Category Archives: Events

fairs, competitions, festivals and other science and engineering events.

Northwest FIRST Robotics Competition

photo of FIRST robots competition

The Pacific Northwest FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard “kit of parts” and a common set of rules.

Newport High students look to future with robotics venture by Terry Dillman:

Founded in 1989 to “inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology,” the not-for-profit, New Hampshire-based FIRST designs “accessible, innovative programs” to encourage students to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while simultaneously building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.
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Teams build their robots using the parts kit for the basics, and procuring other parts as needed to augment the kit and make the robot do what’s required in competition.

Building minds by building robots

Photo of Llever Elementary students

Building minds by building robots:

Emily Conner said she likes to spent free time on the Internet at home, learning about nanotechnology and specifically, nanomedicine.

The small video devices that can be attached to tubes and inserted through natural body openings for medical exploratories and procedures sound pretty high tech.

But through nanomedicine, “people could swallow a ‘pillcam’ and would’ have to use wires,” said Emily.

That’s pretty heavy duty stuff for a J.D. Lever Elementary School fifth-grader. Emily and her classmates are getting ready for a regional FIRST LEGO League competition at the James Taylor Center on the Aiken High school campus Saturday. Eleven teams from Aiken and other areas are expected to participate, with the top performers going on to a state contest in January.

World Robot Olympiad

This year 195 teams from 17 countries (mainly from Asia) will participate in the World Robot Olympiad next week. The World Robot Olympiad brings together young people to develop their creativity and problem solving skills through challenging and educational robot competitions.

Brunei’s bid to make history at World Robotics Olympiad

Student Algae Bio-fuel Project

photo of Tessa Churchill, left, and Holly Jacobson

Students take algae-to-biofuel project to MIT by J.T. Leonard. Photo: Tessa Churchill, left, and Holly Jacobson. The students are competing in the regional finals of the Siemens Math, Science & Technology competition.

Holly Jacobson and Tessa Churchill, seniors at Greely High School in Cumberland, are at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today, explaining how they would use fast-growing algae to help solve the energy crisis.

In a nutshell, the young women may have found a way to produce more biodiesel fuel while consuming fewer organic resources.

The project got its start two years ago when Jacobson and Churchill began examining natural oils stored in fatty acids — called lipids — in various forms of marine algae. Recently, they identified a strain of algae that produces more oil for a given mass.

Singapore Engineering Week

Students at Singapore Engineering Week

See Singapore Engineering Week activities at Singapore Polytechnic. If you located in Singapore you can attend but even if not the site offers interesting ideas for others.

Events include: Fun with Small Practical Circuits where “participants will develop a project using basic electrical/electronic devices such as resistors, transistors, basic sensors, etc.”

Solar Toy Car where: participants will learn the principle of photovoltaic technology and build a mini-solar car through the hands-on exercise.

Engineering of Customised Foot Insole:

Currently, the static deformation or foot shape is used in customised insole design. However, such method cannot accurately describe the behaviour of the foot during locomotion as dynamic deformation differs significantly from static deformation. Participants will have the opportunity to determine the differences between static and dynamic deformation of the plantar tissue and how this information can be used to engineer customised foot insoles.

Science Fair Project on Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads

Recently we have all seen quite a few stories on – Tainted spinach: All bacteria may not come out in the wash. Last year a high school student did her science projected on the problem. Hillel Academy student first tested spinach for science fair by Stacey Dresner

“Last year I heard some rumors going around about how some people were getting sick and scientists thought that the illness was coming from these convenient packaged salads,” explained Kaili, now a ninth grader at the Hebrew High School of New England in West Hartford. “This caught my attention and I decided that I wanted to look more into the issue for my science fair project.”
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In her project, “Quantitative Analysis of Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads and Effect on Antibiotic Resistance and Nutrient Content,” Kaili investigated several varieties of bagged salad greens.

She tested the bagged greens for bacteria content, and found “extensive growth of bacteria within 24 hours in the fresh “unwashed” samples.”

“I found the highest percents of bacteria in dark, leafy varieties such as spinach and Mediterranean” showing “a correlation between high levels of iron and high levels of bacteria.”

She washed the samples using different cleaning techniques n cleaning with sterile water, cooking with boiling water for five minutes, and using commercial cleaning rinse n water with a pinch of bleach. The only method that killed most of the bacteria was the commercial rinse. The others did not really inhibit bacterial growth.

RI FIRST

Ocean State to enlist all high schools in robotics challenge

tarting next year, state officials say, students at all 67 of Rhode Island’s public, charter and career and technical high schools will have a chance to participate in the FIRST Vex Challenge, a robot-building competition. The announcement last week makes the Ocean State the first to involve all its public high schools in the challenge, which involves building a robot able to complete a specific set of tasks.
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Throughout the challenge, students must maintain an engineering notebook to track their progress, successes and challenges. During the build period, teams work as a group to brainstorm solutions, design a robot to do various tasks, and build and test their designs. The projects culminate in competitions designed to be fun, high-energy, sports-like events with judges and awards.

FIRST is an exciting program we have mentioned before: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST). Dean Kaman (R&D Magazine’s 2006 Innovator of the Year) founded the program and it continues to do a great job of capturing the natural desire for people to learn and create. Learn about regional events this school year.

UK Young Engineers Competitions

Young Engineers is a organization in the United Kingdom that supports engineering events and competitions. Established in 1984, in 2005 there were 1,100 active clubs with over 18,000 club members (36% female).

The site is packed with information on events and especially photos. See the Young Engineer for Britain Galleries and Robotic Games.

Genetically Engineered Machines Competition

Princeton Center for Innovation in Engineering Education post on Genetic Machines Competition.

Find up to date information on the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition:

We believe in the possibility of engineered biological systems, but the only way to test such an engineering hypothesis is to try it practically. The iGEM competition facilitates this by asking students to design and build genetic machines. This generates practical data on the feasibility of engineering biology, and also on best practices. It also provides a powerful educational experience for the students working to overcome the many technical challenges.

This seems like an effort that is properly focused and is applying sensible management and technology to achieve the goals. A very nice things to find.

Previous post on 2005 intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine competition – looking at Davidson College students, where I graduated – John. While Dad graduated from Princeton 🙂

Teams lay BioBrick foundation for genetic engineering article from MIT.

Middle School Students in Solar Car Competition

Students work on solar car

Students vie in solar car competition (unfortunately the link has been broken – *sigh*) by Rob Seman:

That much was true for a squad of sixth grade girls from the Northwest Christian School in Newton, who allowed the school to keep the competition’s top trophy for a second year.

Their racer, a sleek black-and-yellow aluminum number called “Yellow Stinger,” took the overall award for the annual event after placing second in the craftsmanship, innovation and technical merit categories.

Junior Solar Sprints web site