Category Archives: Engineering
Choosing the Right Technique: Prompt Engineering vs Fine-tuning – Data Science Central
Artificial intelligence and machine learning applications have been revolutionizing many industries for the last decade, but due to generative AI models like ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, etc., they have become more popular and are being used by individuals and businesses that might never have previously considered using them.
Despite demonstrating tremendous potential, AI models, in reality, dont have true intelligence. Instead, AI and ML applications are systems that can identify patterns within large and complex datasets and then present these relationships to users in a meaningful way. These systems heavily depend on model optimization techniques to improve performance and drive desirable, context/ domain-specific results.
Prompt engineering and fine-tuning are two key model optimization techniques used in training GenAI models, especially large language models.
User inputs to a generative AI model play a pivotal role in influencing the result it produces. These inputs are referred to as prompts, and the process of writing these prompts is referred to as prompt engineering. A prompt engineer crafts optimal prompts to interact with other inputs in a GenAI tool. These prompts help coax generative AI applications into giving better answers, leading the model to improve its performance, such as writing articles, generating codes, interacting with customers, and even producing music and videos.
Your results are only as good as your prompts. Prompt optimization is the art of crafting more precise and detailed prompts or experimenting with words and phrases to elicit better outputs from a generative AI model. In other words, prompt engineers write a prompt in different ways to get the most desirable and contextually relevant results.
Here is an example. Say you need to write an email to inform about the new feature on your loan app, InstaCash. You write a simple prompt in ChatGPT: Write a crisp email regarding the additional feature to our loan app. The output looks like this:
The content is quite ordinary and is not likely to catch the attention and interest of your target audience.
Lets try again with a more carefully phrased and specific prompt: Craft an email announcing the addition of the Personal Loan Calculator feature to our InstaCash app. This feature allows borrowers to calculate monthly payments and the overall cost of their loans. The output is:
As you can see a prompt can be engineered by providing a generative AI model with more detailed and specific input.
Fine-tuning is another technique to unlock the full potential of generative AI models. Businesses can leverage fine-tuning for harnessing LLM capabilities to tackle specific tasks and achieve optimal results. The process involves building on the pre-existing GenAI model that has been trained and customizing it to suit the specific needs of individuals seeking to make the most of AI and align it with their personalized goals.
Essentially, fine-tuning is used to refine pre-trained models to deliver better performance on specific tasks by training them on a more carefully labeled dataset that is closely related to the task at hand. It enables models to adapt to niche domains, such as customer support, medical research, legal analysis, etc. The power of fine-tuning depends on the additional data and training. Additional datasets refer to new raw information, and training is often coupled with a feedback or rating system that evaluates the outputs produced by the model, and guides it to better results.
Fine-tuning an AI model incurs additional costs, but it is often much more cost-effective in the long run compared to training a language model from scratch. Moreover, using prompt engineering techniques for every single exchange with a chatbot is impractical.
Both prompt engineering and fine-tuning strategies play an important role in enhancing the performance of AI models. However, they are different from each other in several important aspects:
Prompt engineering empowers users to elicit highly accurate responses, whereas fine-tuning helps in optimizing the performance of a pre-training AI model on specific tasks.
Prompt engineering requires users to craft the prompt in different ways and provide more context by giving effective inputs, adding new information, clarifying the query, and even making requests in sequence. Fine-tuning, on the other hand, focuses on training an AI model on additional datasets to improve knowledge and tailor it to meet specific requirements of businesses.
While prompt engineering is a precision-focused approach that offers more control over a models actions and outputs, fine-tuning focuses on adding more in-depth information to topics that are relevant to the language model.
As prompts are created by humans, prompt engineering needs no or minimal computer resources. Fine-tuning is resource-intensive and involves training a language model on additional datasets, which may require substantial computing resources.
Prompt engineering and fine-tuning are both effective techniques for enhancing model performance in delivering accurate and desirable outputs. However, they play different roles in developing a model: while fine-tuning involves updating the models internal settings to customize it for specific needs, prompt engineering is the process of crafting optimal prompts during the interface to obtain better outputs from a generative AI model. The effectiveness of both techniques depends on the human experts in the loop.
