Daily Archives: April 23, 2017

Texas education board to consider compromise on evolution standards – Texas Tribune

Posted: April 23, 2017 at 12:55 am

This week's State Board of Education debate about high school biology standards and governinghow to teach students about the theory of evolution could come down to a single word: evaluate.

At a February meeting, board members took a preliminary vote to modify those curriculum standards, keeping in language that would require students to challenge evolutionary science.

Republican board member Barbara Cargill, who led the charge to keep in the controversial language, has said requiring students to "evaluate" certain biological processes is necessary for thorough biology instruction.Critics say keeping the word "evaluate" in those standards casts doubt on evolution in a way that could open the door to teaching creationism.

The board is set to hold that debate Tuesday and will take another preliminary vote on whether to modifythe standards Wednesday, with a final vote set for Friday.

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At the board's request in July, a 10-member committee of teachers and scientists took on the challenge of narrowing the biology curriculum standards known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS. The committee removed four passages that Democrats on the board and activists say allow teachers to challenge evolution in the classroom, advancing creationist ideas.

After the board voted in February to put a few of those controversial standards back in the TEKS, educators on the committee were not happy. A few have said they did not intend to make a political statement by taking out the controversial standards. They did it to cut down on instructional time, as was their mandate, and to allow teachers more leeway for depth in the subject, said committee member Ron Wetherington, an anthropology professor at Southern Methodist University.

He called the board's changes to the standards"pretty toxic ... We just said, 'Evaluate is out the window and we're not even going to talk about it.'"Cargill's proposal would add nine additional days of teaching to a high school biology class, he said.

Republican board member Marty Rowley said he has received a lot of letters from constituents "wanting to make sure we allow teachers the space to teach the strengths and weaknesses of evolution, and that we cover them with the depth that allows our students to compete globally in science."

He said any suggestion that the standards would open the door to creationism is "unfounded. I don't think there's been any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that Texas biology teachers are teaching creationism in biology."

After February's vote, the committee sent the board a letter proposing a compromise.

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In the letter, signed by all 10 members, the committee recommends the removal of the word "evaluate" from two of the science standards Cargill had pushed to add. The first standard asks high schoolers to compare and contrast eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells to "evaluate ... their complexity." The second asks students to "evaluate scientific explanations for the origin of DNA."

The committee wants board members to change the word "evaluate" to "identify."

"Although our recommended compromises will add some instructional time back into our calendar, they will not create significant instructional problems," the letter reads.

Rowley would not say Monday whether he planned to move forward with this compromise.

"When you have your classroom experts, your teachers, telling you this, it seems to me the board has some responsibility to give them some deference here," said Dan Quinn, who represents left-leaning State Board of Education watchdog Texas Freedom Network. "They know what they're doing."

Texas Freedom Network has been the main organization calling for the removal of the controversial science standards over the past several years, arguing they are a gateway to creationist alternatives to biological science. The proposed compromise, Quinn said, "looks very reasonable."

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Evolution, rolling dice, and Russian spies – Albany Times Union (blog)

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A couple of quick hits this week from the wonderful world of board games.

A few of my crazy creatures

First a great first impression with Evolution: Climate. This beautiful card game captures all of the turmoil and drama of nature and evolution in a nice tidy one hour playtime. Players create new species, add various traits, increase the population and size of their creatures and then hold on and try to survive the round without anything going hungry.

The basic gameplay is really approachable, but immediately some really interesting strategies arise from these simple rules. Do you make your species a carnivore, hoping theres another players species that you can manage to eat this round? Do you focus on more herbivore traits and try to grab as much food at the central watering hole before other players snatch it all up? Do you change size or develop defensive traits to fend off that jerk across the table who keeps eating your mutant furry turtles? These are just a few of challenges of this deep card game. This particular version also includes a climate element so that animals that do not have the proper warmth or cooling can be in big trouble depending on how the weather changes!

