Engineering education

iLabs elevate science education

Professor Kemi Jona of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. - who has a dual appointment in learning sciences at the School of Education and Social Policy and in electrical engineering and computer science at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science - has received a grant from the National Science Foundation enabling him to partner with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in providing students with remote online access to lab equipment.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has benefited from Microsoft funding for roughly ten years, but its program focused on the undergraduate population.

"I saw an opportunity to bring the same resources to a high school authence," explains Professor Jona.

The program, called the iLab Network, enables students to learn more by providing access to world-class science experiments. One of the basic labs is an electronic device characterization lab. Other labs include: a polymer crystallization lab; a shake table lab designed to test earthquake reliability; a heat exchange experiment; and a neutron beam defraction lab. These are just a few of the labs currently accessible to students. Other labs are available from Australia, China, and Nigeria.

"It dramatically increases the range of experiments that students have access to in their high school career," says Jona.

The partnership is ideal, since many high schools do not have the budget to maintain high-caliber experiments. Furthermore, the experiments available through the partnership are safe for both the students and the equipment.

In the long run, the remote access lab program could serve as an equalizer since the wealthier schools now have higher-quality lab experiments, while schools with fewer resources are unable to offer the same high quality in science education.

"Now more schools can have access," explains Jona.

Although not every piece of lab equipment will lend itself to this kind of program, the advantages still outweigh the limitations. The objective is not to replace hands-on labs either.

"The gap between high school labs and real world labs is growing," says Jona. "As a result, science looks boring. iLabs reignite excitement."

Making engineering relevant to women

Diane Matt, who serves as executive director of Women in Engineering Proactive Network (WEPAN) 2008, is hopeful more women will be attracted to engineering in the not-so-distant future. That's due in part to the fact that organizations such as WEPAN are taking measures to transform how women perceive the field.

"There is a lot of confusion and misperception about what is engineering," says Matt. "Lots of things we use on a daily basis involve engineering."

There are a wide variety of factors that influence the attitudes of both young men and women toward engineering. One such factor is the tendency among some parents to guide boys but not girls toward the discipline. Furthermore, the way a subject tends to be taught is often a factor.

"Young women will be interested in subjects that have social relevance, and engineering is not taught that way," explains Matt.

WEPAN, based in Denver, operates student support programs in university and corporate settings. It also connects students to future employers. The ultimate objective is to increase the success of women in both academic and corporate settings. WEPAN's members reach 42,000 female students, which account for 60% of female undergraduate students.

"In the last four years, there has been an upsurge in interest among under-represented groups in engineering," says Matt. "I am hopeful that very soon, we will start to see even more women pulled into engineering. For engineering to be innovative, we need to rely on a diverse work force."

Scientists await particle collider data

After scientists sent the first beam of protons zipping at nearly the speed of light around the 17-mile Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, they will sort through the data from the world's largest physics experiment. The first circulating beam is a step toward the ultimate goal: high-energy beams colliding in the center of the LHCs particle detectors.

"Now we will be colliding particles at a higher energy than ever before," says MIT professor Steve Nahn.

Eventually, participating scientists will analyze the collisions in an attempt to make discoveries about the nature of the physical universe. In addition to offering a glimpse into an uncharted realm of unknown particles, the LHC could account for why particles exist and act as they do.

The experiment will be delayed for two to three months on top of the scheduled shutdown this winter. Magnets for steering the beam were damaged, and it is the replacement of the magnets that causes the extra delay.

Bison Gear hosts guidance counselors

Bison Gear & Engineering Corp., St. Charles, Ill., played host to a group of guidance counselors serving Illinois' Fox River Valley for an introduction to Bison's Skilled Workforce Initiative.

With a mature workforce that has developed an extensive inventory of valuable skill sets over time, and which is increasingly entering retirement, it has become essential for those seeking to enter skilled manufacturing positions to come prepared for the responsibilities and rewards that are offered.

The counselors participated in a workshop offering an overview of new manufacturing career opportunities, and the necessary skills requirements to take advantage of those opportunities upon secondary education completion. In 2007, Bison Gear began collaborative discussions to create a program that would provide individuals with the core skill sets for entry-level positions within manufacturing companies.

Working with community colleges, Bison Gear has helped develop a 12-week curriculum that encompasses applied math, blueprint reading, hand tool usage, manufacturing practices, and employment, life, and safety skills. Successful completion is rewarded with a Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) certificate.

"As a result of our efforts, the Manufacturing Skills Standard Certificate is now actively being delivered through the College of Dupage," in Dupage County, Ill., chief learning officer Sylvia Wetzel wrote in an e-mail. "It is a nationally recognized certification that enables adults to acquire the core skills required by manufacturers and prepare adults for the many opportunities available in attractive manufacturing careers." - Joseph Hoff

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