Volume IV Issue 12
December 2008 |
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 Billiards:
Engineering Teaching Tool
 Dave
Alciatore has taught mechanical engineering at Colorado State University
for 18 years, but students still don't call him professor. To them, he's
"Dr. Dave" - a billiards expert who uses the mechanics of pool to help
his students learn mechanical engineering and physics principles. Most
recently, Alciatore and his students worked with a private cue
manufacturer who expressed interest in reducing "squirt" - the angle
that is produced in the initial cue ball's path by an off-center hit.
The students built a cue-testing machine from scratch to measure and
compare different cue sticks by measuring the squirt. Next, they plan to
add sensors to measure vibrations and speed of the cue. The grand plan?
To design the ideal pool cue.
"We finally get to apply
everything we learn on an actual project," said Chris Ward, one of
Alciatore's senior mechanical engineering students. "Unfortunately, I'm
still a pretty awful pool player." Mike Palmquist, director of The
Institute for Learning and Teaching at CSU, said Alciatore's work is
particularly interesting because he connects important engineering
concepts to what students already know. "This is one of the keys to good
teaching - helping students understand how they can make these
connections," Palmquist said.
 Find
out more about careers in
mechanical engineering...
Collaboration
for Study of Climate Change
 The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Virgin
Galactic (VG) are exploring the use of VG's vehicles for climate science
and other research relevant to NOAA's mission. The collaboration is
looking to fly NOAA science instruments onboard the VG carrier vehicle
and SpaceShipTwo. The first of these instruments would provide data on
atmospheric composition – particularly CO2 and other greenhouse gases –
that will increase understanding of important global climate science. A
central component of NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes
in Earth's environment, and a major focus of the Virgin Group is playing
its part in answering the challenge of climate change throughout its
global businesses. Atmospheric scientists, commonly called
meteorologists, study the atmosphere's physical characteristics,
motions, and processes, and the way in which these factors affect the
rest of our environment.
Find
out more about career paths in
atmospheric
science...
Pulling
Pure Oxygen from Water at MIT
 Using
a surprisingly simple, inexpensive technique, chemists have found a way
to pull pure oxygen from water using relatively small amounts of
electricity, common chemicals and a room-temperature glass of water.
Because oxygen and hydrogen are energy-rich fuels, many researchers have
proposed using solar electricity to split water into those elements--a
stored energy source for when the sun goes down. One of the chief
obstacles to that green-energy scenario has been the difficulty of
producing oxygen without large amounts of energy or a high-maintenance
environment.
Now, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology chemist Daniel Nocera and his postdoctoral
student Matthew Kanan have discovered an efficient way to solve the
oxygen problem. To produce oxygen, Nocera and Kanan added cobalt and
phosphates to neutral water and then inserted a conductive-glass
electrode. As soon as the researchers applied a current, a dark film
began to form on the electrode from which tiny pockets of oxygen began
to appear, eventually building into a stream of bubbles. Nocera and
Kanan believe the film (cobalt-phosphate mixture, possibly combined with
phosphate) is the catalyst that helps break apart the water molecules to
create oxygen gas.
Find
out more about career paths in
chemistry...
Degree
Profile: Mathematics
 The
work of mathematicians falls into two broad classes -- theoretical
(pure) mathematics and applied mathematics. These classes, however, are
not sharply defined and often overlap. The world is full of places to do
rigorous mathematics. As you begin to identify potential outlets for
your talent, it may be useful to get a sense of the dimensions of the
'field' in its entirety. Business, industry, and government use
mathematical expertise, often in the context of applications.
The use of mathematics is pervasive in modern industry. The result is
that mathematicians are found in almost every sector of the job market,
including engineering research, telecommunications, computer services
and software, energy systems, computer manufacturers, aerospace and
automotive, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and government laboratories,
among others.
A bachelor's degree in mathematics is offered by most colleges and
universities. Because of the diversity of the type of work
mathematicians do and their employers, the range of compensation is
extremely broad. Mathematicians hold about 3,000 jobs in the United
States. Many people with mathematical backgrounds also worked in other
occupations. For example, there were about 54,000 jobs as postsecondary
mathematical science teachers.
Find
out more about careers in mathematics...
