Volume VII Issue 3
Spring 2011 |
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 Students
and Science: What They Know
 The
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has launched
a new website with more than
600 multiple-choice test questions to help educators assess more
precisely what students know about key ideas in science and -- just as
importantly -- the incorrect ideas they have. The site offers an
unusually detailed picture of what middle and high school students know
along with hundreds of misconceptions they have about everything from
the size of atoms to whether all organisms have DNA. There was
“essentially zero” difference in how well girls and boys answered the
questions, with only two-tenths of a percentage point separating their
scores. Knowing these misconceptions can help teachers improve
instruction and better design their own test questions to assess whether
students truly understand the science concepts they are being taught.
Students considering a career in science, technology, engineering, or
mathematics are encouraged to take as many math and science courses as
possible during the precollege years. AP courses in particular can help
students enter college better prepared for the rigors of study and also
assist as they make career and degree choices.
 Find
out more about other precollege
preparation ideas...
"Cracking
the Code" Wins ISTS Challenge
Evan O’Dorney, 17, of Danville, CA, recentlywon the top award of
$100,000 at the Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS) 2011 from the Intel
Foundation for his mathematical project in which he compared two ways to
estimate the square root of an integer. Evan drew upon his fascination
with patterns in studying two methods for approximating the square root
of a non-square integer. One method (continued fractions) is more
accurate, while the other (iterated linear transformation) is faster. As
a byproduct of Evan's research he solved other equations useful for
encrypting data. This furthered an interest he developed as early as age
2, when he was checking math textbooks out of the library. In total, the
Intel Foundation awarded $1.25 million for the Intel Science Talent
Search 2011. The program encourages America’s future leaders to satisfy
their endless curiosity by exploring how the world works and developing
solutions for global challenges. Participating in programs and projects
like the ISTS is a great way to prepare for a career in STEM.
Find
out about this and other precollege programs and projects...
IBM
Watson Goes to School
 IBM
recently hosted a Watson symposium with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
and the University of Pittsburgh, bringing together some of the
brightest academic minds in the world to share ideas about what's
possible with Watson technology in the areas of medicine, law, business,
computer science, engineering and more. In addition, teams of students
from the two universities put their skills to the test in a
demonstration of IBM Watson's question and answer (QA) capabilities.
Watson, named after IBM founder
Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM scientists who set out to
accomplish a grand challenge – build a computing system that rivals a
human's ability to answer questions posed in natural language with
speed, accuracy and confidence. By bringing this technology to the
university community, IBM aims to inspire the next generation of
innovators and entrepreneurs to think about how technologies such as
Watson can benefit society. "The Deep Question Answering technology that
underlies IBM Watson's ability to extract, organize, analyze, and assess
massive quantities of information at record speeds has far-reaching
implications across a wide range of sectors, among them education,
business, law, and medicine," said University of Pittsburgh Chancellor
Mark A. Nordenberg.
Explore
careers in computing and
engineering...
Degree
Profile: Engineering Technology
 Engineering
technicians use the principles and theories of science, engineering, and
mathematics to solve technical problems in research and development,
manufacturing, sales, construction, inspection, and maintenance. Many
engineering technicians assist engineers and scientists, especially in
research and development. Others work in quality control, inspecting
products and processes, conducting tests, or collecting data. In
manufacturing, they may assist in product design, development, or
production. Most engineering technologists specialize in certain areas,
learning skills and working in the same disciplines as engineers. For
example, electrical and electronic engineering technologists make up 42%
of all engineering technologists.
There is a wide range of
options when it comes to educational preparation in engineering
technology. Some universities offer two year associate degrees, others
offer three or four year bachelor's degree programs, and some offer both
types of degrees. Engineering technicians hold about 500,000 jobs in the
United States. About 34% of all engineering technicians work in
manufacturing. Another 25% work in professional, scientific, and
technical service industries, mostly in engineering or business services
companies that do engineering work on contract for government,
manufacturing firms, or other organizations. Median annual earnings of
engineering technicians vary by specialty area. As an example, aerospace
engineering and operations technicians earn a median salary of $55,040,
while electrical and electronic engineering technicians earn about
$53,240.
Find
out more about a career in
engineering technology...
Nanopatch
May Heal Heart Damage
 When
you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. Nerve cells in the
heart's wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and
contract – keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity – are lost
forever. Surgeons can’t repair the affected area. It’s as if when
confronted with a road riddled with potholes, you abandon what’s there
and build a new road instead. Needless to say, this is a grossly
inefficient way to treat arguably the single most important organ in the
human body. The best approach would be to figure out how to resuscitate
the deadened area, and in this quest, a group of researchers at Brown
University and the India Institute of Technology, Kanpur may have an
answer.
The scientists turned to
nanotechnology. In a lab, they built a scaffold-looking structure
consisting of carbon nanofibers and a government-approved polymer. Tests
showed the synthetic nanopatch regenerated natural heart tissue cells –
called cardiomyocytes – as well as neurons. In short, the tests showed
that a dead region of the heart can be brought back to life. “This whole
idea is to put something where dead tissue is to help regenerate it, so
that you eventually have a healthy heart,” said David Stout, graduate
student in the School of Engineering at Brown. The approach, if
successful, would help millions of people. In 2009, some 785,000
Americans suffered a new heart attack linked to weakness caused by the
scarred cardiac muscle from a previous heart attack, according to the
American Heart Association.
What is unique about the experiments is that the engineers employed
carbon nanofibers, helical-shaped tubes with diameters between 60 and
200 nanometers. The carbon nanofibers work well because they are
excellent conductors of electrons, performing the kind of electrical
connections the heart relies upon for keeping a steady beat. The
researchers stitched the nanofibers together using a poly
lactic-co-glycolic acid polymer to form a mesh about 22 millimeters long
and 15 microns thick and resembling “a black Band Aid,” Stout said.
Find
out more about careers in engineering
and healthcare..
Math
Gender Stereotypes Develop Early
 Children
express the stereotype that mathematics is for boys, not for girls, as
early as second grade, according to a new study by University of
Washington researchers. And the children applied the stereotype to
themselves: boys identified themselves with math whereas girls did not.
The “math is for boys” stereotype has been used as part of the
explanation for why so few women pursue science, mathematics and
engineering careers. The cultural stereotype may nudge girls to think
that “math is not for me,” which can affect what activities they engage
in and their career aspirations. The new study suggests that, for girls,
lack of interest in mathematics may come from culturally-communicated
messages about math being more appropriate for boys than for girls, the
researchers said.
As early as second grade, the children demonstrated the American
cultural stereotype for math: boys associated math with their own gender
while girls associated math with boys. In the self-concept test, boys
identified themselves with math more than girls did. Yet, in reality,
boys and girls can equally excel in math.
The stereotype that girls don’t do math was odd to lead author Dario
Cvencek, who was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. "We didn’t
have that stereotype where I grew up," said Cvencek, a postdoctoral
fellow at the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. "People there
thought that math went with girls just as much as it did with boys." The
reality is that math is for everyone however. If girls make narrowing
choices while in high school, such as taking fewer math and science
courses, they actually reduce the number of career paths they can
explore down the road. Further, job options in STEM fields are very
strong -- for both men and women -- as the STEM workforce struggles to
fill positions among available graduates.
Find
out more about
careers in mathematics...
Computer
Science Grads Lead Job Offer Rates
 More
than 56 percent of computer science majors who have applied for a job
have received an offer making it the major with the highest offer rate
from the Class of 2011, according to results of a new survey conducted
by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). This is
the first time since 2008, when NACE began tracking offer rates its
annual Student Survey, that computer science majors have topped the
list. In previous surveys, accounting majors had the highest offer rate.
In NACE’s 2011 Student Survey, however, accounting majors came in
second, with 53.8 percent of those who have applied for jobs receiving
offers. Meanwhile, engineering major, at 50 percent, also saw strong
offer rates. And, overall, job offers are up. This year, 41.2 percent of
the members of the current class who applied for a job have received at
least one offer, compared with 38.2 percent of the Class of 2010 at this
time last year.
Find
out more about career paths in careers in
computer science and
engineering...
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