Category Archives: Students

Items for students and others, interested in learning about science and engineering and the application of science in our lives. We post many of the general interest items here.

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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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRF) is now accepting applications (through early November). The NSF GRF is the largest and most prestigious graduate fellowship program for the sciences in the USA. Approximately 1,000 fellowships, which cover tuition and pay a $30,500 stipend for 3 years, will be awarded again this year. Previous winners include Sergey Brin, Google co-founder (he list winning in his 3 paragraph bio on Google’s site).

The main site for the NSF GRFP includes the solicitation with details on applying and eligibility etc.. I can’t figure out how you find the application from the main site but here is the link to apply for the fellowship.

Advice is available online for applying for the fellowship: How to Win a Graduate Fellowship, Advice for Applicants to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the University of Missouri provides a guide for completing an NSF FRF application.
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Interview of Steve Wozniak

Excellent interview of Steve Wozniak from Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days by Jessica Livingston, to be published in a few months.

I said, “No, I’m never going to leave Hewlett-Packard. It’s my job for life. It’s the best company because it’s so good to engineers.” It really treated us like we were a community and family, and everyone cared about everyone else. Engineers—bottom of the org chart people—could come up with the ideas that would be the next hot products for the company. Everything was open to thought, discussion and innovation. So I would never leave Hewlett-Packard. I was going to be an engineer for life there.

Sounds like Google today, see: How Google Works focused on engineering and Enginners at Google Make Decisions.
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Kayak Robots

robotic kayaks

Kayaks adapted to test marine robotics

Working in labs that resemble machine shops, these engineers are taking small steps toward the holy grail of robotics — cooperative autonomy — making machines work together seamlessly to complete tasks with a minimum of human direction.

The tool they’re using is the simple kayak.

Yesterday it was submarine autonomus robots from Princeton (funded by the Naval Postgraduate School). The robot kayak project is funded by Office of Naval Research and the MIT Sea Grant College Program.

Much of the technology being tested is ultimately intended for use in underwater robots, or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), but testing software on AUVs can easily become a multimullion-dollar experiment.

“I want to have master’s students and Ph.D. students that can come in, test algorithms and develop them on a shoestring budget,” said Associate Professor John J. Leonard of mechanical engineering.

The Web is 15 Years Old

How the web went world wide

Many users know that Sir Tim Berners-Lee developed the web at the Cern physics laboratory near Geneva.
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One key date is 6 August 1991 – the day on which links to the fledgling computer code for the www were put on the alt.hypertext discussion group so others could download it and play with it.

So, in 1991, the web protocol was added to the internet which was created by the United States ARPA and DARPA starting in 1968, or so depending on what is counted as the start.

Additional articles exploring the history of the internet and the world wide web:

Underwater Robots Collaborate

Underwater robots work together without human input

This August in Monterey Bay, Calif., an entire fleet of undersea robots will, for the first time, work together without the aid of humans to make detailed and efficient observations of the ocean.

The oceanographic test bed in Monterey is expected to yield rich information in particular about a periodic upwelling of cold water that occurs at this time of year near Point Año Nuevo, northwest of Monterey Bay.

But the project has potentially larger implications. It may lead to the development of robot fleets that forecast ocean conditions and better protect endangered marine animals, track oil spills, and guide military operations at sea. Moreover, the mathematical system that allows the undersea robots to self-choreograph their movements in response to their environment might one day power other robotic teams that — without human supervision — could explore not just oceans, but deserts, rain forests and even other planets.

The Adaptive Sampling and Prediction (ASAP) program is funded by the Naval Postgraduate School and co-led by Naomi Ehrich Leonard of Princeton University and Steven Ramp of the Naval Postgraduate School.

Incredible Insects

Incredible Insects facts from the Smithsonian, including:

  • Fastest Flying Insect: Dragonflies are known to travel at the speed of 35 miles an hour.
  • The Longest-lived Insect: The queen of termites, known to live for 50 years. Some scientists believe that they live for 100 years.
  • The Loudest Insect: One species of cicadas can be heard for a quarter of a mile.

More Incredible Insect Facts and Information

Solar Tower Power Generation

How Australia got hot for solar power

In Australia Enviromission looking to build a 1,600-foot tall “solar tower” that can power 100,000 homes.

The tower will be over there,” Davey says, pointing to a spot a mile distant where a 1,600-foot structure will rise from the ocher-colored earth. Picture a 260-foot-diameter cylinder taller than the Sears Tower encircled by a two-mile-diameter transparent canopy at ground level. About 8 feet tall at the perimeter, where Davey has his feet planted, the solar collector will gradually slope up to a height of 50 to 60 feet at the tower’s base.

Acting as a giant greenhouse, the solar collector will superheat the air with radiation from the sun. Hot air rises, naturally, and the tower will operate as a giant vacuum. As the air is sucked into the tower, it will produce wind to power an array of turbine generators clustered around the structure.

The result: enough clean, green electricity to power some 100,000 homes without producing a particle of pollution or a wisp of planet-warming gases.

View Discovery Channel segment on EnviroMission

Write on Water

Photo of writing on water

Device uses waves to “print” on water surface

Ok I don’t exactly understand the practical advantages of this but it is cool.

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen), working in conjunction with professor Shigeru Naito of Osaka University, have developed a device that uses waves to draw text and pictures on the surface of water.
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Each letter or picture remains on the water surface only for a moment, but they can be produced in succession on the surface every 3 seconds.

Source, in Japanese