CONNECT has a story about the recent "Innovation 101" series entitled "Technology and Innovation in Proof of Concept Centers: Accelerating the Commercialization of University Innovation". The story includes Dr. Rosibel Ochoa, Director of the von Liebig Center at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.
There comes a time in some robots' life when they have to leave the lab and go to elementary school. That time recently came for Switchblade and iFling, two robots developed by the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab led by Prof. Thomas Bewley (robotics.ucsd.edu).
The two robots put on quite a show at Curie Elementary School in the University City neighborhood during science night. They were there to get students excited about science. They successfully accomplished their mission, judging by this video recorded during the event:
To explain how the high-tech robots move, Bewley and his graduate students, Nick Morozovsky and Saam Ostovari, had brought two low-tech accessories: a broom and a drumstick. They asked students to try and balance each on the palm of their hand. The students soon discovered that the broom was much easier to balance than the drumstick. The math that explains why this happens also helps explains how Switchblade and the much smaller iFling move.
"It was awesomely awesome," one student said, after watching the two robots show off their moves.
How do humans learn, and how is the element of time critical for learning? TheTemporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC), headquartered at UC San Diego in the Institute for Neural Computation, is helping to answer that question, thanks in part to an $18 million renewal grant from the National Science Foundation.
Founded in 2006 with support from the NSF, TDLC is led byGary Cottrell, professor ofcomputer science and engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The interdisciplinary team of scientists and educators includes over 40 principal investigators at 17 partner research institutions, including UC Berkeley, Rutgers University at Newark, and Vanderbilt University, in three countries, and in several local San Diego schools.
A nice and in-depth story about a science and engineering outreach program for young women in San Diego, in the Union Tribune. The program is Better Education for Women in Science & Engineering program (BEWiSE). Check out the story by Karen Kucher in the Oct 24 issue of the UT entitled "Program inspiring young women to discover science".
Also, some related links from the Jacobs School of Engineering.
Out on Warren Mall, engineering students are carving away. I just overheard one student lament that he "can't write integrals in pumpkin". Perhaps, but he seems to have the exponent thing down no problem. More photos on the Jacobs School Flickr site. (There are lots of students out there with cameras, so hopefully we'll get some more pictures from IEEE student org soon.)
This year the campus is hostinga video contest–“What R U Doing?”– to highlight the remarkable innovations of UC San Diego students, staff, faculty and alumni. The winning video will earn a premiere party at The Loft, with a $200 gift certificate toZanzibar. Click the graphic above for details.
What are you doing that’s sustainable? How are you giving back to the community? What are you doing to advance technology or to express your creativity? From conducting cutting-edge research to producing original works of art, we know that our campus community is leading the way in innovation and making a positive impact at the university, and in the greater community. In honor of our newest tradition, Founders’ Celebration, the campus is hosting a video contest to showcase what students, staff, faculty and alumni are doing at UC San Diego. Create a video telling us your story and you could win a $200 gift certificate to Zanzibar at The Loft. The contest begins today, Oct. 25, and the winner will be announced Nov. 15—just in time for Founders’ Celebration.
Here’s how it works: create a short video that shows us what you are doing at UC San Diego. Show us through song, dance, performance or any creative method you choose—it can be just you, or recruit your colleagues and friends to be part of the fun! Upload your video to YouTube and post the link to UC San Diego’s new official Facebook page,Facebook.com/UCSanDiegoLife. All video submissions should begin with the sentence “What am I doing in (technology/community service/sustainability/other)…?” and should end by stating your name and relationship to UC San Diego (student/staff/faculty/alumni). The winning video will be chosen by the Founders’ Celebration committee and announced in the Nov. 15 issue ofThisWeek@UCSanDiego,as well as featured on learnlive.ucsd.edu. View the completecontest rules.
Gayle Laakmann McDowell, author of "Cracking the Coding Interview," recently shared career advice for computer science majors at the Jacobs School of Engineering during a talk sponsored by the Women in Computing group at UC San Diego.
Laalmann has worked for Microsoft, Apple and Google. At the latter, she interviewed more than 150 candidates and served on Google's hiring committee for three years. She has a bachelor's and master's in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School.
Missed the talk, but still want her advice? Here is the video of the event:
