Today in History – October 23-24 – TRON Legacy Exhibit at the National Science & Engineering Festival.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has teamed up with Walt Disney Studios to co-create an interactive exhibit in Tent 102 at the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, which will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. each day.  The hands-on experience blends themes from the upcoming major motion picture TRON: Legacy with the NAE’s Grand Challenges for Engineering.

Exhibit-goers will be transported into the digital world of TRON: Legacy and examine where movie fantasy and reality intersect.  Visitors can try 3-D scanning and see how it’s bringing the real and virtual worlds closer together.  They’ll get a chance to do brain surgery on a computer-generated replica of a real brain, and experience a trip into the TRON: Legacy digital grid through an incredible 3-D light painting activity created especially for this exhibit. The NAE worked with Disney Imagineering research scientist Lanny Smoot (upper right photo) to develop the interactive demo.

TRON: Legacy is the stand-alone sequel to the 1982 motion picture TRON.  Both star Jeff Bridges as software engineer and video game developer Kevin Flynn, who was digitized by a laser and transported into a world of computer games in the original film.  In TRON: Legacy, Flynn’s son Sam finds himself in the digital realm where his father has lived for the past two decades.  The film, in theaters nationwide on Dec. 17, 2010, involved cutting-edge movie technologies, including one that allows Bridges to act as his younger self.

“Engineering is woven into the very fabric of TRON: Legacy. The story is rich with themes about technology and its evolving relationship with humanity in an increasingly digital world,” said co-producer Justin Springer.  “The line between science and art is blurring more than ever.  And some of the most talented artists in modern film making are engineers, mathematicians, architects, and computer programmers.”

An international committee of some of today’s most accomplished engineers and scientists determined the NAE’s Grand Challenges for Engineering.  They identified 14 potentially “game changing” goals for helping people and the planet thrive in the 21^st century that include enhancing virtual reality; engineering better medicines; advancing personalized learning; engineering the tools of scientific discovery; and reverse engineering the brain.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival and the NAE Grand Challenges. For related educational resources, visit the engineering education and the computer graphics & visualization disciplinary communities.

Also on this date on October 23, 1819, the first boat passed through the Erie Canal. On October 24, 1861 the transcontinental telegraph line was completed.

Have you developed courseware – interactive websites, simulations, tutorials, case studies, software environments or tools – designed to enhance engineering education? We want to see it! Submissions due July 17, 2009.

The Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware, hosted by the Engineering Pathway, is open to a wide range of submissions of high-quality, engaging, non-commercial learning innovations designed to enhance engineering education. Submissions for 2009 are due by July 17, 2009, and the Premier Courseware of 2009 will be announced at the Frontiers In Education Conference to be held October 18-21 in San Antonio, Texas. More details on the Premier Award and current and previous winners can be found on the Engineering Pathway at: http://www.engineeringpathway.org/premier/.

Check out our prior Premier Award winners. The 2008 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware was awarded to Richard Anderson, Ruth Anderson, Natalie Linnell, Craig Prince and members of the development team from the University of Washington for Classroom Presenter.

Classroom Presenter is a Tablet PC-based interaction system that supports the sharing of digital ink on slides between instructors and students. Classroom Presenter enables the flexible delivery of lecture content and can increase student engagement and understanding of material. When used as a presentation tool, Classroom Presenter allows the integration of digital ink and electronic slides, making it possible to combine the advantages of whiteboard style and slide-based presentation. The ability to link the instructor and student devices, and to send information back and forth provides a mechanism for introducing active learning into the classroom and creates additional feedback channels.

Richard Anderson is a professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington and also serves as Associate Chair of educational programs. He won the 2007 UW Faculty Innovator for Teaching Award. Ruth Anderson teaches Computer Science at the University of Washington.  Natalie Linnell and Craig Prince are both PhD students at University of Washington working on educational technology with Richard Anderson.

The Engineering Pathway (www.engineeringpathway.org) is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in applied science and math, engineering, computer science/information technology and engineering technology, for use by K-12 and university educators and students. Engineering Pathway is the engineering education “wing” of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) at www.nsdl.org.

