Entries in "Engineering" ( for this category only)

Case Polymer Research Published in Science

Can you imagine polymer nanocomposites that transform from hard to soft and back again by exposure to liquid? Researchers from the Case School of Engineering and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center have published results of such a polymer in Science. Case researchers were from the departments of macromolecular science and engineering and biomedical engineering.

More information available in the Case press release.

Science 7 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5868, pp. 1370 - 1374
Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Nanocomposites Inspired by the Sea Cucumber Dermis
Jeffrey R. Capadona,Kadhiravan Shanmuganathan, Dustin J. Tyler, Stuart J. Rowan, Christoph Weder

If you are affiliated with Case, please use the eJournal Portal to discover what access for this article is available.

IEEE Xplore Downtime

An IEEE Xplore upgrade is scheduled for Saturday, 15 March, 2008. During this upgrade, the system will be unavailable for up to four (4) hours beginning at approximately 10:00 am EDT (UTC/GMT - 4 hours).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

C&EN Online

The Case community now has online access to Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) from 1998 to present. Access was arranged by OhioLINK.

[About C&EN]

Chemical & Engineering News is a weekly magazine published by the American Chemical Society. C&EN editors and reporters based in Europe, the U.S., and Asia cover science and technology, business and industry, government and policy, education, and employment aspects of the chemistry field.

C&EN Online offers Latest News, supplementary material to C&EN print articles, back issues of the magazine since 1998, and special features such as Reel Science, NanoFocus, RSS feeds, and blogs.

Amelia Earhart Internship for Women Students in the Sciences and Engineering

For the Case community:
The Flora Stone Mather Center for Women and the Career Center will be co-sponsoring a new internship program this summer. Students interested in completing a summer internship in Cleveland in a science or engineering field are eligible to participate.

Develop your network and learn about what it's like to work with a variety of different science and engineering employers; work with your supervisor to make progress on the individual learning goals you identify as essential to your future career; and give and receive ongoing support with students placed in similar internships.

Deadline to sign-up: Friday, February 29, 2008

Contact:
WISER Coordinator Liz Lierman, Elizabeth.lierman@case.edu, 216.368.6858

Wii Preparation for Surgeons

Years ago we had reports that our Desert Storm pilots were better than their former colleagues, due to being raised as children with video games. Now, we a have a study that shows surgeons that warm up or train on Wii perform better in surgeries.

Game players scored nearly 50% higher on tool control and overall performance than other trainees.

Source: 'Wii warm-up' good for surgeons from BBC News (January 17, 2008)

From the File of Where Else Did They Look

I found this video about Gmail discussed in a Walking Paper blog entry. In general the video is Gmail engineers reading emails they receive from happy users. The last one in the video was a freshman chemical engineering student who was working on a group project and the answer the group needed appeared in the targeted Gmail ads. The Google engineer said "this person was able to use gmail ads to find something she couldn’t find anywhere else".

Really? I did a similar project on photoremediation during my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and I found all the necessary information from the library.

I have two concerns with this video and the suggestions made. First, I question where else did these students look. Second, Google is doing some wonderful things but they are not the only source. It leads me to challenge are libraries doing enough to be in front of the users eyes.

Google 2008 Anita Borg Scholarship

The Google 2008 Anita Borg Scholarship is open for application until Friday, February 1, 2008.

As part of Google's ongoing commitment to furthering Anita's vision, we are pleased to announce the 2008 Google Anita Borg Scholarship, through which we hope to encourage women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders.

Reminder: Older Versions of SciFinder Retired

Please note that on January 2nd, 2008 CAS retired the following versions
of SciFinder/SciFinder Scholar, as communicated to customers in mid June
2007:

• SciFinder and SciFinder Scholar 2004.2 (MAC OS 9 and Windows)
• SciFinder and SciFinder Scholar MAC OS X 1.0
• SciFinder 2007.0 for Windows

Biomedical Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Awards (BMEidea)

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) has launched the fourth annual Biomedical Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Awards (BMEidea). Student teams must submit by April 4, 2008. The top prize is $10,000. Winners are announced in June.

Case students can contact Ed Caner, director, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) at 368-3710.

Visit the NCIIA Web site for more details.

[VIA: Case Daily, December 14, 2007]

Knovel Unit Converter

Knovel has added a unit converter to its collection of resources. It can be freely accessed by anyone, even nonsubscribers.

Unit Converter: www.knovel.com/unitconverter

Other free content is available for those that sign up.

Reminder:
For the Case community, the Kelvin Smith Library subscribes to Knovel content for your convenience.

What can nano do for you?

Come to Science Café Cleveland: a lively, informal scientific discussion in an inviting atmosphere of food and drink.

This month’s topic: What can nano do for you?

Featuring:
Dr. Steven Eppell (CWRU Biomedical Engineering) & Dr. Alexis Abramson (Case Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering)

WHERE: The brewpub downstairs at Great Lakes Brewing Company (2516 Market Ave, Cleveland)

WHEN: Monday, December 10th; drinks at 6 pm, discussion starts around 6:30 pm

WHO: Sponsored by the CWRU chapter of Sigma Xi, WGBH Boston, and Great Lakes Brewing Company

Science Café Cleveland takes place on the second Monday of each month at GLBC. A few free appetizers are provided, and participants are welcome to purchase additional food and drinks.

Case Senior Completes NASA Internship

Mason Conrad, senior center on the Case basketball team and mechanical engineering major, conducted research for NASA Glenn Research Center on its Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The CEV an be used for the future trips to the moon.

Read the full announcement.

ACS Nanotation

On Monday, Oct. 22nd, ACS Publications launched ACS Nanotation, a new website created to bring together the worldwide nano community. This free online resource enables nanoscientists to save time by reading reviews that identify the most significant, new research. It includes:

• Nano Picks
• Ask the Scientist: Nano Letters
• ACS Journals in Focus
• Image gallery, podcasts, and NanoTube
• Wiki of terminology

ACS Nanotation—it's new, it's free, and you could win an iPod® nano. One iPod® nano will be awarded each month through December 2007. Register at ACS Nanotation.

Inaugural Coulter-Case Lectureship in Biomedical Engineering

For the Case community...

The Case School of Engineering cordially invites you to the Inaugural Coulter-Case Lectureship in Biomedical Engineering
Thursday, October 11, 2007
5:00 – 6:00 pm
Wolstein Auditorium
(Cornell Road near University Hospitals)

From Professor To Inventor To Entrepreneur - The Excitement of High Tech Innovation

Presented by
James Wyant, CIT ‘65
Dean, College of Optical Sciences, The University of Arizona
http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Faculty/Resumes/Wyant.htm

Reception following in Wolstein Atrium

Event is free but registration is respectfully requested: JGriech@case.edu or 216-368-6804

Made possible by a grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER)

Case women interested in science and engineering are invited to participate in the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER). To get involved, come to a WISER gathering and discussion; contact Liz Lierman, leadership program coordinator, at 368-6858 or stop by the WISER lounge, Sears 545, during office hours from 1-3 p.m. on Mondays or from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Thursdays for information. Additional details are online.

[VIA: Case Daily - September 12, 2007]

FREE ASM Trial Membership through October 1

Become an ASM Member or Trial Member to be eligible to WIN up to $10,000 in ASM products and services in the $35,000 ASM's Everything Material Sweepstakes.

FREE Trial Membership through October 1, 2007, no purchase necessary.

Wind Farms

With the increased talk about alternative energy around campus, I thought this short bibliography that The Scout Report organized was worth sharing.

[VIA: The Scout Report, July 13, 2007, Volume 13, Number 27]

Web 3.0 on the Horizon

Have you learned everything about how to use web 2.0 effectively? If not, get ready to fall further behind. Articles are already starting to circulate about web 3.0 and what that will mean for Internet users.

