February 2007

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

Spotlight On Our Sponsors:

• Instrument Your Algorithms with NI LabVIEW MathScript
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• Free Agilent Tips for USB, LAN and GPIB
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• Help Students Explore Great Career Opportunities
  at Baker Hughes
  www.bakerhughes.com

• NAE 2007 Bernard M. Gordon Prize Winners
  www.nae.edu/2007

 

Instrument Your Algorithms with NI LabVIEW MathScript

Discover how MathScript, a math-oriented text-based programming language with m-file script syntax, complements National Instruments LabVIEW graphical programming for such tasks as algorithm development, signal processing, control design and analysis.
See interactive demonstrations of MathScript.

 Free Agilent Tips for USB, LAN and GPIB

Free Agilent Tips and Tricks for Using USB, LAN and GPIB
This 12-page application note provides a variety of tips and tricks that will help you create flexible test systems that can easily incorporate USB, LAN, GPIB and RS-232C. Click here to learn more.

Welcome to the World of K–12 Engineering!

Introducing engineering into the K–12 classroom connects science and math concepts to the everyday engineering that surrounds us. TeachEngineering.com helps teachers enhance learning, excite students and stimulate interest in science and math through the use of hands–on engineering. With a fully searchable, digital library of standards–based lesson plans, and a myriad of “Living Laboratories” that bring real–world engineering principles into the classroom, TeachEngineering's comprehensive curricula are hands–on, inexpensive, and relevant to children's daily lives.

TeachEngineering.com is a joint effort of the University of Colorado, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Colorado School of Mines, Duke University, Oregon State University, and the American Society for Engineering Education, and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Bring the world of engineering into the K–12 classroom with TeachEngineering.com. You don’t need knowledge of engineering to use these curricula!

Search TeachEngineering.com’s digital library at
www.teachengineering.com.

New and Improved Journal of Engineering Education!

The Journal of Engineering Education is a peer-reviewed international journal published quarterly by the American Society for Engineering Education. It serves as an archival record of the leading scholarly research in engineering education.

Visit www.asee.org/jee/ to read it online.

It's Time Again to Go For It!

In this Issue:

I. Databytes

• Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-2005
• Master’s Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-2005
• Doctoral Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-2005

II. Congressional Hotline

• Article in NYT Highlights Budget Impact on Science Funding
• House Committee on Science and Technology Chair Reveals Agenda for 110^th Congress

III. Teaching Toolbox

• All Things Great and Small —A few universities have established programs to teach nanotechnology to children. But there’s lots of controversy over how to present the incredible opportunities that nanotech offers along with the possibility of serious consequences.

IV. Fellowship Programs

• The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

I. Databytes

Bachelor's Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-05: 73,602
 
- Mechanical = 14,947
- Electrical = 12,459
- Computer Science (inside engineering) = 8,419
- Civil = 8,247
- Computer Engineering = 5,455
- Chemical = 4,521
- Industrial/Manufacturing = 3,647
- Electrical/Computer = 2,924
- Other = 2,724
- Biomedical = 2,410
- Aerospace = 2,371
- Engineering (general) = 1,179
- Metallurgical & Materials = 840
- Architectural = 722
- Agricultural = 635
- Environmental = 522
- Eng. Science & Eng. Physics = 383
- Petroleum = 315
- Engineering Management = 303
- Nuclear = 275
- Civil/Environmental = 212
- Mining = 92

Master’s Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-05: 40,650
 
- Computer Science (inside engineering) = 5,735
- Electrical = 5,615
- Mechanical = 4,767
- Electrical/Computer = 4,243
- Civil = 3,875
- Other = 3,359
- Industrial/Manufacturing = 3,138
- Engineering Management = 1,818
- Computer Engineering = 1,557
- Chemical = 1,404
- Aerospace = 1,043
- Biomedical = 1,007
- Metallurgical & Materials = 743
- Engineering (general) = 539
- Environmental = 635
- Eng. Science & Eng. Physics = 282
- Petroleum = 256
- Nuclear = 181
- Agricultural = 173
- Architectural = 164
- Civil/Environmental = 78
- Mining = 38

Doctoral Degrees Awarded by Engineering Discipline, 2004-05: 7,333
 
- Mechanical = 964
- Electrical/Computer = 938
- Electrical = 834
- Chemical = 805
- Civil = 725
- Computer Science (inside engineering) = 606
- Metallurgical & Materials = 464
- Other = 457
- Biomedical = 333
- Industrial/Manufacturing = 302
- Aerospace = 259
- Computer Engineering = 115
- Environmental = 112
- Eng. Science & Eng. Physics = 111
- Nuclear = 76
- Agricultural = 68
- Engineering (general) = 46
- Petroleum = 46
- Engineering Management = 35
- Civil/Environmental = 20
- Architectural = 6
- Mining = 11

 Back to the index.

