January 2005

Welcome to the January 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
  
  
• NI Academic Bundles, 50% Off
  http://digital.ni.com/express.
  nsf/express?openagent&
  code=aa9rtw
  
  
• Electronics Workbench Multisim 8
  www.electronicsworkbench.
  com/asee

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

Academic Product Bundles

National Instruments is excited to announce special academic product bundles, complete packages containing software, measurement or control hardware, interfacing cable, and connector accessory. Typical bundle pricing reflects a 50 % savings compared to individually purchased components. To learn more, click here.

Announcing Multisim 8

Electronics Workbench's next generation circuit simulation software delivers exciting new pedagogical features including:

• The Breadboard View allows students to build circuits in a "live" 3D breadboarding environment
• Measurement Probes can be placed anywhere on the schematic annotate a circuit with real-time dynamic values such as current and voltage
• A simulated Tektronix Oscilloscope
• New Ladder Diagrams, components and simulated "real equipment"
• Overall increases in speed and ease-of-use
• Simulation Profiles, Circuit Annotations, ERC, Screen Capture Utility and much more!

To find out more contact Electronics Workbench at 800-263-5552 or go to www.electronicsworkbench.com/
asee.

Engineering, Go For It!
2nd Edition - Coming Fall 2005!

ASEE is thrilled to announce the production of the second edition of Engineering, Go For It! The new edition is shaping up to be even bolder, fresher, and more up-to-date with today's rapidly changing technologies. It gives a fuller picture of how engineering and technology shape our lives and more tips on how to get started and succeed in engineering and technology. Opportunities to sponsor custom copies of the second edition featuring your institution's own, four-color promotional content on the back covers, are now available.

Visit www.engineering-goforit.com for sponsorship details for the second edition of Engineering, Go For It!

4th ASEE/AaeE Global Colloquium Call for Papers

ASEE, partnering with the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AaeE), is announcing a call for papers for the 4th Global Colloquium on Engineering Education. The colloquium will be held in Sydney, Australia, from September 26-30, 2005. The colloquium in Sydney will have the following themes: globalization of engineering education, the K-12 pipeline, and the transformations of the disciplines. It will provide an excellent opportunity for international leaders and policy makers from industry, academe, and government to gather and discuss the major challenges in preparation for the next generation of engineering innovators. The deadline for abstract submission is March 23, 2005. To submit an abstract or paper, visit www.gcee2005.com/call.htm.

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.

In this Issue:

I. Science and Technology Briefs

• Playground Power - A Tulane University professor has come up with a way to harness the energy of kids.
• A Tree Grows in Mercury - A University of Georgia researcher is using trees to clean up toxic waste.

II. Congressional Hotline

• FY 2005 in History
• Inauguration 2005

III. Teaching Toolbox

• Sim Central - An interdisciplinary research center at Mississippi State
  University is getting everyone from artists to engineers involved.
• State U. without The State - Increasing numbers of state universities are
  considering going it alone.

IV. Feature Articles

• High Tech High - Until recently, schools that catered to students gifted in science and math were few and far between, but now they're popping up all over the place.
• The Voice of Engineering - Bill Hammack uses the airwaves to emphasize engineering in everyday life.

V. ASEE-administered Fellowship Programs

• Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship Program
• NASA Summer Faculty Research Opportunities
• The Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program
• The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship

I. Science and Technology Briefs

PLAYGROUND POWER
A Tulane University professor of engineering and computer science has come up with a way to harness the energy of kids. Shunmugham R. Pandian got the idea while watching his 6-year-old son romping at a playground. He connected pneumatic cylinders to a see-saw. When kids rode it, it pumped air into a compression tank where an inflator converted it to electricity and stored it in a battery.

To read the rest of this article, visit www.prism-magazine.org/mar04/briefings.cfm and scroll down.

A TREE GROWS IN MERCURY
Prof. Richard B. Meagher believes he will never see a landfill as lovely as a stand of trees. A genetic engineer at the University of Georgia, Meagher is heading an experiment in Danbury, Conn., to show that genetically modified cottonwood trees can safely and inexpensively cleanse soil of mercury. Currently, mercury-poisoned sites must be dug up and the polluted dirt hauled to special chemical landfills. That's an expensive process. An acre site could cost $1 million to clean up.

To read the rest of this article, visit www.prism-magazine.org/april04/briefings.cfm.

Back to the index.

II. Congressional Hotline

FY 2005 in History
The FY 2005 budget leaves key R&D programs with flat budgets for the better part of the past decade. Nearly all the increases in the past few years to defense R&D have been in weapons systems development. The record-setting funding levels for nondefense spending are a result of the recently completed effort to double the NIH's budget between 1998 and 2003. All the other nondefense R&D funding agencies have seen their collective budgets remain flat for more than a decade. Government funding support of research in the physical sciences, engineering, and environmental sciences has trailed U.S. economic growth. This has resulted in a significant drop for support, as a fraction of the economy, for these disciplines.

