I mentioned in the last post that I’m taking over as the editor of the Engineering Learning Center‘s Teaching and Learning Insights newsletter for the semester. Just thought I’d mention that the February issue (which I did the markup and some light editing for) is posted at insights.engr.wisc.edu. I wrote an article for TLI last year and am looking forward to getting started on some articles for the March issue soon.
Category: Engineering Education
Miscellaneous Updates
Let me surface from my digital dormancy (which one of these days I’ll get around to writing a post to explain) for a couple of quick updates.
First, I went with some other UW-Madison folks to UW-Platteville Friday for a conference of the North Midwest region of the American Society for Engineering Education. We didn’t stay for the evening banquet and keynote (nor obviously for the second day of the conference), but a lot of what we saw was interesting and encouraging. I was especially intrigued by Haiyan Zhang’s paper “A Model-Based Multidisciplinary Correspondent Methodology for Design-by-Analogy” and frankly touched by the important work reported in Dale Buechler’s fascinating “An Electrical Engineering Program for Place-Bound Students: The First Two Years.” If you’re interested in our paper, which was about ASEE student sections, you can read it here.
Second, you may notice that the above URL points to a non-UW-Madison domain. I’m trying to get untied from doing all my hosting on UW computers, and as a consequence you can now find this blog at blog.kyleoliver.net. I gotta admit, it’s going to take a little getting used to being a domain owner. One early bummer: Blue Host servers don’t have svn installed. Still, I’m excited to have a reasonably sustainable option for implementing that Holy Grail of personal file organization: putting your entire electronic life under version control (which, as my friend Matt points out, gives you superpowers).
Playing Catch (-Up)
In honor of yesterday’s beautiful weather and the associated (and long overdue) first game of catch, I checked out a couple of baseball blogs today.
Perhaps I’m too much of a Turnbow apologist, but I think this guy is partially misplacing the blame for today’s Brewers loss. I was only listening to it on the radio, but it seems like base-running mistakes really cost us a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth, which could have kept us in it. Nevertheless, I think Brewers Bar looks worth reading, so I’ve added it to the new Sports links at right. (Speaking of sports blogs, did you see this? I’d like to hear more about Cuban’s viewpoint, which sounds a little hypocritical but is perhaps only superficially so.)
In other news (since I’m still just getting slammed at work and need to knock at least one story off the old ToBlog queue before I lose all my momentum), congratulations to Professors McMahon and Murphy on their recent teaching awards. Watch for Insights‘ interview with Regina Murphy in the next edition. I was there for the brown bag and thought she covered some really interesting stuff.
In the meanwhile, here’s some wisdom from McMahon:
“He inspired me to think of students as ‘candles to be lit, not vessels to be filled,'” she says. “I think of myself not as a conduit for facts, but as an exuberant tour guide introducing students to the joy of problem-solving and learning about the world around them.”
We need more exuberance.
[Insert Puppet Joke Here]
It’s been more than a year since something I actually wrote got published anywhere but on this blog, so I couldn’t help but post a link to my short write-up of an engineering-education-related talk Professor Greg Moses gave at a recent department colloquium.
If you’ve got a second, you should also check out some of the other stories in Teaching and Learning Insights, one of our college’s “COE 2010” projects. I think Alecia Magnifico’s been doing a really nice job with it.
PSM PSA
Thought this article about MBA-like degrees for scientists was interesting. Here’s something you don’t see every day:
Sloan left engineering out of its grant specifications because, said Carol B. Lynch, PSM director at the Council of Graduate Schools, “engineers get it and already understand the value of a master’s degree.”
I actually agree with her opinion; it’s just a bit of a shock to the system to see a quotation that gives engineers this kind of credit.
The credit’s due, though. I tend to ignore the business side of engineering ed., but it’s something we need to be doing, and it’s something we’re getting right increasingly often, I think.