And really, I cant say enough about the art. These water color pictures could happily be wall art, but here there are dozens of these pieces tucked into a great game.

Roll for It!

The second game is one that I am surprised no one invented fiftyyears ago or so, as the basic concept of the game is incredibly simple. Its called Roll for It!, and thats exactly what you do. Players each have six dice, and there are cards laid out each turn that have a certain goal of what dice to roll, along with the points that card is worth. Players take turns rolling and assigning dice to cards, and if they complete the goal, they get the cards and the points. Thats it, roll the dice, assign to cards. The tactical decisions come from whether to go for the cards with more challenging six dice goals, or to go for simpler goals that take less dice to complete. Any dice actively assigned are dice that you are not rolling your next turn, so going big can mean not scoring many points at all if your luck doesnt work out. A cute game to kill some time with, but not my favorite dice chucker by any means.

Red Scare

And finally, in news about upcoming games, heres a strange new concept. A game about Russian spies called Red Scare where the innovative new element is a pair of special glasses that allow you to see text that other players cant. I am always intrigued by a new gameplay concept, and maybe this will put a new twist on those betrayal and hidden role games Ive written about before.

Thats all for this week. Happy gaming!

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IoT Evolution World Week in Review: NYU, AT&T & More – IoT Evolution World (blog)

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Welcome to the IoT Evolution Week in Review, my friends. This week, weve been talking about Smart Homes, Smart Agriculture, Smart City, and Smart technological improvements. Lets get into it, shall we?

In our lead story, the U.S. FCC has launched a new Web portal to allow radio spectrum researchers to apply for an experimental license for 5G spectrum projects, and the first to get one is New York University. The new application system is designed to reduce barriers to experimentation for universities, research laboratories, healthcare institutions, and manufacturers with demonstrated experience in radio frequency technology, and provide an overarching licensing program for innovative entities to rapidly acquire specific experimental licenses on an ongoing, as-needed basis in designated campus areas.

We had a great guest post from Jason Porter, VP, Security Solutions, AT&T, who wrote about how cybersecurity threats in the IoT are much bigger than any single organization. At RSA 2017 and Mobile World Congress, while technology companies were focused on delivering new solutions to help mitigate security vulnerabilities or reduce potential threats, he identified three themes resonating across both conferences.

And now, the news: At the moment, there are more than 250 smart cities projects in progress all around the world, according to recently released numbers from Navigant Research, and everyone expects that number to increase significantly over the next several years. CommScope, a global infrastructure solutions company for communications networks, has announced that it has become a Lead Partner of the Smart Cities Council with the goal of helping transform cities into Smart Cities and support the growth of digital technology and intelligent solutions.

Sensify Security, a company that delivers intelligent IoT security services at the edge to help customers find visibility, control and automation capabilities in industrial cybersecurity operations, has joined the OpenFog Consortium with the goal of helping to establish global security and privacy requirements for Fog Computing.

Its well-recognized that cellular connectivity is an extremely versatile tool in the hands of an IoT implementer. But what, exactly, can it do for a business, and how can it best be used? To answer some of those questions, Get Wireless, Sierra Wireless and IoT Evolution will jointly host a new webinar, Top 5 considerations for LTE in your business.

Farmnote Holdings, an IoT solutions provider for dairy and livestock farming, has procured a new investment of 500 million yen, or about $4,580,000, in funding from four companies: Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, the Norinchukin Bank and Sumitomo Corporation.

Over the last few years, I have seen some major trends forming across nearly every vertical in the consumer and industrial spaces, and these trends looked like they were pointing toward a future where the IoT would indeed be improving the lives and living conditions of people all over the world, and so I decided to begin writing a book in order to look for patterns in those trends. That book, published recently, is called IoT Time: Evolving Trends in the Internet of Things. In a new weekly series, well be previewing chapters for you to read in the hopes that youll like enough to read the whole thing.

