May 2007 Archives

Now, computer science may not have the most glamorous image in the world. But the computer scientists we know do some pretty cool things. They're investigating ways to help protect the nation's power grid, developing a bioinformatics process to help study the morphology of baby, just-out-of-the-tadpole-stage frogs, and looking at ways to improve search-engine performance. UMR's computer science department also has up to four Ph.D.-level GAANN fellowships available for the right candidates.

Now comes the news that some academic administrators think the discipline just needs a cooler name. The discipline that gave us social networking sites seems to also be moving toward developing a social computing branch that better incorporates sociology, psychology, and communication theory alongside programming.

Maybe showing prospective students how computer science can change the world offers a better way to spiff up the discipline's image. Some UMR students have been working on that approach in their efforts to attract more females to the discipline. Their work involves a computerized "game" of sorts to show elementary school girls that computer science can be fun, and socially relevant. And as UMR will show the world soon through its designation as Missouri's first NSA-designated center for cyber-security education, computer science is also important to our national security.

You might not think of electrical engineers as being leaders in medical research. But at UMR, EE researchers like R. Joe Stanley and Randy Moss have been working for several years on developing a method to detect skin cancer via digital imaging. Some of their latest work, published in the February issue of the scientific journal Skin Research and Technology, may help physicians better detect melanoma based on skin lesion color.

Lead author Stanley, along with Moss and Rolla dermatologist William V. Stoecker, used a color histogram technique to evaluate dermoscopy images of skin lesions. The results of their experiment "appear to indicate that the melanoma color feature information is located in the interior of the lesion." Their report describes techniques to possibly determine whether a lesion might be malignant based on relative color.

The researchers' paper is available as a PDF from Skin Research and Technology.

Tara Gosnell, an English and technical communication major, ends her series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas with a note about "the final countdown."


21 May

Today was more or less a "choose your own adventure" day, as the geology group went off on some field trip and biology went to the high school for an assembly. A couple English students went with the biology group, who presented a digital projector they bought for the school through fundraising. We stood outside, and I could only hear part of what was being said. I heard a prayer, they recited the Lord's Prayer, they sang the national anthem of the Bahamas, recited the pledge to the Bahamas, there was a reading from Genesis, a song called' What a Mighty God We Serve,' another prayer, and then a short speech from the principal. Sparrow, one of the biology students, said a few words to the students, and then we presented the projector and left. The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes. The students sang really well.

Amanda Conigliaro, a geology and geophysics student, ends her series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas with a note about car repair and the continental shelf.

Today was our last full day on the island, but unfortunately, it did not go completely as planned. The geology group split from the other groups today, and began the morning heading to Fernandez Bay to snorkel over Telephone Pole Reef. Not only did we see some amazing creatures, but we also got to swim to the continental shelf where the ocean floor dropped from beneath us and we stared down into the vast depths of the blue sea.

You've read about her experiences with hiking, snorkeling and riding in the truck in the rain. Read more from Tara:

20 May

I slept until 9:30 today. Since today was our free morning, I intended on hiking to see the sunrise at a little after 6:00, eating breakfast, and then going to church to see a little culture. However, that didn't happen.

I had opened the door and was walking into the bathroom when I heard this ticking sound and a somewhat large crab scuttled in front of me. I yelped, and then realized it wasn't a huge spider and was, therefore, cool, and called for Mike to get his camera. It ran into the corner near a large hole, so I backed out and stood with my back against the wall, lest it see me.

Tara Gosnell, one of three student-bloggers reporting from the Bahamian island of San Salvador, shares her latest experience, complete with pictures from Saturday, May 19.

Mike and I had just sat down with our chow this morning when Dr. Swenson came over to tell us to be prepared for anything but hard hiking today. The plan was to go snorkel in French Bay, float Pigeon Creek, and see Watling Castle. Oh, and we were to be at the trucks in 15 minutes.

Biological sciences student Scott Perdue is one of three student-bloggers reporting from the Bahamian island of San Salvador. Here's his latest dispatch, from a Friday (May 18) snorkeling excursion.

There’s a whole new world under the sea. Of the nearly 20 biology students who went on the trip, every single one was certified back in the States and dove here in San Salvador. The SCUBA portion of the trip has come to a close, and what a rough ride it has been.