CNNMoney.com in an article by Michael V. Copeland shared how researchers are looking into the efficient use of the semantic web. In other words how can computers help to organize all the data, including that within documents, for the benefit of Internet searchers.

If you are looking for future employment opportunities consider this data from the article:

One estimate pegs the market for products and services stemming from semantic Web technologies at $50 billion by 2010, up from about $7 billion today.

IEEE Spectrum Announcement

IEEE Spectrum and Make magazine are joining forces to call attention to the coolest and cleverest do-it-yourself electronics projects. If your university students have designed and built something that they'd like to share with the combined readerships of Spectrum and Make - more than 1 million people - please enter it into the contest.

If you are a finalist, you'll get:

• An archive of back issues of Make
• An official IEEE Spectrum Baseball hat
• Your name in a future issue of IEEE Spectrum identifying you and your project as a finalist

If you win, you'll receive:

• Coverage of your project in the print and/or online editions of both Spectrum and Make
• Transportation and accommodations to attend the next "Maker Faire" Make magazine's jamboree for do-it-yourselfers. 20-21 October at the Travis County Fairgrounds in Austin, Texas where they will describe and demonstrate their project

Entry deadline is 1 September 2007.

To enter, send a brief description of your project and include an estimate of how much it cost. Include a photo, a parts list, and a schematic if possible. E-mail them to: spectrum-diy-contest@ieee.org, or send them to: Spectrum/Make DIY contest, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997 USA.

Case's Dexter Advances to Semifinals

The Cleveland Plain Dealer on August 10, 2007, reported that Case's driverless vehicle called Dexter has advanced to the semifinals on October 26-31 at a Victorville, California military base.

See the official press release (PDF).

Resources, Data, or Tools

Are libraries offering resources, data, or tools to support instruction? Is the difference in the actual terms used just word play? Do libraries not market tools for instruction and only focus on research? Are library tools not good enough?

The Wired Campus (Chronicle of Higher Education, August 8, 2007) highlights a project asking educators their top ten lists of learning TOOLS. It has caused a ripple in the library profession communication channels as NOT one library tool once mentioned by the first 88 learning professional to respond.

Some have proposed that there is a difference between information resources and learning tools. Libraries do advertise and promote many of the learning tools mentioned but none of the subscription-based or library-design resources made the list.

I think all might be true.

First, surveys should define the meanings of words. But another view is that libraries have a reputation of developing our own terminology. Does that terminology make sense to users? Maybe library patrons do not fully grasp the words "database" or "resource". Maybe the simpler word "tool" is easier to grasp.

Second, libraries have always been good at marketing to people in the physical buildings, but marketing to more and more online patrons can be tough. Online competition is severe.

Finally, maybe we are not focused enough on instruction as a reason to use the library resources. I openly promote a database called Knovel as an instruction tool. I would not take credit for that stance though. One of my professors shared with me how he uses it for in the classroom activities. He feels it is a strong method to demonstrate chemical engineering calculations and develop real understanding. It is closer to how graduates would conduct such calculations in the real world.

Interface to the Virtual World

Benjamin Chodroff, a Case Western Reserve University student, recently participated in an IBM internship called "Extreme Blue" in India. He proposed an interface to connect real and virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

Wind Power Research

Case Western Reserve University has joined the research and development of alternative energy. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Case Western Reserve seeks to lead wind-power research, August 1, 2007), the university has committed $200k towards a study to research the ability to locate 5-10 wind turbines on Lake Erie off Cleveland's shoreline. Enough electricity could be developed to support 60000 households.

Social Networks for Employment Recruiting

On my blog highlighting engineering news and resources, I just highlighted a newspaper article that discusses using social networks to accomplish employment recruiting.

