On January 22, the College of Engineering will host 50 teams of young students as they participate in the Iowa State University FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO™ League (FLL) Iowa tournament. Over 150 volunteers are needed. If you would like to help, complete volunteer registration information is available here. The event is open to the public and is exciting and fun to watch!This is the fourth year the college has hosted the all-day event. The teams of 9- to 14-year-old students have designed, built, and programmed robots to accomplish specific tasks. In addition to three rounds of robotic competitions, the teams are judged on their research presentations and technical and teamwork interviews. The 2005 challenge, “No Limits,” has the additional goal of helping students learn about and address accessibility issues for people with physical limitations. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
With nearly twice as many teams as last year, when 1,000 people attended, the tournament planning committee, directed by Camille Schroeder and chaired by human computer interaction graduate student Jake Ingman, has expanded activities and space to accommodate record crowds. Hoover and Howe Halls are the primary locations for judging and competition, but classrooms in Black Engineering and Marston Hall will also be used.
The tournament is a terrific opportunity to showcase the college with teams coming from all across Iowa as well as two from Nebraska and one from Kansas, says Schroeder. Schroeder and Ingman, along with a student planning committee, have organized a variety of engineering tours and activities as part of the day’s events. These include the Toying with Technology laboratory, solar car garage, concrete canoe team, VRAC, MSE demonstrations, Insect Zoo, and DNR recycling education trailer.
The overall winner of the Iowa tournament has the opportunity to attend the world competition in Atlanta in April. Schroeder will serve as head judge and Ingman is slated to referee at the world competition.
For more information, visit the FLL Web site.
Beginning on page 42, Craig Denny, BSCE’71, MSCE’73, recalls his relationship with Professor Jim Hoover, who served as a role model and mentor from the time Denny was an undergraduate taking CE 360. Denny and his wife, Terry Denny, created the James M. Hoover Chair in Geotechnical Engineering. Last October, Professor Vernon Schaefer was installed as the first recipient of the Hoover chair.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) reports that an article authored by Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Emeritus L. K. Doraiswamy is among the ten most downloaded articles of 2004 published by the AIChE Journal, the most prestigious venue for the work of chemical engineers in the United States. Co-authored by Sanjeev Naik, “Phase Transfer Catalysis: Chemistry and Engineering” offers a comprehensive review of phase transfer catalysis (PTC) by combining existing knowledge of the field from chemistry with insights into the mechanistic and kinetic analysis and mathematical modeling of soluble and insoluble PTC.
