Sustainable Engineering Talk

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING and

MATERIAL SCIENCES ENGINEERING

on Friday, November 18, at 2 pm in Olsson 120

 

Braden Allenby, PhD

Founding Director, Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management

Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Engineering

Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering

Professor of Law

Arizona State University

 

The Challenge of Sustainable Engineering

 

There is growing interest in sustainability and sustainable engineering among professionals, clients, stakeholders, and the public.  While the concept is unquestionably popular, it is also ill-defined, and frequently misunderstood, often because it fails to adequately engage with issues of emerging technologies, and the complexity, uncertainty, and contingency that they create.  This leads to a difficult dilemma for engineers and technologists: although sustainability cannot be responsibly ignored, neither can it be defined so that it can easily be integrated into engineering and design decisions.  Responding to this challenge will require significant enhancement of current engineering, policy, management, and planning practices and frameworks.

Dean Kamen to Speak

Please note: Since we are expecting a large turnout for this lecture, we advise you to watch the simulcast outside the Rice Hall Auditorium in the Davis Commons or in MEC 205.
COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT SPECIAL SEMINAR
SEAS 175^th and RICE HALL DEDICATION

SPEAKER:     Dean Kamen, DEKA Research and Development Corporation

TOPIC:           The Future Belongs to The Innovators

DATE:            Friday, November 18, 2011

TIME:             3:00 p.m.

PLACE:          Rice Hall Auditorium

Reception afterwards

HOSTS:          James Aylor and Mary Lou Soffa

 

Join Dean Kamen as he discusses his experiences with innovation, from his work inventing exciting new technologies to his efforts inspiring the next generation of science and technology leaders through the FIRST Robotics program.

Dean Kamen is the founder and president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation. Examples of technologies developed by DEKA include the HomeChoice™ portable dialysis machine, the iBOT™ Mobility System, the Segway™ Human Transporter, a DARPA-funded robotic arm, a new and improved Stirling engine, and the Slingshot water purifier.

APPA Student Research Grants/Internships

FROM:             Michele Suddleson, DEED Program Manager, American Public Power Association

It is my pleasure to inform you that the American Public Power Association (APPA) awards student research grants/internships each year to university students as part of its Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments (DEED) Program.  APPA is the service organization for the nation’s community-owned electric utilities.  DEED is APPA’s research program that funds innovative, energy related research.

Please assist us in notifying your students about our opportunities by posting copies of our student flyer in prominent locations at your university, sending out on appropriate university list servers, and providing copies of the notice to your university’s student financial aid office.  Below is a brief synopsis of the scholarships we offer.

Ten  $4,000 Student Research Grants/Internships

Ten $4,000 student research grants/internships are awarded each year to undergraduate/graduate university students to conduct research on a project/internship in conjunction with a DEED member utility or as part of the students’ curriculum requirements if approved by a DEED member.  A mid-project report, final report, and abstract are required.  A sample Grant/Internship application can be found here.

Annual Application Deadlines: February 15 and October 15

One $5,000 Technical Design Project (Research Grant)

DEED awards one Technical Design Project each year to a student or group of students studying in an energy related discipline.  This grant is geared towards engineering students working on their senior project.  The student(s) academic advisor must approve the project and a mid-project report, final report, and abstract are required.  Travel expenses (up to $3,000) are also included in this grant for the student(s) to present their work at APPA’s Engineering and Operations Technical Conference held each spring.  A sample Technical Design Project application can be found here.

Annual Application Deadline:  October 15

Applications offered here are only to be used as a sample of the questions and information that will be required as we are launching a on-line application process January 3, 2012.

For more information connect to DEED’s scholarship information on APPA’s DEED website, or contact DEED program staff at 202-467-2960 or DEED@PublicPower.org.

 

GIS Workshop: Geocoding and X/Y Data

Tuesday, November 22
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Alderman Library Electronic Classroom
University of Virginia

Do you have a list of addresses or latitude and longitudes that you would like to show on a map?  This session will show you how to create spatial layers with your data and create maps.

The World of Chemical Engineering

CENtral Science

http://cenblog.org/

Chemical and Engineering News has a separate website for “News, notes, and musings from C&EN” that takes a more accessible look at what is going in the world of chemical engineering with a dozen different blogs.  These blogs include “Just Another Electron Pusher”, “The Haystack”, and “Artful Science”.   Visitors will find the latest entry in “Artful Science” to be an informative piece on acrylic paint, which was invented in the 1940s.  This particular entry looks at how over time the surfactants in it rise to the surface of a painting and produce a white film.   Currently, art restorers are looking for a way to effectively remove the film while not harming the painting.   The “Friday chemical safety round-up” lists “chemical and safety news from the past week”, including items from categories such as “Fires and explosions” and “Leaks, spills, and other exposures”. [KMG]

Reposted from the October 21, 2011 “Scout Report”.

