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And here’s a little side project I did
SIGHT SEEN:
What if you could improve human vision? That’s what EECS Ph.D. candidate
Hyuck Choo (pictured above) and EECS graduate student David Garmire are aiming
at with their research and development of high-performance, torsional microscanners,
microscopic devices that aid in imagery and diagnostics. Applications can include
anything from improving CAT scans and cornea refractive surgery to enhancing
someone’s vision within a pair of eyeglasses. Here, Choo poses with his
poster during the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center and MicroLab open house
and poster session at the EECS BEARS conference on February 23. “This was
actually a side project to my other research,” Choo says. For more information
about Choo’s work, go to www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~hchoo/.
(Rachel Shafer photo)
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If it weren’t for the intervention of two teachers who saw her
potential, Megan Smirti might not have studied engineering. “No
one in my family was an engineer, so I didn’t really have anyone
to encourage me in that direction. But in high school, the heads of
our math and science departments told me engineering was something
I could do and mentored me,” says the CEE graduate student in
transportation studies. “They really motivated me.”
Since then, encouraging women in engineering has become Smirti’s
passion. As an undergraduate engineer at the University of Pennsylvania,
she was involved in mentoring and worked as a peer advisor. When she
moved to Berkeley last fall to start her graduate work, Smirti wanted
to increase her outreach activities. She read about Techbridge in a
local newspaper. An outreach program run by Chabot Space and Science
Center, Techbridge encourages girls to get involved in technology,
science and engineering. The organization was looking for female role
models to meet with local girls and tell them about engineering careers.
Smirti signed up. [FULL STORY]
In a burning building filled with smoke, firefighters search for one of their
own who isn’t responding on his radio. He might be hurt or unconscious.
Searchers tie a rope to the doorknob, and crawl through a room, paying out
rope as they go. They find nothing and crawl back, guided by the rope. They
move to the next room.
ME researchers in Professor Paul Wright’s Berkeley Manufacturing Institute
are working on technology to help firefighters perform tasks like this
with much more efficiency. “FireEye” is ME graduate student Joel
Wilson’s
project. It’s a tiny display mounted inside a firefighter’s
mask that shows critical information such as building floor plans, location
of
the firefighting team, air remaining in one’s airtank and the nearest
exits. The display connects into a small computer attached to the firefighter’s
pack.
“The main goal is to help firefighters better navigate the difficult
situations they face and save lives in the process,” Wilson says. [FULL STORY]
Below is the first column in an occasional student perspective
series on the engineering life. “Off the beat” is written
by Engineering Physics junior Michelle Yong.
Now that I’m finally a junior, I’m starting to glimpse
the “Real World,” and it’s not the TV show. My senior
friends leave town for the weekend, not for Tahoe, but Chicago. Chicago?
Job interviews, they holler back to me.
Oh. Is that my future ahead? Suddenly, I’m facing a panel of
my very own phantom interviewers inspecting my resume. “So, I
see here that you’ve been playing the carillon for three years.
What is the carillon?” A cursory explanation follows, making
me sound like a modern female Quasimodo who enjoys playing the Campanile’s
bells. And then, the real question lurking behind the first: “If
you’re interested in becoming a physicist, why are you taking
music lessons?” The inquisitor might as well have asked, “So
what are you doing wasting time outside of physics? Hrmm? ”
These are my mental mock interviews/nightmares. I’m scared and
I’m stumped. But I know music has molded me, and there is something
I’ve gained from all those hours spent juggling tones and rhythms.
Here’s my something. [FULL STORY]
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