Engineer Degrees Continuing to Grow

If you’re thinking about going to college for engineering, you’re certainly not alone.

According to an article posted on USNews.com, science and engineering degrees in the United States grew last year at a rate twice as fast as any other field.

The author writes that from 2009 to 2013, science and engineering degrees grew by 19 percent, compared to a 9 percent growth among other disciplines, this according to numbers from produced by the National Student Clearinghouse.

“In some cases it might be institutional initiatives, in some cases it might be different kinds of policy levers, but I think the growth has been such that it’s not just a coincidence,” Lead Researcher Jason DeWitt told reporters. “I think students have been responding to the call for more STEM students.”

Included in the study, the author writes, are the fields of earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and computer science, engineering, and biological and agricultural sciences. Social sciences and psychology were also included, the article mentioned, because those disciplines fall under the National Science Foundation’s classification of science.

The article goes on to say that by the year 2020, nearly all new job postings will require some form of higher education, and about engineering and science positions will have grown by about 25%. Some numbers even suggest that by that time, there will be a much greater number of jobs than students qualified to fill them.

Researchers say current growth patterns are unprecedented in recent history, according to the author. In fact, the growth in degrees over the last 5 years averaged out to about 4.5%, whereas the average annual growth over the previous 30 years was only 2.4%.

The article also goes on to discuss age and gender trends within science and engineering students, but overall, Dewitt calls this a period of “accelerated growth.” So if you’re thinking about getting into engineering, now’s the time to do it.

Science and Engineering Through Sailing

Not all scientific learning happens in the classroom. In fact, sometimes it comes in the form of heavy waves and a pair of sails.

A recent Forbes article highlights the Community Boating Center in Providence, RI, who, several years ago, partnered with the Providence After School Alliance to teach kids about math, science, and boating.

“All sailing is really about science and math. You’re immersed in it, whether you recognize it or not,” John O’Flaherty, the program’s director, told Forbes.

According to the article, O’Flaherty and the After School Alliance put together a summer program for middle-schoolers which consists of two days in the classroom and two more out on the water. “We added a very under-toned dash of science to the sailing,” O’Flaherty said. “The next day in class, the teacher used the on-water experience as a springboard for discussion of the science behind it.”

The author writes that the students responded much more to the classroom work when they were invested in the outcome of their learning. Evidently, the prospect of the boat outing enhanced their attentiveness. O’Flaherty attributes it to the “magic of sailing.”

“If you learn the lessons,” he told the author, “you get to harness these invisible forces—wind, currents, tides—and use them to go fast, which is fun and exciting.”

O’Flaherty, the article goes on to say, wasn’t satisfied with just one small program. He connected with US Sailing representative Jessica Servis, who helped develop a curriculum that later became known as REACH.

“Sailing is like sticking kids in a real-life interactive lab every day,” Servis told Forbes. “Everyone knew it had a great STEM connection, but there was no curriculum that spoke to teachers and schools, met education frameworks, and could be implemented by a community-sailing center.”

After three years of development, the REACH program launched in 2012, and now serves as a model for similar programs all across the country.

Web Engineer Chris Fry

Twitter’s IPO isn’t the only thing they’re making headlines for this week

An article published in the Business Insider says that Twitter offered Chris Fry, their Senior VP of Technology, $10 million worth of stock, which, the author writes, makes him the second most highly paid person in the company, falling short only of CEO Dick Costolo.

Fry was able to cash in on his engineering skills, the author writes, and it helped him make out with a big payday. BI cites former colleagues of Fry’s as referring to him as a “10x” engineer. What’s this mean? It means he does 10 times the work of a typical engineer. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider he’s only been with Twitter for about a year.

The article goes on to say that Fry holds 10 different patents, as well as a Ph.D. in cognitive science…. which probably didn’t hurt him when it came to the hiring process.

He has experience managing hundreds of engineers spread over multiple departments, which, the author writes, is invaluable to a company like twitter who are largely dependant on an innovative engineering team to attract new users and in turn drive revenue.

His real competitive advantage, however, lies not with his coding ability, but with his ability to work with people. In working with SalesForce, the article said, Fry gained valuable experience learning to lead and motivate some of the most talented engineers in the business, especially in a fast-paced environment of growth.

And growth is the name of the game for Twitter, the author argues. On the eve of their IPO, he speculates that Fry’s big stock bonus may be an incentive for him to stick around with the company for the foreseeable future.

Moral of the story? If you can pair your technical talents with a knack for working with people, you may end up like Chris Fry: with a big paycheck on the way.

Spanish Architecture Hurting With Economy

Spanish children dreaming of elaborate, gorgeous buildings, are being woken up by a rough economy.

According to an article published in the Christian Science Monitor, budding Spanish professionals may have to consider options other than architecture in the near future.

In the 1990’s, buildings like Norman Foster’s Torre de Collserola and I.M. Pei’s World Trade Center (located in Barcelona), and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao inspired young architects to dream big dreams, the article argues. They also proved that successful architects could be, well, very successful.

