Making stars: Astronomy program provides tools, support to enhance diversity

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Like so many other children, Fabienne Bastien didnot like to go to sleep at bedtime

She recalls her mother lying alongside her, telling her to look out her window into the night sky because her guardian angel was there. And as she searched for this elusive guardian angel, what she found instead was the moon and stars, among other astronomical delights.

Despite Washington, D.C., metro-area light pollution that can restrict one's view of the cosmos, Bastien pinpoints that moment as the one when she got hooked on astronomy, knowing it held her future, if not an actual guardian angel.

Many astronomers and astrophysicists speak of that same source of inspiration. But, while our solar system's immensity and beauty have an almost universal appeal, the astronomy and astrophysics career field has had very little representation from minority populations.

In a study done by the American Astronomical Society, which includes most professionals and many students in these fields, only 21 percent of its members is female, which is light-years ahead of the representation of African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos--1 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Not surprisingly, those numbers have prompted a call for diversity within the astro community.

In 2008, the National Science Foundation (NSF) started a program called Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE, pronounced "pair"). Its goal was to identify and explore ways to repair "leaks" in the astronomy/astrophysics career pipeline for minority students. In many cases, minority students would start out studying astronomy, but they weren't making it all the way through the pipeline to pursue science careers.

When Bastien finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, she too wasn't sure whether she was appropriately prepared for the rigors of a grad school education in astronomy.

"I was petrified of grad school," she said. "I hadn't taken advantage of research opportunities as an undergrad largely due to personal challenges. But also because our department was so big, I fell between the cracks there."

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Making stars: Astronomy program provides tools, support to enhance diversity

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Robots and Beyond

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Speakers: Peter Bock, Professor Emeritus of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, George Washington University, Paul Cohen, Program Manager, Information Innovation Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Professor and Founding Director, School of Information: Science, Technology, and Arts, University of Arizona, and Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist and Cofounder, Initiative on the Digital Economy, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presider: Amy Alving, Member, Board of Directors, Fannie Mae; Former Chief Technology Officer, Science Applications International Corporation October 2, 2014, Washington, DC Council on Foreign Relations

ALVING: Good afternoon and welcome to the Council on Foreign Relations' discussion on the future of artificial intelligence, robots and beyond. I'm May Alving, and I'll be your moderator for today. We have a very distinguished panel here, and in your information, you have a detailed bio on everybody on the stage, so we won't go into those specifics.

But briefly, let me introduce Professor Peter Bock, emeritus from George Washington University, who has decades of experience in building and developing artificial intelligence systems. Next to me we have Paul Cohen, also an academic from the University of Arizona, who is now at my alma mater, DARPA, working for the Defense Department's most advanced research and development organization. And we also have Andy McAfee from MIT, who comes to this from a business and economic background with long experience looking at the impact of artificial intelligence from an economics perspective.

So we'll start today with 30 minutes of moderated discussion amongst the panelists, and then we'll turn it over to the audience for Q&A.

I think in this area, it's important to make sure that we have some common understanding of what we're talking about when we say artificial intelligence. And so I'll ask Peter to start off by describing to us, what is artificial intelligence more than just smart software?

BOCK: Yeah, in my TED talk, I described people who come up to me and say that AI is really the field that tries to solve very, very, very hard problems, and I always found that definition a bit smarmy, because all of us here are involved in solving very, very, very hard problems. That's not it at all.

It's a general purpose problem-solving engine that has a more or less broad domain of applications so that a single solution can apply to many different situations even in different fields. That's beginning -- a beginning definition for AI, and also probably a longer definition, an engine that can eventually be broadened into beginning to imitate, shall we say, or, in fact, emulate the cognition of our own thinking patterns.

I think I'll stop there and let the rest jump in.

ALVING: OK. So, Paul, I know that from your perspective, artificial intelligence is about more than just crunching a lot of numbers. You know, the buzzword in -- out in the world today is big data, big data is going to solve all our problems. But big data isn't sufficient, is that correct?

COHEN: That's right. So do you want me to talk about what's AI or why big data isn't a sufficient?

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The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Robots and Beyond

Aerospace Ground Handling System Market Detailed Analysis & Strategies by 2018 – Video

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Aerospace Ground Handling System Market Detailed Analysis Strategies by 2018
Ground handling systems are used to provide services to aircrafts during landing and take-off. These service systems include aircraft marshalling, loading, unloading, refueling, catering, passenger...

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Aerospace Ground Handling System Market Detailed Analysis & Strategies by 2018 - Video

Aerospace Selected As a 2014 BEST Award Winner

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The Aerospace Corporation ranked number three out of 46 companies, as one of the Association for Talent Developments 2014 BEST Award winners.

Aerospace was nominated for its workforce development activities performed by its corporate university, The Aerospace Institute. TAI delivers corporate training for technical education, business and leadership development. The technical curriculum includes mission assurance, space systems architecting, acquisition, technologies and engineering disciplines associated with space missions and systems.

Aerospace competed against nearly 100 organizations from 14 countries. Every organization submitted quantitative and qualitative information to ATD about their learning and talent development practices and programs. Applications were assessed in a blind review by members of the BEST Awards advisory committee, a select group of experts in the field.

BEST winners must demonstrate and leverage the learning function as a strategic business tool to achieve enterprise-wide success; they create, support, and champion learning opportunities for results and a learning culture. ATD recognizes organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success as a result of employee learning and development.

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Aerospace at full throttle as orders increase four-fold in August

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By Ben Griffiths for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:45 EST, 7 October 2014 | Updated: 05:08 EST, 8 October 2014

Britain's booming aerospace sector has chalked up a record backlog of work after a four-fold increase in orders during August.

The backlog now stands at 12,113 aircraft and 21,128 engines worth a potential 160billion to the UK economy which hosts the worlds second-largest aerospace sector after the US.

According to industry lobby group ADS, Britain is home to 3,000 aerospace firms across all regions and of all sizes, with around 230,000 people employed directly by the companies and indirectly in local supply chains.

Booming industry: Britain is home to 3,000 aerospace firms across all regions and of all sizes

Manufacturing giants like European aerospace group Airbus which employs around 17,000 people and makes all the wings for its commercial airliners in the UK dominate the sector.

There are also hundreds of smaller businesses churning out components such as engine blades, aircraft seats and lighting systems.

With an estimated 29,000 new large airliners, 24,000 business jets and 5,800 regional aircraft needed by 2032, firms are focusing on increasing production and deliveries, which increased 5 per cent in August compared with the same month in 2014.

ADS chief executive Paul Everitt said: This latest data signals the strength of the sector. We estimate that the current backlog could equate to more than nine years work in hand for the aerospace sector, giving the industry confidence to focus on the long-term picture; investing in skills and R&D to develop the technologies of tomorrow.

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Aerospace at full throttle as orders increase four-fold in August

Q47. Is there a 100% effective way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV? – Video

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Q47. Is there a 100% effective way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV?
From the HIV Avatar Project, posted by the Department of Behavioral Science and Community Health at the University of Florida hiv-avatar-project.com http://bsch.phhp.ufl.edu/

By: UF Behavioral Science and Community Health

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NATO Reassures Eastern Europe: Stoltenberg says alliance can deploy troops ‘wherever it wants’ – Video

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NATO Reassures Eastern Europe: Stoltenberg says alliance can deploy troops #39;wherever it wants #39;
NATO has refused to station permanent troops to Poland and the Baltics but has agreed to set up a so-called rapid reaction force that it says can be quickly deployed to Eastern Europe in case...

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NATO Reassures Eastern Europe: Stoltenberg says alliance can deploy troops 'wherever it wants' - Video