November 2011
You are browsing the archive for November 2011.
By GEARS on November 29, 2011
Now that I’m back from a conference and the semester is winding down, I have a little more time to spend with my graduate students. One of the things that I’ve tried to get them to understand is the importance of getting results [quickly, if possible]. Now, I’m not one for uppity, self motivating, happy-go-lucky theories like the seven habits of highly effective people or market research mumbo-jumbo (although I did steal their picture). However, I am a true believer that, in research, success breeds success. One of the most motivating times for me is when I’ve just had a paper published. I feel a sense of accomplishment and, like any drug, I want more. To come full circle back to grad student mentoring, I’m trying to get my students to understand that if they get some positive results [hopefully quickly], then they will be motivated to get more. And [...]
Posted in Academia, Education | Tagged academia, experimental plan, presentation, professional appearance, qualitative, quantitative, research, results |
By Chris Gammell on November 27, 2011
I’m at the tail end of both my Thanksgiving weekend and at the tail end of our “thankful for” series here at Engineer Blogs. Was it predictable? Yeah, a bit. But I didn’t care. I think it’s important to remember what we’re thankful for and writing posts week after week usually means our writers are clamoring for something a bit different. And since I am at the end of the week, I have to get to write something different, but then try and be different from all my co-writers. When I think about that, I am not particularly thankful…Ah well. Though my article title could use some work, I’m trying to get across that I’m glad to be alive right now. Yup, right here. Right this very minute. And all the things that led me up to this minute in my 28 years of life so far. This has been [...]
Posted in Economy, Electrical Engineering |
By FrauTech on November 25, 2011
This week at Engineer Blogs we’ve been talking about what we’re thankful for, as are many blogs stateside this week. For many of you the big day is over and for many others this is just the start of a long weekend with family. And no matter how much you love or hate your family, or how big or how small it is, I think a big part of what makes us who we are as engineers is the team that supports us from behind the scenes (gingerbread cookies photo from Rick Waller). I know for me personally I would not have gone on to become an engineer if it wasn’t for the loving and encouraging support of my family and loved ones. For many of you you might have grown up with parents who encouraged your tinkering or just encouraged your intelligence and individuality. Engineering is not an easy [...]
Posted in Communication | Tagged family, Holidays |
By Cherish The Scientist on November 24, 2011
As today is Thanksgiving (in the US, anyway), it seemed appropriate to talk about my favorite kind of engineering: food engineering…more commonly referred to as cooking. I guess you could call it that, but I take my cooking far too seriously to do something like slap some bread in the toaster and claim I just cooked something. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because I love to cook. (Washing dishes is a different story, and my husband has been officially designated as chief dish-cleaning engineer.) Since I reached adulthood, I’ve been searching for the perfect combination of dishes for Thanksgiving. Of course, even the perfect dish takes time to perfect. So how you develop the perfect Thanksgiving meal? I think that’s going to change from person to person, so rather than giving you a list of recipes, I’m going to talk a little bit about some of the other things [...]
Posted in Hobbies | Tagged hobbies, Holidays, Theme Week |
By Miss MSE on November 23, 2011
So this week, we’re following a US Thanksgiving theme, about what we’re thankful for, or other Thanksgiving related topics. When I talk to physicists considering making the switch to engineering, one of the regular jokes is “Engineers don’t think they have to know everything. They just need to know where to look it up”. And so I’m thankful for my favorite place to look things up: my bookshelf. I’ve never sold back a textbook (and yes, I’m lucky to have been able to do so), and there are many I still refer to regularly. I’m also lucky that my family considers textbooks totally reasonable birthday/holiday presents, and so I have several books for classes I never took. Despite being a “digital native”, there are just certain things which are easier to find in a textbook. Looking for that one equation about crack growth, but can’t remember who it’s named after? [...]
Posted in Education, Workplace |
By GEARS on November 22, 2011
Last week, I didn’t manage to post because I was uber busy for two reasons: 1) there is an engineering society that I am heavily active in and it was the annual meeting and 2) I fractured my right fibula doing a Tough Mudder on the Sunday morning before I had to flew to the conference. Considering DrWife, NanoGEARS, and the InLaws were in conference city and my heavy involvement in the conference (planning committee, session chair, presenting, and poster), I had little time to rest and ice my foot while still making the necessary contacts at the meeting. Check back to my normal blog for details (and maybe some gruesome photos) on the Tough Mudder. And with all that going, I come back to find we have a Theme Week: Engineering things that I’m thankful for. And rather than harp on some cool gadget, or proclaim my magnificence describing [...]
Posted in Academia, Business, Education | Tagged conferences, Networking, professional societies, Theme Week, tutorials |
By Miss Outlier on November 21, 2011
Recently there has been a tragedy in my family, a tragedy on my campus, and a tragedy at my alma mater. When people in your circle pass away, or you lose someone in the community, there is grief but there is also an incredible focus and refreshing of priorities in life. There are truly only a few things that really matter. In the end, it is the people that matter. As much as I prefer the logical simplicity of equations, math, and physical objects – as much as I spend my day immersed in study and planning and working in the field of engineering – truly, it is ourselves and our family, friends, and fellow human beings who deserve the highest priority. The latin motto, “Mens sana in corpore sano,” can be translated as a sound mind in a sound body. This holiday season (in the U.S., at least), I [...]
Posted in Meta | Tagged family, friends, thankful, Thanksgiving |
By Cherish The Scientist on November 17, 2011
The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is not training employees and keeping them. Zig Ziglar Back when the economy wasn’t in the dumpster, I was talking to a friend who works at one of those Internet (with a capital I) companies. He was complaining about their inability to find people with the right qualifications. After spending time talking with him, I ascertained that what his company really wanted was for someone in the same position at a different company to be laid off so that they could hire them. His company had a very exacting list of qualifications and wasn’t willing to train any potential employees. They wanted someone off the shelf, so to speak, and weren’t going to take anyone without those qualifications. On the other hand, they would wait months rather than train the employees themselves. It didn’t make much sense to me at the time. FrauTech has [...]
Posted in Business, Economy, Education, Workplace | Tagged education, immigration, job market, job training, jobs, training, work |
By Miss MSE on November 16, 2011
Engineering education is something that gets discussed a lot around here, and around the web. However, most of these discussions focus on what can be done within the classroom context. There are just certain limits to what can be done with a group of 30-100 students at one time, and there are many economic reasons to keep large lecture classes around. When it comes to studying theory, this method can be highly effective. But what about application? Most students struggle with bridging the gap between theory and application. Lab classes can be one way of connecting the two, but these are often expensive in equipment and instructor time. I strongly feel that every engineering undergraduate needs to do at least one project outside of the classroom. Many schools have some sort of senior design program, but by then, it may be too late, as students have left engineering (the leaky [...]
Posted in Academia, Education | Tagged co-op, hobbies, internship |
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