Most of use divers were recently trained, by our beloved Scuba Bob, in the UMR pool and Quail Run Divers’ Quarry in Rolla. We soon found that our training in Rolla had prepared us for everything but rough seas.

Prior to the trip, we made reservations for half the group to dive on Wednesday and half on Thursday. When we woke up Wednesday morning to a rainy day, we expected to drive up and be rescheduled. To our surprise, we went out amidst the pouring rain. Bad idea.

Our series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas continues with a note from Amanda Conigliaro, a geology and geophysics student, who writes about "the perfect Bahamian day" of Friday, May 18.

Today couldn’t have been a more perfect day. We woke to the warm shining sun in a cloudless sky. We began the day with visits to the inland lakes, We visited Storr’s Lake, first, where we got to see mangroves and stromatolites. We also visited Pigeon Creek, Big Salt Pond and Little Salt Pond.

The afternoon was the highlight of the day. We took a boat ride out to Bird Island, Iguana Island, and snorkeled in Gaulin’s reef. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but the reef dive was spectacular. On the reef we saw parrotfish, barracuda, triggerfish, sea fans, sea anemones, and tons of coral. The water was crystal clear and calm allowing all the life on the reef to easily be seen.

We ended the day with a visit to the local bar to relax and tell stories about all the splendor that we’ve seen. The day ended with fun and laughter. A perfect end to the perfect Bahamian day.

Visions staffers may get weekends off, but our intrepid bloggers on the Bahamian island of San Salvador -- Amanda Conigliaro, Tara Gosnell and Scott Perdue -- all stayed busy over the weekend writing about their latest academic adventures on that island. First up is Gosnell, an English and technical communication major who, along with her fellow English students, spent time on Friday teaching similes and metaphors to some local schoolchildren.

May 18, 2007: Lost on a One-Road Island

Today was the English trip to the elementary school. It was also the first completely sunny day we've had. We rode out in a full-size van with a door that threatened to open while driving and windows that had to be propped open by hand. We dropped off one of the biology girls at the medical clinic along the way, but we passed by it so we had to turn around.

The school consisted of several trailers with grade levels posted on the doors. We split into two groups; one for 3rd grade and one for 6th grade. All the younger students were happy to see us, and the grades that we didn't visit were disappointed we didn't stop by.

Tara continues her updates from San Salvador, where UMR English, geology and biology students are studying everything from the local culture to local creatures.

16 May

Today, half of the SCUBA group left at 7:30 to go diving. The rest of us went to the Cockburn Town Fossil Reefs to explore. Again, it was raining. Rain doesn't seem to take away from the experience; the water is still about a dozen shades of blue, people are still walking around enjoying themselves, and all the rocks and life we're here to see aren't afraid of the water, so we can still do what we need to. Several people (including myself) learned from yesterday's experience, and wore trash bags to keep covered from the rain.

After we wandered around the fossil reefs and the town, we again ate lunch at the Christopher Columbus monument, and went to Grotto Bay. The water was choppy at Grotto Bay, so everyone ended up just riding the huge waves and trying to avoid being smashed on the rocks. It was like a giant water park. We stopped at some tidal pools on the way back to the research center.

Thanks to Ken Davidian, manager of the NASA Centennial Challenges program, for posting the video and also to Ray @ Space Prizes for sharing the links.

By now, you know that no one won the Regolith Excavation Challenge. But you haven't heard what Joel had to say about that competition day, have you? Read on.

Tara Gosnell continues her dispatches from the Bahama island of San Salvador, where she and her fellow Englsh students (pictured above) are studying this week.

When we woke it was raining. Woe to those who left laundry on the line overnight. Regardless of the rain, we all slathered on sunscreen. We had breakfast (pancakes and bacon), and then climbed on the trucks to head to Sue Point. Dr. Maglia was driving, so Neil asked to switch trucks. Second gear didn't work well, so we heard a lot of grinding. Scott Perdue lost his water bottle on the way, and we had to pull the convoy over so he could retrieve it. He also later poured rotten coconut juice in his hair.

Sally Lightfoot, a rare, evasive crab

May 15, Day 3

Two and a half days into the trip. I’m exhausted, yet ready for more. After many adventures on the beautiful island of Nassau, we arrived here in San Salvador yesterday on a gorgeous afternoon. The gradients of blues in the ocean are unbelievable, as we witnessed from our small propeller plane.

