Volume II Issue 8
August 2006 |
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 Engineers
Protect Liberty Bell
 Many
citizens and US visitors travel to get a glimpse of Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia, PA each summer. The bell is a recognized symbol of the
concept of liberty.
Recently, the bell was prepared for its own trip -- roughly 200 yards
from its prior location into a new museum. Moving the 250-year-old bell
over even that short a distance, however, might have caused a
catastrophic break.
National Science Foundation-supported engineers proved critical to
keeping the icon safe.
A long, hairline fracture extends from the Liberty Bell's famous crack,
and the National Park Service was worried that the fracture could split
open during the stresses of the move.
Engineer Steve Arms and his colleagues from MicroStrain, Inc. in
Williston, VT, had developed tiny, wireless motion sensors with the help
of NSF funding, that the bell's handlers realized would be perfect for
warning of dangerous motion along the crack on moving day. During a test
lift of just a few inches, engineers carefully measured strain on the
metal. Fortunately, the sensors detected no motions greater than several
millionths of a meter, tiny movements that do not seem to stress the
Bell. The team used the data to monitor the bell closely as it made its
actual journey to its present home at the new Liberty Bell Center.
Find out more...
How
to Choose a Major
 This
month, students will be facing the challenge of selecting a major. Here
are a few tips to support the ongoing process:
 Take
some time to interview or read about
people who currently work in the field. Find out how they prepared
for their career, what they like and don't like about the work they do.
Ask about how much they travel, where they work, hiring trends, and work
tasks.
Talk
to counselors and instructors to find out more about
the field.
Find
out if internships or coops are
available through your school so you can try out the field -- first
hand!
See
if courses required and work expected line up with your interests and
abilities. Talk with current students about their experiences.
Consider
the industry you would like to
work in; the part of the world that appeals to you; the type of
workplace you see yourself in -- all these are factors in choosing the
most appropriate major.
Find out more...
Communication
Skills: A Key to Job Hunting
 Employers
say they consider communication skills to be important in job
candidates, but find that many potential employees don't have them,
according to a report published by the National Association of Colleges
and Employers (NACE).
Those responding to the Job Outlook 2006 report cited communication
skills as most important. At the same time, however, when asked about
candidate "holes," most identified communication skills. And, while
studies indicate that employers expect to hire nearly 14 percent more
new college graduates in 2005-06 than they did in 2004-05, new college
graduates not to take the good job market for granted.
The ability to communicate well is key to working in teams and for just
about every job. It ranked as the top skill employers look for. Of
course grade point average and relevant work experience are of great
importance too. Internships or co-ops are considered very strong assets.
Find out more about the importance
of co-ops and internships...
Degree
Profile: Agricultural Engineering
 Agricultural
engineers apply knowledge of engineering technology and biological
science to agriculture. They design agricultural machinery and equipment
and agricultural structures. Some specialties include power systems and
machinery design; structures and environment; and food and bioprocess
engineering. They develop ways to conserve soil and water and to improve
the processing of agricultural products. Agricultural engineers work in
research and development, production, sales, or management.
Agricultural Engineers
combine engineering principles with biological and agricultural
sciences. They work to develop equipment, systems, and processes that
help improve how the world's food supply is produced and distributed.
They are involved in problem solving, and must have the ability to
analyze a current system with an eye toward improving the current
process.
 The
growing interest in worldwide standardization of agricultural equipment
should result in increased employment of agricultural engineers. Job
opportunities also should result from the need to feed a growing
population, develop more efficient agricultural production, and conserve
resources.
Find out more about careers in
agricultural engineering.
Research
Brief: Whale's Missing Legs
 Researchers
from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine have
revealed the genetic basis behind one of the best-documented examples of
evolutionary change in the fossil record: how whales lost their hind
limbs. Hans Thewissen and his colleagues have reported that ancient
whales -- four-footed land animals not unlike large modern dogs --
evolved into graceful, streamlined swimmers through a series of small
genetic changes during the whales' embryonic development.
The team began by exploring the embryonic development of whales'
cousins, the dolphins. These creatures are intriguing because for a
brief time during development they do sprout hind limbs, which quickly
vanish again as the embryos reach the second month in a gestation period
that lasts about 12 months. Why? In most mammals, explains Thewissen, "a
series of genes is at work at different times, delicately interacting to
form a limb with muscles, bones, and skin. The genes are similar to the
runners in a complex relay race, where a new runner cannot start without
receiving a sign from a previous runner."
In
dolphins, however, at least one of the genes drops out early in the
race, disrupting the genes that were about to follow it. That causes the
entire relay to collapse, ultimately leading to the regression of the
animals' hind limbs. By analyzing dolphin embryos, Thewissen showed that
the dropout is a gene called "Sonic Hedgehog," which is important at
several stages of limb formation. "That's why dolphins lose their
'legs,'" he says.
In whales, however, the story is more complex. Between 41 million and 50
million years ago, whales' hind limbs did shrink greatly as the former
land animals began a return to the sea. But their legs showed no change
in the basic arrangement and number of bones, which proved that Sonic
Hedgehog was still functioning. Its loss must have come later. Instead,
Thewissen and his colleagues conclude, whales' hind limbs regressed over
millions of years via "Darwinian microevolution": a step-by-step process
occurring through small changes in a number of genes relatively late in
development.
Find out more about careers in
biology...
Learning
By Doing at NASA
 What's
a common way to minimize the difficulty of a problem? Many people say:
"It isn't rocket science!" Carly Donahue can take great pride in telling
people about her summer internship work with NASA's Undergraduate
Student Research Program (USRP). It really was rocket science!
During the summers of 2004 and 2005, Donahue worked as a USRP intern at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Working with NASA sounds
appealing to her now, but when she was in high school, such a choice
hadn't really occurred to her.
"In high school, I was an above-average student, but nothing
exceptional," said Donahue. "I was good at math, and interested in
biology and epidemiology. It was only later that I switched my areas of
study to math and physics, and started thinking about what I was going
to actually do with my education. USRP helped me see the value of
working hard and focusing. Working in a real-world environment made it
all real."
 USRP
is an internship program developed for undergraduate students wishing to
enhance their curriculum in selected fields of study that complement
NASA's objectives. Students have a choice of a summer or fall session,
and receive a stipend. At the completion of the research session,
students must submit a paper on their NASA-USRP research experience.
Students may also be asked to discuss their research in public forums or
participate in NASA-sponsored workshops and technology demonstrations.
Both summers, while on break from her studies at Berry College in Rome,
GA, Donahue worked at KSC in the Applied Physics Lab.
Find out more about Donahue's internship experience or about the
importance of coop or internship
programs...
The
Science of Invisibility Cloaks
 Imagine
how much easier life might be with Harry Potter's invisibility cloak or
the cloaking device that hid the Romulan ship from Star Trek's USS
Enterprise? Well, you don't need to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry in order to learn how to make an invisibility cloak, at
least in theory. Two U.K. studies in the journal Science offer
hypothetical explanations for how a cloaking device could work. The
trick is to guide the waves of light (or other types of electromagnetic
radiation) around an object so that they proceed as if they had not been
scattered by the object at all.
What type of material is up to such a task? Authors John Pendry and
colleagues and Ulf Leonhardt propose using metamaterials, which are
engineered composite materials whose electromagnetic properties can be
tuned by design, (i.e. by manipulating their nanostructure) instead of
their chemistry. The properties of these materials could be "tuned" in
such a way that when electromagnetic waves encountered the cloaking
device they would produce neither a reflection nor a shadow.
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