On the IoT Time Podcast, I sat down with Dave Murray, Head of Thought Leadership, BPI Network, about a study newly release by BPI that indicates that although enterprises see the value of IoT in the industrial space, the IIoT is lagging in adoption.

Theres plenty more to read, listen to and watch, so visit us on IoT Evolution World for all the IoT news, my friends. Now is the time to put into your calendar the next IoT Evolution Expo, to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also, please get in touch with us when you have stories. As always, if you have questions, comments, complaints or compliments, please send them to me, editorial director Ken Briodagh at kbriodagh@tmcnet.com or on Twitter @KenBriodagh.

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The Evolution of Matt Bevin – The Weekly Standard

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When Kentucky governor Matt Bevin warmed up the crowd in Louisville ahead of Donald Trumps speech in March, he seemed to share the president's taste for superlatives:

"I defy anybody in the national media, local media, anybody who is a political expert among you to find one state in America anywhere in the history of America that has more profoundly transformed itself ideologically, politically, legislatively," Bevin said, "than Kentucky in the last year of change."

That might seem like an overstatement for what is, after all, a conservative state. But Kentucky was, until recently, the rare Southern state that retained a blue Democratic hue. In November, Republicans captured the majority in the state's house of representatives for the first time in 96 years. And Bevin himself is only the third Republican governor in the last half-century. When I asked the governor about the extravagant claims in his Louisville speech, he said they were more than justified. Finally having a GOP legislature, Bevin says, "has allowed us the opportunity for policies to be heard in committees that were never heard before, such as the right to work, pro-life legislation, and charter schools."

Kentucky Republicans have wasted little time, fast-tracking bills in the first five days of this year's general assembly session. Bevin signed right-to-work legislation, repealed a prevailing-wage law that was driving up the cost of state projects, signed a paycheck-protection bill, and banned abortions after 20 weeks. The governor signed a charter school billKentucky had been one of just seven states with no competition for public education dollars. And in an effort to reduce cronyism, he eliminated 65 separate state boards and commissions.

When the regular session was over (which happens pretty quickly in Kentuckyin odd years, the general assembly has to wrap up normal business by March 30), the governor plans to call legislators back for a special session to address tax reform and pension reform.

Conservatives could only dream of such rapid action from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. Bevin blames Congress for the pace in Washington more than Trump. "The guy has been president for just three months," the governor says. "We have had the same Congress dragging their feet for a while."

Bevin has been, in some ways, the Trump of Kentucky, a businessman without political experience who came to office to shake things upthough he's more of a doctrinaire conservative than the president. Bevin grew up in New Hampshire. He served in the Army before a career in finance. In 2008, he took over his family's bell-manufacturing company.

Bevin, today a polished political pro, entered politics in 2014 as a rabble-rousing primary challenger to Mitch McConnell and very new to the game. He accused the Senate Republican leader of being too accommodating to President Barack Obama and blasted him for voting for the bank bailout. That proved to be an amateur mistake: Politico dug up a report to investors of Veracity Funds that Bevin had signed in 2008 supporting the Troubled Assets Relief Program. McConnell had a field day with that.

Bevin learned other hard political lessons in that first campaign. There was the rally fiasco in Corbin, Kentucky: A local newspaper reported that the group he spoke to at the event advocated the legalization of cockfighting. Bevin said he thought it was a states' rights rally and later issued a statement in opposition to cockfighting. But the damage was done. In the May 2014 primary, Bevin got 35 percent of the vote against McConnell. Maybe not so bad, all things considered.

Bevin, it should be noted, describes his relationship with McConnell today as "excellent," though not chummy: "We don't hang out and have coffee."

The longshot Senate campaign wasn't for nothing. Taking on one of the nation's most powerful Republicans built both name recognition and a political base to fight another day. Bevin entered the Kentucky governor's race the next year, running against three seasoned politicians in the Republican primary. He won the 2015 primary by just 83 votes statewide. In the general election, he trailed in polls the month before Election Day, but eventually carried 106 of the state's 120 counties. "I was never an elected official or a political mover and shaker, and people said I had no chance of winning," Bevin says. "I ran on issues others were afraid to talk about."

