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NSF Launches Third Generation of Engineering Research Centers with Awards Totaling $92.5 Million. Each of the 5 sites will receive will use $18.5 million over five-years. Each center has international university partners and partners in industry.
The NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC), based at Iowa State University, seeks to transform the existing petrochemical-based chemical industry to one based on renewable materials.
The NSF Engineering Research Center for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems, based at North Carolina State University, will conduct research to transform the nation’s power grid into an efficient network that integrates alternative energy generation and new storage methods with existing power sources.
The NSF ERC for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN), based at the University of Arizona, will conduct research to create transformative technologies for optical access networks that offer dramatically improved performance and expanded capabilities.
The NSF ERC for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials, based at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, aims to transform current medial and surgical treatments by creating “smart” implants for craniofacial, dental, orthopedic and cardiovascular interventions.
The NSF Smart Lighting ERC, based at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, aims to create new solid-state lighting technologies to enable rapid biological imaging, novel modes of communication, efficient displays and safer transportation.
Photo: Alex Huang will lead direct the research of ways to integrate renewable energy sources into the nation’s power grid at North Carolina State University.
Related: $75 Million for 5 New Engineering Research Centers - NSF Awards $50 Million for Collaborative Plant Biology Project - Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers - posts related to the United States National Science Foundation
$400 million endowment for the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
Many countries would love to create a world class center of biomedical research. And several are trying. Boston sure seems to be staking a claim that it will be one of those centers of excellence. The economic benefits of that to Boston will be huge.
Related: Harvard Plans Life Sciences Campus - $1 Billion for Life Sciences in Massachusetts - China’s Gene Therapy Investment - $600 Million for Basic Biomedical Research from HHMI - Edinburgh University $115 Million Stem Cell Center
It appears Illinois is preparing to attempt to apply some of the idea piloted at Olin on a larger scale. It will be very interesting to see what happens. Illinois Partners with Olin College to Transform Engineering Education
As part of this effort Illinois seems to be using a new something (I am not sure what it should be called): iFoundry. Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education, is an interdepartmental curriculum incubator in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois designed to pilot principled change while respecting faculty governance.
Related: Innovative Science and Engineering Higher Education Olin Engineering Education Experiment - National Science Board Report on Improving Engineering Education - Improving Engineering Education the Olin Way - Leah Jamieson on the Future of Engineering Education
MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives
MIT is providing seed funding to faculty to encourage global research. The seed funds cover a variety of expenses, including exploratory field research, workshop materials and instrument costs. Each proposal is eligible for up to $20,000 in funding. Research and collaboration can take place anywhere in the world on any topic. For all projects, up to $10,000 in additional funding is available for undergraduate and graduate student participation.
MISTI country programs also offer five country-specific seed funds for collaborative research involving France, India, Italy, Japan or Spain.
This is a good use of their huge endowment. So is the Open Courseware initiative. As is their elimination of tuition for those with families earning less than $75,000. Good for MIT.
Related: Global Engineering Education Study - MIT Faculty Study Recommends Significant Undergraduate Education Changes - Funding Medical Research
The annual ranking of research Universities are available from Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University. The methodology values publications and faculty awards which provides a better ranking of research (rather than teaching). Results from the 2008 rankings of Top 500 Universities worldwide, country representation of the top schools:
| location | Top 100 | % of World Population |
% of World GDP | % of top 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 54 | 4.6% | 27.2% | 31.6% |
| United Kingdom | 11 | 0.9 | 4.9 | 8.3 |
| Germany | 6 | 1.3 | 6.0 | 8.0 |
| Japan | 4 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 6.2 |
| Canada | 4 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 4.2 |
| Sweden | 4 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| France | 3 | 0.8 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Australia | 3 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 3.0 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Denmark | 2 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| Finland | 1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| Norway | 1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Israel | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.2 |
| Russia | 1 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 0.4 |
| China | 20.5 | 6.6 | 6.0 | |
| India | 17.0 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
There is little change in most of the data from last year, which I think is a good sign, it wouldn’t make much sense to have radical shifts over a year in these rankings. Japan lost 2 schools in the top 100, France lost 1. Denmark (Aarhus University) and Australia (University of Sydney) gained 1. Last year there was a tie so there were 101 schools in the top 100.
The most dramatic data I noticed is China’s number of top 500 schools went from 14 to 30, which made me a bit skeptical of what caused that quick change. Looking more closely last year they reported the China top 500 totals as (China 14, China-Taiwan 6 and China-Hong Kong 5). That still gives them an impressive gain of 5 schools.