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Choosing the Right Technique: Prompt Engineering vs Fine-tuning - Data Science Central
Bent Water engineer and inventor makes a toast to his new appointment – Daily Item
Jere Anderson, who has served as the process engineering manager and technical director for Lynn-based Bent Water Brewing since 2018, has recently been appointed to the Brewers Association Technical Committee.
The association represents some of the most successful craft breweries in the world, including Allagash, Boston Beer Company, and Sierra Nevada.
This appointment means to me that what I have learned and things we have achieved at Bent Water are recognized by the craft beer industry, and the Brewers Association believes there is value to the industry as a whole, Anderson said.
At Bent Water, Anderson is responsible for managing the design, engineering, and maintenance of the facility and the brewerys process equipment.
In his new role at the Brewers Association, Anderson said that he hopes to gain more contacts, colleagues, and friends in the craft beer industry to increase his knowledge of the brewing process. He said he also wants to spread more awareness of Bent Water as a producer of great-tasting beer and a leader developing the science of brewing.
I believe I bring a varied and strong technical background that can contribute to advances in the craft brewing industry and value to smaller independent breweries, Anderson said.
Before joining Bent Water, Anderson spent more than 40 years as an engineer in the plastics industry. Anderson holds 27 patents, including 16 in the U.S., and has four published studies that have been presented at technical conferences.
Anderson said he has been a fan of craft beer for a long time and got involved in homebrewing through his son.When he decided to retire from the plastics industry, he said he was looking for something he could do part time to keep him busy and engaged.
I thought learning more about beer brewing would be interesting and was introduced to Aaron Reames, the founder of Bent Water Brewing Aaron asked me to come help out at the brewery and I have been here ever since, he said.
To say that were proud of Jere for this recognition would be a huge understatement, Reames, who is also the president of Bent Water, said in a press release. Hes an incredibly accomplished engineer and inventor, and were beyond lucky to have him here in such a critical capacity at Bent Water. The BA will benefit from his presence on the committee.
Anderson said some of his proudest moments at Bent Water were when he developed an improved carbonation system for beer that minimizes carbon dioxide use and improves the products aroma, and when he worked on Bent Waters new facility, which more than tripled its output capacity without missing any product deliveries.
Anderson said his taste buds for beer depend on the occasion.
I am more of an IPA, pale ale guy.If I have to pick one favorite I would say our seasonal IPA called Blast Off.When not available, I lean toward Thunder Funk and Sluice Juice but recently have been enjoying Shaka, Anderson said.
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Bent Water engineer and inventor makes a toast to his new appointment - Daily Item
What is an Engineering Manager? What they do? What are their key responsibilities? – Medium
As a software engineer, I'm always trying to find ways and techniques to sharp my skills and develop them. As a engineering manager, it's not different. I want to build and maintain not a good team, but an amazing team.
And I was about to create a post about how to sharp skills as a team leader, but then a question came to my mind: The audience knows what is an engineering manager?
Let's take a look together:
An engineering manager is a professional responsible for overseeing and coordinating the technical activities of an engineering team. While their exact responsibilities may vary depending on the organisation and industry, their primary focus is on achieving project goals, ensuring team productivity, and fostering a positive and collaborative work environment.
Inspire and motivate: A leader fosters inspiration by connecting with team members on a personal level. Understanding their individual motivations and aspirations allows the leader to align team goals with personal growth, making the work meaningful. Motivation comes not just from directives but from shared purpose and passion.
Guidance and support: A leadership involves providing guidance and support tailored to individual needs. Recognising and nurturing the unique strengths of team members contributes to a culture of empowerment, where everyone feels valued and supported in their professional journey.
Positive team culture: : Leaders prioritise creating a positive and inclusive team culture. They actively listen to the concerns and ideas of team members, fostering an environment where collaboration thrives. By valuing each team members input, a leader helps build a cohesive and harmonious working atmosphere.
