Category Archives: Engineering

Siemens Westinghouse Competition Winners

Siemens Westinghouse Competition press release:

Michael Viscardi, a senior who is home schooled, won the $100,000 Grand Prize scholarship in the individual category for mathematics research with real-world engineering implications. Anne Lee, a senior at Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and Albert Shieh, a junior at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, won the $100,000 prize in the team category, which they will share equally, for developing new software that more accurately analyzes genetic data.

Articles on the competition (I like the local focus of the headlines):

Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology web site. Their web site, and the articles above, provide interesting details on the highly advanced work of the participating high school students.

The Siemens Foundation provides more than $2 million in college scholarships and awards each year for talented high school students in the United States.

Adventures in Synthetic Biology

cover graphic of Adventures in Synthetic Biology Nature offers its first ever comic: Adventures in Synthetic Biology (via easternblot). Learn more about the creation of the comic. The graphics are nice, though honestly the interface to view the comic could be better. The pdf version is larger and easier to read.

I think it is great to experiment with using different ways to present scientific ideas. This comic is a good example of one of those ways. Also see several books that use cartoons to present ideas: Cartoon Guide to Genetics, Cartoon Guide to Physics and Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (all by Larry Gonick).

More comic presentations from howtoons.

Related links:

Center for Engineering Educational Outreach

Center for Engineering Educational Outreach at Tufts University.

The core purpose of the CEEO is to Improve Engineering Education for all Ages from the K – 12 student, to her parents, to the university engineering and liberal arts student. Four “towers of work” make up the Center: (1) engineering education research, (2) educational tool development, (3) teacher/volunteer support, and (4) a “bakesale” tower that funds a lot of these efforts.

The center provides a number of excellent resources including:

  • Robotics: Fundamentals of IT and Engineering – “to design a curriculum for an after school program that will integrate robotics into science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in the Boston Public Schools.”
  • Student Teacher Outreach Mentor Program (STOMP) – “places engineering students into classrooms and after school programs to support engineering education. The students aid educators in designing and implementing hands-on activities that teach engineering concepts ranging from the design process to gear ratios to digital logic.”
  • Pre-College Engineering for Teachers (PCET) – “professional development program for K-12 teachers sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Teacher participation starts during a ten day summer workshop, and continues during the school year. The workshop introduces teachers to different strategies for incorporating engineering design into their classrooms, and each participating teacher is required to include a unit about engineering design in their classroom during the following school year.”
  • Robotics Academy

A great resouce.

2005 intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine competition

Davidson College: Kristen DeCelle 2006 and Andrew Drysdale 2007

2005 Intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine Competition. Thirteen schools participated in the 2005 Intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM 2005): Berkeley, Caltech, Cambridge, Davidson, ETH Zurich, Harvard, MIT, Oklahoma, Penn State, Princeton, Toronto, UCSF, and UT Austin. Learn about and sign up for the 2006 competition.

Photo of Davidson College students: Kristen DeCelle ’06 and Andrew Drysdale ’07. Davidson Students “Ace” Presentation at MIT Synthetic Biology Competition.

The Davidson team-“The Synth-Aces,” a word play on enzymes called synthases-presented their design of a genetically-engineered, E. coli-based “digital decoder.” The device detects which combination of three common chemicals (with eight combinations possible) is present, and then displays a human-readable number that glows in the dark. The number is produced by genetically customized bacteria that grow in a familiar pattern of a digital numeric display. The resulting readouts of “0” through “7” correspond to the specific chemical combination detected in solution. One real world application of a decoder device might be to monitor water for contaminants or toxins.

Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids

Simple steam boat

Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids

Photo: the simplest steam engine you will ever see. It has no valves, no moving parts (in the traditional sense of the phrase), and yet it can propel it’s little boat easily across the largest swimming pool or quiet duck pond.

The site includes many simple projects to create toys and teach scientific principles in a fun way with simple materials. Gonzo Gizmos, is the book the site is based on.

Projects include: the impossible kaleidoscope, a simple rocket engine, building a radio in 10 minutes and building your own solar battery.

This cool site is definitely worth a visit.

What Ails India’s Software Engineers?

India does not produce enough good computer engineers and those it does are good at theory but not very well equipped to handle the practical aspects.’
— Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie

What Ails India’s Software Engineers? is an interesting series of 3 articles by Rediff exploring the state of India’s software engineering industry.

From its 113 universities and 2,088 colleges — many of which teach various engineering disciplines — India produces nearly 350,000 engineering graduates every year. All of Europe produces 100,000 engineering graduates a year, and America produces only 70,000.

