September 2004

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

Spotlight On Our Sponsors:

• Autodesk Instructor Development Program
  www.autodesk.com/
  instructordevelopment
  
  
• National Instruments Web Event Video
  http://digital.ni.com/
  express.nsf
  
  
• NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering Exam
  www.ncees.org
  
  
• NISH $10,000 National Scholar Award
  http://www.NISH.org

Autodesk Instructor Development Program

Training, Just for Educators!

Autodesk, Inc. partnered with our Autodesk Education Representatives (AERs), offer a variety of options to assist educators in their professional development. Our comprehensive Autodesk Instructor Development seminars are designed to give you hands-on knowledge of our software, along with a free not-for-resale software license to develop your software knowledge on.

Whether you are interested in architectural design, mechanical engineering, or visualization, Autodesk and our Autodesk Authorized Education Representatives are committed to giving you the training you need to understand the software and teach your students.

Click on www.autodesk.com/
instructordevelopment to learn more about the AIDP Seminars and how to register.

National Instruments Web Event Video

NI ELVIS

Watch this 49-minute Web Event video and learn about the new NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS). NI ELVIS is a LabVIEW-based design and prototyping environment for university science and engineering laboratories. NI ELVIS consists of LabVIEW virtual instruments, a multifunction data acquisition device and a custom-designed benchtop workstation and prototyping board.

Learn more here: http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf.

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 http://www.ncees.org or call 1-800-250-3196.

NISH National Scholar Award for Workplace Innovation & Design

A design competition for college undergraduate and graduate students

Design innovative technology that provides greater access to employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities and you could be eligible to win a $10,000, $5,000 or $3,000 award!! Design submission deadline is February 28, 2005. Visit www.NISH.org for more information and a National Scholar Award application.

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In this Issue:

I. Science and Technology Briefs

• Getting the Dirt on Hydrogen - The clean, renewable, hydrogen-fuel based economy has an underside.
• A Heads-up on Who's Packing Heat - "Image fusion" technology developed by LeHigh University researchers might one day help airport security find hard-to-spot guns and knives.

II. Congressional Hotline

• R&D Funding Cuts Loom for All Except Security and Defense
• Defense Funding Bill Only One Approved So Far

III. Teaching Toolbox

• Montana Goes into Orbit - A pico-satellite built by Montana State University-Bozeman students is heading into space.
• Engineering Goes Downhill - The U.S. Ski Team has enlisted students from the University of Colorado-Boulder to help them speed down the slopes.

IV. Feature Articles

• Painting Everyone into the Picture - Princeton's dean of engineering Maria Klawe wants to ensure all students know the value of engineering.
• Miracle Workers - Bioengineers are developing microelectronic devices that could lead to amazing medical breakthroughs.
  

I. Science and Technology Briefs

GETTING THE DIRT ON HYDROGEN
Energy's great, green hope is hydrogen. In the so-called Hydrogen Economy of the future, hydrogen-a nonpolluting, renewable gas-will largely replace fossil fuels in providing energy for cars and buildings. Converting fossil fuels to energy results, of course, in toxic emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. The only byproduct from hydrogen fuel cells is a small amount of water. But hold on. Research conducted mainly at the California Institute of Technology indicates that while a hydrogen-based energy system would be cleaner, it may still cause environmental problems.

To read the rest of this article, visit www.prism-magazine.org/dec03/
briefings.cfm#hydrogen.

A HEADS-UP ON WHO'S PACKING HEAT
An airport crammed with people. A huge crowd at a political rally. A stadium filled with sports or music fans. There are many scenarios in which law enforcement officials would like to know who in those throngs might be carrying concealed weapons. New technology called "image fusion" may someday give police that much needed information. Lehigh University electrical engineering professor Ricky S. Blum led a team that developed a merging of digital photography with images provided by a millimeter-wave camera. That's a device that detects how much heat materials emit. Metal objects, like guns, give off very little heat, and that's picked up by the millimeter-wave camera, even if the weapon is covered by clothing. Blended with a digital video or snapshot, the device's images can alert police to individuals in crowds who might be armed. And do it quickly. "It's not exactly real time but it's pretty close," Blum says.

