Liquid eyes?! What!

Recently there has been development in new treatments for damaged cataracts. Their damaged cataracts become clouded and they need to be replaced by new ones. There was a new advancement in cataract treatment lately. This new lends is made of 20 micro meter thick polymer fibers.

This new development allows for the lenses to be more easily shaped depending on the needs. The new lenses attach to the eye much more firmly than it has before. Chemical engineers have developed a way to make this accessible to everyone. They are not fully developed for the public but will be in the near future.

Why should you care? Well in the neat future when your eyesight depletes you’ll need to get contacts or glasses. In the future, we may be able to completely fix your eyesight in with just a couple of drops of solution. Only time will tell.                

"A Liquid Lens Could Improve Cataract Treatment." CEN RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Blog by Sunny Dhanjal

Civil Engnieering Versus Architecture

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be an architect.  So why did I choose civil engineering?  When I did my research on different major options for college I came across these two very similar options.  My thinking is that instead of going  straight into architecture I could pursue a similar major that has jobs available that are maybe more solid after I graduate.  My plans are to finish my degree in civil engineering, get a steady job in that field and then work my way through architecture graduate school.  Before I go any further let's look at the similarities and differences of these two professions.

I believe that the biggest difference between civil engineering and architecture is how civil engineering is a lot more technical in its nature whereas architecture is a lot more artistic.  While in both professions you can have projects in the public as well as the private sector civil engineering is more centralized around the public sector.  This means the most civil engineers work on public projects such as roads, bridges and public buildings rather than private buildings such as houses like architects do.  Overall civil engineering is a broader field.  Civil engineers can and do design and build homes like architects it just that civil engineers have a much broader knowledge base on scientific and technical principles which allows them to do much more specialized projects than architects.

I'm hoping that in the future I will be able to take what I learn from both areas of study and put them together and allow myself to work on a multitude of different projects, both technical and artistic.  This should give me an advantage over other people in those fields as I will have a much larger knowledge base than my competition.  Overall this plan seemed perfect for what I would like to pursue in the future,

By: Quinn Foster

A Day in the Life of an Engineer

      Life as an engineer is much more complicated and intricate as people think. An engineer is required to create a solution for a problem, build this project, and then further explain and report on the finished product. Although, when things go wrong the responsibility is put on the engineer to diagnose the problem and modify the final product until the objectives have been met. In the video below, we see a video that explains in detail the specific responsibilities in this particular field of engineering.

      Some have the common misconception that engineers are able to fix everything. Although engineers are very useful in terms of thinking critically and working with there hands, it does not mean one can assume an engineer can fix everything. In a blog post of mine, Engineering Stereotypes, I explain the stereotype of male dominance in the field of engineering. This conception of men being "more superior" to women in engineering is false, similar to how engineers are not able to fix everything.

      An engineer must work in a large variance of different circumstances. The workplace of an engineer may include an office, laboratories, or industrial plants. Also, engineers must be able to strongly communicate with a team they're working with orally and in writing. Teamwork in engineering is crucial because many projects are oriented around of different engineers of different credentials who come together to solve the problem. The field of engineering is something that is very important to society and something that I am excited to one day experience.

Sources: Engineer: Stereotypes that are true
Day in the Life
Day in the Life: Mechanical Engineer

Blog by Brooks Beattie

Topic #10: Recognizing the true

Equality for all is one of the major building blocks on which the United States was built upon. Allowing anyone no matter the color of their skin, their background, gender, etc. to do anything anyone else can do. Somehow, though, this proud symbol of our country is be smeared by the fact of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination that are still rampant throughout the country.

Sexism is still preventing women from accomplishing or being a part of many aspects in the country, especially in the STEM(science,technology,engineering,and math) fields. Not everyone believes this is lack of women in these major fields is due to sexism. In a article by Anne Ju, she points out that  Stephen J. Ceci, the H.L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology, and Wendy M. Williams, professor of human development and director of the Cornell Institute for Women in Science, both believe that "It's not discrimination in these areas, but rather, differences in resources attributable to career and family-related choices that set women back in STEM"(Ju). 

This is is startling to hear. Even after what has been done to give women rights over the decades, there are still many problems women are having to finally get equal rights. What Wendy M. Williams and Stephen J. Ceci is far from the complete truth. Sure it is valid to say some women are deprived of jobs in STEM fields because family related choices and differences in resources attributable to careers can affect the choice of a someone going into a particular field, but they can not neglect to see that there is in fact sexism occurring in STEM related companies, especially engineering. Women are turned away from companies, believed to be unqualified. If they do manage to get a job in a STEM field, then they can expect to payed less than man doing the same job. This is sexism to the max.

