. Launched in China in 2001, the competition turned international in 2005. This year's edition brings together students from France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Poland and China.
To learn more about L'Oréal's support of the sciences, see www.loreal.com.
Minnesota Mentornet launched with 3M grant
San Jose, CA - A recent grant from the 3M Foundation is helping MentorNet launch Minnesota MentorNet. It will bring MentorNet's one-on-one e-mentoring to Minnesota students and tech pros, providing support for the state's students in the science, technology, engineering and management (STEM) fields.
The project is a collaboration among the University of Minnesota, Minnesota state colleges and universities, the Minnesota Private College Council, the Minnesota High Tech Association, the Science Museum of Minnesota and 3M.
Between 2002 and 2012 the overall number of Minnesota jobs is expected to increase by slightly less than 15 percent, while jobs in computer and math occupations are expected to increase by as much as 33 percent.
Availability of MentorNet connections within the state allows face-to-face connections between interested mentors and protégées. See www.MentorNet.net for more information.
Engineers-to-be design for disabilities
Washington, DC - The National Engineering Design Challenge asks technically minded high school students to dream up ways to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities. This year a team from Gardner Edgerton High School (Gardner, KS) won the top prize.
The Gardner students designed a "basic ergonomic re-attachable tub" to help workers with disabilities transport items like cups and plates, for cleaning up restaurant tables or other jobs involving carrying small items.
For their design, the kids won a trip to Washington to attend the national conference of NISH, an organization that works for the employment of people with disabilities. Their school received a $3,000 award.
The contest is sponsored by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day/Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS). To learn more, visit www.jets.org.
LA techie Angela White-Parker is a "phenomenal woman"
Los Angeles, CA - Angela White-Parker was one of five recipients of the 2007 Phenomenal Women award given by the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles. The award recognizes women for professional achievements and community service.
White-Parker is data warehousing project lead at Sempra Energy. She's a past president of BDPA-LA and keeps Sempra involved with the group's local High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team. Last year she worked on the BDPA national conference when it was held in Los Angeles.
Revisions affect employment estimates of STEM pros; CPST white paper explains the changes
Washington, DC - Major revisions to the systems used by U.S. federal agencies to classify occupations have been made in the past few years. The updated job titles are better suited to the current U.S. economy, but they tend to create inconsistencies in data from years before and after the changes.
A white paper released by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) examines the effects of the revised Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) categories on employment counts of techies in the STEM professions.
For example, both old and new versions of the SOC have a category for electrical and electronic engineers, but the new version includes only about half the numbers of the old version. This is the result of significant reclassifications of employees in the category. For example, about 20 percent of the folks formerly considered EEs are now classified as computer software engineers, and 14 percent come under the heading of "all other" engineers.
Lisa Frehill, exec director of CPST, explains that both industry and schools could be affected by decisions based on incomplete understanding of the new classifications.
The white paper includes detailed information on changes in the federal SOC categories for sixty-one STEM professions. This information can help policy analysts, professional and technical societies and media make better informed adjustments of trend data. Effects of Recent Revisions in Federal Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Categories on Counts of the Employment of STEM Professionals is available at no cost on the CPST website, www.cpst.org.
ABB promotes Santacana
Norwalk, CT - In July, ABB promoted Enrique Santacana to region manager, ABB North America and president and CEO of ABB Inc USA. Santacana replaces Dinesh Paliwal.
Most recently Santacana was ABB's region division manager for power products in North America. The business develops, manufactures and sells products and services to the electrical power industry.
Santacana first joined ABB in 1977. He has held positions including head of ABB's power technologies division in North America; VP and general manager for medium-voltage products; VP and director of the electric systems technology institute of ABB Power T&D Co and VP and GM of the company's electric metering and control business unit.
Santacana has a BSEE from the University of Puerto Rico, an ME in electric power engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Duke University (Durham, NC).
ABB power and automation technologies enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact.
Planning for E-Week 2008
Washington, DC - Aiming to make engineering a stronger, more diverse profession, Engineers Week 2008 is unveiling a broad program of outreach and education to encourage more women and diverse groups to consider engineering careers. Co-chaired by IBM and the Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA (CIE-USA), next year's E-Week, February 17-23, 2008, is expected to reach several million people around the world.
CIE-USA, founded in 1917, represents engineers in companies, schools and public service. It has more than 10,000 members in six chapters across the country. Its Asian American Engineer of the Year awards program was launched in 2002, the same year the institute became an E-Week partner.
This is the first time CIE-USA will co-chair E-Week. IBM, a long-time supporter, was lead corporate sponsor in 1992 and 2001.
Many activities associated with E-Week offer opportunities for outreach by engineers and their employers. For more information see www.eweek.org.
SAS names management prof
Raleigh, NC - Fay Cobb Payton, associate professor of IS at North Carolina State's college of management, was recently named the first SAS faculty Fellow for her use of the company's software in her classroom. "She was selected because she exemplifies excellent classroom teaching and strong SAS skills," says Catherine Gihlstorf, curriculum resources manager with the SAS academic program.
Students in Payton's senior level class use SAS software on a project to analyze data contributed by a retailer. "The data set is very rich in content," Payton notes. "We can look at trends and patterns and discuss how they impact decision-making.
"SAS gives my students a leg up when they go into the workforce. They can make decisions that they wouldn't have gotten from a regular database class."
UN conference studies women in technology
New York, NY - This February, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women spent a day examining the role of information and communications technology (ICT) in advancing the status of women. The meeting considered the impact of technology on empowerment, gender equality and global development.
Presentations and panel discussions examined many aspects of the issues. The presenters included Sandy Carter, IBM VP for SOA and WebSphere strategy, channels and marketing; Siobhan Bredin, project director for the NSF ITEST learning resource center at EDC, and Alicia Young, network director for New York Women In Technology International.
Dr Amir Dossal of the UN office for partnerships led a panel addressing partnerships with governments, the private sector, and civil society. These programs would promote the use of ICT to enhance the learning, empowerment and overall performance of girls.
The conclusion was that a gender-based digital divide does exist. Strategies and action plans are needed at all levels to address this divide, which begins early in the girls' lives.
NASA predicts non-green plants on other planets
Moffett Field, CA - NASA scientists believe they'e found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems. They may be green like ours, or they may be yellow or even red-dominant.
"We can identify the strongest candidate wavelengths of light for the dominant color of photosynthesis on another planet," says Nancy Kiang, lead author of the study and a biometeorologist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (New York, NY). Kiang worked with a team of scientists from the Virtual Planetary Lab (VPL), part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the California Institute of Technology-Pasadena.
Kiang and her colleagues calculated what the stellar light would look like at the surface of Earth-like planets orbiting various types of stars, then looked at the changes in light through different atmospheres.
"This work will help guide designs for future space telescopes that will study extrasolar planets to see if they are habitable," notes Victoria Meadows, an astronomer who heads the VPL.
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