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Category: Engineering
Learning From Data: An Intiguing Link between Police Shootings and Black Voter Registration
To understand how black Americans are impacted by fatal police shootings in each state, we defined an “over-representation ratio”: the percentage of fatal police shootings in which a black American was killed divided by percentage of black Americans in a state. The number one determinant of over-representation in fatal police shootings is the percentage of eligible black Americans registered to vote.
WIRED/MAIMUNA SHAHNAZ MAJUMDER
I found a very interesting piece in Wired Magazine, demonstrating a link between police shootings and voter registration, written by an equally interesting person. I encourage you to read more about Maia Majumder and her article.
Maimuna (Maia) Majumder is an Engineering Systems PhD candidate at MIT and computational epidemiology research fellow at HealthMap. Before coming to MIT, she earned a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Science and a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Tufts University. Her research interests involve probabilistic modeling, Bayesian statistics, and “systems epidemiology” in the context of emerging infectious diseases. She also enjoys exploring novel techniques for data procurement, writing about data for the general public, and creating meaningful data visualizations. When taking a break from work, Maia moonlights as a jazz vocalist, budding chef, and primal wellness enthusiast who loves Bikram yoga, Zumba, & lifting heavy objects with her awesome husband, Imran Malek.
An Intriguing Link Between Police Shootings and Black Voter Registration
Since January 1, 2016, there have been 714 fatal police shootings in the United States. That comes to 79 deaths a month, 18 a week, and three a day. For context, the US recorded 43 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus and 25 deaths from West Nile in the same time frame.
For most, if not all, public health issues, some segments of the population are more vulnerable than others. Americans who engage in unprotected sex are more likely to contract Zika virus, while older people are more likely to die from West Nile.
University professor and students save lives with their inventions
2016 MacArthur Fellow, Rebecca Richards-Kortum is amazing. The Rice University bioengineering professor has inspired her students to invent new low cost medical technologies for the third world that are remarkable.
New medical technologies created by BTB students include an LED-based phototherapy light for treating jaundice in newborns that can be made for less than $100, and a bubble continuous positive airway pressure machine (bCPAP) for premature infants unable to breathe on their own. The bCPAP decreased mortality rates in a Malawi neonatal ward by 46 percent at a cost of nearly 38 times lower than the standard model.
Committed to improving access to quality health care for all the world’s people, Richards-Kortum is not only developing novel solutions but also training and inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists to address our shared global challenges.
For more about the work of the good professor and her students at Rice University in Houston, see the following:
MacArthur Foundation: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/970/
NPR Morning Edition segment: ‘Genius Grant’ Winner Is A Genius At Inspiring Students
Local Motors New Olli
“This is the world’s first autonomous on-demand shuttle. So basically you call it on an app and it picks you up just like Uber and it will talk to you,” says Justin Fishkin, Local Motors’ Chief Strategic Officer.
Local Motors, the manufacturer of the world’s first 3D printed vehicle, is actually local to us with a micro factory and base right here in Chandler, Arizona.
The newest addition to their line up is the uberly-cool (pun intended) Olli “Your friendly neighborhood mobile solution”. The self-driving Olli was the genius of industrial design student, Edgar Sarmiento, who at the age of 22, entered his concept into a Local Motors competition. With an app on your smart phone, the coolest micro bus ever, will pick you up and take you where you need to be … in style.
More on Edgar Sarmiento and Olli from NPR here.
More on Local Motors read more here!
Advising Guides for Engineering Students
Engineering students at the Maricopa Community Colleges have a new resource for navigating the maze of courses and sequences needed to prepare for transfer to ASU.
The recently updated Advising Guides provide students with information from five other common sources in a handy two-page format.
They are a great tool designed to save students and advisors time and money.
Here’s the link!
https://advisementblog.wordpress.com/20162017-engineering-advising-guides/
James Turrell’s Sky Spaces
Installation artist James Turrell, at Roden Crater in northern Arizona in 2001. Credit Florian Holzherr
I am always on the lookout for something or someone new and interdisciplinary to bring to the STEAM Hub. James Turrell, an installation artist and son of an aeronautical engineer and Peace Corps doctor, seems to have that beautiful mix of aesthetic creativity partnered with science that is so interesting to me. It came as no surprise that his undergraduate studies focused on psychology and mathematics; only later, in graduate school, did he pursue art, receiving an MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.
Here are a few of his Arizona projects to wet your whistle. When it cools off just a little, I think a James Turrell art road trip is in order.
Roden Crater
The natural cinder cone crater is now home to a land art project and naked eye observatory thirty plus years in the making that will blow your mind.
Air Apparent
A Sky Space Art Installation by James Turrell and Will Bruder at the ASU Tempe campus.
Knight Rise
Another Turrell public sky space located at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
Mission Juno
Everything you wanted to know about NASA’s Mission Juno, including the Juno Cam!
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/
STEM Scholarships to NAU Still Available!
Do you plan to transfer to Northern Arizona University (NAU) into an approved College of Engineering, Forestry & Natural Sciences major Fall 2016?
Do you have a 3.0 or higher GPA in at least 24 transferable credits?
And $2,500 or more in unmet financial need? (2016 FASFA is required)
Then you may qualify for the Transfer-GEMS (Transfers to Graduates in Engineering, Math and Science) Scholarship!
This scholarship is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1260138.
SCHOLARSHIPS ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE 2016-2017 ACADEMIC YEAR!
For more information, please contact jen.johnson@nau.edu.
Learn more or Apply now!
MIT engineering protective barrier that mimics skin
Interesting article from the American Ceramic Society regarding MIT’s development of a synthetic second skin that has potential to transform lives with medical and cosmetic applications.
Video: Scientists engineer ‘second skin’ with potential for superior topical UV protection Published on June 1st, 2016 | By: Stephanie Liverani
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Living Proof, and Olivo Labs have developed a new material that can temporarily protect and tighten skin and smooth wrinkles, according to an MIT News article.
Even better? The team plans to develop the material further for use in transdermal drug delivery and treatment of skin conditions, such as eczema and other types of dermatitis, and also adapt it to provide long-lasting ultraviolet protection.
Credit: MIT; YouTube
Read more here: http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/video-scientists-engineer-second-skin-with-potential-for-superior-topical-uv-protection
http://news.mit.edu/2016/polymer-temporarily-tightens-skin-drug-delivery-0509
New Gecko-Inspired Adhesive
From The Scientist: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45741/title/New-Gecko-Inspired-Adhesive/
| April 6, 2016
New Gecko-Inspired Adhesive
Flexible patches of silicone that stick to skin and conduct electricity could serve as the basis for a new, reusable electrode for medical applications.
For years, researchers have recreated the microscopic hair-like pillars on gecko feet that, through atomic forces known as van der Waals’ interactions, allow the animals to scurry up walls and across ceilings. Such gecko-inspired adhesives could have a variety of applications, including medical bandages, but materials scientist Seokwoo Jeon at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and colleagues wanted to apply these materials to create a novel wearable electrode.
Read more of Jef’s article in The Scientist here:
The STEAM HUB 