After landing, we ate lunch and went to a brief orientation. And then we had another orientation---snorkeling. We each grabbed a buddy and went into Graham’s Harbor, right outside the Gerace Research Center where we are staying. It turns out that those quizzes throughout the semester were actually useful for something---in a matter of minutes, I identified at least 15 different species of plants and animals which I didn’t previously know about. From the colorful fairy basslet to the swaying staghorn coral, I was amazed to find so many creatures to be easily identifiable.

More dispatches from our troika of student bloggers on the Bahamian island of San Salvador. This one comes from Tara Gosnell, a graduate student in English and technical communications. Gosnell is one of 30 UMR students on the trip, and is joined by fellow English students Katherine Durham, Tara Gosnell, Mike Gosnell, Neil Hamilton, Liz Hogancamp and Julie Massey.

With a little mishap (Liz having to recheck an extra bag and Tara, Mike, Liz and Neil almost missing the flight to Nassau), we arrived in the Bahamas. The pilot came over the speaker and said the walkway wasn't operational, so we had to exit the plane by the aft stairs, ducking out past the roaring engines. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a live rhythm band, and a few people started to dance in line.

In true Visions spirit, we're again passing the blog torch over to students at the University of Missouri-Rolla. This time, we'll be sharing posts we receive from our student bloggers in San Salvador, one of the Out Islands of the Bahamas. And in typical UMR fashion, we'll be sharing the journals of an interdisciplinary group of students as Anne Maglia, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe and Kristine Swenson are teaching their biologiy, geology and English classes from the island of San Salvador, also known as Columbus Island (named after its most famous visitor). Amanda Conigliaro, a geology student, is one of the three students we will be receiving dispatches from. Here's her perspective on the trip so far:

Today we arrived on San Salvador from Nassau. We have a very large and diverse group of students and professors. There are 30 undergrads, three graduate students, and five professors (Wronkiewicz, Laudon, and Oboh-Ikuenobe in geology, Maglia in biology, and Swenson in English and tech comm). The majority of the students are geology, biology, and English, but there are even computer science and electrical engineering students.

Our first journey was to Graham’s Harbor for our very first snorkel. In just one day we’ve already seen starfish, spiny lobster, barracuda and a variety of corals.

The sheer beauty and friendly culture is overwhelming. The skies are blue, the water is crystal clear, and the beach sand is snowy white. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Imagine thousands of Plexiglass tubes stored underground much like wine in a temperature-controlled cellar. While grapes are the prime ingredient in a bottle of Chardonnay, these tubes are full of odorous algae. And the long tubes of green slime are stored vertically, with carbon dioxide bubbling up from the bottom. Timed pulses of water push overflow algae – engineered to replicate four times daily – out the top of the tube and into a collection system, where the overflow is squeezed to yield, get this, crude oil.

“Why wait 10 million years for oil?” asks David Summers, one of the masterminds behind UMR’s underground algae project.

NASA's Centennial Challenge finished this weekend with all four teams walking away without the $250,000 purse. Here's what Joel Logue of the UMR Lunar Miners has to say before the competition on Friday:

12:01 AM Cali Time.

I forgot what I was going to say last night, but I have better news now!

There are currently only 4 teams that are going to compete tomorrow. Three of the designs are similar in nature to ours, but the fourth is a very impressive design. I’ll take some pictures because it would take way to long to explain here.

Today was oh so crazy. Fumi didn’t get any sleep last night, while I got some excellent sleep on one of those Sleep Number beds (It’s like a little piece of heaven; thou I don’t know what heaven is like, hopefully they have sleep number beds…). He stayed up testing and working out kinks in our hardware. That’s seems to be the problem with a lot of people this year – teams with hardware problems, like the team today.

We got to meet and talk to the organizers of the competition today as well as some big wigs of NASA. We also talked to reporters from the New York Times and Launch Magazine (They feature a lot on rocket engines and model spacecraft - very cool). A lot of people looked at our design and had very nice complements to say about it while others seemed to be a little confused on how it will work. But we will show them in 6.5 hours!