After coming into office in December 2015, he found a conciliatory middle ground on a wedge issue by allowing marriage licenses to be issued without the signature of a county clerk. This defused the controversy involving Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who had been jailed for refusing to sign same-sex marriage licenses.

But it didn't take long for things to become partisan. When Bevin moved to dismantle Kynect, the state's version of Obamacare, and pushed budget cuts in other areas, he ran up against Democratic house speaker Greg Stumbo: The longtime state powerbroker obstructed much of the governor's agenda. But in 2016 Stumbo was one of the casualties as Republicans gained control of the Kentucky house, with the GOP going from just 46 of 100 seats to 64.

With a Republican legislature to work with, Bevin now has a 50 percent approval ratingnot great, but a big upswing from his 33 percent approval this time a year ago, when he was fighting with Democrats.

Does Bevin represent a new political balance of power in Kentucky, or is he just another GOP aberration there? The last Republican governor, Ernie Fletcher, was a one-termer. He was a creature of the political establishment, having served in the state legislature, then the U.S. House, before being backed for governor in 2003 by McConnell. Once Fletcher was in office, Democratic attacks paralyzed him. By contrast, Bevin is anything but paralyzed.

McConnell is rightly credited with making Kentucky a two-party system, leading to GOP dominance at the congressional level. But Bevin deserves much credit for the change at the state office level. He also demonstrates how an anti-establishment rabble-rouser can evolve into a successful politician, a lesson that could be valuable for Donald Trump.

"If anti-establishment means cutting red tape and ignoring the hot air, I'm anti-establishment. But, if the establishment includes people working hard for the good of the public, I'll work with anyone who has good ideas, Democrat or Republican," Bevin says. "I try to create dialogue and avoid the noisemakers. I don't watch TV. I don't sit down with editorial boards who are never going to support me. I go out and listen to people."

Fred Lucas is White House correspondent for the Daily Signal and author of Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and Electoral Chaos of Disputed Presidential Elections (Stairway Press, 2016).

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Gov. Bevin already called a special legislative session. He has not, but sources in the Governor's office say he plans to.

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Meteorology Pioneer Borrows from Darwinism for Latest Forecast Innovation – Laboratory Equipment

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In college, Paul Roebber reveled in the interdisciplinary aspects of meteorology. This was a sign to come, as Roebber, now a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, would go on to apply biological aspects in his research as he became one of the foremost experts in meteorology forecasting.

Ten years ago, Roebber designed weather forecast simulations that were organized like networks of neurons in the brain. The computer programs formed a system of interconnected processing units that could be activated or deactivated. This artificial neural network tool proved especially proficient at predicting scenarios with large data gaps and reams of variables. It significantly advanced snowfall prediction effortsso much so that the artificial neural network is now used by the National Weather Service.

For me, creativity comes from being open to broad interests, said Roebber in a release from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Recently, that broad interest extended to Charles Darwins evolution theory based on the finches of the Galapagos Islandsspurring Roebbers next big weather innovation.

Metrology meets biology

Currently, weather forecasters use ensemble modeling, which predicts the weather based on the average of many weather models combined. But, ensemble modeling isnt always accurate as each model is so similar, they end up agreeing with each other, rather than the actual weather. Essentially, more data diversity is needed to distinguish relevant variables from irrelevant ones. However, its expensive to obtain and add new data.

The importance of a weather forecast goes beyond you bringing an umbrella to work, or planning to host a party outdoors. In fact, an estimated 40 percent of the U.S. economy is somehow dependent on weather prediction. Even a small improvement in the accuracy of forecasts could save millions of dollars annually for the industries that are affected mostnotably agribusiness and construction.

So, if the key to improving ensemble modeling is data diversityhow do you do it without first collecting new data?