Why mention it here? I have heard comments from those in the library profession say libraries "do not belong in the social networks" and "people do not want us there". Engineering companies and recruiters are highlighting their industry, educating potential future employers, and maintaining communication channels with future employees or customers. Lets learn from others!

Aerospace Industry is Graying & Recruits Virtually

According to the Akron Beacon Journal (Aerospace industry beckons, 5/28/07), 1 out of 4 in the aerospace industry will be eligible for retirement next year. Aerospace companies and recruiters are now using "virtual" tools to recruit, such as Facebook groups and chat rooms. These social tools are being used to educate potential future employers, peak interest in the industry, and maintain content with past interns.

Dexter Advances

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (May 12, 2007), Case Western Reserve University's robotic car, Dexter, has made it to the next round of playoffs with 52 other cars. The next round is site visits in June with 30 cars advancing to the semifinals in October. At stake is a $2 million prize.

Case School of Engineering Receives Electronic Design Grant

According to the Chip Design Magazine (May 9, 2007), the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University is the recipient of a Charles Babbage Grant sponsored by both Synopsys and HP.

Through the grant, Case's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will receive licenses of Synopsys' comprehensive electronic design automation (EDA) software and intellectual property, along with curricula, support and professor training, and sixteen dual core HP xw4400 Workstations to outfit the new Synopsys/HP EDA Laboratory.

Girls Ask Alice for Programming Skills

Alice is an open source program to create 3D computer animations. Due to its ease of use, it is being used to target future programmers, especially minorities and woman that make up the smaller percentages of the field.

[VIA: What's New @ IEEE for Students, April 2007 Volume 8, Number 4]

Research ShowCase

I would like to thank Mohan Sankaran, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, for co-submitting a poster with me. We hope it gave other educators ideas on how to use library resources as a teaching tool, rather than only a research tool. Look for the poster in Digital Case in the future.

Knovel as a Tool for Engineering Research and Education
Knovel is a virtual technical library that includes over 800 full-text engineering and scientific reference works, handbooks, and datasets. Originally purchased by the Kelvin Smith Library to supplement the traditional print reference collection, it has become an important tool in engineering classroom instruction. Knovel data can be sorted, filtered, and exported from "live tables". Equations can be solved and graphs plotted, thus allowing students to capture values from existing graphs and perform "what if" experiments on the data.

The Case Western Reserve University Research ShowCase poster winners have been listed.

The Kelvin Smith Library also announced the winner of the geohunt contest.

Nanotechnology Podcast

The Bourne Report provides timely insight into the emerging technology marketplace, with a focus on MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems), Nanotechnology and the convergence of both. The podcast highlights trends relating to the commercial use of Nano/MEMS across all major market segments and industries.

You can download or listen to each episode directly from the website or subscribe via iTunes (just search for “Bourne Report”); in both instances, it’s free. New episodes are posted each Sunday.

For more information about Bourne Research and The Bourne Report, please visit www.bourneresearch.com.

Update: ICIS Creates a Students Portal - Includes Chemical Prices

ICIS has fixed the format of the chemical price list that is contained within their student portal. It formally did not view correctly in the Firefox browser, but it should work for all major browsers now.

Electron Devices Society PhD Student Fellowship Program

The IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) established the PhD Student Fellowship Program to promote, recognize, and support graduate level study and research within the Electron Devices Societies. Deadline is May 15, 2006, and nominations must be made by a EDS member. Students would receive $7,000 and a travel subsidy of up to $3,000 to attend the IEDM for presentation of award plaque. The EDS Newsletter will feature articles about the EDS Graduate Fellows and their work over the course of the next year.Make sure you see the PhD Student Fellowship Program for full details.

IEEE Xplore Demonstration

The Kelvin Smith Library is sponsoring two sessions for Case faculty, staff, and students to learn more about the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Xplore Database. The campus community is invited to participate from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. on April 18 in White Hall, Room 411. The session will include pizza and a chance to win prizes. RSVP to Brian Gray.