II. Congressional Hotline

Article in NYT Highlights Budget Impact on Science Funding

The January 7, 2007 edition of The New York Times contained an article entitled Congressional Budget Delay Stymies Scientific Research, which outlines the negative impact of Congress’s failure to pass new budgets for FY 2007. The article gives a quick summary of the current budget situation and of Congressional Democrats plan to finance all areas of government besides the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security under a stopgap resolution, which they are currently planning to extend until the end of the FY 2007 fiscal year.

The article outlines the consequences this budget crunch is having on science and engineering programs that depend on government funding to survive. “Things are pretty miserable for a year in which people talked a lot about regaining our competitive edge,” said Dr. Sam Aronson, of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

House Committee on Science and Technology Chair Reveals Agenda for 110th Congress

On January 5, 2007, the House Rules Package (H. Res. 6) passed, changing the former Committee on Science to “The Committee on Science and Technology.” Along with the new name, the Committee on Science and Technology, led by Chairman Bart Gordon (D­TN), has unveiled a new website and a full agenda for the next two years. This agenda includes “a continued effort to assure that U.S. workers are equipped to compete in the global economy; a firm commitment to math and science education on all levels; work to utilize the strategic energy fund created in Congress’ “first 100 hours” to increase our nations’ energy independence; maximizing the effectiveness of the nation’s civil and commercial space and aeronautics programs; working to assure the security of our nation, citizens and communities; and insuring adequate federal support for basic research.” To this message, Chairman Gordon added the following: “The federal commitment to science technology and research is an integral part of the U.S. ability to compete in the global economy. In the next few weeks, the President will submit his budget to Congress. I am hopeful he will finally fulfill the pledge he made in last year’s State of the Union address to act on and fund competitiveness and innovation efforts with clear budget direction.” See the new website for the Committee here: http://science.house.gov .

  Back to the index.

III. Teaching Toolbox

All Things Great and Small

By Margaret Loftus

It's sometime in the not-so-distant future. Scientific advances have made it possible to genetically engineer embryos in laboratories. Any disease can be eradicated, as can other “defects,” such as a bad temper. As a result, American society has stratified: People whose genes have been tweaked to perfection are groomed for great things, like space exploration. As for those with less auspicious beginnings? Well, there’s plenty of janitorial work to be done here on Earth.

The likelihood of such a future—the plot of the 1997 science fiction film “Gattaca”—is up for debate. But some scientists and educators warn the chances of science running amok are greater if today’s schoolchildren aren’t taught about the next potential technological revolution—nanotechnology—and its implications. Some analysts predict that nanotechonology will generate an industry worth 1 trillion dollars in the next decade in the United States alone. “The pace of nanotechnology is breathtaking,” says Akhlesh Lakhtakia, a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Pennsylvania State University. As a result, Lakhtakia and others are calling for nanoscience to be integrated into high school, middle school and even grade school curricula. “I want our children and grandchildren to be able to cope with this because I don’t want them to become slaves of oligarchy.”

Born in the 1980s with the development of the scanning tunneling microscope that enabled scientists to work on a nanoscale—that is, one billionth of a meter—nanotechnology involves manipulating molecules and atoms to build structures with new properties. Since all materials exist at this level, the technology involves scientists of all stripes, from engineers to chemists to medical doctors. Among its much-touted, potentially wide-ranging applications is a cure for cancer, supercomputers 500-times more powerful than those today and chips capable of storing the entire content of the Library of Congress. Consequently, “nanohype” has given rise to a host of fanatics and naysayers, from those who embrace the technology as the key to transcending the human condition to others who believe that tinkering with nanoparticles is sure to open Pandora’s Box. “The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle,” explains Nigel Cameron, director of the Center on Nanotechnology and Society at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Nonetheless, he says, “it increases to a huge degree a far greater capacity to manipulate the natural order.”

Not surprisingly, other countries, such as China and Taiwan, are already teaching children about nanotechnology as part of their standard curriculums, according to Judith Light Feather, founder of the Texas-based Nanotechnology Group (www.thenanotechnologygroup.com), a foundation that promotes nanotechnology education. “You go into a grade school [in the United States] and say nanoscience, and they look at you like you’re from another planet,” she says. Light Feather works with universities to obtain grants to develop programs for teaching nanoscience in K-12.

