IMTS Blog - Academics

Lego and STEM careers - an interlocking future?

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:58:00 -0400

What do you get when you mix imagination, open-source collaboration, and millions of interlocking plastic bricks? It's the world of Lego - encouraging an entire future generation of engineers.

An article in the May issue of Smithsonian shows the evolution of the toy brand from free-form building blocks to the medium behind student robotics competitions around the world. By learning about design thinking through playing with Legos, "(Kids) see that there is no right or wrong answer, just an infinite number of ways to address a problem," said Chris Rogers, a professor of mechanial engineering at Tufts University. "Learning that is as critical to engineering as it is to life."

Accompanying the article was a fascinating infographic on the possibilities offered by a STEM-focused education, including the tremendous salary advantages that a science and engineering-related career holds vs. the average for all other career fields.

The educational organization FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology - sponsors Lego leagues and helps kids learn about the collaboration and teamwork that go into design and production. If you know of an interested student, check their website for information about leagues and events.

So parents, next time you experience the agony of stepping barefoot onto a Lego brick, just remember that those little plastic blocks could be key to an innovative future - and maybe even a great STEM career!

You Might Not Know It, But You Need an Intern

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:29:00 -0400

As spring makes its early bloom (well, right after we get through this snow storm), it won’t be terribly long before students will be out of school for summer. Have you considered bringing on one (or more) of those students as a technical intern? If you haven’t thought about developing an internship program at your company, you absolutely should. Here are some reasons why:

It will help you later: A common concern throughout all of manufacturing is the lack of skilled workers. Bringing on an intern is one step toward building your own “homegrown” talent. They will get trained to your specifications, for the skills that you need.
It’s “try before you buy”: When you hire someone off the street, you always take a risk that the person who seemed so great in your interview won’t really cut it on your shop floor. With an intern, you get a number of weeks to see how well they perform and fit into your company culture. They’ll know you, and you’ll know them. Come time for the intern to find a full-time job, they’re going to know and remember you, and you may just have the perfect hire.
It’s low cost: Sure, if you can afford to pay your interns something, you absolutely should. Rules vary in terms of how much you have to pay, but the bottom line is that it won’t cost you as much as a full-time hire. (If you only offer bare-bones pay, however, or no pay at all, your schedule should accommodate the intern’s possible need to work another paying job. It’s true that you are paying them with real-world experience, but many of them still have tuition bills and living expenses.)
Schools can help you find them: Some educational institutions require a certain number of experience hours for a student to earn a degree. Contact your local community or technical college to find out if they have such a program, or how you might get in touch with eligible students.
They aren’t just limited to summer: If you can be flexible around class schedules, interns are often available year-round. Again, contact your local educational institutions to find out if they have a formal internship program.

MTCareers is the place to find the pipeline of newest talent coming into the manufacturing industry. Post your internships and entry-level job openings at MTCareers.org.

Happy Manufacturing Day!

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:38:00 -0400

This calls for a celebration – Manufacturing Day is here, a day devoted to expanding knowledge and improving public perception about careers in manufacturing and the industry in general.

To honor the day, a number of manufacturers are offering facility tours and other events. Here at AMT headquarters (home of IMTS show management), IMTS TV has created a video featuring Doug Woods, President of AMT, talking about why manufacturing matters. We also have a feature on the NIMS Student Skills Summit, which attracted thousands of students to IMTS 2012, and videos covering other great topics around manufacturing.

With a skills gap growing only more pervasive throughout manufacturing, now it's more important than ever to reach out to students and educators to give them a real understanding of the good paying, highly technical careers available in the industry. We need these bright minds and the enthusiastic energy behind them to ensure that U.S. manufacturing has a strong future. While exhibitors at IMTS were encouraged to welcome students into their booths, this is an effort that happens every day - not just on the show floor.

What are you doing to mark this day? What do you think needs to happen to improve public perception of the industry?

“Maker Schools”: A Way to Bridge the Skills Gap?

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:43:00 -0400

An article from Wired pointed to a recent phenomenon of classes and schools that teach “maker skills” – hands-on, DIY skills geared toward 9-5 desk jockey-types who are great with, say, a Power Point presentation, but maybe not so much at the skills necessary to make tangible objects.

The schools and programs teach everything from quilting to welding to plasma laser cutting. They’re popping up in major metropolitan areas and small towns alike. And they’re not just in the U.S. – you can find them all over the world.

So it begs the question … is this the beginning of a revolution, where herds of office drones trade their Aeron chairs for welder’s helmets, or a career as a CNC machinist? It’s too early to say. But as the trend toward DIY takes root — manifesting itself in everything from backyard vegetable gardens to garage-housed 3-D printers — it’s possible that more than a few folks are eager to spend their days getting their hands on something other than a mouse and keyboard.

