March 2004

Welcome to the March issue of Connections, the American Society for Engineering Education's free e-newsletter.

Spotlight On Our Sponsors:

• Autodesk AutoCAD 2005
  www.autodesk.com/aer
• National Instruments Academic Programs
  www.ni.com/academic
  
• Fundamentals of Engineering Exam
  www.ncees.org
  
• Gradschools.com
  http://Engineering.Grad
  Schools.com

NEW! Autodesk's AutoCAD 2005

Once they've got the great idea, what's next?

When your students go digital with AutoCAD® 2005, anything can happen. A single drawing or a complete, coordinated set of drawings. AutoCAD 2005 is the latest version of the collaboration-driven AutoCAD general design platform. This is the 2D drafting and design and basic 3D visualization software that professionals use worldwide. And for good reason: All the new features enable them to work faster, with fewer mistakes. Your students can too. Plus they can share their work more quickly and more easily. That means a lot to a team of inspired, and usually impatient, students. Get them started on AutoCAD 2005 today.

For information and pricing, contact your local Authorized Autodesk Education Reseller by calling 800-964-6432 or going to www.autodesk.com/aer.

For more than 26 years, National Instruments has revolutionized the way engineers and scientists work by delivering virtual instrumentation solutions built on rapidly advancing commercial technologies, including industry-standard computers and the Internet. Our Academic Program offers curriculum resources, substantial discounts, product training, and special academic products that are ideal for integrating LabVIEW and virtual instrumentation in any research program or teaching curriculum. Visit www.ni.com/academic for more information on our Academic Program and special software and hardware discounts for Academia.

NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering Exam

As engineering educators refine their outcomes assessment programs, effective tools are always in demand. One measurement tool that continues to surface in program assessment plans is the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination. This examination, used as the first step in professional licensing for engineers, is the only nationally normed examination addressing specific engineering topics. The detailed reports of performance by subject area provide comparative information for currently enrolled students than can be related to the program's success. To receive additional information on applying the results of the FE as an outcomes assessment tool, visit www.ncees.org or call 1-800-250-3196.

Gradschools.com

GradSchools.com is the leading online resource for graduate school information. The site includes a comprehensive directory of graduate programs, searchable by subject and location, as well as informative content. Each curriculum is featured on GradSchools.com through its own home page and URL. Engineering programs can be found by going to http://Engineering.Grad
Schools.com. After selecting your concentration and geographic preference, you will be presented with a detailed list of programs, their descriptions and contact information. With GradSchools.com you are sure to find a program that's right for you!

ASEE News

THE PREMIERE EVENT FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATORS
If your company can only afford to exhibit at one exposition in 2004, the 2004 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition is the smartest investment for your trade show marketing budget.

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) will host the 2004 Annual Conference & Exposition in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 20-23 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. This year's theme "Engineering Education Reaches New Heights," already promises to be an excellent conference and exposition. The Annual Conference brings together Deans and faculty members, industry and government representatives, and other leaders in the field of engineering education. The 2004 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition also provides a forum for engineering educators and suppliers from around the globe to exchange ideas, effect curriculum changes, enhance teaching methods, and network with peers and others dedicated to furthering engineering education.

Please visit http://www.asee.org/conferences/
annual2004/exposition.cfm for all of the exhibit information-exhibitor prospectus and current floor plan. For additional information, please contact Kathi Springer, Manager of Exhibits and Sponsorships at (202) 331-3534 or k.springer@asee.org.

We look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City!

New! ASEE K-12 Engineering Guidebook
ASEE has launched GO ENGINEERING!, a free monthly e-newsletter about K-12 engineering education. Going out to thousands of K-12 and engineering educators, Go Engineering! will explore the many ways that engineering can help make K-12 mathematics and science come alive for students. If you would like to receive this free e-newsletter and keep up with developments in the rapidly evolving field, please send an e-mail to j.douglas@asee.org with your contact information.

ASEE's new "Engineering, Go For It!" K-12 guidebook is dedicated to attracting high school students to engineering. The 64-page color publication is filled with stories about the fascinating work of engineers, information on life on campus, and a directory of over 400 engineering and engineering technology schools. "Engineering, Go For It!" features a eye-popping design and relevant stories-on for example, the role of electrical engineers in the music of Britney Spears and Fatboy Slim. Over 200,000 copies of "Engineering, Go For It!" have been sent to engineering colleges around the country. To learn more about "Engineering, Go For It!" or to order copies for your school, visit: https://www.engineering-
goforit.com/index.cfm.

