Upcoming Events
Using LEGO Bricks and Robotics: Engineering Education For All (April 4)
Dr. Chris Rogers, professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University, will be at The University of Texas at Dallas’ TI Auditorium (ECSS 2.102) located at 800 West Campbell Road in Richardson.
Dr. Rogers will present the work done at the Tufts Center for Engineering Education Outreach with LEGO in developing ROBOLAB; an educational toolkit developed at Tufts with the support of National Instruments and LEGO. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be at 2pm on April 4.
Rogers, recognized by the National Science Foundation for his work in making engineering accessible and exciting to students of all ages, is involved in six different research areas: particle-laden flows, telerobotics and controls, slurry flows in chemical-mechanical planarization, the engineering of musical instruments, measuring flame shapes, and in elementary school engineering education.
His work has been funded by NSF, NASA, Intel, BOEING, Cabot, Steinway, Selmer, Fulbright, and the LEGO corporation. Rogers has a strong commitment to teaching, including learning robotics with LEGO bricks. He has worked with LEGO to develop ROBOLAB, a robotic approach to learning science and math.
For more information, contact Metta Alsobrook at 972-883-4154 or at metta.alsobrook@utdallas.edu
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Naval Aviation Enterprise "AIRSpeed" Lean Six Sigma Productivity Improvement (April 5)
In any business, efficiency is king. When the Enterprise AIRSpeed Lean Six Sigma was introduced, the goals were to increase productivity to reduce the cost of doing business and maximizing the value of delivered products and services.
The results have been amazing – using Lean Six Sigma in Organizational-Level, Intermediate-Level and Depot-Level aircraft and systems maintenance has reduced turnaround time from 23 days to 3 days, improved productivity by 62%, and reduced floor space by 54%.
Clearly, it works. Learn the how and why from Dale L. Moore, the Director of the Naval Air Systems Command Aerospace Materials Division, and the Leader of the National Naval Aviation Materials Research and Engineering Competency at 2 p.m. on April 5 in the TI Auditorium on The University of Texas at Dallas campus. Mr. Moore has also served other remarkable positions such as, but definitely not limited to, the Command’s leader for the Aircraft Corrosion Control and Prevention Program (AC2P2), Chairman of the Navy’s Council on Materials and Structures, and the leader of the U.S. Government’s COCOM Technical Committee Leader for establishing composites, resins and fibers export control.
As the National Leader of the Naval Aviation Materials Competency, Moore is responsible for establishing materials and processes research and engineering plans, programs, strategies, policies, and processes for the successful execution of the Materials Competency mission. The National Materials Competency is comprised of more than 280 scientists and engineers conducting and managing more than $45M in research and engineering, leveraging more than 140,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratories located at six major sites. As the Director of the Aerospace Materials Division, Patuxent River site, Moore directly supervises over 100 engineers, scientists and technicians in the execution of over $30M of annual research and engineering activities.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Beth Keithly at keithly@utdallas.edu.
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Discovery of the Y(4260) (April 5)
This discovery was a Discovery magazine Top 100 Discoveries of 2005. At 4pm on Wednesday, April 5, in Kusch Auditorium, FN 2.102 on The University of Texas at Dallas, Professor Joseph Izen, Professor Xinchou Lou, Dr. Shuwei Ye of UTD Department of Physics will discuss their discovery of Y(4260).
A Charmonium meson is a particle composed of a charm quark and an anti-charm quark, just as a hydrogen atom is composed of a proton and an electron. Historically, the observation of two charmonia, the J/Ψ(1S) and the Ψ(2S), was a crucial piece of evidence that confirmed the existence of quarks. Many charmonium excitations have since been identified in the annihilation of electrons and positrons or protons and antiprotons with just enough kinetic energy to produce a charm-anticharm system, and charmonium spectroscopy has helped physicists describe the strong force. After nearly three decades of routine charmonium spectroscopy, a new charmonium-like structure, dubbed the Y(4260) has been reported by the BaBar experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The Y(4260) is not predicted by conventional spectroscopic models, and its properties are exotic. Its discovery has fueled much theoretical speculation about its nature, and Discover magazine included it on its Top 100 Discoveries of 2005. This colloquium will present an introduction to charmonium spectroscopy, an insider's view of the Y(4260) discovery, and some theoretical speculation regarding the nature of the Y(4260).