Efficient resource allocation: A leader is mindful of the strengths and preferences of team members when allocating resources. Recognising individual expertise ensures that tasks are assigned based on each team members unique skills, contributing to overall project efficiency and success.
Adaptive planning: Leaders must understand the importance of flexibility in project management. They are open to adapting plans based on team feedback and changing project dynamics. This collaborative approach allows for more resilient project outcomes and improved team morale.
Progress monitoring and adjustments: Instead of rigidly enforcing timelines, a leader focuses on the well-being of the team. Regular check-ins and transparent communication allow for early identification of challenges. Adjustments are made collaboratively, ensuring that the team feels supported and empowered to overcome obstacles.
Guidance through expertise: A leader uses his technical expertise not to control but to guide and mentor the team. A leader should be also a mentor, offering insights and suggestions rather than imposing rigid solutions. This approach encourages the team to think critically and fosters a culture of continuous learning.
Staying informed and sharing knowledge: Leaders stay informed about industry trends and emerging technologies, not just for personal growth but to share knowledge with the team. By facilitating a culture of shared learning, they contribute to the development of a highly skilled and adaptive engineering team.
Encouraging learning opportunities: Leaders actively seek and provide opportunities for the team to expand their technical skills. Whether through training programs, workshops, or collaborative learning initiatives, the focus is on collective growth and development.
Open lines of communication: Leaders prioritise open and honest communication. They create an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and concerns. By being approachable, they foster trust and strengthen the teams bond.
Bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders: A leader acts as a bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders. They translate complex technical jargon into understandable language, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their technical background, is on the same page. This approach promotes a collaborative and unified organisational culture.
Conflict resolution through empathy: When conflicts arise, leaders approach resolution with empathy. They seek to understand the underlying issues and facilitate open dialogue to find solutions. By prioritising the well-being of individuals involved, conflicts are seen as opportunities for growth and understanding.
Aligning with organisational objectives: A leader aligns team goals with broader organisational objectives. By understanding the organisational vision and values, they guide the team toward contributing meaningfully to the overall mission. This alignment fosters a sense of purpose among team members.
Encouraging innovation: Leaders encourage a culture of innovation by providing a safe space for experimentation and creative problem-solving. They recognise and celebrate diverse perspectives, fostering an environment where team members feel empowered to contribute innovative ideas.
Long-term planning with team input: Instead of dictating long-term plans, leaders involve the team in the planning process. By valuing the input of each team member, they create a sense of ownership and commitment to the strategic direction, contributing to a more motivated and engaged workforce.
In conclusion, the role of an engineering manager is multifaceted, requiring a unique blend of technical expertise, leadership skills, and effective communication. By embracing best practices and continuously evolving with the ever-changing landscape of technology and team dynamics, an engineering manager can play a pivotal role in the success of engineering projects and the overall growth of their team.
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What is an Engineering Manager? What they do? What are their key responsibilities? - Medium
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Mary Jackson Hired in 1951 By NACA, Was First Black Female NASA Engineer – SpaceCoastDaily.com
By NASA // February 3, 2024
(NASA) Mary Jackson began her engineering career in an era in which female engineers of any background were a rarity.
In 1951 when she was hired by NASAs predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she very well may have been the only black female aeronautical engineer in the field.
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel were transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
For nearly two decades, Jackson enjoyed an engineering career, wherein she authored or co-authored nearly a dozen research reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes.
A native of Hampton, Virginia, she graduated from Hampton Institute in 1942 with a dual degree in Math and Physical Sciences and accepted a job as a math teacher.
In 1951, Jackson was hired to work in Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratorys segregated West Area Computing section. After two years in the computing pool, Mary Jackson received an offer to work for engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000 horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models with winds approaching twice the speed of sound.
In 1958, she became NASAs first black female engineer. That same year, she co-authored her first report, Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number on Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds.
Service to the community was equally as important as work. In the 1970s, she helped the youngsters in the science club at Hamptons King Street Community center build their own wind tunnel and use it to conduct experiments.
