Category Archives: Awards

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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Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

PECASE recipient Eugene Billiot and two students work on molecular structures.

Twenty recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers have been announced for this year. The photo, shows of one those awardees, Eugene Billiot, with two students, working on molecular structures.

Awardees are chosen from 350 to 400 assistant professors who have received grants from NSF’s Faculty Early Career Program (CAREER) in the same year of their nomination for the president’s award. CAREER awards range from $400,000 to nearly $1 million over five years to support career research and education.
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Excellence in K-12 Mathematics and Science Teaching

Going to School with Samuel Wheeler (NSF does not provide a way to link directly so you have to look down the page to find this interview of teacher Samuel Wheeler).

NSF: What is your most successful tool to inspire students to study science?
Wheeler: I craft my science courses in such a way that the students themselves become the investigator and principal learner, and I become a guide or facilitator. If they are allowed to explore the material from their own interests with the proper springboard, then it is easier to inspire them.

Samuel Wheeler received the, Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching – USA.
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Kyoto Prize for Technology, Science and the Arts

Inamori Foundation Announces 22nd Annual Kyoto Prize Laureates for Lifetime Achievements in Technology, Science, and the Arts

This year’s Kyoto Prize laureates will be U.S. immunologist and geneticist Dr. Leonard A. Herzenberg, 74, a professor at Stanford University; Japanese statistical mathematician Dr. Hirotugu Akaike, 78, a professor emeritus at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics; and Japanese designer Issey Miyake, 68, an artist whose innovative creations transcend time, culture and social status.

The 22nd Annual Kyoto Prize is Japan’s highest private award for lifetime achievement, presented to individuals and groups worldwide who have contributed significantly to humankind’s betterment. Each recipient receives a cash gift of 50 million yen (approximately US$446,000).
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Cash Awards for Engineering Innovation

This article discusses the recent explosion of cash awards to encourage development of engineering solutions. Want innovation? Offer cash (page deleted by external site – poor usability):

In the early 20th century, prizes in the aviation and automotive worlds were common. Sometimes they were awarded for incremental progress, other times for breakthroughs like the Lindbergh flight.

International Fulbright Science and Technology Award

The International Fulbright Science and Technology award offers 25 awards for non-USA citizens to study science and engineering in the United States. The deadline for application is 1 September 2006 (though some sources give different dates): apply online. This is the first year this award has been offered.

Eligible fields include: Aeronautics and Aeronautical Engineering, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering (computer, electrical, chemical, civil, environmental, materials, mechanical, ocean, and petroleum), Environmental Science, Geology and Atmospheric Sciences, Information Sciences, Materials Science, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Oceanography, and Physics.

I can’t find any information on it on the main state department or fulbright scholar sites. But there are a number of embassy sites that mention it and an article from Barbados.

Strawjet: Invention of the Year, 2006

Invent Now 2006 Modern Marvel of the Year (links all broken by History Channel, so links were removed, – when will we finally have people in charge of websites that understand basic usability fundamentals?):

The Strawjet is a farm implement that processes straw (wheat, flax, sunflower, tobacco, hemp, etc.) in the field (after the plant has been harvested) into a mat, similar to a large bamboo window blind. This is used to construct composite building panels in much the same way as fiberglass or carbon fiber; however, the Strawjet uses a binder made from paper pulp, clay and cement rather than plastic resin.

Update, 2013: strawjet.com. Also I added this webcast from 2009

Read (except they broke all the links so you can’t) about more finalists in the History Channel and Invent Now Inventor contest:

  • Dr. David L. Cull, Hemoaccess Valve System
  • Kristin A. Hrabar, Illuminated Nutdriver
  • Dr. Sundaresan Jayaraman, Wearable Motherboard (Smart Shirt)
  • Robert C. Kelly, Resc-hue Lite Line

Related: Pay as You Go Solar in India – Appropriate Technology: Solar Water in Poor Cairo Neighborhoods – Lemelson-MIT 2010 Award for Sustainability – Play pumps had the idea of putting a merry-go-round on the site and letting children playing on it provide the energy… The solution does not appear to have been executed well.

Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge

The Synapse Revealed

Image by Graham Johnson, Graham Johnson Medical Media. The Synapse Revealed – Deep inside the brain, a neuron prepares to transmit a signal to its target. The brain contains billions of neurons, whose network of chemical messages form the basis of all thought, movement and behavior.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Science created the Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge: “In a world where science literacy is dismayingly rare, illustrations provide the most immediate and influential connection between scientists and other citizens, and the best hope for nurturing popular interest.” The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2006. See information on the 2005 winners (including the image shown here).

Middle School Math

228 middle school students compteted in the prestigious individual MATHCOUNTS competition. Daesun Yim of West Windsor, NJ won the national champion title and the $8,000 Donald G. Weinert Scholarship, a trip to U.S. Space Camp and a notebook computer by answering:

A jar contains 8 red balls, 6 green balls and 24 yellow balls. In order to make the probability of choosing a yellow ball from the jar on the first selection equal to1/2, Kerry will add x red balls and y green balls. What is the average of x and y?

Answer: 5

In the team competition, Virginia captured the title of National Team Champions. Team members include Jimmy Clark of Falls Church, Divya Garg of Annandale, Brian Hamrick of Annandale, Daniel Li of Fairfax and coach Barbara Burnett of Falls Church.

Read more about the 2006 competition. Watch video highlights from the 2005 competition.

MATHCOUNTS is a national enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory.

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Awards

Nearly 1,500 students from 47 countries competed for nearly $4 million in scholarships and prizes at the 57th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair this week.

The grand prize winners of $50,000 scholarships were:

Information on all of the 2006 award winners as well as past winners.

Five Indian students win Intel awards:

Five Indian students are among the winners at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science competition in which an Indian-American girl also received a $50,000 scholarship by taking top honours.

The students excelled among a record-setting, worldwide pool of 1,482 competitors from 47 countries, regions and territories, setting the bar for future scientific research in three disciplines.

Teen’s project places second at science fair

His engineering design for emergency shelters, now in the hands of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, yesterday earned Toll, 17, a junior at Cedar Crest High School, a second-place award at an international science fair in Indianapolis.