JUNE TCC ENGINEERING CLUB MEETING

The JUNE meeting of the
TCC ENGINEERING CLUB will be on TUESDAY, June 19, 2007, rather than on Thursday.

An agenda will be posted soon.

Florida Space Academy

Extracted from an e-mail forwarded to me by a former student now in the FSU engineering program. Note that this program is for U.S. Citizens only, but community college students are eligible to participate.


Space Academy Florida Undergraduate Program
August 6-18, 2007

Thank you for your interest in the Space Academy. The Florida Undergraduates program will be held this summer, August 6-18, 2007. Please complete the application on our website: http://www.spaceflorida.gov/EducationPrograms.shtml, by clicking on the PDF file “Undergraduate Application”. This opportunity is open to all Florida undergraduates.

What you will learn and do:

• Build & Test Payload for Weather Balloons
• Build Autonomous Robots
• Tour Historic Launch Sites
• Attend KSC lab Sessions
• Learn about Global Positioning system (GPS) through Hands-On Activities
• Participate in Q & A Session with Guest Speakers and Astronauts

Session: August 6-18, 2007

Location: Kennedy Space Center, Center for Space Education (CSE)

Academy Details: Hotel Accommodations Provided, Applicants must be 18 years of age, and a US Citizen attending a Florida Technical Institute/Junior College/College/University.

Application Deadline: July 23, 2007

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Linsley Pietsch
Education Program Associate
321.730.5301
lpietsch@spaceflorida.gov

TCC ENGINEERING CLUB MAY MEETING

THE MAY MEETING WILL BE ON THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2007 IN SM 260, STARTING AT 3:00 PM.

MR. WILBERT BUTLER will speak on the STEM Star Scholarships ($2500). Come to see if you are qualified.

Other Agenda Items will be announced here as they develop.

ASME LUNCHEON FRIDAY, MAY 18

*** MODIFICATION OF ORIGINAL POSTING ***

*** SEE FLYER FOR UPDATED INFORMATION ***

On Fri, 5/11, I received the following NOTICE from the ASME Senior Section:

(Please note that the luncheons are now being held at the new Residence Inn on Gaines St. Also, the certification LEED AP stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Accredited Professional." See http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19 for more information.)

It looks to be a very interesting event, and I urge you to attend.... Don't forget the RSVP.

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NOTICE:

As a part of the Tallahassee’s Section’s “Bring a Co-Worker With You toLunch” informal luncheon meetings, following is information about the meeting.

I apologize for this extremely short notice, but we learned just today of a speaker who is ready to present a great program to the TallahasseeSection.

Date: May 18, 2007
Location: Tallahassee Residence Inn by Marriott
600 West Gaines Street
Tallahassee, FL 32304
Tel.: 850-329-9080
Time: 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM

Fee: (Updated 5/14/07) $10.00, ASME members and non-members submitting paid new-member application; $5.00, ASME student section members; $15.00, non-members.

Program Topic: Smart District Energy - Hot, Cool and Smart; How an internet-based energy generation and distribution system can change the rules of the power game and provide more affordable, reliable and sustainable energy.

Speaker: Raymond Kaiser, LEED AP.

Raymond Kaiser is the Director, Whole System Division for Stewart Engineering, and is a LEED AP. He has worked closely with Pareto Energy to develop the Smart Energy District architecture. Currently, Mr. Kaiser provides business development and technical support to developers, municipalities, and utilities seeking to implement a Smart Energy Network. More information is available on the Tallahassee Section website: http://sections.asme.org/tallahassee


Please RSVP by May 16, 2007

To:

Sid Kamath, PE
Email: Kamaths2@asme.org
Phone: (850) 414-4276

Or:

Rick Meeker, PE
Email: Meeker@caps.fsu.edu
Phone: (850) 645-1711

How To Do an Engineering Problem

George Heller, shown at left, is an alumnus of TCC and a current student in the Mechanical Engineering department of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. He is also a blacksmith.

George is acting as the liason between TCC and the FSU ASME chapter this year, so he attends most club meetings. He will gladly share what he has learned there, as he did last week.