We have to do something like this to get them interested in science, she said in an article for the local newspaper. Sometimes they are not aware of the number of black scientists and dont even know of the career opportunities until it is too late.
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A US engineer had a shocking plan to improve the climate burn all coal on Earth – BBC.com
By Thomas MoynihanFeatures correspondent
Less than a century ago, people believed setting alight every coal mine on the planet would be good for the climate. The fact we've come so far in our understanding since then provides hope for the future, argues historian Thomas Moynihan.
Not a week goes by without a steady stream of headlines conveying our worsening climate predicament. There are stories about lack of preparedness , about perverse incentives, about political inaction and record-breaking metrics , or about the brute complexity of the problem. Swirling together, these meld into a general sense of intractability. Given this now-familiar news diet, it's sometimes difficult to maintain optimism when it comes to society's capacity to manage the climate crisis. But as a historian, I find it helps to zoom out.
Looking to the not-too-distant past reveals that the sheer fact we are aware of the issue is a genuine achievement. Easy to otherwise overlook, history throws into relief how far we have already come in our understanding.
Less than a century ago, even the experts of the day were talking about climate change in ways that would shock our 21st-Century sensibilities. To see why, you need only look at the claims of one prominent US engineer called William Lamont Abbott, who advocated an idea now unthinkable: he wanted to burn every gram of coal on Earth and remarkably, he believed that would be a good thing.
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Today, everyone is familiar with the idea that the Earth's climate is a complicated system. Although it contains predictable cycles and trends, even schoolchildren are aware that it can be erratic and sensitive to civilisation's interferences. But a century or so ago, people had far more simplistic outlooks.
For much of the 1800s, physicists had been led to believe our planet was, essentially, a cooling body: inexorably losing its finite fund of heat to space's void, like a hot Christmas pudding dropped in snow. People feared encroaching cold, foreseeing life withering away on a dwindling diet of warmth.
Changing these views took years of research and even then, some scientific findings were not immediately recognised as important. For instance, suffragist Eunice Foote realised as far back as the 1850s that carbon dioxide retains heat and, thus, an Earthly atmosphere with more of it would be warmer. Foote's pioneering contribution was overlooked, likely due to sexism . (Watch: " Three pioneers who predicted climate change".)
Only around 1900 did scientists begin making further connections between atmospheric CO2 and larger climate trends. This came from searching for the causes behind the Ice Ages: prehistoric pulses of planetary freezing which implied that rather than being a heated ball monotonously losing its warmth in a nosedive decline the Earth's climate is in a complicated equilibrium. One capable of maintaining balance over voluminous tracts of time, but also of severe oscillations.
Around this time, scientists also first made the link between humanity's burning of fossil fuels and Earth's future climate. Liberating colossal amounts of CO2, the planetary juggernaut of industrial civilisation suddenly seemed poised to rapidly warm our globe.
How did people respond to this conjecture? Having grown up fearing a frozen future, many rejoiced. And that brings us to William Lamont Abbott's case and his erroneous beliefs about the benefits of burning all our reserves of coal.
The plan to burn the world's coal
An engineer by trade, Abbott was not uninfluential , nor some lone maverick. Chief operating engineer of Illinois's largest electric provider, he also held other prominent roles . Fittingly, a powerplant was named after him .
In the late 1920s, he travelled the US delivering lectures to various learned societies. Talking to one room in the picturesque Pennsylvanian town of Scranton in 1927, Abbott welcomed industry's accelerating use of fossil fuels. Why? Because he had hastily concluded this could only benefit the world, by making climates more clement.
For him, accelerating consumption wasn't enough. Estimating there are several trillion tonnes of carbon still locked underground globally, he reasoned that this storehouse, if "returned to the air", could increase atmospheric levels tenfold.
With staggering self-assurance, Abbott announced such a dramatic increase in CO2 would double Earth's arable surface, by transforming polar countries into temperate paradises. He envisioned perpetual summers, jungles in America's north-east, unprecedented crop yields, and unimaginably verdant environments; an outcome, he said, which was demanded by humanity's "increasing population". He even prophesied tropical animals including elephants would return to North America, becoming "garden pests".
