Science Education and Jobs

Education Seeds the Ground Science, Technology Meet Light Spectrum by Chris Brunson is well worth reading:

“The course was designed specifically for adult learners and had the challenge of putting a lab-based course online,” said Fenna Hanes, NEBHE senior director, office of programs. “The audience was high school, community college and some four-year college faculty from both science and technology disciplines including physics, chemistry, math, electronics, telecommunications and engineering technologies.”

This article explores another example of NSF funding innovative projects to support science and engineering education – PHOTON2 Program Overview. And the article goes on to explore other activity by institutions building off that work.

In addition to providing photonics technology training to traditional community college students Three Rivers Community College (TRCC) has provided incumbent workers training…
The training was a combination of on-site as well as on-line education.
…
Companies in the region regularly call Judy Donnelly, program coordinator of photonics programs, Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, and Nicholas Massa, professor of laser electro-optics technology at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC).

Both get similar calls, quite regularly from companies, with the query: “I need people, I want to hire techs, do you have any students I can hire?” Even on company field trips, the almost-grads of both colleges are asked if they want to come to work for the corporations, that are growing and need skilled, educated people.

“Donna Goyette at Ellis Tech (H.H. Ellis Technical High School, in Danielson) is creating a full-year optics course for her seniors,” said Donnelly. “She is doing a fantastic job. Since they are not far from IPG Photonics in Mass., it also works out to be a good collaboration.” IPG Photonics, incidentally, has hired a number of graduates and student interns from the laser electro-optics and photonics programs at STCC and TRCC over the past several years.

Advances in technology require novel approaches to education.

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Scientific Misinformation

Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles’ Foe, It’s Fuel by Gina Kolata:

But that, it turns out, is all wrong. Lactic acid is actually a fuel, not a caustic waste product. Muscles make it deliberately, producing it from glucose, and they burn it to obtain energy.
..
“I had huge fights, I had terrible trouble getting my grants funded, I had my papers rejected,” Dr. Brooks recalled. But he soldiered on, conducting more elaborate studies with rats and, years later, moving on to humans. Every time, with every study, his results were consistent with his radical idea.

Eventually, other researchers confirmed the work. And gradually, the thinking among exercise physiologists began to change.

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The Economic Benefits of Math

The crisis in maths in Australia by J Hyam Rubinstein:

The rapid economic reconstruction of Japan after the war was remarkable. A major feature was adoption of ideas of the great American statistician W. Edwards Deming on quality control and efficiency of production processes. In the United States Wal-mart, the retail giant, has a superb supply chain system, which is a key part of cost control. In Australia BHP Billiton has estimated that its group of mathematical scientists have saved the company several hundreds of millions of dollars in costs in a single year.

On our Curious Cat Management Improvement blog we post frequently about Deming’s ideas.

Most countries in the world, except for the poorest, give special attention and support to the mathematical sciences. For example, in the US, the National Science Foundation has instituted a number of programs to increase the supply of both mathematicians and statisticians. China and India stand out as emerging powerhouse of mathematical skills and the innovative technologies that will emerge from this investment.

Australia is an exception. We are in the midst of a national review of the mathematical sciences that will be completed in mid-2006. The international reviewers have been travelling across Australia. It is no exaggeration to say that the nation is facing a very serious situation.

As we have stated in previous posts the macro-economic impacts of government policy relating to science and math can be large:

Nanoscale Fractal Molecule

Nanoscale Fractal Molecule

Scientists Create the First Synthetic Nanoscale Fractal Molecule by Andrea Gibson:

The molecule, developed by researchers at the University of Akron, Ohio University and Clemson University, eventually could lead to new types of photoelectric cells, molecular batteries and energy storage, according to the scientists, whose study was published online today by the journal Science.

A University of Akron research team led by Vice President for Research George Newkome used molecular self-assembly techniques to synthesize the molecule in the laboratory. The molecule, bound with ions of iron and ruthenium, forms a hexagonal gasket.

Ohio University physicists Saw-Wai Hla and Violeta Iancu, who specialize in imaging objects at the nanoscale, confirmed the creation of the man-made fractal. To capture the image, the physicists sprayed the molecules onto a piece of gold, chilled them to minus 449 degrees Fahrenheit to keep them stable, and then viewed them with a scanning tunneling microscope.

more posts on nanotechnology

Universities Focus on Economic Benefits

In the USA, Georgia Tech Focuses on Competitive Challenges

A leader in science and engineering education and with a research program totaling more than $400 million per year, Georgia Tech is a major developer of science and technology innovations. Building on these new technologies and collaborating with like-minded organizations, the Enterprise Innovation Institute will work with the private sector to apply innovations to real marketplace needs

and in India, Innovation through industry-academia tie-up

The Samtel Display Technology Research Centre at IIT Kanpur, the Micro-electronics Research Centre funded by Semiconductor and EDA companies at IIT Kharagpur, the Automotive Research Centre at IIT Madras, IBM’s Research Lab at IIT Delhi and the HP Lab at IIIT-Bangalore are examples of academia-industry partnerships.

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.

Shortage of Petroleum Engineers

Talent Shortage Slows Oil Tech

There’s an extreme shortage of experienced petroleum engineers,” said Tariq Ahmad, a petroleum engineer consultant who has been in the business for 28 years. “The technology is there, but if you don’t have the people who can run the technology, what’s the use? It’s a major, major problem.”

A total of 2,412 students are enrolled in petroleum engineering undergraduate programs in the United States this year, according to Lloyd Heinze, chair of the petroleum engineering department at Texas Tech University. That compares with 11,014 students enrolled in petroleum engineering programs in 1983.

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Science and the City

Science and the City, from the New York Academy of Sciences, serves to show how much all of us outside of New York City miss, but, also offers value to those away from NYC. Those of you lucky enough to be in New York City can find an amazing array of science related activities. For example this week you could choose from:

  • Making Chinese Medicine Modern at Columbia University Medical Center
  • Squishy Gel Phases as Templates for Nanostructured Materials at the City College of New York
  • The Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize at the New York Academy of Sciences
  • This Just In: The Latest News from the Universe at the American Museum of Natural History
  • Condensed-Matter Physics & Materials Science Seminar

Those are less than 10% of the listings included on the Science and the City calendar for this week.

For those of us outside NYC their site does offer a great deal of useful information including: Science and the City podcasts featuring interviews, conversations, and lectures by noted scientists and authors. Recent additions include: Father of String Theory Muses on the Megaverse by Leonard Susskind and In Search of Memory by Eric Kandel.

Great stuff for those in NYC, and elsewhere.

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.

Art of Science at Princeton

spreading of a surfactant over a thin liquid film on a silicon wafer Image: illustrates evolving dynamical patterns formed during the spreading of a surface-active substance (surfactant) over a thin liquid film on a silicon wafer. Larger photo and more information.

Princeton University: Art of Science Exhibition (the web site doesn’t seem to work in Internet Explorer but does in Firefox) includes images from the 2005 exhibition.

‘Art of Science’ exhibition bridges disciplines by Teresa Riordan on 2006 competition selections announced today:

  • Jennifer Rea, a senior in the history of science, who took first place for her painting titled “Mitosis,” which depicts cell division superimposed on a floral fabric
  • Melissa Green, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering, who was awarded second place for “Isolated Hairpin,” a computer simulation of turbulent air flow
  • Qiangfei Xia, a graduate student in electrical engineering, who won third place for “Easter Bonnet,” a photograph taken with an electron scanning microscope of a tiny piece of metal melted by a laser onto a silicon chip.