Roebber found the answer in nature.

In 1835, Darwin observed what came to be known as natural selection in a population of finches inhabiting the Galapagos Islands. The birds divided into smaller groups, each residing in different locations around the islands. Over time, they adapted to their specific habitat, making each group distinct from the othersand all different from the original finches.

Applying this to weather prediction models, Roebber devised a mathematical method in which one computer program sorts 10,000 other ones, improving itself over time using strategies such as heredity, mutation andof coursenatural selection. The professor began by subdividing existing variables into conditional scenarios: the value of a variable would be set one way under one condition, but be set differently under another condition.

Then, his computer program picks out the variables that best accomplish the goal and recombines them. This means the offspring weather prediction models improve in accuracy because they block more of the unhelpful attributesjust as Darwin observed all those years ago.

One difference between this and biology is, I wanted to force the next generation [of models] to be better in some absolute sense, not just survive, Roebber said in a UWM press release.

He is already using the evolutionary methodology to forecast minimum and maximum temperatures for seven days out, and the technique is outperforming models used by the National Weather Service. In particular, Roebbers new model works well on long-range forecasts and extreme events, when an accurate forecast is most needed.

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Immokalee High team takes on the world in robotics event in Louisville – Naples Daily News

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The Immokalee High School robotics team participated in the World Championship in Kentucky. Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News

Immokalee High School Robotics Team seniors Jenni Villa, left, and Kristian Trevino celebrate winning a match during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Thursday, April 20, 2017. This is day one of three days of competition for the students.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)Buy Photo

Worlds collided like slabs of metal in a robotics rink as Immokalee High School competed alongside teams from Kazakhstan to New Zealand under one roof at the 10th annual VEX Robotics World Championship.

The Kentucky Exposition Center, where matches ended Saturdayin Louisville, transformed into an Olympic Village as 1,400 teams from 30 countries and 50 states decorated their booths with cultural memorabilia.

One team from Chengdu, China, lined their table with emerald bamboo shoots, while the booth directly facing them, a team from Muskogee, Oklahoma, went with a hunting theme, covering their walls in a forest green camouflage print and rubber mallard ducks.

Afew rows over, sandwiched between teams from Urumqi, China, and Carrolton, Georgia, two teams from Immokalee hovered over their metal creations, prodding them with Allen wrenches and air compressors.

The robots under operation, named Dragonzord and Megazord, were the brainchildren of a group of seven Immokalee students and their coachFred Rimmler.

Being from Immokalee, you dont really get to meet that many different people, said Dragonzord captain Kristian Trevino, 18. To meet everybody from around the world, its amazing. I think its great.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team senior Kristian Trevino, right, introduces himself to Wen Yuyi, 17, of the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Friday, April 21, 2017. This is day two of three days of competition for the students.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

Kristian and his teammates spent countless hours after school and on weekends since September assembling and reassembling their robots out of nut and bolts, motors, rubber bands and electrical wiring.

The teams qualified for the state championship in Tampa for the first time and arrived at the world competition as underdogs. Immokalees robotics program is only in its second year, and this was the first year the team competed outside the Collier school district.

We never thought wed make it this far in the first place, said Dragonzord mechanic Isaiah Reyna, 16.

On a 12-foot-square playing field, the bots competed to see how many toy stars and cubes each could throw over to the other side in the allotted two minutes. The robots, driven by a designated team member through a game controller, can gain bonus points for climbing onto a corner post and for driving autonomously.

Team Dragonzord enjoyed a solid run, ending with a ranking of 16 out of 94 in their division after winning seven of their 10 qualifying matches. But the results were just low enough to deter the highest-ranking teams from selecting them as allies for the division finals.

Nobody knew where Immokalee was before, but now that weve started getting our name out there, were considered as one of the best teams in Florida, Isaiah said.

