MINORITY WOMEN IN ENGINEERING

COALITION PUSHES FOR STEM EDUCATION ADVISORY PANEL

The FIRST Act (HR 4186) is one of two House Republican bills reauthorizing the landmark COMPETES Act. It hasn't drawn much support among science and STEM advocacy groups -- mostly because of its limited funding and perceived restrictions on the National Science Foundation. But Section 202 of the bill finds favor with the STEM Coalition, of which ASEE is a member. The House Democrats' version contains a similar provision. It would set up a STEM Education advisory panel within the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) "that incorporates key stakeholders from the education and industry sectors." The coalition hopes similar language gets included in the Senate COMPETES reauthorization bill circulated by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.)

GOP CONTROL OF SENATE? DON’T BET ON IT, SAYS WANG

Last month we reported that the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reckoned the Republicans had a better than 50/50 chance of wresting control of the Senate from the Democrats. But Sam Wang, a professor of neuroscience who operates the Princeton Election Consortium -- a poll aggregator website -- says that if the election were held this month, the Democrats would have an 80 percent chance of retaining control of the upper chamber. Come Election Day in November, Wang predicts the Dems will still have a 70 percent chance of staying in charge. When it comes to prognosticating, Wang’s track record is excellent. In 2012, Wang’s PEC correctly predicted 49 of the 50 states in the presidential election, just missing with Florida, which President Obama won by a fraction. Wang also got the national vote percentage right, at 51.1 percent for Obama and 48.9 percent for Mitt Romney. More to the point, given his current Senate prognosis, he correctly called 10 of 10 Senate races two years ago.

CALIFORNIA TAKING THE LEAD IN PROTECTING STUDENT DATA

From allowing students to pay for lunches via biometrics to using behavior-monitoring apps that determine which elementary students are acting up, schools across the country are rushing to install data-driven education and service programs. Which means that the burgeoning education technology industry is collecting vast amounts of student data, although there are few, if any, controls in place on how they can use it, according to a recent New York Times article. But California, it says, is close to becoming the first state to enact a comprehensive bill to limit the use of student data by tech companies, essentially banning them from selling or disclosing student information collected. Last year, schools scooped up $7.9 billion worth of education technology software, much of which uses stored data to track how individual students progress. But parents have grown increasingly alarmed about how that data is used and secured, the Times says. Some 36 states are working on bills that would try to ensure that student data is protected, the paper reports, but none is as far-reaching as the California legislation. It bans dissemination of a wide range of data collected, from student online searches to political and religious views. Common Sense Media, a children’s advocacy and media ratings group, has worked hard to get the California bill passed, which now looks likely. It told the Times: “Parents, teachers and kids can now feel confident that students’ personal information can be used only for educational achievement.” And once comprehensive data protection becomeS law in the Golden State, chances are good other states will follow.

DUNCAN TOURS THE SOUTH TO WELCOME NEW SCHOOL YEAR

To mark the start of the academic year, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan mounted a back-to-school bus tour through the south this month, with stops in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, according to Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog. Duncan used the trip to emphasize efforts to help at-risk and minority students, and to highlight the value of STEM education. One stop on his itinerary was Southwire Company in Carrollton, Ga., the blog noted. It’s a large wire and cable manufacturer that partners with the local school district to give at-risk students jobs so they can earn while they learn, and ultimately gain a diploma. In Birmingham, Ala., Duncan participated in a roundtable discussion about My Brother’s Keeper, a White House effort to give more opportunities to boys and men of color. Duncan also toured a NASA space camp in Huntsville, Ala., and held a town hall meeting there to sing the praises of STEM education.

ENGINEER INVENTS MINI-HYDRO PLANT FOR NON-GRID AREAS

Around 1.4 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity, but about 300 million of them live close to rivers. That bit of information inspired Andreas Zeiselmair, a German environmental engineering master’s student at the Technical University of Munich, to devise what he calls the Rotor, a small, low-cost mobile hydropower plant. It can provide electric power to rural areas not served by a grid. It consists of a vertical axis, three-blade water wheel mounted within a rubber inner tube. Rotational energy is transferred by the blades to a specially designed generator. It can be moored by rope to a riverbank or bridge or some other structure. Zeiselmair calls it a “plug-and-play energy solution” that has a good cost-performance ratio – it even produces electricity at low-flow velocities. It also requires no special skills or machinery to set up. Made from widely available and recyclable parts, the Rotor is a cheap, clean and low-maintenance product that has a higher energy-returned-on-energy-invested factor than other small-scale power plants, he says. It has already won awards in Germany, Kenya and Turkey, and is now in the running for the 11th annual James Dyson Award, an engineering prize given by a foundation started by the British engineer known for his eponymous bagless vacuum cleaner. The main international Dyson prize will be announced in November.

TEEN INVENTOR WINS PRIZE FOR SMART-GUN PROTOTYPE

Not long after a horrific shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Col. in 2012 left 12 dead, Kai Kloepfer was brainstorming on what to do for a high school science project. An idea inspired by the tragedy came to him just as he was falling asleep. Kleopfer decided to try to use biometrics to keep firearms from being used by anyone other than their owners. His Klopefer’s smart-gun prototype just won a $50,000 Smart Tech for Firearms Challenge, according to TechCrunch.com. Investor and gun-reform advocate Ron Conway set up the prize with $1 million, which will ultimately be divided between 14 inventors. Kloepfer, now 17, is the award’s first recipient. The gun uses an identification system that locks in the fingerprints of each user authorized to shoot it, TechCrunch says. Because the data is kept in the gun itself, it is pretty much hack-proof. Kloepfer’s parents funded his efforts – to the tune of $3,000 – over the last two years so he could build the prototype. He spent some of the prize money to buy a 3D printer to create parts for the prototype, and expects the rest will be used to integrate the fingerprint scanner in the weapon. Kloepfer says he hopes his invention will reduce accidental gun deaths and injuries.

Partners with IBM and Louisiana Economic Development to Transform its Computer Science and Engineering Division

$9 Million Investment Supports Enhanced Curriculum and New Faculty

Louisiana Economic Development has invested $9 million in LSU’s College of Engineering to accelerate the state’s technology industry and support the new IBM Services Center in Baton Rouge. The center is the result of an innovative, public/private partnership that will include expanded higher-education programs related to computer science.

To support this new endeavor, LSU’s College of Engineering is committed to doubling its computer science faculty and the number of computer science graduates in five years, which will place the LSU computer science program in the top 10-15 percent nationally for the number of bachelor degrees in computer science awarded annually.

“This public/private partnership with Louisiana Economic Development, IBM and LSU is a powerful example of the triangulation between industry, government and academia that elevates the state’s role as a national leader in economic development,” said Rick Koubek, dean, LSU College of Engineering. IBM is working in tandem with LSU professors to revise coursework focused on the fundamental principles of computer science while also teaching the latest programming languages to prepare students to meet the growing demand for business services including data analytics, cloud computing and software development.

“IBM is renowned in the academic community as a global leader in innovation and we look forward to partnering on research and development to help us all achieve IBM’s vision of a ‘Smarter Planet’,” said Koubek. “We are committed to fostering a symbiotic partnership to prepare our graduates for IBM’s workforce needs and to leverage our faculty to assist in IBM’s research endeavors.”

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FEATURE 1

Nuclear: France, among the least jittery Western countries when it comes to nuclear power, advances the process of recycling spent fuel.