Virginia Space Grant Consortium Scholarships

Virginia Space Grant Consortium Announces (VSGC) 2012–2013 Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities!  Visit http://www.vsgc.odu.edu for more info.

VSGC awards over $325,000 in scholarships and fellowships to students attending Virginia Space Grant member institutions and majoring in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) field.  Research proposals from students majoring in any STEM field and working on a project that supports NASA’s mission are welcomed.  VSGC can assist students and faculty in identifying research projects and connecting to NASA.

The Undergraduate STEM Research Scholarship Program provides a one-year scholarship of up to $8,500 to support undergraduate students actively engaged in a research project with a faculty mentor.

The Graduate STEM Research Fellowship Program provides $5,000 in support to graduate students actively engaged in a research project with a faculty mentor.  The Graduate Fellowship is add-on support for students and is renewable for one year.

The Community College STEM Scholarship Program provides $2,000 scholarships to students attending any Virginia Community College and majoring in STEM.

The Teacher Education STEM Scholarship Program provides $1,000 awards to students majoring in a teacher education preparation program and demonstrating an interest in teaching in a STEM field.   Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply.

The VSGC is especially seeking applications from underrepresented minorities, females, and persons with disabilities.

For more info, please contact Nick Koltun, VSGC Educational Programs Specialist at nkoltun@odu.edu or (757) 766-5210.

GIS Workshop: Georeferencing Paper Maps

Tuesday, November 1
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Alderman Library Electronic Classroom

Do you like old maps?  Would you like to find the real-world location of features you see on old maps?  Maybe overlay old maps with new maps to see what’s changed over time?  Georeferencing makes paper maps geo-smart so they play nicely with Google Earth, ArcGIS, and other geo-software for visualization and analysis.  You’ll leave this hands-on session with georeferencing skills and tools to geo-enable any paper map.

Audience Response Systems

The UVa Mobile Networking Community presents its first event of the school year.  Next Thursday 27 OCT, we will be hosting a forum on Audience Response Systems in Clemons Library 201 from 12:30 – 1:45.  Technologies presented at this event are used to engage students and audiences as well as enhance the educational experience through the implementation of mobile devices, social networking and networked feedback.  Our 4 presenters represent a rich cross-section of educational fields in technology, arts, humanities, and sciences and will discuss specific instances of how they are applying these types of technologies to the teaching and learning experience.

Panel Chair: Michael McPherson
VP and CIO with UVA’s Information Technology Services (ITS)
will provide an overview of the industry and currently available technology solutions for gathering information from audiences.

Panelist: Marianne Kubik
Drama Department
will discuss using a polling solution to engage audiences before a performance of “dark play or stories for boys.”

Panelist: Sonya Donaldson
English Department
will discuss exploring the use of social networking tools (Twitter, Gowalla, and others) to engage students in the classroom.

Panelist: Ed Murphy
Astronomy Department
will discuss using clickers in teaching science to non-science majors in large lecture sections, with an emphasis on using them to reveal and address common misconceptions.

Building on our forum series of the past two years, the Mobile Networking Community is concerned with providing the UVA community with information about how mobile technologies are affecting our professional and personal lives, whether you are simply interested in mobile technologies or can’t survive without them, own an iPhone, Android or whatever, and whether you love to use apps or develop code for them. This event is open to all and promises to continue to spark your interests in mobile technologies in your workflow.  So bring your curiosity, interests, questions and comments to Clemons next Thursday.
Light snacks provided as well.

Mapping Yourself with GPS and Google

Family Weekend GIS Workshop: Mapping Yourself with GPS and Google

Saturday, October 29
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Scholars’ Lab Common Room

Curious about GPS, Google mapping, and how you can be part of the fun? Join Chris Gist and Kelly Johnston of the U.Va. Scholars’ Lab for an introduction to the magic of GPS and Google mapping. You will leave with the tools to communicate with satellites 12,000 miles overhead, make your own maps, and selectively share your cartographic masterpieces with the world.

Introduction to NVivo

SLab and ITS Software Workshop: Introduction to NVivo

Wednesday, October 26
2:00 p.m.
Curry Library Innovation Commons

This workshop will explore principles and techniques of qualitative analysis using NVivo from QSR International. Instructor: Nancy Kechner.