Singapore has 1 in the 102-151 range. Taiwan has 1 ranked in the 152-200 range, as do Mexico, Korea and Brazil. China has 9 in the 201-302 range (including 3 in Hong Kong). India has 2 in the 303-401 range.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is 17th again 
My father taught there while I grew up.
(more…)
Stanford’s “autonomous” helicopters teach themselves to fly
Very cool. Related: MIT’s Autonomous Cooperating Flying Vehicles - The sub-$1,000 UAV Project - 6 Inch Bat Plane - Kayak Robots
MythBuster Adam Savage: 3 Ways to Fix U.S. Science Education
2. Yes, spend more money on science.
…
3. Celebrate mistakes.
A good scientist will tell you that being wrong can be just as interesting as being right. The same holds for our show. We love hearing from fans who challenge our conclusions—especially kids.
Related: Report on K-12 Science Education in USA (2006) - posts on science education - The Economic Consequences of Investing in Science Education - Middle School Engineers - Lego Learning - The Importance of Science Education - Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids
General Biology Course at University of California - Berkeley, Fall 2007. Instructors John Forte, R Fischer and R Malkin. “General introduction to cell structure and function, molecular and organism genetics, animal development, form and function. Intended for biological sciences majors, but open to all qualified students.” A great service from Berkeley with video and audio… Topics include: Macromolecules structure and function, How cells function-an introduction to cellular metabolism and biological catalysts, Microbes - Viruses, Bacteria, Plasmids, Transposons and Homeostasis: The body’s defenses.
Related: Science and Engineering Webcast Directory - Harvard Course: Understanding Computers and the Internet - Berkeley and MIT courses online - Arizona State Science Studio Podcasts - Google Tech Talks
A nice post from ScienceWoman: The PI lacks the experience with the proposed methodology…
I suspect that this is a criticism that I’m going to see a few more times before tenure. And I suspect that it’s a criticism that’s not uniquely being leveled at me.
…
In this case, this criticism isn’t the reason the proposal wasn’t funded. But it’s the one reviewer critique that I can’t surmount on the resubmission. It’s like that itch I can’t scratch. So I guess the resubmitted proposal is just going to have to be so kick-ass in all other respects that there’s no way they can deny me these funds. Better get to work.
Related: Funding for Science and Engineering Researchers - HMMI Nurtures Nation’s Best Early Career Scientists - $1 Million Each for 20 Science Educators - posts on funding in science - Advice on Successfully Applying for Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships
Engineering students would receive up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness under legislation just passed by Congress that the president is expected to sign. The Higher Education Reauthorization and College Opportunity Act of 2008 creates a new program to provide financial incentives for professions in areas of national need including engineering.
Engineering students would qualify for up to $10,000 in credit against their outstanding student loan obligation following graduation and entry into the engineering, technology, applied sciences, or mathematics (and other areas too) workforce. The program authorizes up to $2,000 per year of schooling.
The legislation also includes the Robert C. Byrd American Competitiveness program (an adjustment to the existing program):
Related: Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships - Congress Clears Loan Forgiveness Program To Address Engineer Shortage - Scientists and Engineers in Congress - NSF Undergraduate Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
U-M wins North American Solar Challenge for the fifth time
Related: Eco-Vehicle Student Competition - Team blog - Honda Engineering - Middle School Students in Solar Car Competition - UW- Madison Wins 4th Concrete Canoe Competition
The Webometrics Ranking of University Web Sites provides some interesting data. I don’t remember reading this last year, but they state on the site now: “The original aim of the Ranking was to promote Web publication, not to rank institutions. Supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and to other academic material are our primary targets.” I support those goals, I am not totally convinced this is the most effective measure to do that but it provides one way of ranking web presence of universities. I am not that convinced this does a good job of ranking the web presences of universities but I think it is of some interest so I decided to post on the results.
Related: 2007 Webometrics University Ranking - Best Research University Rankings (2007) - Country H-index Rank for Science Publications - Understanding the Evolution of Human Beings by Country
| Country | % top 200 | % top 500 | % World Population | Jiao Tong top 101 |
| USA | 53 | 37.8 | 4.6 | 54 |
| Germany | 7.5 | 9.4 | 1.3 | 6 |
| United Kingdom | 5.5 | 7.2 | 0.9 | 11 |
| Canada | 8.5 | 5 | 0.5 | 4 |
| Australia | 3 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 2 |
| Italy | 0.5 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 1 |
| Japan | 1.5 | 2.4 | 2 | 6 |
| France | 0.5 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 4 |
| Netherlands | 4 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 2 |
| Sweden | 3 | 2 | 0.1 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 3 |
| Taiwan | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Finland | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 1 |
| China | 0.5 | 1.2 | 20.1 | 0 |
| Portugal | 0 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0 |
From the excellent Piled Higher and Deeper comic strip by Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com. Like many of the best comics (Dilbert, xkcd) PhD is authored by an engineer: Jorge Cham got his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, and was a full-time Instructor and researcher at the California Institute of Technology.
