CSULB places 5th in robot fight

Cal Poly's robot fights another at this year's BattleBot competition. Photo credit

Cal State Long Beach engineering students won fifth place last month at the BattleBots collegiate tournament in Vallejo, Calif.

According to a CSULB press release, CSULB's robot, SharkTooth looked to tear robots "to pieces in a cage-style arena." The release also said that the robot had five 10 inch circular saw blades and a row of mill cutting blades to help it fight to the death.

A story in the Daily Forty-Niner said that the CSULB team last competed in 2005, when they lost to Cal Tech.

BattleBots, created by CSULB alumnus Trey Roski, was also a television show that aired on Comedy Central for five seasons.

COE to participate in Kaleidoscope

The College of Engineering is set to participate on Saturday in Kaleidoscope, Cal State Long Beach's annual festival.

According to a CSULB press release, Engineering Day will allow visitors — from both the campus and local community — to view and complete demonstrations relating to engineering science. Last year, they held an intercollegiate MicroMouse competition, in which small robot mice race to get through a maze.

Kaleidoscope will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit the CSULB website. A full guide of the event should be posted by Friday.

Here is a video of last year's Kaleidoscope:

Engineering students join together through organizations

Cal State Long Beach's Associated Engineering Student Body (AESB) is holding a meeting this Friday at 1 p.m. in ECS Room 302.

According to the AESB website, the group represents all engineering students and organizations on campus. AESB also provides grants, scholarships and other resources for engineering students.

They are also currently accepting officer applications for the next academic year.

More students concerned about energy, sustainability

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times said that more college students are planning to pursue "clean energy" careers, especially over concerns about climate change.

According to the article, there has been more than a 5 percent decrease in graduate engineering enrollment in the U.S. from 2003 to 2005.

At Cal State Long Beach, there are currently 13 undergraduates in the engineering technology: environmental technology program of the chemical engineering department, according to CSULB.

Girls can be engineers, too

Cal State Long Beach is holding its first Engineering Girls @ The Beach this Friday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to encourage fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade girls to pursue engineering, math or science as a career.

Girls from Chavez, International, Roosevelt, Stevenson and Kettering elementary schools will attend four 30-minute workshops involving hands-on activities in the aforementioned fields. According to the CSULB Web site, the activities are modeled not at the college level, but in a way that younger students can understand.

For more information, visit the College of Engineering.

Construction engineering management team 3rd at national championship

Cal State Long Beach's Design/Build team recently placed third at the 2009 National Student Championship, hosted by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in San Diego.

According to a CSULB press release, the team had to solve problems in commercial building, heavy civil engineering, and designing and building.

The following students were a part of the team:

• Jeffrey Goodermote
• Alec Grassel
• John Hallgarth
• Dustin House
• Scott Mosier
• Nicholas Tasich
• Ismar Ibrahimpasic (alternate)

Also involved were the following professors:

• Elihami Nasr
• Tang-Hung Nguyen
• Michael Pulley
• Gary Raffert
• Tariq Shehab

Nasr told CSULB:

“Our students had to put forward an extreme effort to go through the entire planning and proposal process within 48 hours. This effort reflects what our university is all about, preparing students to work under pressure in real-life situations while functioning together as academically sound team players. ”

Obama pro-engineering

President Barack Obama, who flew over Cal State Long Beach on Wednesday on his way to Costa Mesa, suggested on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that there should be more students studying engineering.

According to Computerworld, Obama said, "We need young people, instead of — a smart kid coming out of school, instead of wanting to be an investment banker, we need them to decide if they want to be an engineer, they want to be a scientist, they want to be a doctor or a teacher."

Here is the full interview: