The ASEE Annual Conference is just days away!
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June 2024
IN THIS ISSUE
I. DATABYTES
• The STEM Labor Market and the Economy
II. INNOVATIONS
• UK Team 3D-Prints Lenses for Cataract Surgery
III. The K–12 Report
• Bipartisan Legislation Would Bolster K-12 AI Studies
IV. PUBLIC POLICY WATCH
• Cybersecurity Agency Warns Election Is Huge Disinformation Target
• Administration Aims to Strengthen Carbon Offset Market
V. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
VI. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
• The 2024 ASEE Annual Conference Is Almost Here!
VII. SOUND OFF
Image credit: Getty/Vertigo3d
UK TEAM 3D-PRINTS LENSES FOR CATARACT SURGERY
Cataracts, a common problem in aging, affect the eyes’ lenses, resulting in cloudy patches that impair vision. Surgical treatment replaces clouded natural lenses with intraocular lenses made of hydrophilic and hydrophobic acrylic.Current manufacturing uses lathing and molding techniques to create highly engineered artificial lenses that offer good vision, clarity, and biocompatibility, and are stable and safe.
Now researchers at England’s University of East Anglia have devised technology to 3D-print bespoke lenses, custom-tailored for each cataract patient’s eye shape and vision needs, reports online news site The Engineer. The new technique could speed lens production, reduce costs, and enable more precise and complex designs. The researchers say their innovation offers the potential to transform surgical eye care for patients of all ages, worldwide, who have cataracts or other vision problems.
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When the College of Engineering’s new showpiece research-and-teaching building opens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison later this decade, it will create a stunning new focal point for our engineering campus. Its striking exterior—with sweeping windows, cantilevered western facade and mass timber learning wing—are a testament to the building’s sustainability and certainly will draw admiring looks.
What’s happening inside the 395,000-square-foot facility will be just as exciting.
The $347 million building, which received approval from the state of Wisconsin in spring 2024, provides the college with the safe, modern and flexible space that it needs to expand. In undergraduate education alone, it will allow the college to enroll around 1,000 additional students and provide them with an array of wet and dry instructional laboratories and active learning experiences.
The new building will also propel the college’s research enterprise, which grew to $134 million in expenditures in 2022-23, further forward. New labs will expand programs in environmental sustainability, including energy storage and clean water, as well as autonomous systems and bioengineering.
By adding a centerpiece to the seven-building engineering campus, the college aims to continue to attract ambitious new faculty members.
They’ll add to the cluster of new hires who have joined the college in recent years, strategically fortifying areas such as energy storage and systems, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and next-generation computing, technologies to diagnose and treat disease, and autonomous systems and robots. At the same time, the college continues to prioritize its strength in fundamental materials research—basic science with implications for clean-energy solutions, electronics advances, quantum computing and more.
And, as new technologies emerge and research directions change, the new building will keep pace; it’s been designed for future reconfigurability, providing freedom to pivot, adapt and evolve.
III. The K–12 Report
Image credit: Getty/Nutthaseth Vanchaichana
BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION WOULD BOLSTER K–12 AI STUDIES
Bipartisan efforts in both houses of Congress aim to support K–12 schools in improving and expanding the teaching of artificial intelligence (AI), according to Education Week. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) recently introduced legislation instructing the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase scholarship funds and professional development for K–12 educators interested in AI and quantum computing. Their bill would also create an NSF grant program to promote research on teaching of AI in K–12 schools, especially those in low-income, rural, and tribal areas.
The legislation additionally asks NSF to create undergraduate and graduate scholarships in AI studies for future educators and students interested in farming and advanced manufacturing. Late last year, Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Larry Bucshon (R.-Ind.) proposed a House bill allowing K–12 schools, colleges, nonprofits, and libraries to use the existing $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant program to support AI literacy.
III. PUBLIC POLICY WATCH
Image credit: Getty/Alicja Nowakowska
CYBERSECURITY AGENCY WARNS 2024 ELECTION IS HUGE DISINFORMATION TARGET
The 2020 US election was plagued by online efforts to spread disinformation. Now the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning that “US elections remain an attractive target for both nation-states and cyber criminals.” The agency recently unveiled a program to intensify election security, offering guidance for state and local officials to curb online risks in the run-up to November 2024.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, also told the Associated Press the election may be even more vulnerable than four years ago. He cited new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and beefed up tactics by Russia and China, that could result in increased foreign influence. At the same time, the AP notes, many tech companies have dropped efforts to curb the spread of lies across their platforms.
Warner said tech companies do not appear to “have done anything in a meaningful way.” And earlier this year, ahead of the New Hampshire primary, AI-generated robocalls to voters used a voice that sounded like President Biden, urging them not to vote. The Federal Communications Commission has since banned the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls.
ADMINISTRATION AIMS TO STRENGTHEN CARBON OFFSET MARKET
Greenwashing—"making false or misleading statements about the environmental benefits of a product or practice,” as defined by the Natural Resources Defense Council—has long plagued the carbon offset market. Now the Biden administration is putting in place guidelines to strengthen carbon markets so they do as intended: help mitigate the release of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Last year, companies and individuals spent $1.7 billion on offsets to nullify effects of activities that release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the New York Times reports. In theory, the money is used to fund projects for reducing CO2 in the atmosphere—like planting trees, or supporting wind and solar power—that might not otherwise get funding. In reality, studies show that a lot of these projects would have been funded anyway, or their effectiveness isn’t easy to measure.
The administration argues that offsets truly can be a good tool as long as effective guardrails are in place. So new federal guidelines aim to define “high-integrity” projects that work and actually need funding. The guidelines will also push businesses to cut emissions in their own supply lines before buying carbon credits. Carbon offset market proponents say federal guidelines could help establish and grow a voluntary market 10 to 20 times bigger than today’s, which would have a real effect. Critics say the guidelines are too vague; they’re neither binding nor enforceable; and without an enforcement mechanism, cheap and useless offsets will still be widely available.
IV. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
For a listing of open positions around the globe, go to ASEE’s Academic Jobs page.
HAVE POSITIONS TO FILL?
ASEE has a new process for placing classified ads and job postings on its website and in Prism magazine. For an additional fee, your ad can be featured in Connections.
For more information, contact Kristin Torun at kristin.torun@cision.com.
V. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
THE 2024 ASEE ANNUAL CONFERENCE IS ALMOST HERE!
ASEE's 131st Annual Conference kicks off in just a few days! We are so excited to host you in Portland, Oregon. If you haven't registered yet, It’s not too late!
The 2024 Annual Conference features more than 800 sessions, including technical, poster, and panel sessions, along with social events and a full exhibit hall.
Check Out Sessions
You can review all of the available sessions on our Online Session Locator. With a mobile device, you can take advantage of the On-site Conference Planner.
Pick Your Workshops
Sunday workshops offer more in-depth examinations of topics. They run 2 1/2 hours versus the usual 90-minute session time and are scheduled from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm, Pacific time.
Participants must be registered for the conference in order to join a Sunday workshop. Workshop tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and must be obtained prior to the conference.
There are more than 40 options to choose from—make sure to check out the second page of the listing! Select a workshop now.
On-Site Registration and Tips
If you aren’t able to register online, you’ll still be able to do so on-site.
And don’t miss this roundup of tips and helpful information to help you make the most of your conference experience.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
VI. SOUND OFF
Do you have a comment or suggestion for Connections?
Please let us know. Email us at connections@asee.org. Thanks!
