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:

Recession-proof majors?

Another update on computer science majors: A recent article from ZDNet considers majoring in computer science a recession-proof plan because "no matter how much the economy stinks, we need computers and we need them to work better, more efficiently and in ways that make people more productive."

The story also said that the demand for application programmers — those who create spreadsheets, data programs and word processors, as well as accounting programs, according to PC magazine — will increase by more than 100 percent by next year.

Computer science on the rise... or not

Enrollment in U.S. computer science programs increased last year in comparison to previous years, according to an article published today from The New York Times.

The number of computer science majors was up 6.2 percent from 2007, according to the article.

Cal State Long Beach's statistics do not match up to these, however.

According to CSULB's Institutional Research and Assessment On Demand Reporting, there were 343 students pursuing a bachelor's in computer science in fall 2008, a 1.4 percent decrease from the 348 students in fall 2007. There are about 2,610 students in the College of Engineering.

There was, however, a 12.8 percent increase in master's students: 117 in fall 2007, 132 in fall 2008.

The article also said that women earned 11.8 percent of computer science bachelor's degrees in 2008. A November 2008 article reiterated that point, with the number of women receiving computer science degrees falling more with each year.

At CSULB there were 35 women in the undergraduate computer science program last semester, or 10.2 percent of the program.

The article from last year attributes the decrease to the stereotypes of "the nerd" and "the geek," though it also suggests a move toward fields such as graphic and Web design. However, it remains "a matter of dispute," according to the story.

A recent Cornell study proposes a different reason: The underrepresentation of women in math and science careers is due to "their need for greater flexibility and the demands of parenting and caregiving."

Graph from The New York Times

Students built satellites, engines at research competition

Last month Cal State Long Beach held its annual Student Research Competition, and three students from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering program placed first and second in the engineering and computer science category.

According to the CSULB Web site, Christopher Bostwick and Andrea Smith won first place for designing a rocket engine for "increased engine performance."

David Stout won second place for his CubeSat-class satellite, Hawksat-1. According to a Cal Poly CubeSat site, a CubeSat satellite is a 10 cm cube that can be launched, using a deployment device, to conduct space research.

The competition was held Feb. 28, with 48 students in eight categories. The California State University Student Research Competition will be held May 1 and 2 at CSULA. Last year, 10 of 40 CSU students who participated in the competition represented CSULB, according to the CSULB Web site.

Photo: CSULB students Christopher Bostwick and Andrea Smith stand in front of their rocket engine. Photo courtesy of CSULB

Aspiring engineers may inspire even younger engineers

Cal State Long Beach will host the Junior MESA Day on March 14 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is looking for volunteers to aid in encouraging future engineers, scientists and mathematicians.

MESA, or Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement, is a nationwide organization dedicated to helping students excel in the fields of mathematics, engineering and science.

The organization's Junior MESA Day allows middle school and junior high and students to represent their schools in various competitions that reinforces what students learn in the classroom. According to a 2005 CSULB press release, the competitions included an egg drop, a water-bottle rocket launch and crystal growing.

The College of Engineering is currently looking for CSULB students who would like to volunteer, either by judging competitions or watching the crowd, according to Saba Yohannes-Reda, director of the MESA Schools Program.

Volunteers do not have to be math, science or engineering majors, Yohannes-Reda said in an e-mail. The first 10 students to sign up will each receive a $50 stipend.

However, volunteers must attend a mandatory orientation on either March 6 or March 13 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, contact Yohannes-Reda at (562) 985-1463.

Photo: MESA also annually holds a MESA Day across the U.S., specifically for high school students.

Image courtesy of CSULB