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, email yuri.gartstein@utdallas.edu.
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Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas Meeting (April 5-6)
The mid-year meeting of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas will be held at Moody Gardens in Galveston April 5-6. This year, the meeting will focus on cutting-edge approaches to understanding and controlling emerging infectious diseases, and is being sponsored jointly by the Academy and the University of Texas System Office of Health Affairs. The two-day program promises to be outstanding, with three keynote talks to be given by members of the National Academy of Sciences: John Mekalanos (Harvard), Bernie Moss (NIH), and Peter Palese (Mount Sinai). A dozen other speakers represent some of the best science in Texas today. Registration is free to students, and only $25 for postdocs. There will be a poster session, and those who submit the three best posters will be selected to present their work orally during the plenary sessions. There will also be a poster viewing-reception on the afternoon of the 5th which will be a unique opportunity for students, post-docs and faculty to meet their peers from other Texas institutions.
For more information or to register visit For more information or to register visit Bugs, Drugs & Vaccines: Securing Our Future website.
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Cyber Threats of the 21st Century (April 6)
The Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 2 nd Annual Cyber Threats of the 21 st Century Issues Forum at 7:30am on April 6 at The University of Texas at Dallas School of Management at 800 W. Campbell Road. Expert panelists will address planning and implementing disaster recovery strategies, corporate wireless security and threats. For more information, contact Connie Fung at 214-712-1937 or cfung@dallaschamber.org.
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The Future of Semiconductor Processing (April 6)
The Semiconductor Processing Users Group will have a meeting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 6 in Engineering and Computer Science South Room 2.410 on The University of Texas at Dallas campus. Presentations include "Introducing new process technology for current and future process nodes" by Steve Shannon, Front End Process Directions in the 2005 ITRS by Larry Larson, and The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors by Robert Doering.
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US-China Issues Forum (April 12)
The Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce is hosting a conference on US-China Issues will be held from 7:30am-1:30 p.m. on April 12 at The Fairmont Hotel located at 1717 N. Akard in Dallas. There is a $110 charge for members and a $165 charge for non-members. Panel discussions will address China's macroeconomic trends, political climate, foreign exchange rates, protection of intellectual property rights, and how technology innovations on China's end will provide opportunities for U.S. companies. Robert Theleen, the chairman, CEO and founder of ChinaVest will be the keynote speaker. For more information, contact Jennifer Vuong at 214-712-1968 or jvuong@dallaschamber.org
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The Sixth Annual Emerging Information Technology Conference (EITC-06) (August 10-12)
Besides discussing the cutting-edge topics that will dominate the Global intellectual and economic landscapes will be the theme of this conference for Tech-Titans, the sixth annual Emerging Information Technology Conference (EITC-06) will also feature Mark Ellison from Texas Governor Rick Perry’s office of economic development and presidents from some outstanding research universities in the Pacific Rim.
The conference will be held from August 10-12 on The University of Texas at Dallas campus.
Mark Ellison is the Director of the $300 Million Texas Emerging Technology Fund, which was recently approved by Governor Perry and the Texas Legislature to assist the development and commercialization of technologies important to the future of Texas. The Emerging Technology Fund aims to improve university research, expedite the launch of technology firms, and speed transition of inventions from the lab into the hands of consumers.
This year is also the first time for EITC to host a research university presidents forum. For the past two decades, with significant economic growth, research universities in Asia are also seeing unprecedented growth, both in student population as well as research quality and output. The participants so far are from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Paul C. W. Chu), National Taiwan University (S. C. Lee), National Tsinghua University (W. T. Chen) and National Chiao-Tung University (Vice President W. Hwang). Topics that will be discussed include responsibilities of research universities in the landscape of globalization, recruiting world class scholars, educating versus training the best young minds, and last but not least, promotion and interactions with the corporate worlds and commercialization. Dr. Da Hsuan Feng, Vice President of Research and Economic Development of University of Texas at Dallas will moderate the forum.
The conference will include programs on
- Nanotechnology,
- MEMS,
- SoC (Systems-on-Chip),
- Bioinformatics,
- C4I (Content, Computer, Communications, Consumer Electronics, and Integration),
- EET (Emerging Energy Technology), and
- VC (Venture Capital).
For more conference details, please contact the Executive Secretary Office of the EITC team at: 713-963-9433. Information is also available by visiting the EITC website.