Related: What Makes Scientists Different - The Joy of Work - Programmers
New probe may help untangle cells’ signaling pathways
“We can use this to identify new protein partners or to characterize existing interactions. We can identify what signaling pathway the proteins are involved in and during which phase of the cell cycle the interaction occurs,” said Alice Ting, the Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry and senior author of a paper describing the probe published online June 27 by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The new technique allows researchers to tag proteins with probes that link together like puzzle pieces if the proteins interact inside a cell. The probes are derived from an enzyme and its peptide substrate. If the probe-linked proteins interact, the enzyme and substrate also interact, which can be easily detected.
To create the probes, the researchers used the enzyme biotin ligase and its target, a 12-amino-acid peptide.
Related: Specific Protein and RNA Labeling in Cells - Using Bacteria to Carry Nanoparticles Into Cells - Molecular Bioengineering and Dynamical Models of Cells - The Inner Life of a Cell (Animation)
2007 Data from Spencer Stuart on S&P 500 CEO shows once again more have undergraduate degrees in engineering than any other field.
| Field |
|
% of CEOs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |||
| Engineering | 21 | 23 | 20 | ||
| Economics | 15 | 13 | 11 | ||
| Business Administration | 13 | 12 | 15 | ||
| Accounting | 8 | 8 | 7 | ||
| Liberal Arts | 6 | 8 | 9 | ||
| No degree or no data | 3 | 3 | |||
The report does not show the fields for the rest of the CEO’s. 40% of S&P CEOs have MBAs. 27% have other advanced degrees. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton and Harvard tied for the most CEO’s with undergraduate degrees from their universities at 12. University of Texas has 10 and Stanford has 9.
Data for previous years is also from Spencer Stuart: 2006 S&P 500 CEO Education Study - Top degree for S&P 500 CEOs? Engineering (2005 study)
Related: Engineering Education Study Debate - posts on science and engineering careers - Science and Engineering Degrees lead to Career Success - The Future is Engineering
The Lemelson-MIT Prize awards $500,000 to mid-career inventors dedicated to improving our world through technological invention and innovation. Joseph M. DeSimone received the 2008 award.
Among DeSimone’s notable inventions is an environmentally friendly manufacturing process that relies on supercritical carbon dioxide instead of water and bio-persistent surfactants (detergents) for the creation of fluoropolymers or high-performance plastics, such as Teflon®. More recently, he worked on a team to design a polymer-based, fully bioabsorbable, drug-eluting stent, which helps keep a blocked blood vessel open after a balloon-angioplasty and is absorbed by the body within 18 months.
DeSimone’s newest invention is PRINT® (Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates) technology, used to manufacture nanocarriers in medicine. At present, DeSimone’s Lab is vested in a variety of projects that also extend beyond medicine, including potential applications for more efficient solar cells and morphable robots. In 2004, DeSimone co-founded Liquidia Technologies with a team of researchers from UNC to make the technology available in the market. Liquidia is using the PRINT technology to develop precisely engineered nanocarriers for highly targeted delivery of biological and small molecule therapeutics to treat cancer and other diseases. DeSimone’s proposed applications for cancer treatment with the PRINT platform was instrumental in UNC landing a grant of $24 million from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.
“You can do all the innovating you want in the laboratory, but if you can’t get it out of the university walls you do no one any good,” said DeSimone. He instills an entrepreneurial spirit in his students that focuses on the importance of commercializing technology and scientific inventions. One of DeSimone’s greatest accomplishments is his mentorship of more than 45 postdoctoral research associates, 52 Ph.D. candidates, six M.S. theses and 21 undergraduate researchers. Furthermore, he speaks to groups of high school students about the inventive process and encourages them to learn and explore areas that are less familiar to them to broaden their exposure to other disciplines.
A prolific inventor, DeSimone holds more than 115 issued patents with more than 70 new patent applications pending, and he has published more than 240 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
Related: Inspiring a New Generation of Inventors - $500,000 for Innovation in Engineering Education - Collegiate Inventors Competition - posts on inventors
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