by Alice Agogino
closeAuthor: Alice Agogino
Name: Alice Agogino
Email: agogino@berkeley.edu
Site: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/agogino/
About: Alice M. Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and is affiliated faculty at the Haas School of Business in their Operations and Information Technology Management Group. Her research interests include: community-based design; sustainable engineering; intelligent learning systems; information retrieval and data mining; multiobjective and strategic product design; nonlinear optimization; probabilistic modeling; intelligent control and manufacturing; sensor validation, fusion and diagnostics; wireless sensor networks; multimedia and computer-aided design; design databases; design theory and methods; MEMS/NEMS synthesis and computer-aided design; artificial intelligence and decision and expert systems; and gender/ethnic equity.
She has served in a number of administrative positions at UC Berkeley, including Chair of the Faculty Senate, Associate Dean of Engineering and Faculty Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost in Educational Development and Technology. Prof. Agogino also served as Director for Synthesis, an NSF-sponsored coalition of eight universities with the goal of reforming undergraduate engineering education, and continues as PI for the NEEDS (www.needs.org) and SMETE.ORG digital libraries of courseware in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Prof. Agogino received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico (1975), M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1978) from the University of California at Berkeley and Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University (1984). Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, she worked in industry for Dow Chemical, General Electric and SRI International. She has authored over 150 scholarly publications; has won numerous teaching, best paper and research awards; and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). At NAE she served on the Committee on Engineering Education, working on the Technologically Speaking and the Engineer 2020 projects. She is currently a member of the National Research Council's Board on Education and the Women in Academic Science Engineering Committee. She has supervised 66 MS projects/theses, 26 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate researchers.See Authors Posts (387) · September 1st, 2010 · Add a Comment
Today in History – September 1, 1873 – the world’s first cable-powered railroad in San Francisco is put into operation. The inventor of the cable car was Andrew S. Hallidie (center image above) and contracted by the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company in San Francisco. Hallidie’s system used a continuous looped wire rope that was placed in a tube below the surface of the ground. A motor kept the rope in continuous motion (first image below) and the rope was grasped and released by a griping device on the passenger car and controlled by the “driver”. Bells were used to warn other cars and pedestrians that a cable car was on its way. A code was developed so that the bell could be used to communicate between cable car drivers as well.
Legend has it that Hallidie’s inspiration for the cable car came in 1869 after witnessing horses being whipped while they struggled on the wet cobblestones to pull a horsecar up Jackson Street. When a horse slipped, it was sometimes dragged to its death.
Hallidie’s design was described in the Scientific American Supplement, September 17, 1881 with the title: The Wire Rope Street Railways of San Francisco, California. Hallidie describes how his cable car system operates and the various San Francisco companies (at that time) that had successfully adapted the cable car for their street railway company.
Andrew Smith Hallidie tested the first cable car at 4 o’clock in the morning, August 2nd, 1873, on Clay Street, in San Francisco. For more information, see the San Francisco Cable Car Museum and find out more about how cable cars work, their history and where they operate today. Or check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on cable cars and mass transportation systems.
Cable cars are a great example of the application of simple machines and mechanical advantage. For more information see the Engineering Pathway’s curricular resources and the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.
Tags: Civil Engineering · Construction Engineering · Engineering Management · General Engineering, Engineering Science · Mechanical Engineering
by Alice AgoginocloseAuthor: Alice Agogino
Name: Alice Agogino
Email: agogino@berkeley.edu
Site: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/agogino/
About: Alice M. Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and is affiliated faculty at the Haas School of Business in their Operations and Information Technology Management Group. Her research interests include: community-based design; sustainable engineering; intelligent learning systems; information retrieval and data mining; multiobjective and strategic product design; nonlinear optimization; probabilistic modeling; intelligent control and manufacturing; sensor validation, fusion and diagnostics; wireless sensor networks; multimedia and computer-aided design; design databases; design theory and methods; MEMS/NEMS synthesis and computer-aided design; artificial intelligence and decision and expert systems; and gender/ethnic equity.