If nothing else, it appears to be a fantastic opportunity to educate a segment of the population who otherwise would not be aware of the technical know-how necessary for today’s manufacturing industry. It might not be the magic bullet that closes the skills gap, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

"Young Minds at Work" at Lockheed Martin

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:08:00 -0400

Students Explore Science and Space Applications

April 28, 2011 Press Release:

"Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Space Systems Company campuses across the nation today opened their doors to over 3,200 children aged six to 18 years to introduce them to the wonders of science, physics and mathematics in the space industry through its annual event “Young Minds at Work” day. The event inspires children to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics education by demonstrating applications in our everyday life.

“Inspiring our youth to explore the world around them is not just important to our company but to the global economy,” said Joanne Maguire, executive vice president for Space Systems Company. “Children exploring science, technology, engineering and math today will be our leaders of tomorrow, innovating for a better and healthier planet. Young Minds at Work is one way Lockheed Martin invests in our children by tapping their natural curiosities and problem solving skills.”

Some of the activities they participated in were:

Practicing docking a spacecraft
Flying an airplane in a simulator
Launching water bottle rockets

Wish there was a program like this when I was in school!!

To see the full story: Lockheed Martin

The first global online science competition

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:11:00 -0400

Get your budding scientist ready - the first global online science competition is on! Google Science Fair is open to full-time students ages 13 to 18. My oldest isn't old enough yet, but I am so excited for all the innovative kids out there that get to do this.

The Pentagon - in a battle with Microsoft

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:09:42 -0400

The Pentagon is vowing to do battle against an enemy that one top U.S. Marines official says “makes us stupid.” So just who is this formidable enemy? None other than Microsoft PowerPoint. A story in the April 26 edition of the New York Times points to a slide, widely circulated on the Internet, meant to portray the complexity of U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan. Complex, it was. But it also showed what can happen when use of such a business tool spirals out of control. Microsoft’s ubiquitous presentation software is something the business world has both loved and loathed ever since a Mac-based program named “Presenter” was re-christened as PowerPoint in 1987. Darkened board rooms have never been the same. Many a conference and meeting attendee has sat through his or her share of badly executed PowerPoint presentations. Blocks of indecipherable grey text. Colors and fonts more appropriate for a bag of Easter candy. Goofy animation and silly sound effects. And the overall theme that ties it all together: Lack of a clear message. If your company makes a lot of these presentations — especially to your customers and clients — it’s worth taking a long, hard look at what you’re putting out there. This isn’t to say you need to hire a design firm to handle your slides (though having someone on your staff with better-than-average knowledge certainly helps). But you need to ask yourself if you’re using PowerPoint to enhance presentations, or if you’re using it as a crutch. If you’re ready to raise your PowerPoint game, there is a wealth of resources online. A simple Google search for “effective PowerPoint presentations” yields nearly 3 million hits. Online tutorial sites such as Lynda.com also offer informative sessions on PowerPoint-related topics. But don’t expect those eye-glazing presentations to go away anytime soon. Though perhaps the military will examine a different approach to eliminating the blight. “If we really want to accomplish something we shouldn’t be teaching our allies how to use PowerPoint,” Duke University military expert Peter Feaver told ZDNet. “We should give it to the Iraqis. We’d never have to worry about them again.”

What's Progress Mean?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:55:00 -0400

Modern art usually pushes the bounds of what is in the next step of society. Warhol, O’Keefe, and Picasso all pushed the boundaries of art in their time. A good place to find our culture’s next generation of art is in New York’s Guggenheim Museum.

A conceptual artist, Tino Sehgal is currently “showing” his work entitled “This Progress”. I discovered the work this weekend while listening to Studio 360 on NPR. There are no canvases in Sehgals work. There are no paint strokes or molded clay. As visitors to the museum enter the exhibit, which is simply the entire space of the museum, they are met by a child. The child, no more than 12 years old, asks the visitor if they would like to participate in the art. When someone responds, “yes,” the child then asks, “What is progress?”

You’ll have to listen to the recording on Studio 360 to hear some of the interesting answered provided by guests. The exhibition continues as the child brings the visitor to a teenager and repeats, as best he or she can, the answer provided by visitor. The visitor continues this same journey with the teenager, then a young adult. Finally they are brought to a senior citizen – with the same question in the air “What is progress?”

Personally, I consider myself a fan of tangible art – if only because I haven’t thought of another kind of art. But the idea of providing this artistic experience to museum visitors is fascinating and, at least, conceptually, quite provocative. There is no wrong answer from what I can tell. The experience is in no way recorded, digitally or through written transcript. But I have no doubt that the thorough challenge of addressing, “What is progress?” through the interpretation of four strangers of varying generations will alter the how the conversation unfolds.

So what is progress to you? What does it mean? How does it effect you?

Today in History, Tomorrow Who Knows?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:49:00 -0400

Today in history … seems to have been significant regarding the leaps and bounds technology has come.

