Westworld Robots, Summer Project Inspiration, Kindness Portfolios, and MORE!

May
2018

Student News & Voices

Learn news that affects engineering, engineering tech, and engineering ed students, what they're up to, and what they have to say...in their own words.

Student Spotlight: Shane Choi is a student of mechanical engineering and trumpet performance at Northwestern University. He combined his passions for music and building things by making interactive lamps from antique brass instruments while on break from school. His mechatronics classes helped with refitting the trumpets for wiring and adding new designs like capacitive touchscreens--and he's now turned it into a booming business that's music to his ears. Read more.

Wheelie Women : Meet the Embry-Riddle all-women's SAE team! Founded in the Fall of 2005, the Lady Eagles Baja SAE Team designs, builds (from scratch), tests, and races a single-seat, off-road Baja car. This is one of the few all-female Baja teams in the world--and one of the best established. Read more.

Academic & Professional Development Resources

Tips on navigating politics, from classroom to office.

Portfolio of Positivity: Being a professor can be a hard and thankless job, with a million tasks and projects to grade, not to mention paperwork out the wazoo. One professor writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education about a way to stay sane through it all: a "Be Kind Portfolio." Fill it with reminders of all the good you've done throughout your academic career. Read more here.

Tips for New Undergrads: Engineering students offer 21 insights they wished they knew when they started college. Read them here.

Inspired Summer Projects: What gives many engineering job candidates an edge these days is not their grades, but instead what they did in their free time. Taking on a personal summer project related to your field of study is a great way to branch out, learn something new, and show that you are passionate about your field! Find ideas here.

Funding & Internships

Opportunity abounds!

This month's highlights:

Smarter Every Day is a website and YouTube channel run by engineer Destin Sandlin. Sandlin is seeking undergraduate transfer students to work with thanks to a 5-year, $1 million NSF grant. Students can work on one of three different projects: Ion Thrusters, 3-D Printed Lattice Metals, and UAV Butterflies.

The AccessComputing Project is an NSF-funded "community of high school and college students with disabilities who are interested in computing fields, such as computer science and information technology," aimed at "increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields." It offers support in finding paid internships, grad school placements, and employment.

The IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative is a "scholarship for undergraduate electrical engineering students in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. If you're an undergraduate student in electrical engineering or considering it, you may be eligible for scholarship money and real-world experience in one of the most rewarding and future-facing careers for young graduates." Deadline: June 30.

Find these opportunities here.

Videos & Entertainment

Because sometimes you just need a break!

Video: Horrific Living Robot: Westworld Season 2 has begun. Here's how to make your own (terrifying!) Westworld 'bot come to life, courtesy of Simone Giertz, our favorite bad robot maker. Watch it here. PS: Get well soon, Simone!

Video: Sand Blaster: Marvel as Physics Girl Dianna Cowern helps you figure out how to turn sand into a liquid--using air! Watch it here.

Video: Fresh Prince of Outer Space: Will Smith makes the ultimate long-distance call--to the ISS. Watch it here.