She has served in a number of administrative positions at UC Berkeley, including Chair of the Faculty Senate, Associate Dean of Engineering and Faculty Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost in Educational Development and Technology. Prof. Agogino also served as Director for Synthesis, an NSF-sponsored coalition of eight universities with the goal of reforming undergraduate engineering education, and continues as PI for the NEEDS (www.needs.org) and SMETE.ORG digital libraries of courseware in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Prof. Agogino received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico (1975), M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1978) from the University of California at Berkeley and Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University (1984). Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, she worked in industry for Dow Chemical, General Electric and SRI International. She has authored over 150 scholarly publications; has won numerous teaching, best paper and research awards; and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). At NAE she served on the Committee on Engineering Education, working on the Technologically Speaking and the Engineer 2020 projects. She is currently a member of the National Research Council's Board on Education and the Women in Academic Science Engineering Committee. She has supervised 66 MS projects/theses, 26 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate researchers.See Authors Posts (387) · August 31st, 2010 · Add a Comment
Today in History – August 31, 1921 – Lt. John A. Macready performed the first crop dusting flight on a surplus World War I Curtiss JN-6H (Jenny), taking off from McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio. The goal was to attack the Catalpa sphinx moth by dusting an orchard with a load of lead-arsenate from a makeshift metal hopper attached to the Jenny’s fuselage. The maneuver was successful and the moths had been wiped out on that orchard.
Recently, the broad use of pesticides is coming into question due to issues with wildlife, water contamination, energy usage and farm worker exposure. See the February 3 blog on the publication of Rachel Carsons book the Silent Spring.
The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on pesticides, agricultural engineering, Rachel Carson and environmental ethics. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education community site. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.
Tags: Biological Systems and Agricultural Engineering · Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering
Today in history- Aug 30, 1983- Guion “Guy” Bluford became the first African America to travel to space , 22 years after the first American traveled to space. This twenty plus year’s gap makes his accomplishment an important milestone in African American history. Born November 22,1942 with a mother for a teacher and an engineer for a father, Bluford was destined for success. Recognizing that 1942 is well before Brown vs. Board, their academic accomplishments, technically, were prior to school integration. Despite the obstacles to access and success for African Americans, his parents obtained higher level of education. With their examples and achievements you can only imagine their expectations for their children were high. They encouraged their children to strive for the best in life.
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It seems as if Bluford did just that: receiving his bachelors of science at Pennsylvania State University in Aerospace Engineering and then going on to be a pilot for the air force and earning a Defense Service medal while serving in the Vietnam War. After the war, Bluford attained his Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering, then his PhD in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Laser Physics. Bluford then went on to join NASA in 1979 and four years later became the first African American in space as a mission specialist on the STS-8 flight of the Challenger Space Shuttle. His life and this accomplishment are truly worth being showcased today in history.
For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s related resources on Guy Bluford or NASA. Or visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.
Tags: Aerospace Engineering · Mechanical Engineering
by Alice AgoginocloseAuthor: Alice Agogino
Name: Alice Agogino
Email: agogino@berkeley.edu
Site: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/agogino/
About: Alice M. Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and is affiliated faculty at the Haas School of Business in their Operations and Information Technology Management Group. Her research interests include: community-based design; sustainable engineering; intelligent learning systems; information retrieval and data mining; multiobjective and strategic product design; nonlinear optimization; probabilistic modeling; intelligent control and manufacturing; sensor validation, fusion and diagnostics; wireless sensor networks; multimedia and computer-aided design; design databases; design theory and methods; MEMS/NEMS synthesis and computer-aided design; artificial intelligence and decision and expert systems; and gender/ethnic equity.
She has served in a number of administrative positions at UC Berkeley, including Chair of the Faculty Senate, Associate Dean of Engineering and Faculty Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost in Educational Development and Technology. Prof. Agogino also served as Director for Synthesis, an NSF-sponsored coalition of eight universities with the goal of reforming undergraduate engineering education, and continues as PI for the NEEDS (www.needs.org) and SMETE.ORG digital libraries of courseware in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Prof. Agogino received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico (1975), M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1978) from the University of California at Berkeley and Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University (1984). Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, she worked in industry for Dow Chemical, General Electric and SRI International. She has authored over 150 scholarly publications; has won numerous teaching, best paper and research awards; and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). At NAE she served on the Committee on Engineering Education, working on the Technologically Speaking and the Engineer 2020 projects. She is currently a member of the National Research Council's Board on Education and the Women in Academic Science Engineering Committee. She has supervised 66 MS projects/theses, 26 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate researchers.See Authors Posts (387) · August 28th, 2010 · Add a Comment
Today in History – August 28, 1883 – John J. Montgomery makes first controlled “heavier than air” glider flight at Wheeler Hill, California. He sails a distance of 603 feet at an altitude of about fifteen feet. He continued to perfect the design by making and testing modifications. In 1894, he published a summary of this work in Octave Chanute’s “Progress in Flying”; a book that the Wright Brothers are reported to have read. Montgomery was the first person to use the term “aeroplane” and was granted the first “aeroplane” patent in 1906. Montgomery died testing one of his powered designs for Vicor Loughead (later Lockheed) in 1911. Norman Ward reconstructed the 1883 Montgomery Glider shown in the photograph above right.