To read more about the FY 2005 budget's place in history, visit www.aaas.org/spp/rd/upd1104.htm#his.

Inauguration 2005
President George W. Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney were sworn into office for a second term on January 20, 2005. The president's inauguration speech primarily focused on foreign-policy issues.

The full text of the speech can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050120-1.html.

Back to the index.

III. Teaching Toolbox

Sim Central
Interdisciplinary research is blooming with the magnolias. At Mississippi State University's Computational Simulation and Design Center (Sim Center) the work of over 30 students, researchers, and professors in fields ranging from art to aerospace engineering flourishes. Sim Center uses high-performance computing to develop technology that can be used by designers to study the interaction of fluids with engineering systems.

Visit www.prism-magazine.org/may04/oncampus.cfm to read the rest of this story.

State U. without The State
Three of Virginia's biggest public universities want to go it alone. Sort of. The three schools-Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and the College of William and Mary-want to reduce their dependence on state funding and become semiautonomous institutions. The move comes after years of budget cutbacks, but ahead of Gov. Mark Warner's plan to hike funding for state schools by $144 million over the next two years. The universities say they're tired of rollercoaster funding and want more control over their destinies.

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/april04/briefings.cfm and scroll down.

Back to the index.

IV. Feature Articles

High Tech High
By Tom Hayden

Industry leaders, educational experts and frustrated students all seem to agree that America is simply not doing enough to instruct and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. The complaint has been so common for so long that it's easy assume that nothing can be done-being bored in high school is simply the price bright students have to pay to get into college. But a growing handful of specialized schools, focused on creative education in math, science, and technology, is proving that high school can be more than just one more hoop for students to jump through on their way to more fulfilling experiences with education, and eventually careers, in scientific and technological fields.

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/april04/hightech.cfm.

The Voice of Engineering
By David Brindley

He wants to put a human face on engineering. To do that, he's gone as far as rhapsodizing about his underwear: "I have new underwear and I love it because I'm an engineer. Perhaps I should explain," says Bill Hammack. Explain is exactly what he does every Tuesday in his weekly "Engineering & Life" commentaries for Illinois Public Radio. In his two-and-a-half-minute pieces, Hammack uses everyday, ordinary objects-from vacuum cleaners to plastic bottles to cell phones-to explore the ramifications of science and technology on society in general, and to highlight the role engineers, in particular, have played in developing new technologies that impact our daily lives.

To read the rest of this story, visit www.prism-magazine.org/april04/profile.cfm.

Back to the index.

V. ASEE-administered Fellowship Programs

Did you know that ASEE administers doctoral, post-doctoral, and faculty fellowship programs funded by the federal government? The following are the programs currently offered:

Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship Program

The online application will open on January 24, 2005 and close on March 4, 2005. This scholarship program provides students with full tuition, book allowance, room and board, and other normal educational expenses. The purpose is to promote the education, recruitment and retention of rising junior and senior undergraduate and graduate students in science, mathematics and engineering studies. The SMART Scholarship Program is open only to citizens of the United States, and students must be at least 18 years of age to be eligible. There is an employment obligation to DoD with this scholarship program. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.asee.org/smart.

NASA Summer Faculty Research Opportunities, sponsored by NASA's Faculty Awards for Research (FAR) Program and the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program

• Intended for U.S. citizens who hold full-time science and engineering faculty positions at U.S. colleges, community colleges, and universities. The duration of this summer fellowship is 10 continuous weeks and research is performed on-site
• A competitive stipend and travel/relocation allowances are available
• Application deadline will be in February, 2005
• For more information and to apply online, go to www.asee.org/nffp or e-mail nasa@asee.org.

The Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP)

• Intended for U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have earned a doctorate in science or engineering and who hold full-time science or engineering faculty positions at U.S. colleges, community colleges, and universities. The duration of the summer fellowship is from 8 to 12 continuous weeks and research is performed on-site
• Offers a competitive weekly stipend, and relocation and travel allowances
• Application deadline will be January, 2005
• For information and to apply online, go to www.asee.org/sffp or e-mail sffp@asee.org.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

• One to three year postdoctoral fellowship program designed to increase the involvement of creative and highly trained scientists and engineers from academia and industry to scientific and technical areas of interest and relevance to the Navy
• Open to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents
• Offers a competitive stipend, as well as insurance, relocation and travel allowances
• This program has a rolling admission; visit www.asee.org/resources/fellowships/nrl/ to learn more about the program.

Back to the index.

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