Abbott then arrived at his action plan. Despite nonchalantly acknowledging scientists didn't yet understand all the intricacies, he arrived at his conclusion: "Let the nations of the Earth unite", he said, in immediately setting alight all their deepest coal seams, so as to release the planet's entire "treasure of carbon".
He even claimed countries ought not "regulate the fire to the varying demand of power", but simply "let it rage day and night" luxuriantly and wastefully in order to make the world's mines into one "roaring furnace".
All this, he insisted, should be done in the name of "posterity", accelerating humankind towards future utopia: a "return" to Eden.
Moreover, Abbott was not unique in holding these beliefs. Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius the period's leading expert on climate change had also remarked, cheerfully, that global warming will only precipitate better climates and crops. Others readily assumed similar things. When they acknowledged a hotter world might unevenly make the Global South "suffer", they shrugged rather than shuddered.
Only very few scattered voices, such as geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, were more prescient. He urged his contemporaries to practise self-restraint when it came to coal appetites, seeing this as necessary to safeguard a stable climate for future generations. But, despite sensing the gravity of the challenge, he also saw reason to hope people might rise to the task. Pointing out that, when cooperating at large-scale, humankind has so far only tended to disturb or destroy ecosystems, Chamberlin also hinted that we are the first and only animal to realise its impacts. What's more, when considering human history, people have only just begun grasping this and, thus, acting toward rectifying it.
Today's consensus concerning climate change and its consequences rests, in part, on the past's egregious mistakes. Getting closer to truth unavoidably involves being wrong before. Because of this, Abbott's case suggests that one shouldn't be hasty when it comes to acting drastically in what you think is the interest of future generations.
But the main lesson here is this: only by inspecting past mistakes do we see how far we've since come. This allows us to gain some sense of how much farther we might yet travel. Our knowledge of the imminent dangers of human-caused climate change rests on countless computer models alongside a vast, planet-wrapping array of sensors and satellites. An attempt to simulate Earth's changing states like a planetary central nervous system it is a staggering achievement . Through building up this megastructure, and through the unceasing efforts of countless researchers since Abbott's day , we've travelled leagues from the rash naivet of even just a century ago.
This proves societies can, and do, learn. It throws into relief just how much and how rapidly outlooks and priorities can change and become more sophisticated and insightful as we piece together more about the world. Several generations ago, it simply hadn't yet sufficiently occurred to scientists that climate change might unleash significant harms. Now it's overwhelmingly accepted. It's likely we are missing similarly vital insights today, insights that would enable us to navigate our world far more wisely. Strangely, this is cause for optimism, as having room for improvement is far better than having none at all.
Historically speaking, we have only very recently become aware of our planetary predicament. Perhaps, then, it's still too early to dismiss Homo sapiens as inevitably, forevermore, doomed to be a blight upon its world. It's clear that we have so much more to do to avert the worst effects of climate change, but if we look how far we've come, in a relatively short time, there are reasons for cautious hope.
*Thomas Moynihan is a historian of ideas and author ofX-Risk: How Humanity Discovered Its Own Extinction(MIT Press, 2020) . Currently, he is a visiting researcher at Cambridge University's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He tweets at @nemocentric and can be found at thomasmoynihan.xyz .
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A US engineer had a shocking plan to improve the climate burn all coal on Earth - BBC.com
How Xi’s Social Engineering Is Creating A New Chinese Nation OpEd – Eurasia Review
ByPatrik Meyer
What is the political philosophy of Chinese President Xi Jinpings administration, i.e., Xi Jinping Thought?
The overarchingpurposeof Xi Jinping Thought, or Xiism, is upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics to realize socialist modernization and national rejuvenation. Xiism promotes 14 fundamental principles, which include a people-centered approach, law-based governance, upholding core socialist values, ensuring harmony between humans and nature, upholding absolute Party leadership over the peoples forces, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity amongst others.