The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited computing and engineering disciplines as well as emerging new interdisciplinary communities.

Today in History – November 24, 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes his “On the Origin of the Species“, explaining the theory of evolution.

Although controversial in some circles, the theory of evolution is a fundamental part of our understanding of biological systems and agricultural engineering and genetic engineering. The BioQuest biological curriculum uses controversy as part of their pedagogical approach based on a 3P’s approach to science education: Problem-posing, Problem-solving, and Peer Persuasion.

Evolution used to take a geologic time to take its course, but human intervention has now hastened that process into a matter of few months. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are currently under the global limelight because of their increased presence in our food sources. A rising movement for food that has not been genetically engineered and is sustainably farmed is reflected in the booming organic food market in the recent few years. On November 12, latest research from Mintel confirms that, in light of prominent health and food safety concerns, the organic movement has most definitely burst onto the mainstream. Mintel reports that organic food sales have grown a whopping 132% since 2002, while organic beverage sales nearly doubled (97%) during the same period. Together, the organic food and beverage markets now make up a nearly $6 billion dollar a year industry.

The controversy on eating these genetically modified foods lies in the lack of information on the impact they may have on our health. Research dollars are being invested to elucidate the benefits and potential side effects on health due to consumption of genetically modified foods. Before any ill effects have yet to be found, the application of genetics to our foods already has some obvious advantages such as enhanced flavors and increased overall food production. Furthermore, before geneticists even tampered with our food, we have been eating foods that farmers grew using techniques to select for the most desirable qualities of each species and incorporating them into one superior product, only now genetics has made this process faster and easier to achieve the same effect.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on Darwin and the theory of evolution, For related educational resources, visit the Biological Systems and Agricultural Engineering Education or the Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Education community sites. Or visit the BEN (Biological Educator’s Network), our Pathway Partner in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).

Today in History – November 1, 1848 – opening of the Boston Female Medical College, the first medical school for women in the world. Twelve women enroll in the first class and graduate in 1850. The Boston medical establishment’s reaction was immediately condemnatory, claiming women had insufficient stamina to deal with the tension of medical practice. A total of 98 women earned their degrees from the college over the next two decades, along with a larger number of midwives and other allied professionals. Today, women make up over 50% of the medical school students and women students are reaching parity in bioengineering and biomedical engineering as well – yet they are still less than 10% of the medical and engineering faculty.

A recent study of the National Academies titled Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering found unintentional biases were a major contributor to the low number of women on our science and engineering faculties. Women face barriers to hiring and promotion in research universities in many fields of science and engineering — a situation that deprives the United States of an important source of talent as the country faces increasingly stiff global competition in higher education, science and technology, and the marketplace. Eliminating gender bias in universities requires immediate, overarching reform and decisive action by university administrators, professional societies, government agencies, and Congress. The report was motivated by former Harvard President Larry Summers’ speculation that the low numbers of women in science and engineering are because women don’t want to work hard enough and that there may be a biological basis. His discounted discrimination as a tertiary factor. Seems a bit like “back to the future” when considering the medical community’s response to the opening of the first medical school for women. The National Academy report emphasized that both men and women need to be educated as how to achieve gender equity in science and engineering. See the Engineering Pathway’s Engineering Diversity site and our resources on gender equity.

Also on this date, Edison files to patent his electric lamp in 1879, the U.S. detonates first H-bomb in 1952, the Mackinac Bridge opens as world’s largest suspension bridge of its day in 1957, and the Arecibo Observatory opens in 1963.

Today in History – October 18, 1962 - Watson, Crick, and Wilkins receive Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA as a double helix. They first proposed their model for the structure of DNA in 1953. As this model was composed of two right-handed, antiparallel, polynucleotide chains coiled around a common axis it is sometimes referred to as the  double helix. They received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material”.

Rosalind Franklin’s work was pivotal in the development of the understanding the structure of DNA as well. She discovered the existence of the A and B forms of DNA and her X-ray crystallographies clearly showed x-ray diffraction patterns of DNA. Alas Rosalind Franklin died of cancer in 1958 at the young age of 37, possibly due to expose to the X-rays she worked with. Watson, Crick and Wilson only recently credited her contributions as key to the development of their model of DNA. Many have speculated that sexism was the reason for not giving her more credit earlier. Regardless, Nobel Prizes are never awarded posthumously so this would not have changed the names on the 1962 award.

Today, women make up over 50% of the medical school students and women students are reaching parity in bioengineering and biomedical engineering as well – yet they are still less than 10% of the medical and engineering faculty. A recent study of the National Academies titled Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering found unintentional biases were a major contributor to the low number of women on our science and engineering faculties. Women face barriers to hiring and promotion in research universities in many fields of science and engineering — a situation that deprives the United States of an important source of talent as the country faces increasingly stiff global competition in higher education, science and technology, and the marketplace. Eliminating gender bias in universities requires immediate, overarching reform and decisive action by university administrators, professional societies, government agencies, and Congress. The report was motivated by former Harvard President Larry Summers’ speculation that the low numbers of women in science and engineering are because women don’t want to work hard enough and that there may be a biological basis. His discounted discrimination as a tertiary factor.

See the Engineering Pathway’s Bioengineering / Biomedical Engineering Community site or our resources on Rosalind Franklin, Engineering Diversity site and our resources on gender equity.

Also on this date, October 18, 1955, the antiproton is discovered. See our related resources on antimatter.

Today in History – May 23, 1930 – U.S. Plant Patent Act of the Hawley-Smot Trariff allows plants to be patented. This new U.S. Plant Patent Act provided, for the first time, patent protection for new and distinct varieties of asexually reproduced plants. Plant breeders now had a financial incentive to perform plant breeding experiments and exercise control over their discoveries. The new law was motivated by the work of Luther Burbank, who had performed over 100,000 horticultural experiments and developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants during his 50 years of dedication to plant improvement. After selling his rights to the Russet Burbank potato in 1871 he moved to California and established a nursery garden, a greenhouse and experimental farms in Santa Rosa that one can visit today as a park and museum.

Thomas Edison testified before Congress in support of the 1930 Plant Patent Act saying: This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks.

Luther Burbank died in 1926, but he was granted 16 patents posthumously. He set the precedent for plant breeding in agricultural engineering and bioengineering.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on Luther Burbank. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education community site. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Today in History – November 14, 1967 – DNA was first created in a test tube. Working with a variety of bacteria, Arthur Kornberg synthesized genetically active DNA. He used very small bacterial viruses (phages), such as the phi X174 and M13 viruses of E. coli, for his study. Their relatively comparatively short DNA strands made these viruses easier to keep intact during handling and easier to observe their biological activity.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Kornberg and DNA. For related educational resources, visit the Biological Engineering Education or the Biomedical Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – December 2, 1982- Dr. William C. DeVries carried out a series of five implants in Utah over the next three years using the Jarvik total artificial heart. Although the first patients did not live past a year, further patients received the artificial heart designed by Robert K. Jarvik, MD, as a temporary device while awaiting heart transplants. The unusual openness of this medical experiment allowed doctors and designers to learn how to improve the clinical outcomes in subsequent patients with the Jarvik 7, “a device that is still used today and has the highest success rate of any mechanical heart or assist device in the world.” For more information see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Jarvik artificial heart and the human heart and heart transplants.

Readers may want to view our November 29 blog on the first open heart surgery in 1994 that laid the foundation for today’s heart surgery. Working as a team, the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s chief surgeon, Dr. Alfred Blalock (center photo), surgical technician Vivien T. Thomas (portrait, second from right), and pediatric cardiologist Dr. Helen Taussig (right photo) developed a method for improving the flow of oxygen into the blood by connecting one of the heart’s major arteries with another feeding into the lungs.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on biomedical engineering or go to the Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Education Community site.

