In December, a group of Iowa State graduate and undergraduate students gathered at the Applied Science Complex to demonstrate their passion for making robots smarter and more autonomous. The event was the first “Rise of Machines” robotics competition, organized by Professor Sourabh Bhattacharya, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering who has been developing a cutting edge research program …Continue reading “Rise of Machines competition: Engaging students in robotics”
Sure they flock to 3-D movies and send Instagrams with a frenzy, but can they model a tractor part with a MakerBot? Or test ergonomic design with Oculus Rift? Although Iowa’s K-12 population is tech savvy, they still have more to learn before maneuvering through advanced technology to solve problems in design and manufacturing, says …Continue reading “New Iowa State mobile classroom brings advanced technology learning to K-12 schools”
Camille Sloan Schroeder, who oversees K-12 community outreach for Iowa State’s College of Engineering, talks about the enjoyment of providing kids and teachers with a summer full of creativity, learning and fun. How was your summer? In Engineering Community Outreach we have a simple, one-word answer that sums it all up: Busy. While the K-12 schools are out of …Continue reading “Guest post: The best way to spend the summer”
Iowa State’s College of Engineering and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC) have joined forces for a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program that will be part of the 2014 STEM Summer Institute at ISU. Starting on June 9, 16 Iowa State faculty members are mentoring 16 high school STEM teachers in their …Continue reading “Summer program teaches engineering principles to Iowa STEM teachers”
An Iowa State University professor and graduate student developed a research partnership with a student from a top American high school. Maria Walsh-Regotti, a senior at Ossining High School in Ossining, N.Y., partnered with Sri Sritharan, Wilson Engineering Professor and professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State. As a high school sophomore, …Continue reading “New York high school student partners with Iowa State University researchers in NSF-NEES project, wins awards”
Jeramy Ashlock, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State University, has just received one of the nation’s top research awards for early career faculty. The National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (NSF CAREER) awarded Ashlock $400,000 over five years to develop a research program for integrated computational and physical …Continue reading “Ashlock earns Iowa State civil engineering’s first NSF CAREER award”
Peter Taylor, associate director of the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at the Iowa State University Institute for Transportation, recently partnered with a nationally recognized high school for nanotechnology research and practice. Wheeling High School (Chicago, Ill.) invited Taylor Feb. 21 to speak with high school students and demonstrate nanotechnology laboratory practices with concrete. Wheeling …Continue reading “Iowa State researcher invited to leading U.S. high school nanotechnology lab”
Dr. Craig Denny (BSCE’71, MSCE’73) and his wife, Terry (BSElemEd’72), recently donated $100,000 to the Shawnee Mission School District (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) and $100,000 to the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University to improve science, technology, engineering and math career opportunities for K-12 students and female college students, respectively. At …Continue reading “Craig and Terry Denny establish K-12, civil engineering STEM funds”
Teams of Iowa State University staff, students and alumni from across the state have joined forces to coordinate FIRST® LEGO® League Iowa. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an international program, created by FIRST and LEGO, designed to get children interested in and excited about science, technology and engineering. Every year, FIRST releases a new challenge that …Continue reading “FIRST LEGO League Iowa forges teamwork and leadership at Iowa State, local area communities”
Ken Jolls, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, comments on an Iowa State Daily article that argued that toy industries are pushing females away from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Jolls presents a strong case, using successes from Iowa State’s chemical and biological department, that women have actually become …Continue reading “Jolls emphasizes improvements in women in engineering”
Since 2006, Iowa State has been an affiliate of Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a leading provider of programs used in STEM education in middle and high schools all around the United States. Students involved in PLTW are given an in-depth look into the world of engineering. PLTW students are also exposed to professionals in …Continue reading “Project Lead The Way introduces students to engineering”
Open an engineering textbook, and you’re sure to find charts, graphs, and complex equations. Hard enough to decipher, imagine parsing that information if you were blind or visually impaired. Conveying the detailed visual information that goes hand-in-hand with disciplines in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields isn’t necessarily impossible. But, according to Cris …Continue reading “Changing the way engineering feels: A project to improve the accessibility of STEM fields for the visually impaired”
When I began doing FIRST LEGO League in 2001, lots of people commented that it must be fun to play with LEGO bricks and cute to watch kids play with toys for a job. There was much to be done to alter perceptions of K-12 STEM programming. (science, technology, engineering and math) Now, don’t get …Continue reading “They’re more than little plastic bricks”
Each year, Iowa State awards up to $50,000 in funding from the Women’s and Diversity Grants Program to support initiatives that enrich the experiences of women and diverse faculty, staff, and students on campus. Two grant proposals selected this year were prompted and supported by materials science and engineering professor Kristen Constant, along with several …Continue reading “Two Women’s and Diversity Grants influenced by ADVANCE”
Caroline Hayes has been named the College of Engineering’s next chair of mechanical engineering. She will also hold the positions of professor of mechanical engineering, and Lynn Gleason Professor of Interdisciplinary Engineering. Her appointment will begin October 1, 2012. Hayes, a native of Pennsylvania, holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. She …Continue reading “Caroline Hayes named mechanical engineering chair”
