A new magnetic material has been discovered, announced at the March meeting of the American Physical Society. The research was done at the University of California, San Diego.
Only time will tell if, and how, it might revolutionize magnetic storage devices.
By the way, the professional photo shows the Michigan State College of Engineering's Formula SAE car. A better picture of the car, with the design/build/race team is on their Facebook page: click here
Interesting that a robot built by the Johnson Space Center was among those that scored zero points, but JPL did OK (finishing fifth) behind a Japanese company recently purchased by Google, a team called IHMC Robotics that used a robot built by a company called Boston Dynamics, a team from Carnegie Mellon University (third), and MIT (fourth).
Although crude, this diagram explaining the 'normal' distribution gives a nice picture of the basic criteria we use when interpreting data in the first-year physics lab, specifically the conclusing that a difference of more than two standard deviations indicates a disagreement between two measurements or between theory and experiment.
There should be more updates from them over the next few days.
I stumbled across an article about the Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) Tartan Rescue "CHIMP" project a few weeks ago. It uses a non-human model for the robot, as does a JPL team.
A non-human model is starting to attract attention for specialized tasks where there is no reason to have the robot look semi-human. For example, there is a research group at Florida State pursuing the cockroach as a model for a small robot that can climb a vertical wall while carrying a camera to assist military or police teams planning to enter a potentially hostile area.
Eagle Business Society Fall Distinquished Lecture
Tuesday, November 19, 1:30 to 2:30 in the SU Ballroom
Dave Mica, Co-Chair of the Associated Industries of Florida Energy Council, will be the next featured speaker on the Eagle Business Society’s Distinguished Lecture Series at 1:30 on November 19th in the SU Ballroom.
The EBS announcement did not give a title, but did provide the following background information:
Mr. Mica has long been a role model as an advocate for industry who approaches problems with a unique vision and creative ideas. He began his career as a campaign worker for “Walkin’ Lawton” Chiles as they trekked across Florida. He has worked in both of his brothers’ successful Congressional Campaigns as well – one Democrat and one Republican. Serving as President of the University of Florida Alumni Association, Mr. Mica reflects the best characteristics of admired leaders. His ethical advocacy has contributed to Florida’s economic development and energy policy. Mentoring young leaders in the graduate class he is teaching at the University of Florida is another example of how Mr. Mica has given back to his community and state while demonstrating that one individual can make a difference. Mr. Mica will inspire our students to achieve success on their own terms – ethically, as he has done.
Mr. Mica is the Executive Director of the Florida Petroleum Council and is an advocate for further development of petroleum resources in Florida and the Keystone pipeline. (If you are not familiar with the Associated Industries of Florida, AIF, it is an umbrella organization for a large number of business lobbyists in the state of Florida with its headquarters just south of the Governor's mansion.) However, it appears from the above that he will be talking about leadership, not any political issue.
Click this link for Mr. Mica's bio
More details later, including directions, but I hope that my schedule will allow a group of our future engineers to go through a tour together and get more info than they usually provide.
This open house at the Hopkins power plant is a big deal, with lots of things going on that are suitable for children of all ages, but what should interest you is the opportunity to tour a large operating power plant that uses a new, highly efficient system for generating electricity from natural gas. Your homework assignment is to read Example 19.2 on page 318 of our physics textbook by Wolfson. If you aren't in physics yet, you can still read that page in one of the copies available in the Learning Commons. The city has a short description of this new facility on this web page, which includes a link to an article about the project.
The FAMU-FSU ASME students will be there with their robots and other display items. The fire department will have a truck there and might also demonstrate how they use the "jaws of life" to extract people from a wrecked car. Power company linemen will show how they work on power lines. There are usually lots of things going on. There also might be some folks from TAEVA with their homemade electric vehicles, since they were there two years ago as noted in this blog entry from 2011.
LOCATION:
Google Map Link
Zoom out and switch from satellite to map to see the location, which is just a few miles west of the TCC campus.
IMPORTANT:
The info from the City emphasizes that you cannot bring in large backpacks and that all purses and small backpacks or fanny packs will be searched at the gate. They do not mention banning cameras like they have in the past. They might have given up because of smart phones, but please be aware of the possibility that photography might be forbidden in certain areas of the plant.
REALLY IMPORTANT:
You need to wear real shoes (closed toes) to go on the tour. This is an operating industrial facility, not a tourist site.
You can read the City of Tallahassee press release about it by clicking on this link
Ms. Jarman will talk about the difference between various Engineering careers, what it takes to get into the College of Engineering, and what it takes to succeed once you are there. Anyone interested in an engineering career, regardless of your current classes, is urged to attend.
Ms. Jarman is the FAMU-FSU "Mapping Coordinator", which means she is responsible for maintaining the semester-by-semester course plan and milestone requirements for every engineering major. She also advises transfer and pre-engineering students at FSU as well as at TCC.
She is available in SU-228 at TCC from 1:30 to 5:00 pm on every other Tuesday (10/1, 10/15, 10/29, etc). You can also get advice from Troy Mahler, who was an advisor at FSU before becoming an advisor at TCC.