All of the people asked where we were from and what school we went to, you know, the general “stuff”. They asked how the Lunar Miners formed or if it was just for a class project; I told them how it all started and that it’s not for the school but rather for us to learn some new things and explore different concepts. It looks like were getting a lot of media coverage! Yahoo, Space.com, New York Times, NASA, Launch Magazine, and Discovery Canada all know who we are now and what we can do down there in good old Rolla.

Joel Logue and Masafumi "Fumi" Iai made it to Amarillo, Texas, Wednesday. The Lunar Miners also made some online news, via space.com and Yahoo!

Two days, 2,000 miles and two guys can make for an interesting trip. Here is what Joel has to say about yesterday's drive:

2:11pm Hi, It’s me again. Lucky you. Well we just pasted Albuquerque, New Mexico. Alb. is a very beautiful place for the view and how they paint all of their bridges and decorate everything. We have 298 miles until Flagstaff, Arizona. I am so bored with driving.

Catch you later.

UMR's Lunar Miners hit the road yesterday, with hopes of checking into a hotel in Amarillo, Texas, the halfway mark of their 2,000-mile journey to NASA's Centennial Challenge in Santa Maria, Calif. Here's what team co-leader Joel Logue has to say about the group's trip so far:

Currently, we are in El Reno, Okla. I officially dislike Oklahoma not for its rolling flat hills, or lustrous views, but for its fascination with toll ways. I knew some states have toll ways when you enter and leave. Not Oklahoma. Here they charge you to get on the turnpike, they charge you while you are on the turnpike, and they charge you to get off of the turnpike.

The recent news that hackers broke into University of Missouri computer systems ought to present a strong case for a national need for programs like UMR's cyber-security efforts. And for the upcoming announcement that UMR will soon become a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE).

When the designation occurs on June 5, UMR will become the first university in Missouri to achieve that designation. This means students will be eligible for scholarships and grants from the federal government if they choose to study "information assurance." UMR offers graduate certificates in this area, as well as emphasis areas in computer engineering and computer science.

A team of UMR engineering students will hit the road here in a few minutes to make a nearly 2,000 mile journey to Santa Maria, Calif., to compete in NASA's Centennial Challenge. That's where the team will put its robot up against seven other entries from the United States and Canada to see which robot can excavate the most "moon dirt."

You might be asking yourselves why this group, the Lunar Miners, has decided to make the 28-hour drive and not fly. It's a good question, but one that's easily answered by looking at their robot.

From yesterday's New York Times:

The most revealing of the photographs, taken from a helicopter, looks out from the levee across the navigation canal and a skinny strip of land to the expanses of Lake Borgne. From the grassy crown of the levee, small, wormy patterns of rills carved by rain make their way down the landward side, widening at the base into broad fissures that extend beyond the border of the grass...J. David Rogers, called the images “troubling.” Dr. Rogers, who holds the Karl F. Hasselmann chair in geological engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, said it would take more work, including an analysis of the levee soils, to determine whether there was a possibility of catastrophic failure. But he said his first thought upon viewing the images was, “That won’t survive another Katrina.”

You can read the full story here.

Then, closer to home (if you live in Missouri), there's this.

A reusable crash barrier developed by UMR Chancellor John F. Carney has made an impact on highway safety over the years. Now, the chancellor's invention is being cited as an example of university research that helps make the world a better place.

The chancellor's cylindrical crash cushions -- like the ones pictured here, at a St. Louis exit ramp -- are among the 100 university research projects described in The Better World Report, Part Two: Technology Transfer Works: 100 Innovations from Academic Research to Real-World Application.

The report is published by the Better World Project, an undertaking of the non-profit Association of University Technology Managers. Released in April, the report "shows how technology transfer -- the process of licensing and commercializing academic research -- improves people’s lives, contributes to the economy and supports tomorrow's discoveries,” says AUTM President John Fraser.

Carney's work also caught the notice of The Kansas City Star, which reported on the citation over the weekend.

UMR graduate student Steven Jung is conducting research with Dr. Delbert Day, who is internationally known for finding new applications for glass. Among other inventions, Day developed tiny radioactive glass beads that can be injected directly into cancerous areas of the body. Jung is working with glass materials to build medical scaffolding for use in the regeneration of bone tissue. He is also interested in using glass materials as a method to help contain nuclear waste. But what we really want to tell you about is this.