Media Briefing to Preview Big Year Ahead for NASA Earth Science

Posted on by

NASA will host a media teleconference at12:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 22, to outline the agency's Earth science activities planned for 2014, which include five mission launches.

The expert panelists for the briefing are:

For the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth science missions will be launched into space in a single year, opening new and improved eyes on our changing planet. Two of these missions will deliver instruments to the International Space Station, inaugurating NASA's use of the orbiting laboratory as a 24/7 Earth-observing science platform.

NASA also is conducting 12 airborne campaigns this year, from the poles to Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, and helping decision-makers put satellite data to work in the U.S. and around the world.

Journalists who want to participate in the teleconference must provide their name, media affiliation and telephone number toDwayne Brownatdwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov, or 202-358-1726, no later than11 a.m. Wednesday.

The teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about NASA Earth science programs and research, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Read more:

Media Briefing to Preview Big Year Ahead for NASA Earth Science

What is Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials? – Dragonfly Education – Video

Posted on by


What is Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials? - Dragonfly Education
Dragonfly Education is an education company, that is building proprietary education content for higher learning in technical streams. We are enabling B.Tech engineering students to learn more...

By: Dragonfly Education

See original here:

What is Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials? - Dragonfly Education - Video

Students to learn about robotics, renewable energy and smart devices

Posted on by

High school students interested in a career in robotics, renewable energy, nanotechnology and the next generation of smart devices will be fascinated by the University of Canterburys E-Week camp from January 20 to 24.

The one-week camp provides a special opportunity for Year 12 and 13 students to get hands-on laboratory experience, visit local companies, drive an electric go-cart, build and programme their own robot and build a solar cell.

The activities, provided by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are designed to open students' eyes to the teaching and research that occurs at the University of Canterbury (UC).

Professor Phil Bones says students can experiment on solar cell construction in the nanotechnology laboratory, which is part of the McDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

We will show students the rudiments of programming a microcomputer to control a robot. This relates well to research by Dr Chris Hann who is helping with the Canterbury rebuild.

His team's Rover robot, designed to inspect for damage to piles under buildings, is being used by a government-owned company responsible for settling claims from the earthquakes. Southern Response/Arrow International has been using the UC Rover robot since September.

The students will spend a day during the week looking at aspects of electric power engineering.

The department has a strong link to New Zealand's electric power industry in the form of the Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPECentre), which is a sponsor of E-Week, and has won a large research funding grant to improve and provide a stronger national green grid.

The result of the research will be an efficient, cost-effective and robust electricity network meeting the ongoing and changing power supply needs of New Zealanders. The research is led by Dr Allan Miller of the UC EPECentre.

Students will also get to see the activities of local companies that employ electrical and computer engineering graduates to perform a wide range of engineering tasks. The companies this year are Tait Communications, Enatel, Transpower and Bluewater Systems, Professor Bones says.

See the rest here:

Students to learn about robotics, renewable energy and smart devices

Students to learn about robotics and renewable energy

Posted on by

Students to learn about robotics, renewable energy and smart devices January 19, 2014 High school students interested in a career in robotics, renewable energy, nanotechnology and the next generation of smart devices will be fascinated by the University of Canterburys E-Week camp from January 20 to 24. The one-week camp provides a special opportunity for Year12 and 13 students to get hands-on laboratory experience, visit local companies, drive an electric go-cart, build and programme their own robot and build a solar cell. The activities, provided by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are designed to open students' eyes to the teaching and research that occurs at the University of Canterbury (UC). Professor Phil Bones says students can experiment on solar cell construction in the nanotechnology laboratory, which is part of the McDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. ``We will show students the rudiments of programming a microcomputer to control a robot. This relates well to research by Dr Chris Hann who is helping with the Canterbury rebuild. ``His team's Rover robot, designed to inspect for damage to piles under buildings, is being used by a government-owned company responsible for settling claims from the earthquakes. Southern Response/Arrow International has been using the UC Rover robot since September. ``The students will spend a day during the week looking at aspects of electric power engineering. ``The department has a strong link to New Zealand's electric power industry in the form of the Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPECentre), which is a sponsor of E-Week, and has won a large research funding grant to improve and provide a stronger national green grid. ``The result of the research will be an efficient, cost-effective and robust electricity network meeting the ongoing and changing power supply needs of New Zealanders.The research is led by Dr Allan Miller of the UC EPECentre. ``Students will also get to see the activities of local companies that employ electrical and computer engineering graduates to perform a wide range of engineering tasks. The companies this year are Tait Communications, Enatel, Transpower and Bluewater Systems, Professor Bones says.

ENDS

Scoop Media

See the original post here:

Students to learn about robotics and renewable energy

The Mises Institute and the Future of Higher Education

Posted on by

Mises Institute Senior Fellow Thomas Woods in October launched The Tom Woods Show, which quickly became a top-rated podcast on iTunes. Woods recently interviewed Mises Institute Chairman Lew Rockwell on the show, and toward the end of the interview, Woods asked Lew about his vision for the future of the Institute. The following is adapted from the interview:

Thomas Woods: What would you like to see the Institute doing that it isnt doing today?

Lew Rockwell: I think the Mises Institute represents the future of higher education. Thanks to federal subsidies, the price of an education at the brick-and-mortar universities has become prohibitive for so many people. Decades ago, Ron Paul worked his way through college but that sounds like science fiction today. Almost no one can work his way through college anymore.

So what the state has done, as with medical care, is made it impossible for students to pay for college with the wages and savings that young people can muster, so the students take on these horrendous debts to receive instruction at institutions that are, by and large, either teaching error, or theyre teaching the official boring views of official academia.

There has been so little innovation in the mainstream higher education industry. Peter Klein points out that colleges and universities still use the same production model that Aristotle used, with someone lecturing students from the front of the room while students sit quietly at their desks.

There are, of course, different ways to do this, and the Mises Institute is at the cutting edge of those different ways. Many young people are sick and tired of these long five- and six-year terms necessary to complete college. The universities and colleges so often make it difficult to get all the courses needed at times that work for the students, and of course, the longer it takes to get the degree, the bigger the students debts will be.

But theres another way to do it, and as we see with the online courses of Mises Academy, and with our in-person programs such as Mises University the Rothbard Graduate Seminar, there is much greater respect for the student and his or her time. Depending on the program, students can complete them quickly, and often on a schedule tailored to the students needs, and the Mises Institute then issues certificates to those who successfully finish the programs.

Meanwhile, were finding that employers are often treating these certificates as something equivalent to college credit when considering employment for our alumni. This makes sense, of course, since the Mises Institute teaches students how to engage in true economic reasoning and to think like someone who truly understands economics; the type of economics described by Mises.

But of course its not just our online education that is paving the way for a new kind of education. Back in 2011, when Sebastian Thrun, then a professor at Stanford, decided to begin offing online courses on robotics and artificial intelligence, 160,000 people enrolled in the first class. After that, Thrun decided to leave behind his tenured position and founded a new online education operation through which he believes he can reach half a million students with low-cost higher education taught by some of the worlds best faculty.

The demand for these online educational programs illustrates just how useful they are in the marketplace, and the Mises Institute is already part of this new world of higher education.

Continue reading here:

The Mises Institute and the Future of Higher Education