From left, Immokalee High School Robotics Team senior Kristian Trevino, junior Linda Hernandez, and senior Jenni Villa take a break in between matches during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Thursday, April 20, 2017. This is day one of three days of competition for the students.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

Megazord didnt farequite as well, winning just three of their 10 matches because of an unexplainable chronic malfunction. But the team stayed positive and were grateful for the opportunity to represent their small rural town.

Theres a lot of rumors that Immokalees a bad place. This shows that we actually do stuff here, that maybe were not just about agriculture and minorities, said Megazord mechanic George Herrera-Carrillo, 15.

Though they wont be bringing home any hardware, the teams appreciated the opportunity to work with roboticists from other countries including Canada and Singapore.

Isaiah and George enjoyed the unique experience of representing the United States in the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremonies Wednesday.

Everyone was chanting U.S.A.! U.S.A.! he said. There was a lot of excitement and adrenaline going through us.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team seniors Jenni Villa, right, and Kristian Trevino work on their robot before a match during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Friday, April 21, 2017. This is day two of three days of competition for the students.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

Several team members used the occasion to explore their interest in Japanese culture and visited the countrys booth several times. The Japanese team offered them gifts including origami cranes and temporary tattoos with Japanese characters, and the teams added each other on Snapchat and Instagram (a sure sign of the beginning of a teenage friendship in 2017).

Theyre so sweet, said Dragonzord mechanic Jennifer Villa, 18. Its nice to have that camaraderie.

Jennifer was one of two girls on Immokalees teams and took part in the competitions first Girl Powered social, an event aimed at recognizing the intrepid women taking part in a male-dominated field.

We dont need an event to tell us we know how to do (robotics), we already know that, Jennifer said. I think it was more for the boys, to show that we deserve the same respect that guys get.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team junior Isaiah Reyna, left, and senior Kristian Trevino stand among the teams waiting to be chosen for an alliance and a chance to move on the next round during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Saturday, April 22, 2017. This is the third and final day of competition for the students. Both Immokalee teams were eliminated before the finals.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

The students werent the only ones who enjoyed the experience. Kristians parents and three siblings drove 16 hours from Immokalee to join the festivities. His mother, Griselda Trevino, took time away from her job in a tomato packing house to watch her son compete.

The tears began to flow after she watched him annihilate his opponents in the final qualifying match.

Im really proud of my son, she said. Im so happy for him.

Kristians father, William Trevino, a surveillance specialist at the Seminole Casino, said though the family doesnt have a lot of resources, watching his son compete on a global level was too important to miss.

Immokalee High School Robotics Team senior Damian Gonzalez prepares to compete with his robot, Megazord, during the Vex Robotics Competition World Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Thursday, April 20, 2017. This is day one of three days of competition for the students.(Photo: Dorothy Edwards/Naples Daily News)

Its a once in a lifetime opportunity, he said. Especially for them to go from nothing to something all of a sudden, wow.

Coach Rimmler said he, too, couldnt be more proud of the teams performance.

They far exceeded my expectations in every step of the way this year, he said.

Team Megazord

Damian Gonzalez-Perez

Christopher Rios

George Herrera-Carrillo

Linda Hernandez

Team Dragonzord

Kristian Trevino

Jennifer Villa

Isaiah Reyna

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The opening ceremony for the 2017 VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky featuring the Immokalee High School robotics team. Annika Hammerschlag/Naples Daily News

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Best and Brightest 2017: Student’s focus goes from robotics to business – Colorado Springs Gazette

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This is the seventh of 20 profiles of The Gazette's Best and Brightest Class of 2017.

One wouldn't think that using engineering techniques to create a robot would inspire a student to major in business administration.

But that is what happened to Jessica Mills, an Air Academy High School senior.

This all started when she joined a robotics team in fourth grade. She recalls they made a robot that was able to pick up a tiny polar bear. "I remember it because it was cute," she says.

As the years passed, competition got more serious. This year, for the first time in 14 years, Academy School District 20's robotics team, to which she belongs, qualified for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) world championship in Houston.

