Nanoparticles in combination could be more toxic

March 12, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

It seems that one set of nanoparticles, e.g., silver nanoparticles, in combination with another material, e.g., cadmium ions, are more dangerous than either one separately according to an August 17, 2018 University of Southern Denmark press release by Birgitte Svennevig (also on EurekAlert but dated August 20, 2018), Researchers warn that a combination of nanoparticles and contaminants may form a cocktail that is harmful to our cells. In their study, 72 pct. of cells died…

#Ornitholoday

March 11, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

If you are someone who loves birds, math, statistics, and/or computer science, you should probably put March 20th in your calendar right now. Between 8 am and 4 pm EDT on Wednesday the 20th, undergraduate student Brandon Edwards will be taking over the IBIS Journal’s Twitter account as part of their 2019 campaign to haveContinue reading "#Ornitholoday"

It’s a very ‘carbony’ time: graphene jacket, graphene-skinned airplane, and schwarzite

March 11, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

In August 2018, I been stumbled across several stories about graphene-based products and a new form of carbon. Graphene jacket The company producing this jacket has as its goal “… creating bionic clothing that is both bulletproof and intelligent.” Well, ‘bionic‘ means biologically-inspired engineering and ‘intelligent‘ usually means there’s some kind of computing capability in the product. This jacket, which is the first step towards the company’s goal, is not bionic, bulletproof, or intelligent. Nonetheless,…

Undergraduate Student Heading To The 2019 American Ornithological Society Conference

March 9, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Congratulations to undergraduate student, Brandon Edwards, whose abstract has been accepted for presentation at the 2019 American Ornithological Society Conference (AOS). Brandon will travel to Anchorage, Alaska from June 24-28 to present a new R package that he’s been developing to make it simpler to implement an environmental Agent Based Model (eABM). Brandon has previouslyContinue reading "Undergraduate Student Heading To The 2019 American Ornithological Society Conference"

Happy International Women’s Day on March 8, 2019—with a shout-out to women in science

March 8, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

I did a very quick search for today’s (March 8, 2019) women in science stories and found three to highlight here. First, a somewhat downbeat Canadian story. Can Canadians name a woman scientist or engineer? According to Emily Chung’s March 8, 2019 article on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) online news site, the answer is: no, You’ve probably heard of Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Mark Zuckerberg.But can you name a woman scientist or engineer?…

Celebrating Co-Op Excellence

March 8, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Yesterday I joined a packed room of students, staff, faculty, and industry partners as we celebrated the successes of more than ninety undergraduate students and their co-op employers during the 21st Annual Co-op Awards ceremony. The event included five student awards, and two employer awards. As part of the event, I also had the distinctContinue reading "Celebrating Co-Op Excellence"

Join Us For The PhD Seminar of Ammar Almutawa

March 8, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Join us March 12, 2019 for a seminar by PhD Computational Sciences student, Ammar Almutawa. Ammar will present his first PhD seminar in Reynolds 2224 at 2:30 pm. The title of Ammar’s talk is Automated Feedback for Instructors of Large Classes. His abstract is provided below. Abstract: Instructors are key factors in the learning process,Continue reading "Join Us For The PhD Seminar of Ammar Almutawa"

Popcorn-powered robots

March 7, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

A soft robotic device powered by popcorn, constructed by researchers in Cornell’s Collective Embodied Intelligence Lab. Courtesy: Cornell University What an intriguing idea, popcorn-powered robots, and one I have difficulty imagining even with the help of the image above. A July 26, 2018 Cornell University news release (an edited version is on EurekAlert) by Melanie Lefkowitz describes the concept, Cornell researchers have discovered how to power simple robots with a novel substance that, when heated,…

Undergrads Off To The Western Student Research Conference

March 7, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Congratulations to undergraduate students Marshall Asch, and Keefer Rourke, who will be travelling to this year’s Western Student Research Conference at Western University later this month. The pair will co-present some of the work they’ve been doing as part of the Wireless Mobile Mesh Network research program. The presentation, co-authored by Frazer Seymour, Nic Durish,Continue reading "Undergrads Off To The Western Student Research Conference"

Graduate Student Heading To IBOL8

March 6, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Jarrett Phillips, PhD Candidate in the School of Computer Science, will be travelling to Trondheim, Norway this summer to attend the 8th International Barcode of Life (IBOL) conference. Jarrett, who will be presenting some of his PhD work at the conference, has also recently received a travel grant from the School of Computer Science toContinue reading "Graduate Student Heading To IBOL8"

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