“The Irish Times” is running a series on women in STEM. I was quoted in today’s article.
The reporter chopped out all the caveats a researcher like me uses (tends to, most, lends support…) but all in all I’m very pleased to have been able to bring student development theory into the conversation here.
Thomas Snella and his national champion.
The RoboSlam volunteer team was in full force last Friday, guiding robot builders to victory in the 3rd National Robo Sumo Intervarsity competition. Friday’s RoboSlam and Saturday’s national competition took place during the 2015 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
At the competition, DIT first year student Thomas Snella (DT066) took the top prize. He will continue on the to European finals.
Second place team, also from DIT.
A cross-disciplinary team of DIT engineers of Seamus McLu (DT008), Aoife Redmond (DT009), Samantha Williams (DT021), and David White (DT006) won 2nd place.
DIT’s Michael O Meara and Alex Herizon (DT021) made the semi-finals of the competition.
DIT students came to the prep day well prepared. Thomas had designed and built his robot in the autumn as part of the common first year program that all 4-year engineering students at DIT now take. Members of second place team built their robot start-to-finish at our prep event, but they, too, had completed the RoboSumo module at DIT (a year prior).
One of the highlights of our prep day was that the secondary school students did such a marvelous job constructing their robots. We hope to see them at RoboSlam events again soon!
Read more on DIT’s website. Additional photos available on the RoboSlam blog.
Derek Ham and his family.
From across the Atlantic, I’m watching the USA finally reach a crucial tipping point.
Enough people are coming to their senses and finally recognizing that all white people in the USA do benefit from simply being white. We have life easier because of being white each and every day. Regardless of whether we want to or not, we do.
And therefore, we have an obligation to help fix a broken system.
A former colleague of mine, Derek Ham, posted a link to the article INTUITIVELY OBVIOUS_ Our white privilege earlier today. It was written by two white MIT professors.
Please read it, and then read Peggy McIntosh’s excellent article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack.
Then, when you’re done, please take a minute to complete some fun and fascinating games developed by Harvard as part of Project Implicit. After you log in to the Project’s website, the server randomly assigns you one of Harvard’s Implicit Assumptions Tests.
I took every single one of the IAT tests available in 2006. And I found them to be stunningly accurate.
It was interesting to discover what sub-conscious preferences I had regarding various topics, including race, weight, guns, and the like. Taking these IAT tests is an effective and fun way to learn about yourself and to contribute to Harvard’s research project at the same time.
Incidentally, Derek Ham graduated from Hampton University the year I started working there. He went on to earn a Master’s from Harvard, then later teach alongside me at Hampton U. He is now earning a PhD in “Design and Computation” at MIT.
Derek is an African American male pushing the boundaries of knowledge and success on behalf of us all. My own work is inspired every day by Derek and his fellow Hamptonians.
Yes, I benefit from white privilege. But I’m glad to say that my parents passed along smart values. I remember being deeply aware of this privilege and letting it guide my behavior from the age of ten.
Since then, I’ve worked to help “level the playing field” whenever I can.
And I hope you will, too.
Click here to see the Prezi I made for the Energy Cube presentation day.
Last week we subjected our Energy Cubes to heat and light — and we measured how well they performed at keeping heat in while simultaneously admitting light. Today the students presented findings from last week’s Energy Cube performance testing.
The discussed their design process, results, analysis, and interpretations. They explained what they think they did well, and what they would improve upon for the next time.
I made a Prezi slide show of pictures for today’s presentations. You can click on the title slide (to the right) to view the Prezi, of view the images below to get a sense of the performance testing and the process of building the Energy Cube models.
I conducted the lighting test, although there aren’t any photos of that because I had my hands full. Michael O’Flaherty conducted the thermal test, as you can see near the end of the Prezi slide set, or in the small gallery below.
Fionnuala advising an Energy Cube team.
Nowadays when you arrive in DIT’s four-year engineering program, you will complete three group-based design projects prior to selecting a specific engineering major: a bridge design project (to familiarize you with civil and structural engineering), a RoboSumo project (to learn about robotics, electrical, and electronic engineering, and programming), and an “Energy Cube” project (as an introduction to mechanical, product, and building services engineering).