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It took close to another century later for the Gossamer Condor to be the first human powered flight around a figure eight. This team effort, under the leadership of Paul B. MacCready, Jr., won the $50,000 Kremer Prize and captured the world’s attention. Bryan Allen maintained a head-height during the 7 1/2 minute figure eight flight.
British millionaire Henry Kremer and the Royal Aeronautical Society offered the Kremer Prize to the “designer who could create a human-powered flying machine”. After 18 years of no winners, MacCready’s Gossamer Condor made history in 1977 when it became the first human-powered vehicle to achieve a sustained flight, performing a complex maneuver.
The Gossamer Condor is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. MacCready went on to win a number of other flight firsts and also developed the solar-powered Sunraycer that competed in a race across Australia. His 1990 electric car, built in collaboration with General Motors, resulted in the Impact electric car that could accelerate from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds.
For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on John Montgomery, Paul MacCready, Gossamer Condor and gliders. Or view curricular resources at the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.
Tags: Aerospace Engineering · Engineering Mechanics · Mechanical Engineering
by Alice AgoginocloseAuthor: Alice Agogino
Name: Alice Agogino
Email: agogino@berkeley.edu
Site: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/agogino/
About: Alice M. Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and is affiliated faculty at the Haas School of Business in their Operations and Information Technology Management Group. Her research interests include: community-based design; sustainable engineering; intelligent learning systems; information retrieval and data mining; multiobjective and strategic product design; nonlinear optimization; probabilistic modeling; intelligent control and manufacturing; sensor validation, fusion and diagnostics; wireless sensor networks; multimedia and computer-aided design; design databases; design theory and methods; MEMS/NEMS synthesis and computer-aided design; artificial intelligence and decision and expert systems; and gender/ethnic equity.
She has served in a number of administrative positions at UC Berkeley, including Chair of the Faculty Senate, Associate Dean of Engineering and Faculty Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost in Educational Development and Technology. Prof. Agogino also served as Director for Synthesis, an NSF-sponsored coalition of eight universities with the goal of reforming undergraduate engineering education, and continues as PI for the NEEDS (www.needs.org) and SMETE.ORG digital libraries of courseware in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Prof. Agogino received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico (1975), M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1978) from the University of California at Berkeley and Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University (1984). Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, she worked in industry for Dow Chemical, General Electric and SRI International. She has authored over 150 scholarly publications; has won numerous teaching, best paper and research awards; and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). At NAE she served on the Committee on Engineering Education, working on the Technologically Speaking and the Engineer 2020 projects. She is currently a member of the National Research Council's Board on Education and the Women in Academic Science Engineering Committee. She has supervised 66 MS projects/theses, 26 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate researchers.See Authors Posts (387) · August 27th, 2010 · Add a Comment
Today in History – August 27, 2003 – World’s largest battery is connected to provide emergency power to Fairbanks, Alaska’s second-largest city. Backup power is critical here as Alaska could become an “electrical island” when the power lines go down. In fact, environmental conditions cause a total city blackout every two or three years. In this $35 million rechargeable battery array, 13,760 large nickel-cadmium cells weigh a total of 1,300 tons and cover 2,000 square meters.
See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on batteries. For related curricular resources, visit the Electrical Engineering Education or the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary communities.
Also on this date in 1875, Gallium is discovered by P.E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. His first spectroscopic analysis of the tiny amount (he estimated 1/100 mg) an unknown violet line at 417.0, indicating a new element. Except for mercury, caesium, and rubidium, Gallium is the only metal which can be liquid near room temperatures. It is also used in semiconductor applications. See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Gallium or visit the Electrical Engineering Education, Materials Engineering Education or the Chemical Engineering Education disciplinary communities for curricular resources.
Tags: Ceramic Engineering · Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering · Electrical Engineering · Engineering · Materials Engineering · Mechanical Engineering