But, the quality of Indian engineers is questionable, says Madhavan, who has had a career spanning four decades and is now advisor to several engineering colleges in Karnataka and Kerala.
“That is because of the lack of trained faculty and the dismal State spending on research and development in higher education in the country,” he says.

Part of what makes this article interesting is it challenges the accepted wisdom. The article offers an interesting perspective and some details that are not well understood.

In the 1980s, India had just 158 engineering colleges. That number has jumped to 1,208 in the last two decades, mainly because of the information technology boom and the ever-burgeoning capitation fee that self-financing colleges charge.

Every year, these engineering colleges admit about 350,000 students. Apart from this, nearly 3,500 students are absorbed into the seven premier Indian Institutes of Technology.

GAO Report: Federal Science, Technology and Engineering Trends

GAO Report: Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs and Related Trends

13 federal civilian agencies reported spending about $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2004 for 207 education programs designed to increase the numbers of students and graduates or improve educational programs in
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. NSF and NIH each account for a bit over 1/3 of the spending.

University officials frequently cited teacher quality as a key factor that affected domestic students’ interest in and decisions about pursuing STEM degrees and occupations. Officials at all eight universities we visited expressed the view that a student’s experience from kindergarten through the 12th grades played a large role in influencing whether the student pursued a STEM degree.
…
officials at many of the universities we visited told us that some teachers were unqualified and unable to impart the subject matter, causing students to lose interest in mathematics and science.

Estimated Changes in Numbers of International Students in STEM fields by Education Levels from the 1995-1996 Academic Year to the 2003-2004 Academic Year

Education level Number of international students, 1995-1996 Number of international students, 2003-2004 Percentage change
Bachelor’s 31,858 139,875 +339
Master’s 40,025 22,384 -44
Doctoral 36,461 7,582 -79
Total 108,344 169,841 +57

200,000 science and engineering doctorates in China by 2010?

Below are more statistics on engineering doctoral students in China, via China will increase its science and engineering doctorates to some 200,000 by 2010. I can’t say how reliable these figures are; but you can judge for yourself. The internet makes a great deal of information available but people still have to decide what level of credibility to give any source.

For more details see the original post:

Below are some figures taken from the China Statistical Yearbook 2005 on China’s graduate schools:

Science:
  New enrollment: 41,607
      Ph. D. 10,083
      M. S. 30,984

Total enrollment: 102,769
      Ph. D. 28,769
      M. S. 73,612

  Graduates: 17,540
      Ph. D. 4,518
      M. S. 13,022

Engineering:
  New enrollment: 120,750
      Ph. D. 20,271
      M. S. 100,479

  Total enrollment: 318,063
      Ph. D. 69,315
      M. S. 248,748

  Graduates: 56,074
      Ph. D. 8,054
      M. S. 48,020
…
Number of science and engineering doctorate holders up to 1985:
      Probably less than 2,000.
Number of science and engineering doctorate recipients between 1985 and 2001:
      Approximately 51,400
Number of science and engineering doctorate recipients for 2002 and 2003:
      Approximately 16,000.
Number of science and engineering doctorate recipients in 2004:
      Exactly 12,572
Number of science and engineering doctorate recipients in 2005:
      Approximately 15,000
Total number of science and engineering doctorates up to the end of 2005:
      Approximately: 95,000
Total number of science and engineering doctorate enrollment at the beginning of 2006:
      Approximately 85512

Whatever numbers turn out to be true the increase in science and engineering education in China is huge.

Related posts:

Engineering for the Americas Symposium

Engineering for the Americas Symposium:

Engineering education, innovation trends and perspectives on the knowledge-based economy will top the agenda in the four-day Engineering for the Americas Symposium, which opens November 29 in Lima, Peru.

The forum is a joint initiative of the Organization of American States (OAS) Office of Education, Science and Technology, the US Trade and Development Agency, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, several professional associations, academia, governments and industry, including Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), National Instruments and Microsoft.

Among other objectives, the organizers hope the four-day meeting will produce a clear understanding of the role of engineering education and capacity building in developing countries and a “country roadmap” to that end as well as information on potential funding sources to implement country plans. The organizers also hope to chart a “way forward” for the Engineering for the Americas program.

Science and Engineering Apprenticeships

Office of Naval Research Science & Engineering Apprentice Program (SEAP)

SEAP provides competitive research internships to approximately 250 high school students each year. Participating students spend eight weeks during the summer doing research at Department of Navy laboratories.

Requirements:

  • High school students who have completed at least Grade 9. A graduating senior is eligible to apply.
  • Must be 16 years of age for most laboratories
  • Applicants must be US citizens and participation by Permanent Resident Aliens is limited.
  • The application deadline is February 17, 2006.

Apply online for the apprenticeship/internship. See more internship oportunities at externs.com.