An alternative session will occur from 2-3 p.m. the same day in Nord Hall, Room 310.

Kelvin Smith Library at Research ShowCASE

Make sure to stop into the Research ShowCASE on April 11th and 12th. Kelvin Smith Library has several opportunities for you on April 12th, including:

• The Freedman Center: From Inspiration to Presentation - Booth 469
• Kelvin Smith Library - What You Don't Know Can Hurt You! - Booth 467
• Online Historical Archives: Kelvin Smith Library, Digital Case, and the Future of Open Source Electronic Research Repositories (Mark Eddy, Social Sciences Librarian) - Poster 207
• Knovel as a Tool for Engineering Research and Education (Brian Gray, Engineering Librarian, and Mohan Sankaran, Professor in Chemical Engineering) - Poster 216

The Kelvin Smith Library would like to point out a couple more points of interest:

• Designing a Portable High Definition Stereoscopic Camera System for Capturing Cultural Content (Jared Bendis, Creative Director of New Media, Freedman Center) - Booth 468
• WPA Prints in Special Collections, Kelvin Smith Library (Ellen Landau, Professor Art History) - Poster 208)

---

RESEARCH SHOWCASE 2007
THE FUTURE IS NOW

April 11th and 12th, 2007

RESEARCH SHOWCASE is a free public event held in the Veale Convocation Center on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. Hundreds of scientists and scholars will come together on April 11th and 12th, 2007 at Case Western Reserve University Veale Convocation Center to celebrate the broad range of research being conducted at Case and its affiliates.

With over 500 poster presentations and live demonstrations, Research ShowCASE is the perfect opportunity for business, government and civic leaders, researchers and investors to meet. Provocative forums throughout the day highlight research in the context of current local and global issues and the commercial aspects of research and discovery.

This year’s panels include The Information Revolution with guest speaker Ambassador Joseph Wilson, author of The Politics of Truth, Race and the Nation – Snapshot of America in Change, with guest speaker Anna Deavere Smith, actress, playwright and MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Fast Forward – the Future of Funding, including guest speaker John Osher, Entrepreneur and Spin Brush Developer and Magic Technology – Advances in Bio-Imaging, including speakers from the academic and corporate research areas of the newest bio-imaging technology.

Breakout sessions throughout the day on April 12th include Speed Mentoring, Bio-Imaging and Women of Excellence – Honoring Women Researchers and Scholars.

For more information about Research ShowCASE, including a complete program schedule, registration, parking, directions, maps and lodging, visit http://showcase.case.edu or contact us at 216-368-5963.

Backyard Fuel Cell

Wired reports that Stephen Friend built the first fuel cell-powered house. He lives on Stuart Island in the Pacific Northwest and the island has no electric system.

[VIA: MAKE: Blog, March 20, 2007]

Will your face be your next password?

Check out this CNET News.com video that demonstrates a desktop 3D face recognition camera that could be the future of computer and data security.

Continue reading "Will your face be your next password?"

NEW - Society of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

The Society of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (SNN) is a worldwide organisation set up to serve the needs of the “nano” community. SNN was officially launched to the international community during the recent and very successful “International Meeting on Developments in Materials, Processes and Applications of Nanotechnology”, MPA-2007, organised by SNN, which was held at the University of Ulster, UK on 15 January 2007.

From About Us:

• Promote all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology
• Educate and bring awareness to people about nanotechnology and its impact on society
• Raise, discuss and debate nano-related issues, including government policies on nanotechnology
• Offer different levels of memberships, with benefits, to people working in nanoscience and nanotechnology
• Organise and manage international nano-related conferences
• Provide an effective advertising platform for companies to promote their business
• Promote education and training through organising workshops, short educational courses, seminars, etc.
• Bringing to the front, current and most recent up-to-date scientific and technical information to the public
• Provide consultancy services to both people from academia and industry
• Alert people about new job opportunities
• Publish journals, reports, books and newsletters
• National, European and international research projects: identify, link partners and coordinate projects