To read the rest of this article, visit http://www.prism-magazine.org/dec03/
briefings.cfm#heat.

Back to the index.

II. Congressional Hotline

R&D Funding Cuts Loom for All Except Security and Defense
The FY 2005 budget bills drafted in the House of Representatives would bump federal funding up for homeland security and defense, according to a report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. All non-defense R&D would decrease by 2.1 percent to $28.2 billion. The lone exception is biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), set to receive a 2.6 percent increase. Among those federal agencies engaging in major R&D projects that would lose funds: the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Commerce. These agencies face not only funding cuts, but also delays in receiving their budgets.

The Senate has yet to act on the budgets of most agencies and the FY 2005 budget has not yet been approved. Still, the policies and budget targets set by Republican legislators will make getting funding increases difficult. The war in Iraq and security concerns at home have given defense and homeland security the inside on track on funding even in these lean times.

To read the full report, visit www.aaas.org/spp/rd/upd804.htm.

Defense Funding Bill Only One Approved So Far
The only FY 2005 funding measure passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush is the Defense Appropriations Act. Under the new law, total spending for the Department of Defense's (DOD) basic, applied, and advanced technology programs would increase 10.3 percent to a total of over $13 billion. In the FY 2004 budget the total appropriation was over $12 billion. President Bush had requested only around $10 billion. Basic, applied, and advanced research programs would see increases of 7.8, 11.9, and 9.8 percent, respectively, over FY 2004 levels.

The new law also follows the recommendations of the Defense Science Board and the Quadrennial Defense review to set aside 3 percent of the DOD budget for the department's science and technology programs.

Back to the index.

III. Teaching Toolbox

Montana Goes into Orbit
When Montana's first satellite goes up in 10 months, it will honor NASA with that sincerest form of flattery: imitation. The Montana Earth Orbiting Pico Explorer (MEROPE) project, based at Montana State University-Bozeman, will be a re-flight of the historic Explorer 1 mission. Reaching orbit in January 1958, Explorer 1 was the American answer to the USSR's Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, launched nearly four months earlier. Ironically, MEROPE will be launched on a converted ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) from deep within the former Soviet Union.

Visit www.prism-magazine.org/mar04/oncampus.cfm to read the rest of this story.

Engineering Goes Downhill
Students in the College of Engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder are developing devices to help speed the U.S. ski team down the slopes. The United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) has given $10,000 to fund two senior projects aimed at giving the team an edge in competition. One device will precisely measure the velocity of skiers and synchronize the data with videos of their runs.

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/mar04/briefings.cfm.

Back to the index.

IV. Feature Articles

Painting Everyone into the Picture
By Pierre Home-Douglas

Maria Klawe has found a novel way to deal with day-long meetings with professors, administrators, and industry representatives that drive some people to a mixture of distraction and ennui. She whips out her watercolors and starts to paint. Call it a little example of multitasking, but when you're the new dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) at Princeton University, plus a marathon runner, kayaker, hiker, guitar player, and a talented watercolor painter to boot, you have to squeeze things in whenever you have a chance. Plus, "It makes me enjoy the meetings so much more," Klawe explains. "Painting is one of my favorite activities in the world. Sitting in meetings isn't one of my favorite activities, but it's necessary to get various kinds of work accomplished. Doing the two together gets the work done while making me very happy. And," she adds with her typically self-deprecating humor, "it keeps me from talking too much."

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/jan04/painting.cfm.

Miracle Workers
By Dan McGraw

When C.L. Max Nikias, dean of the University of Southern California (USC) College of Engineering, speaks of the prospects of implantable microelectronic devices to help alleviate human suffering and treat incurable diseases, he sounds almost biblical. "Our very ambitious goal is to help the blind see, the paralyzed walk, and to restore the function of memory," he says.

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/feb04/
miracle_workers.cfm.

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