The Energy Cube project is currently coordinated by a diverse and multi-disciplinary group of teachers. Fionnuala Farrell is a product design and manufacturing engineer, John Nolan is an expert in engineering drawing, and Micheal O’Flaherty is a building services engineer.
This team built a geodesic dome for their Energy Cube.
I’ve been assisting them and contributing the perspective of an architect. I’m not involved in grading, since I’m interviewing some of the students for my research, but I attend classes to better understand what it’s like to learn and teach engineering.
Fortunately, I know how to do all the parts involved in this project: designing buildings, identifying client needs, defining product evaluation criteria, collaborating, calculating volumes, making scale translations, predicting thermal performance using mathematical calculations, designing the lighting scheme, building models, testing performance, keeping records, and presenting work in writing as well as verbally.
For the students, though, this combination is a tall order! They have a total of six sessions, four hours each (on Friday afternoons!?!!) to design, build, test, and present their Energy Cubes. Whew!
Lecturers Fionnuala Farrell, John Nolan, and Micheal O’Flaherty surveying results of “the build.”
Moreover, they are working in assigned (rather than self-selected) groups of four. Learning to work with strangers isn’t always easy. They’ve done an admirable job.
Our second of four sets of students will test their cubes later today. I’ve posted photos of what the Energy Cube build looked like last week.
I meant to publish this on Ireland by Chance, but it ended up on RoboSlam.
Meeting with John McGrory, Fionnuala Farrell, Una Beagon, and Ted Burke to discuss teaching design.
What does a skilled designer do? How does she act? How does he know what will work?
My colleagues at Dublin Institute of Technology and I want to know.
We all have design and teaching experience. We have a feel for what good design practice looks like.
But we aim to be more precise. We want to explain this well to our students.
So a group of us — who are teaching design on the new “common first year” course that all engineering students in DIT’s four year honors engineering program are now taking — got together Wednesday morning to mull it over. Before meeting, we all read an excellent and comprehensive article by David Crismond and Robin Adams that was published in the Journal of Engineering Education. It is called The Informed Design Teaching…
View original post 264 more words
€14.99 flight to Edinburg. Thanks for a lovely day, Ryanair! My hip architect friend, Tarrah Beebe, and I truly enjoyed the Sunday sunshine.
And to think she arrived in Dublin from LA just yesterday….
My colleague from William and Mary, Dr. Jim Barber, bought the Qualitative Research book I recommended to his students.
Yesterday I learned that the EU wants to support interdisciplinary research by including qualitative researchers on science and technology research teams.
Here’s an example of one of the panelist’s interdisciplinary research.
This information session was held at the art museum, IMMA, which is housed in the former Kilmainham Royal Hospital. The facility is beautiful.
Colleen Dube, the executive director of Fulbright Ireland–who has been a strong supporter of my work–moderated a panel discussion.
I enjoyed the transfer of power underlying the picture posted above. The royalty no longer hold the power to shape society’s future: those researcher on the floor do!
Likewise, quantitative research has reigned central in the sciences, but this session provided evidence that qualitative work is gaining credibility. It’s being seen, more often, as an important perspective that is an essential part of good research.
A colleague suggested I stop in at Sweny’s, an old chemist shop (what we in the States call a pharmacy) just to see the architecture.
Sweny’s hosts readings of texts authored by famous Dubliners. It also displays old books and artifacts as they would have been a hundred years ago.
The place reminds me of the old general store my parents photographed in, I think, Virginia’s Giles County, when I was a kid. (It may have even been near Dublin, Virginia — which would be a fun coincidence!)
Their clients were building a detailed model of the general store, to scale. I loved perusing the shelves and investigating the old-time shoes, not yet sold, looking for a home.
I’m going to try giving you a panoramic view of life here, working and living as a researcher in Dublin. I’ll make a stab at posting a panorama or reflection shot every few days. As a Fulbright, I tried to catalog my experiences. These days, I have to reserve my computer time for solid work. But a quick post from my phone shouldn’t take much time….
Today I’m learning about programs and achievements of the European Research Council (ERC). The organization’s president has been speaking at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
The RIA headquarters includes a lovely library about property ordinance surveys and the history of Ireland and Irish architecture. Before the event, I was flipping through a book and happened across a house that I think I’ve seen next to the Joyce Tower.
</a
Ireland by Chance 