Now’s Spain’s unemployment level sits at roughly 25%. Funding for public works programs, like government buildings, has been all but cut off, and architects are running for their lives, the author says.

When the Guggenheim opened in the late 1990’s, she writes, the world’s perception of Spain changed from one of desolation and emptiness to amazement. International tourism skyrocketed and as a result, the building bred it’s own phrase: “The Guggenheim Effect.”

But since the crash of the real estate market in 2008, Spanish housing prices are down 30%, the CS Monitor says. Opposite the Guggenheim effect came the symbolism of huge, half-finished public works projects; empty concert halls and abandoned airports are not uncommon sights.

Housing starts, according to the article, are down from 800,000 annually pre-recession to 80,000, and as a result, 42% of Spaniards trained as architects are out of work. But this shock to the system provides an opportunity.

The author suggests that Spanish architecture is shifting toward environmental consciousness, instead of chasing the Guggenheim dream at all costs.

Rafael de La-Hoz, an award-winning architect in Madrid who has constructed edifices both in Spain and internationally, told reporters, “Good architecture means working together with a city, to create a better city, not just one amazing building."

California High Speed Rail Project Slows Down Once Again

It looks as though high speed rail in California is going to move just a little bit slower.

The San Jose Mercury News recently published an article citing a delay in the start to construction on the groundbreaking project.  According to the Mercury, rails officials said in a statement released to the press that construction would be delayed a “few months,” on top of what has already become more than a year of setbacks.

Among some of the signs for delay, the author writes, are a lack of equipment (bulldozers, heavy machinery, etc…), an uncertainty about finished designs, workers yet to be hired, and a pair of pending lawsuits that could cause even further problems for rail authority CEO Jeff Morales.

The project has been marred in controversy since it was approved, at a $10 billion cost, by voters five years ago, the article says.  Some critics, like the project’s former chairman Quentin Kopp, are dubious as to it’s success.  Kopp told the Mercury News, “The future of this plan is in doubt… I don’t know how (the state) could even mention starting construction with pending litigation. It’s irresponsible.”

Morales, however, remains confident that state will meet a September 2017 deadline to spend $3 billion in federal money allocated for the program.  Though critics insist a start date is non-existent, Morales feels quite the opposite.  According to the article, Morales told reporters the real genesis of the project occurred 14 months ago, when construction of the first 130 miles from Merced to Bakersfield was authorized by the state legislature.

The two cases pending against the project are set to occur soon.  One will head to trial in the next week to determine the rail authority will be penalized for violated two ballot measure points when lobbying for the project, and the other brought forth by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, as well as a number of other plaintiffs, to shut down the rail line altogether.

Wind Turbines On Lake Erie a Reasonable Solution

A recent article on Cleveland.com talks about six wind turbines that are being planned for use on Lake Erie. One of the main concerns is the ice that forms on the lake during the winter month. Many critics believe the ice would certainly destroy any turbine that is erected. An international engineering firm recently reported that they would not need steel or concrete foundations for the turbines but would only need a similar set up to a turbine that is constructed on land. This would include a large diameter pole that would be driven 80 feet into sand, clay and glacial material before being fixed on top of the shale bedrock. Each turbine would have “proven technology that would protect it from crushing ice floes that critics have predicted would destroy any freshwater wind turbines.” The turbine towers could also have a positive impact on fishing and could help push oxygen into some of the lakes dead zones.

Construction of the turbines are scheduled to begin in spring 2017.

Mind Boggling Architecture

A recent article in the Huffington Post unveiled what seems to be the future of architecture and of course it features a massive skyscraper in Dubai. Unlike other giant skyscrapers of a similar size, this one will have the ability for each individual floor to rotate 360 degrees. The 80 story skyscraper is envisioned by David Fisher of Dynamic Architecture. Each floor will complete a full rotation every 90 minutes or so. The building will also be “equipped with several giant wind turbines that generate electricity for tenants, and penthouse residents would be able to park their car at their apartments thanks to nifty lifts.”

Dubai seems to be the front runner for innovative architecture these days. Some of the biggest and most interesting buildings are located there including the worlds tallest in the Burj Khalifa. The skyscraper is 2,722 feet tall with 163 floors. The building isn’t just massive, but it looks like something you would see in a movie. Dubai is a hotbed for modern architecture. It is beautiful to see people come together to build such enormous buildings and in such grand fashion. Some other interesting buildings in the city include the Almas tower, Burj Al Arab, and the Princess Tower. Each building is over 1,000 feet tall and looks unlike any other structure in the world. Not only are they creating giant towers, they are also creating islands. The Jumeriah Palm is currently the largest man made island in the world.

The government in Dubai is looking to build a city that attracts more. They are trying to diversify their economy from the oil industry into a service and tourism oriented destination. This led to the property boom and in turn made Dubai one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

via Karen Jensen http://karenjensenpeoria.org/mind-boggling-architecture/