ASEE is also launching a new free monthly e-newsletter about K-12 engineering education. If you would like to receive this e-newsletter and keep up with developments in this rapidly developing field, please send an e-mail to j.douglas@asee.org with your contact information.

Post Jobs to 20,000 Engineering Faculty

Engineering schools now have the opportunity to post job openings in the CONNECTIONS e-newsletter sent to 20,000 engineering and engineering technology faculty monthly. If your school would like to advertise a job opening in CONNECTIONS, contact Paula Whitley at (202) 331-3528 or p.whitley@asee.org.

Engineering Deans Institute

The 2004 Engineering Deans Institute (EDI), to be held March 28-31 at the Fairmont New Orleans, is fast approaching. This year's EDI is titled "The Changing Dimensions of Engineering." The program will focus on broadening of the scientific base to include the life sciences, the ability to design at the nanoscale, the expansion of industries to encompass the globe, and the ever-increasing complexity associated with sustainability. For additional information, visit: www.asee.org/conferences/
2004edi.

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In this Issue:

I. Science and Technology Briefs

• Helping Terrorists Byte the Dust - "Smart Dust" might one day help foil a terrorist attack.
• Wireless Warning - University of Florida researchers hope new electronic beacons being developed will decrease highway fatalities.
  

II. Congressional Hotline

• Little Excitement over Science and Technology in Presidential Campaigns
• Science Funding Down in Bush Budget Proposal
  

III. Teaching Toolbox

• Flying Cleaner Skies - Florida Institute of Technology students are working on an airplane powered by fuel cells.
• Dropping in on Dropouts - An Australian University deals with retention problems in an innovative way.

IV. Feature Articles

• The Phoenix Man - The person who supervised the massive World Trade Center cleanup was, what else? - an engineer.
• The Corps at a Crossroad - The Army Corps of Engineers has been charged with rebuilding Iraq while redefining their mission back home.

V. ASEE News

• New ASEE K-12 Engineering Guidebook
  

I. Science and Technology Briefs

Helping Terrorist Byte the Dust
Can biological or chemical terrorists be thwarted by microscopic dust? Michael J. Sailor thinks so. He's the chemical and biochemical expert at the University of California at San Diego who's been working on silicon-technology solutions to terrorism. His team has devised a "smart dust" that may one day be used to detect chemical or biological agents. The special dust could be sprayed on walls or sprinkled into drinking water samples to hunt for such lethal agents as sarin, smallpox, or anthrax.

His team begins with a wafer of silicon that's treated with thin layers of film that can react to specific chemicals, bacteria, or viruses. The wafers are then pulverized, using ultrasound, into microscopic particles of dust. Each particle acts like a supermarket bar code that, when hit by a special laser beam, can detect if it has interacted with a toxic agent. "The idea is that you can have something that's as small as a piece of dust with some intelligence built into it so that it could be inconspicuously stuck to paint on a wall or to the side of a truck or dispersed into a cloud of gas to detect toxic chemicals or biological materials," Sailor says. Each wafer, hence each particle, is treated to detect a specific agent or class of agents. "To scan for thousands of agents at once you would need 1,000 different particles," he explains. Anthrax detection is made a bit harder because the nasty stuff is encased in a spore coating. "It's like a little Christmas package. You don't know what you have until you open it up." So more sophisticated gear is needed that can crack open the spore, extract its DNA, then amplify and analyze it.

In the lab, Sailor's team has been able to detect dust interactions from 20 meters away; he's confident the technique will eventually work 0.6 miles away. The particles remain intact in the open air for a few weeks before they degrade to sand and a reapplication becomes necessary. Thankfully, unlike the smart particles featured in the bestselling thriller Prey by Michael Crichton, Sailor says his won't have the ability to self-replicate.

Wireless Warning
American highways are dangerous and deadly. In 2001, nearly 38,000 people were killed and 2 million injured in road accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Now, University of Florida researchers want to use radar technology to make our highways safer. They're recommending the use of "smart beacons" implanted along roadsides at every 100 feet to warn drivers of impending dangers, like accidents or fog-related snarls.

The beacons would flash either yellow or red to warn drivers to slow or stop; otherwise they'll glow green. They would be about the size of a pack of playing cards and contain solar cells for electricity, batteries, lights, radar, and wireless communications electronics. The beacons would use ultrawideband radar (UWB), the same system that automakers want to use for onboard collision-avoidance mechanisms.

The beacons would not require human intervention, although law or rescue personnel could control them remotely in order to mark evacuation routes or detour traffic around accidents. "The sensors will automatically determine if a crash has occurred. They'll then transmit that information to sensors a mile or two up the road, warning drivers that they haven't yet reached the crash site," explains Dave Bloomquist, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Florida. UWB broadcasts rely on split-second pulses of radio energy that can be measured to precisely determine the location of objects and their speed. Bloomquist says the team wants to have a prototype system built and installed within 18 months. They reckon each beacon will cost about $30-not so cheap. But if the system helps to save lives, it may prove invaluable.

Back to the index.

II. Congressional Hotline

Little Excitement Over Science and Technology in Presidential Campaigns
Let the general election begin! Now that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has all but formally wrapped up the Democratic nomination for president, Washington insiders are gearing up for what is sure to be a tense Bush-versus-Kerry general election. However, science, technology, and engineering topics are likely to be some of the least juicy issues confronting voters come November. Science and technology concerns barely entered the Democratic nomination contest, as candidates focused on the economy, electability, and the Iraq war. When science and technology do enter the fray, the debate is likely to be framed around job creation and avoiding the offshoring of U.S. jobs.

Both Bush and Kerry espouse positions on federal research and development. Bush proposed increasing NASA funds to send astronauts to the moon and Mars by 2030, and his FY 2005 budget proposal included a 3 percent increase for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Bush's budget documents also portray him as a friend of science and technology, noting that his FY 2005 budget request commits 13.5 percent of total discretionary outlays to research and development, the highest level in 37 years. Bush's campaign Web site, www.georgewbush.com, does not have a section devoted to science and technology or R&D, but he does mention his plan to increase high-tech jobs.

Kerry's campaign has been perhaps even more direct. His Web site, www.johnkerry.com, has a section on his "Technology Plan to Create Jobs and Empower Americans to Lead in the 21st Century." He says he supports the Advanced Technology Program and blasts Bush for proposing to freeze new Advanced Technology Program grant awards. Kerry also advocates "increased funding for key research programs and agencies, including the NSF, NASA, and the Department of Energy."

The campaigns recognize that science and technology do not immediately resonate with most voters, but these issues may still enter the debate in the context of job growth or loss. The campaign season is heating up in Washington, D.C., and around the country. Stay tuned!

Science Funding Down in Bush Budget Proposal
President Bush unveiled his FY 2005 budget last month, a $2.4 trillion package that calls for $818 billion in discretionary spending and little growth for domestic spending programs. The proposal is 3.7 percent higher than the enacted FY 2004 budget, but non-defense spending grows a meager 0.5 percent. Homeland Security spending will increase 9.7 percent and defense funds will increase 7.1 percent under the administration's budget. Funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were omitted from the budget, and lawmakers expressed concern that the actual budget due to these wars will be much higher. The proposal forecasts a deficit of $521 billion in FY 2005, which includes making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent.

According to the White House, the budget reflects the Bush Administration's three main priorities: winning the war on terror, strengthening homeland defenses, and building on the economic recovery.

Enacting such a lean budget will likely be difficult given the tumultuous politics of Capitol Hill in an election year. "It will be tough," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). "It will require extreme fiscal discipline."

Federal Research and Development will receive $132 billion, 13.5 percent of total discretionary outlays and a 5 percent increase from FY 2004, according to Bush's budget documents. However, the budget for science and technology decreases 0.4 percent from FY 2004, from $60.6 million to $60.4 million.

The Bush administration tried to spin the R&D investment numbers, noting that non-defense R&D makes up 5.7 percent of the total discretionary outlays, the third highest level in 25 years. Further, while overall non-defense and homeland security spending is limited to a 0.5 percent growth, non-defense and homeland security R&D spending increases 2.5 percent.

However, members of Congress were not so optimistic on the proposal. "I am very disappointed in the proposed science budget, and I will be working with the administration and my Congressional colleagues to improve the numbers as we move through the budget process," said House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY).

"The administration's budget fails to make the responsible investments in our future that our children expect of us," said Science Committee Minority Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-TN). "A budget submission that shows Federal Science and Technology programs declining by 0.4 percent marks a breach of faith with the future."

To view the White House's budget documents, including an agency-by-agency breakdown of the budget request, visit www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/.

Back to the index.

III. Teaching Toolbox

Flying Cleaner Skies
The use of hydrogen fuel cells in transportation usually refers to the powering of automobiles. But a new 3- to 5-year student-driven research program, sponsored by the nonprofit Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education and Diamond Aircraft of Austria, at the Florida Institute of Technology is developing a fuel-cell powered electric airplane.