The
Link Between Community Colleges & Healthcare
 Did
you know that 59% of new nurses and many other new health-care workers
are educated at community colleges? And, the healthcare industry will
generate 3 million new wage and salary jobs between 2006 and 2016, more
than any other industry -- and most workers have jobs that require less
than 4 years of college education.
Healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and
the preservation of mental and physical well being through the services
offered by a wide range of professions including allied health, medical
technology, medicine, and nursing. Within these broad categories are
dozens of interesting career paths. While some fields in heathcare, such
as pharmacists, physicians, and surgeons require advanced degrees, other
career paths in healthcare require associate degrees which can be
completed in two years, and are often offered at community colleges. For
example, a physical therapist assistant helps physical therapists to
provide treatment that improves patient mobility, relieves pain, and
prevents or lessens physical disabilities of patients. They generally
prepare by earning an associate degree from an accredited physical
therapist assistant program, many of which are offered at community
colleges.
 An
associate degree is a college degree awarded after the completion of
about 20 courses. Associate degrees are available from public community
colleges, private 2-year colleges, for-profit technical institutes, and
many 4-year colleges and universities. There are about 1200 community
colleges in the United States that serve close to half of the
undergraduate students in the United States, which include about 6.5
million credit students annually.
Find
out more about careers in
healthcare and associate
degrees...
Making
Science Make Sense for Women/Minorities
 A
survey commissioned by Bayer Corporation as part of its Making Science
Make Sense® initiative says the current American pre-college education
system is failing to engage girls and minorities to pursue STEM
careers. In the latest
Bayer Facts
of Science Education Survey, senior executives leading some of the
country's largest chemical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, semiconductor and
other STEM industry companies were polled about a host of issues related
to diversity and underrepresentation of women, African Americans, Native
Americans and Hispanics in STEM fields and their impact on U.S.
competitiveness.
Almost all of the Fortune 1000 STEM executives (95 percent) are
concerned that the U.S. is in danger of losing its global leadership
position in science and technology due to a shortage of STEM talent,
with more than half (55 percent) reporting their companies are already
experiencing such a shortage. Not surprisingly, almost all the senior
executives (98 percent) say it is important for girls and minorities to
receive a strong science and math education beginning in elementary
school in order to reduce their underrepresentation in STEM
fields. However, they believe the U.S. education system is falling
short. Not one of the executives surveyed graded the U.S. an "A" when
asked how good a job the U.S. pre-college system is doing in engaging
and nurturing girls and minorities to pursue STEM careers. In fact,
almost six-in-10 (55 percent) assigned it a failing grade of D or
F. Recruiting women and minorities can be challenging and frustrating,
according to the executives. Four-in-five executives (80 percent)
report their companies face challenges in hiring adequate numbers of
women and minorities for STEM positions. Of those, half (50 percent)
say they are frustrated by their companies' inability to hire adequate
numbers of women and minority STEM workers.
Find
out more about careers in science
and resources for women and
underrepresented minorities...
Scientists
Find Cells Coordinate Gene Activity
 How
a cell achieves the coordinated control of a number of genes at the same
time, a process that's necessary for it to regulate its own behavior and
development, has long puzzled scientists. Michael Elowitz, an assistant
professor of biology and applied physics at the California Institute of
Technology (Caltech), along with Long Cai, a postdoctoral research
scholar at Caltech, and graduate student Chiraj Dalal, have discovered a
surprising answer. Just as human engineers control devices ranging from
dimmer switches to retrorockets using pulsed -- or frequency modulated
(FM) -- signals, cells tune the expression of groups of genes using
discrete bursts of activation. Using mathematical modeling, the
researchers were then able to determine that the burst-like movement
most likely serves to coordinate gene expression. The process is similar
to how a dimmer switch on household lights works. Such knobs control the
fraction of time that current, which switches on and off rapidly, goes
to the light fixture. Rotating the knob varies the relative amount of
time that current is on or off, and the resulting intensity of the light
is proportional to the fraction of time the switch is on. "The idea of
controlling a system by flipping it between extreme 'on' and 'off'
states at different rates, rather than fine-tuning it, is sometimes
called 'bang bang' regulation," Elowitz says.
Find
out more about careers in physics...
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