In fact, 20 percent of National Science Foundation funds granted to universities for nanotechnology research is earmarked for the development of K-12 nanotechnology education. As part of a 13-university network, the Georgia Institute of Technology teaches basic nanotechnology concepts and applications to children by holding workshops at its research facilities. Elementary, middle and high school students can tour the university’s labs and “clean room,” a dust-free environment where nanotechnology research takes place. Elementary school students use s’mores for a larger-scale, hands-on lessons in how these tiny chips are made. Diana Palma, who heads up Georgia Tech’s program, says the kids are fascinated. “I tried to find every conceivable motivational hook in the classroom as a science teacher for 20 years. This is it.” 

At Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., Karen Nordell, an associate professor of chemistry, facilitates week-long workshops in the summer for middle and high school teachers. Rather than teaching a stand-alone course in nanoscience, she looks for ways to supplement and integrate nanoscience into the teachers’ curricula by using it as an example in the science courses they are already teaching. She’s developed a short experiment, for instance, where kids actually synthesize gold into nanoparticles. The result looks something like grape juice, which demonstrates how properties—like color—change on a nanoscale. “There’s usually a sort of ‘gee whiz’ factor,” Nordell says. “That’s a very important part of keeping students curious about science.” Nordell uses the experiment as a launching point to talk about gold nanoparticles, which hold promise as a cancer therapy, and other applications of nanotechnology. “One of my goals is to get them interested in the problems that haven’t been solved yet,” says Nordell. She hopes nanoscience will attract kids to science the way space did for kids in the 1960s. 

But nanotechnology education isn’t just for budding scientists. Kevin Ausman, director of Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, stresses that all kids should learn about nanoscience. “Nanotechnology is the next plastics,” opines Ausman. “It’s poised to explode on the market.” Once that happens, it will generate workforce demands, from manufacturing lines to sales forces, and all workers will need to have an understanding of nanotech concepts. Since 2001, Rice has sponsored nanoscience training for seventh-grade physical science teachers in Houston, including weekly workshops, summer internships and sabbaticals. Another Rice program currently being tested in six states, Nanokids, uses actual anthropomorphic molecules synthesized in the laboratory—they look like stick figures—to instruct kids in the concepts of nanoscience through interactive multimedia. 

Proceed Cautiously

Meanwhile, Cameron cautions that there is a fine line between education and promotion of technology. “What’s the message here?” Cameron asks. “If it’s that [nanotechnology] is wonderful, then that’s not education.” He questions the motivation of those who believe that children as young as kindergarten need to be prepared for nanaotechnology. The enormous societal and ethical issues can’t be ignored, argues Cameron; “Otherwise, there’s a danger of the whole thing collapsing into public relations.”

Penn State’s Lakhtakia agrees that nanotechnology can’t be taught in a vacuum. He’s developed a plan to educate children in grades six through 12 through interdisciplinary team projects. Just in Time education, as Lakhtakia calls it, would present nanotechnology in a context, warts and all. For example, he envisions eighth or ninth graders investigating water filtration systems based on carbon nanotubes. Initially, they may examine the effectiveness of nanotubes compared with charcoal water filters. Next, they could determine the system’s commercial viabilty. And what about disposal of the filter cartridges? Would there be health hazards? How about neurological damage? Is it conceivable that behavior patterns would be altered? If so, how would those who were affected impact society?

At the core of Just in Time education is the synthesis of humanities and the STEM disciplines. “People who are primarily humanities-minded should have to work with people who are primarily science-minded,” he insists. “Unless we do that, the change in the political landscape will be enormous.” He points to the fall of the former Soviet Union as an example. While Soviet universities churned out highly skilled scientists, they were overspecialized. “They couldn’t do anything else,” Lakhtakia says. “I don’t want to live in a world where either scientists dominate or science is exploited to dominate people.”

Ultimately, he says, it’s up to regular citizens to prevent such a scenario. “In a participatory democracy and technological society, it behooves everyday citizens to know how money is made. You don’t have to know quantum mechanics, but you do need to know that light travels in optical fibers and can be used to communicate, for example.” The public needs to be sophisticated enough about nanotechnology to be able to distinguish the applications that are dangerous from those that are not, adds Ausman; “Otherwise, you could be throwing away the cancer cure along with the hazards.”

Margaret Loftus is a freelance writer based in Charleston, S.C.

Back to the index.

IV. Fellowship Programs

Postdoctoral

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.  This program is open to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents and offers a competitive stipend as well as insurance, relocation, and travel allowances.  The program offers one to three-year postdoctoral fellowships designed to increase the involvement of scientists and engineers from academia and industry to scientific and technical areas of interest and relevance to the Navy.  The program has a rolling admission.  Go to: http://www.asee.org/resources/nrl/ .

 Back to the index.

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