 I don't care what these professors from Cornell believe. If they believe that women are responsible for preventing themselves from being in the STEM fields, then that is there mindset. I believe there logic is false and that it is just the negligence of companies to see the importance and abilities in women who are just trying to make career for themselves.

By Ethan Gaskey

Sources:

Cornell University: Choices -- not discrimination -- determine women scientists' success, researchers say

Glassdoor: Engineering Pay Gap? Glassdoor Reveals Many Women Engineers Earn Less than Men

Reverse Engineering the Brain

The brain is one of the most complex organs.  It is the control center for the human body and is responsible for the regulation for the rest of the of the body's organs.  So what does the brain have to do with engineering?  Well interestingly enough one of the biggest challenges facing engineers today is problem of reverse engineering the brain.

Before we dive into how engineers are going about this massive task we should examine why they are even trying to accomplish this.  For years engineers have been creating artificial intelligence that have mastered specific things, such as playing card games, but have yet to successfully create a general-purpose artificial intelligence.  In an article by the National Academy of Engineering they examined this exact question.  They wrote, "Part of the problem, some experts now believe, is that artificial brains have been designed without much attention to real ones" (Reverse-Engineer).  The engineers are approaching this problem without taking into account how the real brain actually works.  If the engineers can break through on this challenge it would open so many doors in the artificial intelligence community as well as allowing scientists to understand how and why the real brains works the way it does.

The process of reverse engineering the brain depends mostly on determining how the brain uses its electrical pulses to communicate.  The electrical pulses give off chemicals from the neurons called neurotransmitters which move to the next neuron and so on passing the information to wherever it may need to go.  To ultimately reach their goal, scientists and engineers need to map out and study these pulses.  This could prove most difficult as the neurons' electrical routes do not show as one unique path, but as multiple complex paths that intertwine within the brain.  If engineers could simulate these different situations within a computer then it would allow them to create more successful and intricate machines and computers.

Sources:

"Reverse-Engineer the Brain." Engineering Challenges. National Engineering Society, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.                         

By Quinn Foster

Changing majors

Over the span of my lifetime I have thought about many different careers. Lately, I have been thinking about switching my major from chemical engineering to biomedical. But since Michigan State does not offer biomedical, my mind has been shifting towards pre-med.

Something in the medical field would be ideal. I have been thinking about pre-med before I choose chemical engineering. If I were to switch to pre-med, I want to do something in radiology or neuroscience. I have so much time to decide, hopefully I can figure out what I want to do soon.

By: Sunny Dhanjal

What does that Mean?

Cad, cc, feedstock, and lng are just a few of the many things that engineers and engineering companies use in their day to day lingo. Much like what Perri Klass said in her paper about her experience of medical jargon while she was a medical student while she attended Harvard. She pointed out how she would hear a ton of terms from abbreviations to baseball references that most likely did had nothing to do with baseball in a hospital. This was very interesting to think that how every field may  have their own kind of language to it. In fact, even engineering seems to have its own terms that many probably would not understand if they were to hear it. Some common words that an engineering company may say are CAD, computer-aided design, CC, cubic centimeters, and O&M, operations and maintenance(Glossary: Fluor Presents Definitions of Common Engineering Terms.). This is just a few of the many abbreviations and terms that engineers could use. These may even vary from company to company even. So go out and find out something new about your own field of study.

By Ethan Gaskey

CAD

If you want to see more terms go here: Engineering Terms


"Glossary: Fluor Presents Definitions of Common Engineering Terms." Glossary: Fluor Presents Definitions of Common Engineering Terms.Fluor Corporation, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

Topic #8: Learning to be an Engineer with Hands-on Experiences

      Within the field of engineering, much information is learned in a classroom setting, but the majority of your learnings will come with experience and practice with hands-on activities. These certain activities allow students to develop a sense of teamwork and cooperation when completing tasks. Teamwork within the engineering field is crucial, many projects as an engineer will be with teams and it is very important to learn how to work, cooperate, and collaborate without difficulties. Also, what makes an engineering successful is the ability to think “outside the box” and think with ingenuity in order to solve problems.

      Recently, in my Engineering 100 class, my team and I built and programmed a robot made out of Legos, motors, and sensors. The whole process of this hands-on project was far more educational than sitting in a classroom. I was able to learn the advantages and disadvantages of working in teams, and how to overcome and resolve adversities. Also, I was able to think with ingenuity and creativity that allowed us, as a team, to overcome problems as we used our materials in the most resourceful way possible. With this experience, it gave me a basic understanding of what an engineer encounters and the problems they may run into during a particular project. The skills of an engineer are not learned, but are rather developed with experience in the field.

Sources: No Sources were used

Blog by Brooks Beattie