Interesting TCC Eagle Business Society lecture

I am posting this because I know that many students at TCC have long-range plans to start their own business after they get an engineering degree and some experience working for an existing firm. If you are one of those, you might find this presentation to future business majors very helpful and interesting.

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

Summer Internship info meeting

There will be a meeting about Summer 2014 STEM internships on Friday, November 15, in the STEM Center (AC 133) at 2:30 pm. My understanding is that these are PAID internships at research centers around the country and that most are specifically for Community College students with some specifically for TCC students.

Duke students engineering with Metamaterials

Saw a great article today about using metamaterials to convert microwaves to electricity in a student project at Duke University. Metamaterials are what you have heard the club President talk about in conjunction with his internship in a chemistry lab that is part of an FSU research consortium that involves physics, chemistry, and chemical engineering faculty.

Update - Hopkins Power Plant

My current plan is to get out there between 2:30 and 3:00 and hang out at the tent where the FAMU-FSU mechanical engineering (ASME) students will be set up.

Meet me there if you want to go on a tour as a group.  I'd expect to head over to the tour around 3:00.

You can, of course, go on a tour at any time if you schedule does not match mine.


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.

Public Open House at the Hopkins Power Plant

Sunday, October 13, from 1 to 5 pm

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

Program this week - Thursday 10/3

There will be a program on Engineering Advising and Engineering Careers presented on Thursday, October 3, at 5:30 pm in SM260 by Ms. Danae Jarman.

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.

Five (plus 2) Days of Opening Minds - 2013

Jonas heard about this event from a friend at FSU and shared it at the meeting on Thursday. Rather than include it with the internship info, I think it deserves more attention than that.

Here is the link (183 kB pdf)

The big opportunity is Wednesday, September 25.
Sir Harold Kroto, winner of the Nobel Prize as a co-discoverer of C₆₀ (better known as the Buckyball) while at Rice University, will be speaking about that discovery as an example of how a scientific discovery happens. It is VERY rare to hear someone talk about how they came up with the idea behind such an important experiment, let alone one that is revolutionizing everything from chemistry and physics to materials science (nanotubes) and medicine. I should also mention that he is a good speaker.

All programs start at 5:30 pm in the Askew Student Life Center, which you can read about here . It is east of the Leach Center and west of Parking Garage No. 2, just west of the part of Woodward Avenue that is closed to traffic. The easiest access to parking is from the south, heading up Woodward from Gaines. The entrance to the theater is on the west side of the building that faces Learning Way.