While most of these principles seem worth pursuing, their implementation results in stringent restrictions on individual freedoms.
Western governments and media have extensively criticized President Xi and the Communist Party of China (CPC) for their forceful assimilation of ethnic Uyghurs, Tibetans and Mongolians into Chinas majority Han culture. In recent years, Beijing has indeed intensified the pressure on Chinese ethnic minorities not just to integrate, but to fully assimilate into the Han culture. Those who resist are forcefully assimilated using any means deemed necessary by the CPC.
The Wests central contention is that ethnic minorities should be granted the right to preserve their distinct cultural, religious and social identities. They should be also allowed to manage their own regions as real autonomies, with only limited intervention from the central government in Beijing. While these ethnic and political rights are enshrined in the Constitution of China, the fact is that Beijing has ignored them for the sake of engineering a newChinese nation.
What is less well-known in the in the West is that one central objective of Xiism is to assimilate the approximately 1.2 billion culturally eclectic ethnic Hans into a new Chinese national identity. The values, objectives and structure of this new nation are meticulously defined by Xiism and implemented in a country-wide social engineering program supervised of the CPC. By implementing this social engineering program, Beijing intends to strengthen the social cohesion of the 1.3 billion Chinese to ensure that the country will continue prospering as a nation-state. In turn, this prosperity should safeguard the legitimacy of the CPCs absolute leadership in the eyes of the Chinese people.
So far, the CPC leadership has been successful in turning a failed country into a prosperous one. As per the World Banksassessment, Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, GDP growth has averaged almost 10 percent a year, and more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty. This growth continued under Xis tenure, which began in 2013. From 2013 until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese economic growth averaged around7%.
Without question, Xis program hasrestrictednumerous individual and social rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly. Nevertheless, the CPCs success in providing a prosperous life for most of the 1.3 billion Chinese cannot be denied.
It is Xis belief that one of the cornerstones on which to build this success is Chinas social cohesion To achieve this, Beijing is implementing a social engineering program. Every society, in reality, is a construct. Still, the idea of socially engineering a society is not welcomed in Western societies. This is because of deep-rooted Western beliefs and values such as the assumption that each individual should be allowed to freely define his identity and choose his way of life. Still, much like any structure, every society has to be engineered.
Western societies are engineered, too. Otherwise, they would not be societies at all. An obvious fact showing that this is the case is the public education systems that for 15 years brainwash benignly or not our younger generations with homogeneous values, objectives and ways of thinking. Additionally, the fact that Western national or regional societies gravitate around common ideologies, values and objectives indicates that they have been engineered. So, the question is not whether it is necessary to social engineer a society, but how to do it to maximize its prosperity.
There are numerous problems with the current Western social engineering paradigm. Among them is the fact that Western political elites do not explicitly acknowledge the use of social engineering, making it difficult to engage in public and academic debates to analyze and improve it. Another problem results from some of the deeply rooted values and beliefs common in the West that grant almost unrestricted individual freedoms and the right to everyone to have a say in almost everything. Yet another problem is the common fallacy of attributing most of Western prosperity to freedom and democracy, rather than to scientific and technological development, discipline and commitment. These beliefs and values are not only weakening Western societies social cohesion and robustness, but are also masking the need for a fundamental change in the current social paradigm.
Guided by Xiism, the CPC is socially engineering a new Chinese national identity by forcefully assimilating ethnic minorities and homogenizing the eclectic Hans. This does not mean, of course, that the West should follow Chinas lead and attempt to stamp out ethnic diversity. What it does mean is that the West needs to be open about the need to be proactive in socially engineering its own societies based on values and objectives that are not always popular.
It is time for the West to take a honest look at its current social engineering paradigm and fundamentally redesign it to build a society that will be in a strong position to overcome the challenges of this century and ensure the future prosperity of its peoples.