She's been a Girl Scout since first grade, and she used technology to earn the Gold Award. The group's highest achievement is awarded to only about 5.4 percent of members.

She won by creating a program called STEM@LIBRARY21c. The idea for the project came when she noticed that the new tech-oriented Pikes Peak Library 21c, didn't seem to have a lot of programs to get younger children involved in STEM (science, technology engineering math).

After consulting with librarians she developed a three-day workshop to introduce youngsters to the free design software and 3-D printers at the library. She also wrote a curriculum based on the workshop and provided it locally and to 49 libraries in 18 states, and Canada.

"I was so excited when one boy told me he used the workshop skills to make a wind turbine that won a science fair."

She also finds history fascinating, and for two summers has been a teen docent at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. And she participates in Academic WorldQuest, a World Affairs Councils of America competition that tests knowledge of history, geography, culture and international affairs. Mills and her team qualified to compete nationally in Washington, D.C., this spring.

But like a lot of high school students bound for college, she says she overloaded on academic and community work last year. A friend died. As she struggled, her grades fell.

"It was a moment of clarity. I need to choose what is really meaningful to me. Slow down, know my limits. It's a lesson I will take to college."

She will major in business administration at the University of Colorado at Boulder with emphasis on marketing and entrepreneurship.

How does that major square with all that STEM and robotics involvement?

For the past two years she was elected chief executive officer for the Rocky Mountain Robotics Club, managing 134 student engineers from six area high schools. She redid the team's business plan and was part of the marketing effort to get industry sponsors.

"The business program at CU feels like home. I think I might like to start a company someday."

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Hyperloop One’s chief marketing officer has left to join a robotics … – Recode

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Hyperloop One, the company trying to bring Elon Musks idea for a tube-based, high-speed transport system to fruition, has lost its chief marketing officer, Kimberly Salzer.

Salzer left Hyperloop One in mid-March after spending a year with the company, she told Recode in an interview.

The executive has now taken a job at Ozobot as its chief marketing officer. Ozobot is a robotics company that makes small robots that can help teach kids how to code. She started last week.

I voluntarily decided to leave, said Salzer, who noted the scope of Hyperloop One was moving in a different direction than her background, which is in consumer technology.

Before her time at Hyperloop, Salzer worked in the video game industry, helping to build brands for Electronic Arts and Activision.

Hyperloop One is delaying the public testing of its tube transport system and reducing the size of its test track that was supposed to host the trial run of the prototype, according to a report earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal.

Its a moonshot idea, and I really respect it, Salzer said about the Hyperloop One project.

Separately, Joby Otero, who formerly held a role as the chief creative officer at the robotics company Anki, is joining Ozobot as its chief product officer. He left Anki, another consumer-facing company that makes a small interactive robot, in January of 2016, Otero shared in an interview.

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Robotics teams off to top tourney – Escanaba Daily Press

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Courtesy photo Members of Carney-Nadeau Wolf Robotics are pictured along with the awards they won this year. The team will complete their first year participating in FIRST Robotics at the world championship in St. Louis, Mo. next week, where they will compete with the Gladstone and Bark River-Harris teams.

ST. LOUIS Several local robotics teams will be heading to St. Louis, Mo., for the FIRST Robotics World Championship next week. The event will run from April 26 to April 29.

One team from the Upper Peninsula that will be attending this competition is Gladstones BraveBots. By the end of last weekends FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship, the BraveBots were one of the highest-ranked teams in the state of Michigan.

We boosted our rank to fourth in the state out of 451 teams, Lead Mentor Tim Barron said.

As a result, they will be going to the FIRST Robotics World Championship. Barron said that, while the BraveBots have gone to this event before, they are doing better than ever in 2017.

This is the highest weve ever been ranked in the state, he said.

According to Barron, it was the effort put in by the BraveBots students and mentors that made this possible.

We have a very dedicated group of kids and mentors, he said.

