Recently in Education Category

Missouri S&T's resident waterjet expert, David A. Summers, is known for sometimes wearing a necktie depicting a whale because he is, as he puts it, "always spouting off about waterjets." A little more than three years ago, Summers found something else to spout off about -- energy -- and co-founded a place to do so. Summers is the co-founder of the wildly popular blog known as The Oil Drum, where he posts critiques and commentary under the nom de blog Heading Out. (Note: any blog which gets more traffic than this one is "wildly popular," in our opinion. But TOD really fits the bill. Summers and his legion of bloggers are read by thousands. "We did hit 42,000 unique readers in one day on Sept. 12," he wrote in a recent email.)

Recently, Summers and his fellow oil drummers received the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas. They received the award last month during ASPO's annual conference in Sacramento. Summers says the award will reside in Colorado with his colleague and TOD co-founder Kyle Saunders, aka Professor Goose.

Congratulations to Summers, Saunders and their co-bloggers for this recognition. And thanks to them for sharing their expertise on energy with the rest of the online world. There's not a better time for doing so than right now.

Using Google mapping tools and their exceptional modeling skills, seven Missouri S&T students put the campus on the map -- on Google Maps, specifically. And in the process, their creation was one of nine winners in Google's 2008 International Model Your Campus Competition.

As our official news release explains:

Each team used Google SketchUp modeling software to create models of campus buildings, then referenced them in Google Earth – a utility that uses satellite imagery and allows web users to “fly” in to anywhere on the planet. The teams then uploaded their creations to the Google 3D Warehouse. The winners were selected by a panel of industry experts.

For their efforts, they each will receive some pretty cool swag: an Apple iPod Touch, a Nintendo Wii Console, and a Google T-shirt and hat.

The judges praised each winning team for the way they "captured the right level of detail to efficiently reflect the character and complexity of the campuses they represented," "used good judgment about what to detail so that interesting aspects of the buildings were captured," and for their "overall consistency to all the models on each campus." The judges also noted: "The photo-texturing was exceptional – people, cars and vegetation were removed so that the building textures were plainly visible."

Great work, team! You really know how to put Missouri S&T on the map.

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the Soviet satellite that shocked America into a cold war battle for space supremacy. Already, the news media are examining the anniversary from all angles. I typed "sputnik" into A Google News' search engine and retrieved 327 articles and blog posts. Expect to read even more about Sputnik 1 (pictured) and the golden anniversary this weekend.

Several of the articles I skimmed look back at the Sputnik launch on Oct. 4, 1957, as a pivotal moment in U.S. history, perhaps as defining a moment for the space race as Pearl Harbor was for U.S. involvement in World War II.

The fact that the Soviets beat us into space was a blow to our collective ego. But it -- as Pearl Harbor 16 years earlier -- was a clarion call for us to get our act together and rally around the cause of beating our cold war adversaries to the moon. It was, as The New York Times puts it, a time When Science Suddenly Mattered, in Space and in Class. Times reporter Cornelia Dean writes:

For many, Sputnik was proof that American education, particularly in science, had fallen behind. Scientists and engineers warned Congress that the cold war was being fought with slide rules, not rifles. In response Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in 1958, providing, among other things, college scholarships and other help for aspiring scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Meanwhile, some of the nation’s eminent scientists were collaborating on new ways to teach high school physics, biology and chemistry.

These days, the cold war is ancient history, the U.S. is not investing in science and technology as it should, and the head of NASA thinks China will be on the moon before we ever return. But if the 50th anniversary of Sputnik 1 teaches us anything, it is that, given the right cause, vision and national leadership, we can pull together and achieve something great.

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.

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.

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.

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.