Also on this date in history in 1957 the first full-scale U.S. nuclear power plant begins operating in Shippingport, Pennsylvania – 15 years to the day after Fermi’s experiment at the University of Chicago. The reactor plant was designed by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in cooperation with the Division of Naval Reactors of the Atomic Energy Commission. The Shippingport nuclear powerplant was retired in 1982. Concerns about public safety, terrorist use of nuclear materials and the Three Mile Island nuclear accident killed the commerical nuclear indutry in the U.S. However, the nuclear option is being reconsidered in light of its lighter environmental impact over fossil fuels for generating electricity. As with all technologies, engineers must work with the public to evaluate the ethical and social consequences of any technological development and deployment. See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on nuclear energy or visit the Nuclear Engineering Education community site for more information.

Today in History – November 24, 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes his “On the Origin of the Species“, explaining the theory of evolution.

Although controversial in some circles, the theory of evolution is a fundamental part of our understanding of biological systems and agricultural engineering and genetic engineering. The BioQuest biological curriculum uses controversy as part of their pedagogical approach based on a 3P’s approach to science education: Problem-posing, Problem-solving, and Peer Persuasion.

Evolution used to take a geologic time to take its course, but human intervention has now hastened that process into a matter of few months. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are currently under the global limelight because of their increased presence in our food sources. A rising movement for food that has not been genetically engineered and is sustainably farmed is reflected in the booming organic food market in the recent few years. On November 12, latest research from Mintel confirms that, in light of prominent health and food safety concerns, the organic movement has most definitely burst onto the mainstream. Mintel reports that organic food sales have grown a whopping 132% since 2002, while organic beverage sales nearly doubled (97%) during the same period. Together, the organic food and beverage markets now make up a nearly $6 billion dollar a year industry.

The controversy on eating these genetically modified foods lies in the lack of information on the impact they may have on our health. Research dollars are being invested to elucidate the benefits and potential side effects on health due to consumption of genetically modified foods. Before any ill effects have yet to be found, the application of genetics to our foods already has some obvious advantages such as enhanced flavors and increased overall food production. Furthermore, before geneticists even tampered with our food, we have been eating foods that farmers grew using techniques to select for the most desirable qualities of each species and incorporating them into one superior product, only now genetics has made this process faster and easier to achieve the same effect.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on Darwin and the theory of evolution, For related educational resources, visit the Biological Systems and Agricultural Engineering Education or the Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Education community sites. Or visit the BEN (Biological Educator’s Network), our Pathway Partner in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).

Today in History – November 11, 1865 – Mary Edward Walker, the first Army female surgeon, was awarded the Medal of Honor for her work during the Civil War. Dr. Mary Walker changed the face of medicine as a physician and as an advocate for women’s rights and healthy cothing for women. As she concluded in 1897, “I am the original new woman…Why, before Lucy Stone, Mrs. Bloomer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were – before they were, I am. In the early ’40′s, when they began their work in dress reform, I was already wearing pants…I have made it possible for the bicycle girl to wear the abbreviated skirt, and I have prepared the way for the girl in knickerbockers.

Today, women make up over 50% of the medical school students and women students are reaching parity in bioengineering and biomedical engineering as well – yet they are still less than 10% of the medical and engineering faculty. A recent study of the National Academies titled Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering found unintentional biases were a major contributor to the low number of women on our science and engineering faculties. Women face barriers to hiring and promotion in research universities in many fields of science and engineering — a situation that deprives the United States of an important source of talent as the country faces increasingly stiff global competition in higher education, science and technology, and the marketplace. Eliminating gender bias in universities requires immediate, overarching reform and decisive action by university administrators, professional societies, government agencies, and Congress. The report was motivated by former Harvard President Larry Summers’ speculation that the low numbers of women in science and engineering are because women don’t want to work hard enough and that there may be a biological basis. His discounted discrimination as a tertiary factor. See the Engineering Pathway’s Engineering Diversity site and our resources on gender equity.

Also on this date, Milikan introduced cosmic rays in 1925 and the Nobel prize for physics is awarded for diffraction of electrons by crystals in 1937.