Author Archives: curiouscat

MIT’s Energy ‘Manhattan Project’

MIT’s Energy ‘Manhattan Project’ by Mark Anderson:

David Jhirad, a former deputy assistant secretary of energy and current VP for science and research at the World Resources Institute, said no other institution or government anywhere has taken on such an intensive, creative, broad-based, and wide-ranging energy research initiative.
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Many of these projects are ongoing and will continue under the Energy Research Council banner. Others, such as a new effort to make cheap ethanol using a biochemical technique called metabolic engineering, apply the expertise of faculty and staff who had never worked on energy problems before.

The council will also hire faculty in fields, such as optimizing energy distribution and transmission, if it finds MIT hasn’t devoted enough resources to them.

Susan Hockfield, Inaugural Address, 16th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
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Science and Engineering in Global Economics

The main point of The Global Race – Is America Still a Contender? by James Schultz is that the United States is too complacent: thinking its past success guarantees future success. I have stated that I believe the economic comparative advantage the USA has enjoyed due to science and technology leadership is almost certain to shrink and we should take steps to slow that decrease. Also see: Engineering Education and Innovation, The Future is Engineering, Engineers and the Economy and The Science Gap and the Economy.

From the article:

The hungry don’t dither, and neither do relatively lean economic adversaries. Worldwide, up-and-comers are integrating economic development with governmental practice, teaming eager, growing-wage, and increasingly skilled workforces with coordinated national policies. If laws get in the way, they are changed; if labor movements demand too much too quickly, they are quashed…

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Engineering Projects in Community Service

Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) at Purdue University provides students the opportunity to apply engineering to provide real world solutions in the community (since 1995). Over 25 projects are underway including:

Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology – to design new software and hardware to spark the interest of girls in technology. Projects include: multimedia computer games; interactive and intelligent toys – the link includes downloadable games
Columbian Park Zoo – to design, build, deliver, and maintain engineering projects that will aid the Columbian Park Zoo in inspiring the community with an appreciation for the world’s animals.
Discovering Engineering Careers – to Develop portable, hands-on demonstrations of engineering principles and practice and web-based games that will spark interest in engineering careers among elementary, middle, and junior high school students and teachers.
Klondike Elementary School – to design custom educational products involving both hardware and software.

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R&D Spending in USA Universities

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2004, NSF 06-323 provides a view of R&D spending at universities in the USA.

Spending over the last 5 years in billions: $30.7 in 2000; 32.8; 36.4; 40.1 and $42.9 in 2004. For 2004 the funding source for the spending was:

Federal Government: $27.4
State and Local: 2.8
Industry: 2.1
Institutional: 7.8
All other: 2.8

Also for 2004 of the total $32.3 billion was for basic research and $10.6 billion for applied research and development.

The schools spending the largest amounts on R&D in 2004 and the spending in millions:

Johns Hopkins $1,375
UCLA 773
Univ of Michigan (all) 769
UW – Madison 764
UC – San Francisco 728
Univ Washington 714
UC – San Diego 709
Stanford 671

The publication includes a huge amount of data on current spending and historical spending.

More Unmanned Water Vehicles

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International recently completed the 9th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition [link broken, so it was removed].

City College built little sub that almost could by Ronald W. Powell:

The four-day event ended yesterday with the University of Florida repeating as champions and winning $7,000, and Duke finishing second and claiming $5,000.

Academic teams from 20 colleges and universities and one high school deployed their submersibles in a pool at Point Loma’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center and attempted to complete three underwater tasks. The crew from San Diego City College was among 11 teams to navigate its 22-pound vessel through a gate.

See: La Vida Robot (a great article on the Carl Hayden Community High Schools entry in the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center’s Remotely Operated Vehicle Competition last year).

While we have posted about several autonomous water robots lately don’t think water is the only place engineers are experimenting with autonomous robots. The Aerial Robotics Competition [link broken, so it was removed] offers bragging rights and possibly US $60,000 (if I understand the rules – see the full rules for details [link broken, so it was removed]). An idea for the competition can be seen from this excerpt:
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Ginko Cells Host Alga

Ghost in the (Plant) Machine (science magazine broke link *sigh* so I removed it) by Elizabeth Pennisi:

A common ornamental tree planted along sidewalks and in gardens throughout the world, Ginkgo biloba–also called the maidenhair tree–has been considered a source of herbal medicine for millennia. During the 1990s, several studies showed the extracts helped improve memory in patients with dementia (ScienceNOW, 30 May). And today, ginkgo is a popular remedy sold not just for memory loss but also for ailments ranging from depression to hemorrhoids.
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further investigation indicated that live ginkgo cells were harboring algal “ghosts”: nondescript cell bodies that lacked a nucleus or chloroplast. When ginkgo cells died, these ghosts came back to life, transforming themselves into free-living, photosynthesizing algae.
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In living cells, the algae depend on the ginkgo for food. In return, it’s possible that the algae somehow help produce the ginkgo’s medicinal compounds, he suggests. Not much is known about the synthesis of these unique compounds except that making them requires two compartments–the cytosol–and “some unknown organelle,” says Huss. That organelle might be the algae.

Whatever the nature of the partnership, it could be more than a hundred million years old. Ginkgos date back to the dinosaurs, and researchers know already that the two other plants dating back that far back depend on symbiosis to survive. “That makes me think that symbiosis is part of an ancient story,”

Girls in Science and Engineering

Best of Our Knowledge podcast from December 2005, Queens University in Ontario, Canada.

In this podcast they explore the Smith College summer science program for high school girls.

According to Smith College, 75% of the program’s graduates say it increased their interest in science and their confidence. Each summer girls spend a full month in research courses as varied as: Designing Intelligent Robots; Telescopes and Astronomical Imaging; and, Genetics and Ecology.

In my opinion this is exactly the type of program we should encourage. I think given the data on diversity in science and engineering we need to make some efforts to encourage under-represented groups. And programs such as this can help increase the diversity in the pipeline.

Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics on the air offers related podcasts online, including:
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Anita Borg Scholarship – Australia

Google 2006 Australia Anita Borg Scholarship

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to furthering Anita’s vision, we are pleased to announce the 2006 Google Australia Anita Borg Scholarship. Through the scholarship, we would like to encourage women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders.
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The scholarship recipients, selected from the finalists, will each receive a $5,000 AUD scholarship for the 2007 academic year.

Google Announces 2006 USA Anita Borg Scholarship Winners

$40 Million for Engineering Education in Boston

Bernard M. Gordon, is giving away $20 million each, for the engineering education and research at two major Boston institutions: the Museum of Science and Northeastern University. Science museum, NU to widen paths:

At the museum, the gift will expand the engineering focus in exhibits and educational programs aimed at motivating a new crop of American engineers and inventors. The money will be used to remodel a wing of the museum to house its two-year-old National Center for Technological Literacy, which seeks to boost engineering curricula in schools.

We previously have posted on the engineering education work of the museum and its president, Ioannis Miaoulis: k-12 Engineering Education and k-12 Science Education Podcast:

Gordon, an MIT graduate and a Tufts University trustee, had no previous connection to Northeastern, Freeland said. He said the philanthropist was attracted by the university’s emphasis on marrying research with practical applications.

Economic Benefits and Science Higher Education

University Tries to Make Texas a Science Force:

In an effort to make Texas a magnet for scientific and medical research, the University of Texas is planning a $2.5 billion program to expand research and teaching in the sciences, including medicine and technology.

The initiative would be one of the largest investments in expansion by a public university, university officials said.