Today in History- October 21, 1824 – Portland cement is patented by Joseph Aspdin, a stone mason in Yorkshire, England (UK patent No. 5022). He made it by burning finely pulverized lime and clay at high temperatures in kilns and grinding the mixture into a powder. This hydraulic cement would then harden with the addition [...]

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Today in History – October 4, 1913 – Steel Treaters’ Club is founded. Before the steel industry was fully developed, steel treating was a trade controlled and carefully guarded by individual blacksmiths. When a blacksmith named William Woodside began working in the automotive industry, he recognized the need to exchange information within his profession. Through [...]

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Today in History- September 30, 1935 – Dedication of Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada. The concrete-arch dam, originally called Boulder Dam, supplied the first U.S. hydroelectric plant to produce over a million kilowatts. Hoover Dam serves Nevada and the Los Angeles area. Hoover Dam was built at the height of the Depression and provided thousands [...]

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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 [...]

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Formerly called “Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement CCLI”, the NSF program “Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (TUES)” emphasizes projects that have the potential to transform undergraduate STEM education. For more information, see a list of the Engineering Pathway’s collection of engineering-related TUES resources.

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