December 8, 1931 - coaxial cable was patented (can’t get enough of the Discovery channel)

December 8, 1993 – US Secretary of Defense opens the global positioning system to civilian use (go Garmin!)

And on this date in 1765, Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin was born.

We could probably pick any date and think of a half of a dozen things that were invented or people born that day who have significantly changed technology and society as a result. Every aspect of timing is critical for any piece of technology to succeed.

With the pieces and parts in place the cotton gin came at a significant time in history. Or would Whitney not been compelled to work on such a design if the land to grow more cotton on did not exist or if slave trade had been abolished earlier? According the Eli Whitney Museum website, "…Whitney (who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways in which his invention would change society for the worse. The most significant of these was the growth of slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor."

Every advancement we make, society challenges us as a people to remember the potential ethical impact of technology.

A Couple of Corners to Checkout at IMTS 2008

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:46:14 -0400

I'm going to do a shout out to myself today. Woot for the blog area in the front of West Building. It's near the International Visitors Center and on the concourse side of Ingersoll and Kennametal. I'm not in the blog area as much as I thought I'd be, but I am around. It's also a great place to put your feet up and rest for a second. The couches here are seriously comfortable, ask the guy in the suit who is currently snoring right now -- I bet he'll vouch for them. Also, I've been in the back of North today. I ventured to see what was going on in the wayyyyy back of North. I got to see the tram station and the smaller booths in the back. There are a lot of them -- many more than last year. The Robot Combat is back there too. So when you're walking through North and you get to the back, don't stop just cause the ceilings are lower, keep going and check out all of the action in the back plus the tram station (where the GPS Giveaway swipe station is, hint, hint).

A New Cycle of the Workforce

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:08:49 -0400

It’s the middle of summer, and most students are “chilling out, maxing and relaxing all cool” (10 points if you know those lyrics). But there are growing opportunities for them as the fall quickly approaches. Including a particular opportunity the Rockford, IL Chamber of Commerce is offering. During IMTS 2006, more than 200 students were sponsored by local Rockford businesses to attend the show. On a national scale, Harley-Davidson has a wonderful student oriented presentation. They offer opportunities to students in multiple formats and with different end results depending on the student’s interests. Harley-Davidson embraces the theory that there is a place in their company for all personality types: problem solvers, people persons, and creative geniuses. Their presentation helps students layout out a plan to become a desirable candidate for employment. Sounds like a human resource department’s dream to me. (Check out the variety in the music selection...it's an easy way to personalize the presentation to users.)

Open the Doors to Better Ideas

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:50:02 -0400

So what's the latest on MTConnect? Funny you should ask. I happen to have an answer. To promote the new concept and application of MTConnect, a student competition is being held between Universities and Institutes. The goal is for students to explore and develop the use of the standard, the resulting data, and analysis of the outcome. Information sharing has increased over the past decade in hopes of advancing technology leaps and bounds, rather than just baby steps. Open source changed the hybrid for Toyota and Microsoft is continuing to make an effort to bridge their information with the open source community to improve upon their product. For more information and to participate in the competition check out the details at MTConnect.com.

Finding Real Toys Worth Tinkering With

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:36:11 -0400

Tinkering School was dreamt up by Gever Tulley and is run by him and his wife. They offer a summer program from their home in California for kids between 7 and 17 years of age. There students have a week to learn and explore many aspects of building, technology, and mechanics – all hands on. Tulley was one of the speakers at the 2007 TED conference. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Twenty-four years ago, it started out as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

Bombs, Missiles, and Other Flying Objects

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:06:39 -0400

Trajectory is the path a moving object follows through space. In physics class we'd create our own trajectory tests using a massive homemade sling shot – consisting of a bicycle helmet, stretchy surgical tubing and football field uprights. With a little bit of man power and your obligatory water balloon we'd fire our "objects" down the football field. Using the measurements on the field, each student was able to figure out the trajectory of their own water balloon. Now, I'm not going to breakdown the formula for trajectory of a projectile because there are too many variables that I will inevitably screw up. Plus, if you're an engineer you should have an idea of some of the formula’s variations. But if you want to work on figuring out trajectory in a vacuum, without having to do much pen to paper problem solving, try out The Discovery Channels NLOS Cannon Challenge. Part violent, part mathematic, it’ll occupy for a little while at least.

Brushing Up Your Mechancial Knowledge

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:30:46 -0400

Unmotivated on this bitterly cold Thursday (it's pretty chilly here on the east coast)? This quiz will definitely kill quite a bit of time for you. Check it out and let me know how you do. It was posted by the Diesel Technician Society on the Ford Doctors DTS site. Anything more than an 80% is considered passing. My score was sad and pathetic so I’m not going to talk about it. There are a few other quizzes on the site if you head back towards the homepage.