Miscellany
Apologies for the week-long absence. I’m sure it doesn’t seem to bode well for the future of this blog, but I’m honestly just trying to enjoy my last couple weeks of relative sanity before the new semester starts. And again, that means we’re pushing back the anticipated release of the CSC Sunday column. (Conveniently, that gives me more time to figure out just what the hell it’s going to be.)
Plus it was my birthday. More on that in a second.
First, here are a bunch of news items that caught my attention in the past week:
Financial Times: Green activists concerned over People’s Car
This has been in the news quite a bit and is a little worrying due to the pure numbers involved.
Science Daily: Mysterious Explosion Detected In The Distant Past
Includes some brilliant science writing:
Most bursts fall in one of two categories: long bursts and short bursts, depending on whether they last longer or shorter than three seconds.
New York Times: Digital Tools Help Users Save Energy, Study Finds
One of the (relatively few) John McCain ideas I can get behind is his point about wanting to inspire people to be willing to make sacrifices for something bigger than themselves (see David Foster Wallace’s excellent “Up, Simba!“). I think efforts like this could turn into our generation’s version of victory gardens and the like. Then again, my roommate and I have been talking about finishing up that insulating-plastic-on-the-windows thing for a couple weeks now (ever since we got our first real winter electric bill to go with our frickin’ hotel room heater), so it’s not like I’m tearing it up on the being-part-of-the-solution tip.
New York Times: Running and Fighting, All to Save Her Son
Why have my roommate and I been watching “Terminator: The TV Show”? (1) I love robots. (2) It’s writer’s strike good:
I propose circumventing the problem with the creation of two temporary critical categories: strike-good and, well, just plain good. To the second denomination I submit “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” a new Fox series that begins on Sunday.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I should add that I don’t think Michelle’s actually interested in the series, it’s just that we only have one TV.)
Science News: Small Infinity, Big Infinity
In other David-Foster-Wallace-has-written-a-book-or-essay-or-something-about-it news, here’s a neat little Cantor article. Set theory, meet game theory.
The Chronicle Herald: Another way to fly: blimps
No energy- or technology-related insight here, I just think it would be cool to fly around in blimps.
New York Times: Team Creates Rat Hearts Using Cells of Baby Rats
One of those “I didn’t know we could do that” moments. Well, something like that. Until recently, we couldn’t.
Times West Virginian: ‘Kids think it’s a game’
Another “Officials noted there may soon be a shortage of engineers” sighting.
Waco Tribune-Herald: Hewlett-Packard CEO visits Waco, talks about U.S. technology field
And another.
New York Times: Ford and Chrysler Unveil Their Redesigned Pickups, G.M. Buys Stake in Ethanol Made From Waste, Toyota Will Offer a Plug-In Hybrid by 2010
Thought it was interesting that all three business articles in my NYT email this morning were about auto makers. By the way, if you’re interested in “the alcohol economy” (as an energy, not intoxication source), check out Energy Victory by Robert Zubrin.
New York Times: American Cut Back Sharply on Spending
I don’t want to sound like a total economics ignoramus, but I really want to be excited about this news.
whatsnextblog.com: We Can Use Salt Water as Fuel Right Now
I’m not sure you should believe the hype, but this is interesting. I’d heard about this guy’s “radio”therapy stuff but not the burning salt water.
Lake Superior State University 2008 List of Banished Words
Great leadoff: “perfect storm.”
See, I wasn’t totally neglecting my blogging duties this week. Anyway, here’s a few pics from my birthday Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came out; it was terrific to see you all.
My parents came into town and brought a stadium cake (we were all sitting around watching the Packer victory). Not a good thank-you line: “Wow, did Rachel make it?’
Sarah and co. had just come from a rodeo (well, bull riding only).
The next day, Sarah brought over another cake, one Emily’s mom made. She (Sarah) went a little overboard with the candles.
Sorry about the ratio of pictures of cake to pictures of people. Apparently it’s no longer a good idea to post pictures of adults drinking beverages they’re legally allowed to drink.