Breakthrough technology from an engineering research center could help prevent blackouts while allowing the grid to run on solar and other clean energy sources.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Power Play

Tags: alternative energy transmission, ASEE Prism magazine, blackouts, daylighting, electrical and computer engineering, NC State FREEDM Center, power grid, Solar Energy, Technology, transformer

Soft-drink bottlers worldwide depend on diminishing supplies of clean water. Here’s how Coke copes.

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Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, Coca-Cola, Conservation, Environmental Engineering, Industrial engineering, Technology, Thomas K. Grose, Water Resources

Students in grades 6 to 12 learn simple circuitry by creating light-up paper cards using only copper tape, a coin cell battery, a light-emitting diode (LED), and small electronic components. An artistic way to teach the basics of how circuits function—no soldering required!

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Tags: Class Activities, electricity, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, LEDs, Lesson Plan, NGSS, paper circuits greeting cards, Physics, STEAM, Technology

A diving trip in Greece drove a Dutch teen named Boyan Slat to spend the next 10 years devising a way to clean up ocean plastic. His giant boom is set to launch in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this year. Other eco-activists have developed trash-intercepting water wheels and campaigns to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Meet the Ocean Cleanup Crew

Tags: Boyan Slat, clean up, Environmental Engineering, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, marine debris, Mr. Trash Wheel, Ocean Cleanup, ocean plastic, One Less Straw, Technology, US Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS Pacific

They sweep floors, guide airport travelers, swim in aquariums, and even relay the Olympic torch. In South Korea, host of the 2018 Winter Games, robots are as much on display as the athletes.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on South Korea Wins Gold… in Robotics!

Tags: 2018 Olympics, AI, artificial intelligence, HUBO, KAIST, Robotics, smart cities, South Korea, Technology, translation app

Teams of K-12 students can win up to $10,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds in this real-world research simulation sponsored by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association. Projects are due February 8, 2018.

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Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on ExploraVision Contest 2018

Tags: Competitions for Students, Contest, ExploraVision, NSTA, Research, STEM education, Technology, Toshiba

Ballparks have come a long way from the baseball diamond cut into an Iowa cornfield in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. Engineers have found new ways to design ever-more spacious stadiums, with better views, smart systems that reduce energy costs, and even apps that let you order food from craft beer to peanuts delivered to your seat.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Fields of Dreams

Tags: ballpark, baseball, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, fields, Sports Engineering, stadium, Technology

Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other destructive events offer timely “teachable moments” about the role of engineers in improving weather forecasts and reducing the toll from natural disasters. eGFI Teachers’s collection of activities, feature articles, and other resources can help you integrate engineering into your classes – and inspire the next generation of “crisis” engineers.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans, Special Features | Comments Off on Disaster Engineering

Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, build, building, Class Activities, data, Disaster relief, drought, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, erosion, forces, hurricane, Hurricane Maria, measure, Mining, motion, National Guard, natural disasters, Physics, rescue, storm, Structural Engineering, Teacher Resources, Technology, tornado, Weather, Web Resources

NASA’s second annual OPSPARC Challenge asks students in grades 3 to 12 to identify everyday items that were first developed for a space mission and then imagine a new humanitarian purpose for that technology. Deadline for submission is February 10, 2017.

That question lies at the heart of NASA’s Optimus Prime Spinoff and Research Challenge, a contest that asks students in grades 3 to 12 to identify and dream up a new purpose for technology first developed for a space mission.

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Filed under: Competitions and Contests, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on NASA Space Spinoff Contest

Tags: Competitions for Students, Contest, Engineering Design Process, Innovation, NASA, National Institute of Aerospace, OPSPARC, Optimus Prime Spinoff and Research Challenge, Space, Technology