MM&M Celebrates 40 Years of Interdisciplinary Discovery

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Orthopaedics are hosting a two-day symposium April 3-4 to celebrate 40 years of interdisciplinary research in orthopaedic biomechanics through the Musculoskeletal Mechanics and Materials (MMM) Laboratories. The keynote speaker is Albert Burstein, one of the founders of the laboratory and internationally recognized for his seminal contributions to the understanding of bone biomechanics and total joint replacement design. The symposium will also include lectures by current faculty as well as engineers and clinicians in the field. Register online or call 368-5403.

[VIA: CASE DAILY, March 28, 2007]

ACES Speaker Series at the Case School of Engineering

The ACES Speaker Series at the Case School of Engineering, "Looking Ahead to Professional Life in STEM fields: Leadership, Gender & Diversity," will feature the first of three events at 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 28 in Nord Hall, Room 310 B. "Lessons in Leadership: A Female Engineer's Story," will feature triple alumna Ka-Pi Hoh, department manager at the Lubrizol Corp. Free. Pizza and beverages will be served. Details are online.

[VIA: Case Daily, March 26, 2007]

Medical Dictionary

MedicineNet.com has published an online medical dictionary that contains over 16,000 medical terms.

From About Us:

MedicineNet, Inc. is owned and operated by WebMD and part of the WebMD Network.

MedicineNet.com is an online, healthcare media publishing company. It provides easy-to-read, in-depth, authoritative medical information for consumers via its robust, user-friendly, interactive web site.

[VIA: The Scout Report -- Volume 13, Number 7]

New Lie Group

What do you get when you mix 18 mathematicians, 4 years of research, and 77 hours of supercomputer computation - mapping of the Lie group E8.

It describes the symmetries of a 57-dimensional object that can in essence be rotated in 248 ways without changing its appearance.

[VIA: 025.431: The Dewey blog: Fearful symmetry]

Sign Up for IEEE Standards Alerts via Email or RSS

IEEE Xplore now features opt-in standards alerts to keep you up-to-date on standards revisions available through email or RSS. This free service has recently been expanded to enable any IEEE Xplore user to be notified whenever a new standard or draft is published or a standard is revised. Users have the option to sign up for standards alerts based on industry or version number. To sign up, visit: ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocalerts_signup.jsp

[VIA: What's New @ IEEE for Libraries, March 2007, Volume 8, Number 3]

Continue reading "Sign Up for IEEE Standards Alerts via Email or RSS"

Ohio Nanotechnology Summit

Case Western Reserve University is a cosponsor of the Ohio Nanotechnology Summit that will take place April 23-25 at the University of Akron. Faculty and students can submit research posters for consideration. The deadline to submit titles and abstracts is March 22 and should be sent by e-mail to janas@uakron.edu.

The Ohio Nanotechnology Summit is the premier nanotechnology event in Ohio drawing both national and local leaders in nanotechnology. Including all sectors and disciplines, the summit delivers a concentrated program spanning key issues ranging from nanotechnology research to development to commercialization. The Ohio Nanotechnology Summit will offer a unique opportunity to get a first-hand perspective on the boundless potential that this exciting technical field holds. The 2007 Program will feature 4 areas:

• Nano Materials
• Nano Processing
• Nano Bio
• Nano Photonics and Electronics

[VIA: CASE DAILY, March 15, 2007]

ICIS Creates Student Portal

ICIS is working on a new student portal, or "knowledge zone". Right now it links to some resources available to students. In the future, they "hope it will turn into a space in which students and academics worldwide can communicate and discuss issues with each other, and showcase their best work to the wider world, not least potential employers."

Several librarians have contacted and discussed the lack of chemical prices for student projects with ICIS. In the past, I documented and shared my concerns directly with ICIS. Randy Reichardt has taken similar steps. He has personally been involved in the recent developments.

ICIS with the announcement of this new student porta