2014-15 STEM Board Events
2014-15 STEM Board Events
June 10th: Dr. Nagi Naganathan Guest Speaker Presentation (Careers in STEM)
May 16th: Monty Madness
May 1st: Dr. Shirin Ford Guest Speaker Presentation on Precision Medicine
April 29th: Dr. Jack Hughes Guest Speaker Presentation (Physicist at Rutgers)
April 22nd-25th: Cougar Robotics at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis
April 15th: Dr. Bart Krekelberg Guest Speaker Presentation (Neuroscientist from Rutgers)
April 8th-11th: Cougar Robotics at the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Championship
March 19th: PPPL Young Women's Conference for girls in 7th to 10th grade
March 28th-29th: Cougar Robotics at the Bridgewater-Raritan District Event
March 10th: Science Olympiad States Competition at Middlesex County College
March 4th: Dr. Thomas Brennan Guest Speaker Presentation, 3:00pn in MPAC
Dr. Brennan told as that as a researcher monitoring traffic patterns in NJ, he knew when arriving at MHS that the last traffic light leading to our school was a traffic disaster waiting to happen, as many of us have experienced while getting dropped off in the morning. It was really interesting to learn about the methods scientists are using today to detect and alleviate such bothersome jams! Dr. Brennan showed us the devices he uses to collect data about traffic jams from the frequencies emitted by peoples’ cell phones. He was really enthusiastic about the research studies he showed us, and about the traffic monitoring systems he’s helped create. He said that when people hear civil engineering, they usually think of construction and dirt and stuff like that (which can be very interesting, as we saw during our last presentation with Dr. White!), but he really enjoys the computer and mathematics based research involved in civil engineering. He encouraged people interested in engineering as high school students to get as much hands on experience they can through jobs or internships.
February 28th-March 1st: Cougar Robotics at the Hatboro-Horsham District Event
February 4th: Dr. Claire White Guest Speaker Presentation, 3:00pm in MPAC
Dr. Claire White is an assistant professor of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. She received her BS and PhD degrees at the University of Melbourne, and has also worked in Los Alamos National Lab. Her research group focuses on understanding and optimizing engineering and environmental materials, including low-CO2 cements and CO2 sequestration. This research spans multiple length and time scales, utilizing advanced synchrotron and neutron-based experimental techniques, and simulation methodologies. Dr. White's visit to MHS was well received. She enlightened us on the premises of engineering in general, and told her story of how she decided to do this sort of research. She delved into various examples of how engineering fits into our daily lives, and then made a quick segue into concrete and why steel reinforced concrete is an amazing idea, combining the tensile strength of steel with the compressive strength of concrete. She moved on to talk about the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) production process, and explained the sources of carbon emissions in cement. Important people and administrators came to the talk, and people had the chance to come up and ask questions. She explained everything in a very friendly way and she was very easy to understand.
January 31st: Cougar Science Olympiad Invitational
January 15th: Academic League vs. Hillsborough, at Gill-St. Bernards
Science Olympiad Regionals Competition at Camden County College
January 10th: Science Olympiad Conestoga Invitational
January 8th: Academic League vs. Bridgewater, at Watchung
January 3rd: FIRST Robotics Kickoff Event
December 18th: Academic League vs. Bound Brook, at Hillsborough
November 19th: Dr. Ronald Gilman Guest Speaker Presentation
Ronald Gilman is an experimental subatomic physics professor based at Rutgers University. He was educated at MIT and UPenn. He has worked at numerous laboratories, including Los Alamos, SLAC, Fermilab, Jefferson Lab, MAMI, and PSI. His research focus is the structure of the proton, with most of his recent efforts on the proton radius puzzle, a high profile topic that has recently appeared in Nature, Science, Scientific American, and other journals.
During his visit to MHS, Professor Gilman spoke about on quantum physics and his research into measuring the size of the proton, by representing particles made up of smaller particles with a box of chocolates, and by writing a few mathematical proofs on a whiteboard. He also shared his background in pursuing a career in subatomic physics, and offered advice to future scientists. He stressed the importance of students getting involved with undergraduate research, and that the specific undergraduate university is far less important than the opportunities they take advantage of to do research. After his talk, both students and teachers were able to ask questions about the details of his research and his career.
Here are a few pictures from the event.