Wolf Robotics, Carney-Nadeaus FIRST Robotics team, will also be heading to St. Louis next week.

Its almost unexplainable, what were feeling, Co-Lead Mentor Andrea Chaney said.

One of the reasons the team is so excited about going to St. Louis is because Wolf Robotics is a newcomer to the U.P.s robotics scene 2017 was their rookie year.

Its just so unexpected, Chaney said.

Wolf Robotics was ranked at #99 in the state at the end of the FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship; they also won the State All-Star Rookie Award, allowing them to compete on the international level. Chaney attributed the teams successful season to the hard work put in by the teams members and mentors, along with the assistance given to them by their community.

We had a lot of community support, she said.

Along with teams from Carney-Nadeau and Gladstone, Bark River-Harris I.C.E. Cubed will be attending the FIRST Robotics World Championship. Lead Mentor Mick Reynolds said the first part of the teams name is an acronym for Innovate, Collaborate, Elevate.

Thats what were hoping the kids will learn, he said.

By the end of the FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship, I.C.E. Cubed ranked as the #36 team in the state.

Were more than qualified, Reynolds said.

This was a better outcome than the team was expecting, Reynolds said.

Our goal was to stay in the top 80 teams, he said. In contrast, I.C.E. Cubeds ranking at this point last year was in the 200s.

Reynolds noted that the students in I.C.E. Cubed are extremely excited to attend the FIRST Robotics World Championship.

The kids are absolutely stoked, he said.

Reynolds said I.C.E. Cubeds success was the result of the people involved with the team.

All the credit for that goes to our high school kids and the adult mentors that help us out, he said.

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Teen overcomes heartbreak, obstacles at robotics championship … – WHAS 11.com

Posted: at 12:55 am

Teen honors friend in robotics championship

Chris Williams, WHAS 7:36 PM. EDT April 21, 2017

Teen overcomes heartbreak, obstacles at robotics championship (Photo: WHAS11)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- An estimated 20 thousand people are in Louisville for a world championship you may have never heard of.

Students from middle school to college, 32 countries, and 46 states are competing at the Kentucky Expo Center for the VEX Robotics World Championship. Teams are paired at random and must form an alliance, then take on another alliance in a contest with robots they've built to move game pieces around the playing field.

But a one-person team with a triumph-over-tragedy story will have you rooting for the underdog.

At the VEX Robotics World Championship, you'll find a diverse field of competitors with teams from every corner of the planet. There are all girl teams, and every team's robot has a name.

However, none of the teams robots have a name quite like that of the robot from Nemesis Robotics.

Remington Haingaertner named his robot Grant White after his teammate who died in a crash in November of 2016, which also seriously injured the Haingaertner.

"I do not have a teammate. I'm on a team by myself, said 17-year-old Haingaertner. A few months ago I was in a moped accident where I lost my foot, and my teammate was killed.

At the time, this competition seemed like a longshot, but Haingaertner made quick progress, learning to use his prosthetic, and got to work on his robot.

"I lost my foot in the moped accident and broke my femur, said Haingaertner. I have a rod from my knee to my hip, which has been a struggle walking."

With the help of sponsors and his Dad, the young man, who is about to turn 18, is taking on the world alone.

His mission is filled with roadblocks most will never fully appreciate, and hes facing a fierce competition.

"To me, it's the achievements, explained Haingaertner. I would like to win? Yes. Everybody would. But at the same time, I've won with what I've done. State Champion, that's enough for me, and going through all I have is quite an accomplishment I believe."

In a contest late Friday, a stuck robot and tough opponent were too much, but in the defeat the young man from Fayetteville, Arkansas found meaning.

"It does stink to lose, yes, but you can't win unless you lose some. You have to lose. That's part of life, he said. Through loss, hes still winning.

Maybe not in the competition but overall, said Haingaertner. I believe I've won by being here.

2017 WHAS-TV

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