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How Xi's Social Engineering Is Creating A New Chinese Nation OpEd - Eurasia Review
Engineering students at JALC can transfer seamlessly to U of I with the Engineering Pathways Program – The Southern
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Duquesne Names Wei to Head Engineering – Duquesne University
Duquesne University President Ken Gormley has named Dr. Xinchao Steven Wei as the associate dean of engineering and the Universitys first Costello Family Endowed Chair in Engineering, a role in which he will direct Duquesnes engineering programs.
In April, Duquesne announced it was creating a new School of Science and Engineering to help meet the nations growing demand for engineers. The school, which already includes a biomedical engineering program, builds on the Universitys strengths in physics and engineering-related disciplines. In August, the University received a major gift to name the Costello Family Endowed Chair in Engineering, which helped to recruit the leader for its new engineering programs.
Dr. Steven Wei Wei, who was the founding director and professor of Slippery Rock Universitys School of Engineering since fall 2017, will begin his new position at Duquesne in January. With more than 25 years of teaching experience, he was also instrumental as a founding member and program director of the civil engineering program at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. Previously, Wei taught civil and environmental engineering at West Virginia University. He was named 2021 Professor of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh.
We are pleased to have Dr. Wei lead our new engineering programs, Gormley said. Duquesne is well positioned to educate the next generation of engineers, given its strengths in physics, math and the sciences. Since announcing our plans, we have already seen increased support for these programs, including a recent gift to endow an engineering chair and positive responses from prospective students.
The school already offers first-year engineering curriculum, which allows students to start with general engineering coursework while they decide on an engineering concentration. In addition to biomedical engineering, the University plans to offer degrees in mechanical engineering, systems engineering, environmental/energy engineering and engineering physics in fall 2024. Those programs are currently being finalized.
As a nationally ranked research institution, Duquesne provides its science and engineering students with valuable opportunities they may not find at other, larger programs, said Duquesne Provost Dr. David Dausey. Our hands-on learning programs and class sizes offer easier access to faculty and resources, providing significant support to help students reach their goals.
The Universitys science reputation has grown in recent years. The School of Science and Engineering has received significant research support from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, among other organizations, to explore issues ranging from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to water quality and environmental issues.
We look forward to working with Dr. Wei as we launch an exciting array of new engineering programs, said Ellen Gawalt, Dean of the School of Science and Engineering. His experience and expertise will be invaluable as we launch and further enhance our engineering courses in the future.
I am excited to join Duquesne, a world-renowned institution with a Catholic tradition, to build premier engineering programs in the region, Wei said. Through high quality teaching and student research programs, we will ensure that students will be workforce ready and have the skills needed to enjoy successful careers.
Wei earned bachelors and masters degrees in mineral processing engineering from Northeastern University in Shenyang, China. He earned a masters degree in mining engineering and a doctoral degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University.
Wei will hold the Costello Chair, the result of a significant gift from Matthew Costello, a 1995 graduate of Duquesnes McAnulty College of Liberal Arts, and his wife, Liselott. Costello isa global leader who has served in various executive roles across three continents and is now a vice president of hardware engineering at Apple who helped spearhead the development of Beats Electronics and Beats Music with legendary west coast rapper Dr. Dre and music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine. When Beats was later acquired by Apple, Costello helped lead the integration of the two companies.
Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic universities for its award-winning faculty and horizon-expanding education. A campus of nearly 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students, Duquesne prepares students by having them work alongside faculty to discover and reach their goals. The University's academic programs, community service and commitment to equity and opportunity in the Pittsburgh region have earned national acclaim.It's time for bigger goals. Follow Duquesne University on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn.www.duq.edu
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Duquesne Names Wei to Head Engineering - Duquesne University
Walter Isaacson: Elon Musk Is a Genius When It Comes to Engineering, Not Human Emotion – Vanity Fair
Isaacson, the former editor of Time, chair of CNN, and CEO of the Aspen Institute, stayed away from discussing Musks recent controversies during Monday nights event. But in sharing insights gleaned while reporting the biography, he offered some explanations for the behavior. Take Ukraine, for instance; one of the biggest revelations to come out of Isaacsons book was that Musk, according to a passage in the biography, secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his companys Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet. The passage was in an excerpt published a few days before Elon Musk came out in September, prompting an outcry and leading Musk to explain that the Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything. Isaacson then went on to clarify the matter on X, also telling New York magazine that he had misinterpreted Musk. I thought he had just made that decision. In fact, he was simply adhering to a policy he had previously implemented, Isaacson wrote to the publication. While Stengel and Isaacson didnt get into all of this on Monday, Isaacson did say: He loves playing superhero on the world stage. I mean, hes Captain Underpants. Last month, amid the Israel-Hamas war and accusations that antisemitic content was flourishing on his social platform, Musk visited Israel and met with top leaders, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Near the end of the discussion, Stengel asked Isaacson about the pros and cons of writing the biography of a living person versus a dead one. Doing somebody whos living is a lot more exhausting, said Isaacson. After I did [Henry] Kissinger, it was such a roller coaster ride that I said, Okay, Im going to do somebody whos been dead for 200 years, and then did [Benjamin] Franklin. Then he did Jobswriting the book at the Apple cofounders request and releasing it less than three weeks after Jobss death. After Steve Jobs, I was like, Okay, dead for 500 years, said Isaacson, whose next biography was of Leonardo da Vinci. The most significant difference, said Isaacson, is the ability to observe and talk to a living person versus just reading documents left by the dead. I knew maybe a thousand times more about the curve of the iPhone than I did about the flying of the kite, he said.
Stengels last question for Isaacson was which of his subjectsliving or deadhed most like to have dinner with. The most fun companion would be Franklin, Isaacson said, also describing him as the person you need right now the most. He added, however, that the most interesting to talk to would be da Vinci. I thought you would say Einstein, Stengel said. Id be kind of intimidated, replied Isaacson, smiling sheepishly.
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Walter Isaacson: Elon Musk Is a Genius When It Comes to Engineering, Not Human Emotion - Vanity Fair
Beavers Are Engineering Change in California – Reasons to be Cheerful
Three great stories we found on the internet this week.
A family of seven furry explorers recently swam out of kennels and into the waters of the ancestral lands of the Mountain Maidu people. They were the first beavers to be released in California in almost 75 years part of a conservation effort that aims to re-establish the population.
Industrious creatures that they are, beavers bring many benefits to the mountain meadow ecosystem. Their engineering keeps water in the landscape, which contributes to recharging groundwater and the added moisture makes the land more resilient to wildfire and drought.
Its good to have them back home again, said Ben Cunningham, chairman of the Maidu Summit Consortium. The beavers are back where they belong.
Read more at the Sacramento Bee
According to the UN, Nigeria generates roughly 2.5 million metric tons of plastic waste each year 130,000 metric tons of which makes it into bodies of water. This is evident in Lagos, where accumulated plastic waste frequently blocks drainages.
Thats what motivated Maryam Lawani to start Greenhill Recycling, one of several women-led upcycling and recycling companies that have recently emerged to combat the problem. She says the business recovers between 100 and 200 metric tons of waste per month. It also provides supplemental income within the community, as those who collect trash are paid by the kilogram.
Waste is a currency to address other issues around poverty, unemployment and the environment, Lawani told Al Jazeera. People are able to exchange waste for profitable things like school fees, clothes and even food.
Read more at Al Jazeera
For many European countries like the UK, France and Spain, child poverty is a major problem. But according to a new report from UNICEF, one EU country stands out as a bright spot: Slovenia.
Though its GDP is smaller than that of most Western European nations, Slovenia topped UNICEFs list of countries that are successfully keeping child poverty low. The mountainous nation of two million people has just 10 percent of children living in poverty, a 31 percent drop since 2014.
Its success isnt a fluke. Slovenia has one of the highest minimum wages in Europe and offers free kindergarten to all families. And though other European countries lag behind it, child poverty did fall across the EU by eight percent. In other words, six million fewer children lived in poverty in 2021 than in 2014, said one of the reports authors.
Read more at Euronews
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Beavers Are Engineering Change in California - Reasons to be Cheerful