Information presented at the 20 April meeting:

Before the meeting even began, George shared one of the things he learned this semester: How to do a problem, engineer style. He was pleased to point out that some of the steps are ones he learned in my class, but his real point was that a correct answer would not be given full points if it was found while skipping some steps that a physicist like me will normally omit. That may be why he was laughing.

Side comment: I suspect he never took a class from Doug Jones. Students who have taken a class from Doug Jones will understand this comment, although even Doug does not emphasize some of those points because they rarely appear in math problems.

The image above is clickable, but the one below might be more readable. The point he emphasized the most was step 1. There is no explicit penalty for not reading each word (emphasis added by George in the original), but you might get zero for a problem if you miss a key adjective or participle. A careful, close reading of each problem is crucial, and might be a point I will emphasize in the fall.

I already emphasize step 2, primarily as a result of past conversations with engineering faculty about what weaknesses students bring with them from physics classes. George added that you would lose 5 points if the right pictures are not drawn, and drawn well, whether your answer is right or not. Turning words into pictures is as important as turning words into equations (which are steps 3 and 4). He added that you would lose one point for each given value you did not specify (with units) in step 3, and lose a point if your specification of the equations was incomplete in step 4.

Steps 5, 6, and 7 (what students correctly consider "solving" the problem) should be automatic by the time you get out of TCC, so you will get the right answer if you do the first parts correctly. That is, in fact, the reason for the emphasis on the work that has to be done before you can "solve" the problem.

Finally, a point will be taken off if you do not box your answer.



Thanks, George!

Congratulations, FSU Graduates!

While waiting for the TCC graduation ceremony to begin, I found a copy of the FSU booklet listing all of the Spring 2007 graduates from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. There were a number of familiar names in it. Almost 10% of the spring graduates had been in my physics class at TCC! They span several years of students, due to the usual delays due to part-time or full-time jobs, so some may not even know they share a history at TCC.

Congratulations to every one of you!

Your faculty at TCC wish you well as you move on to a career in engineering.

Two deserve special note: Kristin Brown completed a Masters degree. I remember well her growth as a student at TCC, and am pleased to see that she has reached this level of achievement. Her success might help others realize that they can do the same. Ali Hemmati graduated with a double major in ME and mathematics. For those of you who don't know, Ali got the club started as a student chapter of ASME. His initiative laid the groundwork for what we have today. Keep up the good work, Ali!

Now the full list:

Master of Science in Civil Engineering:

• Kristin Brown

Bachelor of Science:

• Tristan Appenfeldt (Electrical Eng)
• Jonathon Davis (Mechanical Eng)
• Jennifer Graham (Industrial Eng)
• Joseph Greene (Computer Eng)
• Ali Hemmati (Mechanical Eng and Mathematics double major, Magna Cum Laude)
• Coby McColgin (Mechanical Eng, Magna Cum Laude)
• Christopher Monzingo (Electrical Eng)
• Tushar Patel (Computer Eng and Electrical Eng double major, Magna Cum Laude)
• Aung-Zaw Sie (Electrical Eng)
• Brian Van Straton (Mechanical Eng, Summa Cum Laude)
  
• Lucas VanSickle (Civil Eng)
  

Congratulations Again!

Although I cross-checked the list with my old grade books, I can't guarantee that I got everyone. I have also heard news of some who graduated in December. I should try to track those down and update this list.

NASA Guest Speaker at North Florida Community College

Subject: NASA guest speaker,
Tues. April 24, 6 pm,
Fine Arts Auditorium (NFCC)


Please share this message with students and friends — Thomas Pentrack, NASA’s deputy director of the International Space Station will speak on “The Vision of Space Exploration,’ 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 24 in the Fine Arts Auditorium.

Mr. Pentrack will share information about current and future plans for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, robotic exploration of the solar syste, and our travels to the moon…and on to Mars. The presentation promises to be both information and entertaining.

If you have any interest in space exploration…you’ll not want to miss the presentation by someone on the scene.

—This announcement was forwarded to me from Terry Zimmerman.