Fuel cells are considered a clean and renewable power source for the future because they mix hydrogen with water to produce energy, and their only emission is water. The students will reconfigure a Diamond H-36 Dimona Motor-Glider, an aircraft now powered by a gasoline internal-combustion engine. Bill Chepolis, an associate professor in Florida Tech's School of Aeronautics, says the students will first design and analyze various performance and propulsion options, and will also consider human, safety, and environmental concerns. Finally, they will finish and test a prototype.

Although fuel cells appear to have great potential, automotive engineers are still grappling with some of the problems they present. Current versions are big and heavy, for one thing, and very expensive. Those issues also need to be addressed before they can be used on aircraft. "The problems are not insurmountable, but they have to be dealt with," Chepolis says.

He thinks the auto industry will eventually lead the way to mass production, which will quickly lower costs. Initially, he adds, it's likely the first fuel-cell planes will be business jets. Fuel-cell commercial aircraft are in the long-term future. Chepolis says that not only would fuel-cell powered planes be nearly silent and clean but their widespread use would also improve airports. For instance, noisy aircraft-a common cause for complaints from residents who live near airports-would eventually disappear.

Dropping in on Dropouts
AUSTRALIA-What's a school to do about first-year students who suddenly stop showing up for class? Australia's Deakin University has come up with a way to keep them from dropping out. The program involves more than 500 volunteers wearing "ask me" buttons wandering about the campus available to answer questions. These volunteers, who include both teachers and students, might suggest a switch in courses or tell students where to get the information they need. The idea is to make new students feel welcome and get them connected to the campus, a difficult job at a school with over 26,000 students.

Program coordinator Marie Emmit says, "You look at research about students dropping out and find the problem is they haven't felt they belonged on campus." The program focuses on the enrollment process, making it more welcoming and efficient, and includes spending more time advising new students. These efforts are followed by a six-week e-mail program to provide new students with useful material about courses and extra-curricular activities.

Students who drop out usually do so in their first year. The highest first-year drop-out rate at Deakin is in arts (7.7 percent) and the lowest (4.4 percent) is in education. Science and technology, which includes engineering, has a drop-out rate of just over 5 percent. Officials there speculate that the lower rates in education, science, and technology are because the courses are more structured and that students are more committed to specific careers.

Back to the index.

IV. Feature Articles

The Phoenix Man
By Warren Cohen

Peter Rinaldi nods to the guards in front of the tall, chain-link fence. They allow him to pass through the gate. Inside, a huge canyon stretches for blocks and American flags hang everywhere. On Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists flew two commercial jetliners into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center and obliterated them, Rinaldi was on vacation. That holiday break probably saved his life. Rinaldi, 54, is an engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. His offices were on the 72nd floor of the North Tower.

Rinaldi had precious little time to reflect on his fate. He was named lead engineer and oversaw the recovery and cleanup of the WTC, managing a team of some 100 engineers and demolition experts.

Visit www.prism-magazine.org/sept03/phoenixman.cfm to read the rest of this story.

The Corps at a Crossroad
By Dan McGraw

The agency that has survived more than 200 years is currently at a crossroad. On the domestic front, environmentalists have long criticized the Corps for damming rivers and building levees without giving much thought to the effect on native species and ecosystems. Congress has accused the agency of pursuing large construction projects with little benefit other than local economic development. In the midst of these accusations, the Corps also finds itself facing a fact of life in the 21st Century: The big dam and hydrology construction projects that have defined its mission in the past are all pretty much done.

But as its relevance is doubted by some at home, the agency finds itself with added military duties. It is the lead agency in awarding contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq and its oil industry.

Visit www.prism-magazine.org/oct03/corps.cfm to read the rest of this story.

Back to the index.

Connections is brought to you by the American Society for Engineering Education.

Over 12,000 engineering and engineering technology faculty members and administrators enjoy the many benefits and services that ASEE offers. The Society's award-winning magazine ASEE Prism and academic publications (Journal of Engineering Education and Profiles of Engineering Colleges) keep members up to date with the best and latest in engineering education, engineering research trends, and academic issues, while 47 professional interest groups and a varied selection of meetings provide professional development and networking opportunities that no other society can offer within the engineering education community. Members also receive reduced rates at local and national conferences, discounts on ASEE products, money-saving members-only discounts on financial, insurance, and travel programs, plus an ever growing variety of online services. Our goal is to focus on issues that matter the most to you in our publications, meetings, and on-line services, and to enable you to interact with others who share your specific engineering and educational interests. To join online, just go to www.asee.org/members, or contact our member services department at 202-331-3520 for further information.