Resilience Engineering: The New Normal
Posted on April 13th, 2020 by Mary Lord
As storms increase in frequency and fury and droughts drain groundwater and invite wildfires, communities nationwide are taking a hard look at whether their infrastructure, building codes, and businesses are up to the challenge. And they are turning to engineers for solutions that will increase resiliency and mitigate disaster.
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Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, civil and environmental engineering, Climate Change, flooding, infrastructure, resilience engineering, Weather
On April 3, U.S. health officials recommended an arts-and-crafts project to thwart the spread of coronavirus: Make a cloth face mask and wear it when you go out in public. Here are some tips and templates for turning T-shirts and other materials into DIY personal protective gear.
It seemed like a simple request. Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, Mo., needed 150 face shields for those caring for coronavirus patients. Students at nearby Camdenton High School rushed to help – and soon began fielding requests from first responders and even U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Their supply source: 3-D printers the nearby middle school had received as part of a University of Missouri program to improve STEM education. 
With schools closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, ASEE members and other engineering and technology educators are posting daily design challenges, hosting teacher meetups, and creating ways to engage students in STEM learning at home.
Middle school students measure how much dust, pollen, and other particulate matter is present in the air around them by placing “pollution detectors” in various locations and then examining the captured air particles to determine which places have more or fewer airborne particles. In a companion activity, they engineer methods of removing contaminants.
