"Nice ears"

So you may have noticed things have been a little quiet on here lately; I definitely don't have the number of posts in February as I typically do in a given month. That can partially be blamed on the fact that February is a short month, though the main reason is that I spent a week in Disney World! What! (If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know this already, since I tweeted about Howie Mandel complimenting me on my sparkly Minnie ears. It's a true story.) If you know me at all, you would know that I'm actually not a very big Disney fan (despite this being my second trip there in one year - but that other trip was technically a scouting trip for this trip... trip trip trip) but I was there to be in a wedding at the Grand Floridian resort, and there were several other events planned around it that stretched our trip into a full week. Okay, and I added on a day at the beginning to go to Kennedy Space Center (which was my absolute FAVORITE), and a day at the end to go to Universal Studios. Anyways, I'm not here to talk about my vacation but to give excuses as to my absence, so I move on.

Since returning, my time has been monopolized by all things interns. This Friday is the application due date, and what do you know - the applications are pouring in. As are the e-mails, phone calls, and personal visits... Right now, I basically serve to accept applications, answer questions, and give people directions how to find me. We don't have that many applications as of this moment, but with the amount of communication I've been getting, I expect a lot more to come flooding in in the next 48 hours.

Amongst the chaos, I've also been helping coordinate more shooting for the freshmen class video, planning upcoming alumni events for DC and Boston, prepping for the Big Shot in Texas in less than a month (which a small group of us is participating in this year), wrapping up a new undergraduate promotional brochure, and coordinating with the folks behind Science Exploration Days so that I may participate this year. Sooo, if you don't hear from me for a while.... I'm just a little busy multitasking. And while I'm still dishing out excuses, I might as well admit right now that the winter issue of the Imaging Connection which would normally be out right around now definitely won't be ready in time, or even anytime soon. Oh no! So that's enough blogging out of me; I've got a lot to do and better get to it!

The longest run-on sentence ever, caught on tape

Well, not on tape really, but "caught on card" doesn't have the same ring to it. But anyways, I'M ON TV!!! I haven't been home yet to actually witness it (since I've been here since 6AM) but the video has been posted online. CHECK IT OUT!!!11!11!1

So why have I been here since 6AM? The interview was scheduled to take place at 6:30, I guess so that the video can get the most exposure. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But it was so worth it! Apparently I was originally going to be interviewed live, but the reporter's baby sitter fell through so she couldn't actually come in. So, the cameraman did the basic interviewing, with questions like, "What are we here to talk about today," and, "What do the interns do," and, "So you were an intern yourself, right?" I got asked probably 7 or 8 questions in all, and I'm glad it didn't end up being live because it probably took me 3 takes just to answer the first question correctly and get comfortable in front of the camera. For all the experience I have from my years in radio, video is way different than just hearing my voice (and besides, no one was listening to my show back then anyways).

Anyways, from the whole interview they used one answer, which I think might have been one of my longest stream-of-consciousness statements EVER. But hey, it sounds okay. And the segment overall was really, really good - they said the Center's full name nice and clearly, and included all the important details without leaving anything out. I'm really happy with how the piece turned out and am excited to witness the buzz it will generate.

Man do I make doofy faces. It's like when The Soup features a clip, and then displays an incredibly unattractive single frame image from said clip in the background while they make fun of it.

Meanwhile, I've enjoyed my little taste of stardom. I always loved being on the radio and those videos I did for ETC (Remember when this happened? Maybe not. I didn't have the blog back when filming occurred and I don't think I ever posted about it once the videos came online... whoops) were way fun to be a part of. I love doing this kind of stuff! (moar plz) Some people say I'm pretty good at it, too, but hey I'm not one to brag... very much. Just doin' my job (the best job ever!)

STEP Day 4

You may recall that last week we didn't quite have enough time to get our final presentation completed for today, and we didn't even touch our poster board. I was crossing my fingers that we would get time before the presentations to finalize everything, and thankfully we did! I am especially glad for this because as I've said before, I really wanted this presentation to be something the students did, not me. What would be the point in me doing all the work for them? Anyway, the looming deadline of the final presentations meant that this morning we had to get down to business.

I'm proud to say that my kids really stepped up and worked their butts off to get a solid presentation put together. We finished going through the slideshow as a group to make sure the hypothesis was clear, the data analyzed, and conclusions fair. We also made sure the presentation directly addressed the criteria required for the STEP conference. After doing a couple practice runs of the presentation to help calm nerves, we had enough time to throw together a quick n' dirty posterboard - really, we just printed out the presentation and taped the slides to the board. But, it actually came out pretty well!

Not bad.... Got a nice consistent color scheme going....

We then made our way over to the venue for the final presentations, and I could tell my students were nervous. I did my best to help them relax, and gave them my best presentation tips and tricks. But I'll admit, I was rather nervous too - especially because I had no idea what to expect. I did not know who would be there. I did not know how many other groups there were, or what their projects were. I was really going into this blind. But I did know that we had a solid project, with good scientific data and an interesting story to tell. And most of all, it was theirs - and I made sure to let them know how proud I was of them for that.

We were first to arrive, and A/V was still getting set up. Nothing like a large empty room with frantic people milling about to calm your nerves, right? Anyway, other groups began to arrive and slowly the room filled with students, educators, STEP program administrators, parents, and colleagues. I know I said before that there were 5 activities going on across campus, but it turns out that due to someone dropping out there were actually only 4 (including us). The other projects related to chemistry, nanotechnology (sort of?), and art technology (sort of?). I say "sort of", because the nanotechnology group actually developed an app that was intended to educate people about nanotechnology; and the art group put together "wearable technology", which really meant they strung together LEDs with conductive thread and sewed them into shirts and hats, and programmed them to blink. I'm not sure what to call these, and I don't recall the titles they gave their projects.

ImSci participants presenting some data to a full house of spectators.

Without getting into too much detail about each presentation, I can at least say I am proud of how my students performed. They were still understandably nervous, but they did a great job. Each of them successfully presented a balanced amount of information (not all of the groups achieved that), and they demonstrated good scientific understanding. They showed pride in their work (and relief that they were done). It was not the most dynamic presentation, but IMHO it was the most thorough and appropriate for the program requirements, and deserves extra recognition because they designed and carried out the experiment themselves. Okay, so they phoned it in on the poster board - but some of the other groups didn't even have poster boards at all. Overall, I am very pleased with how our presentation went. You can view the slides from the presentation here.

Way to go, team!

It was interesting to see the other groups and compare their experiences to ours. Some of the other groups had a lot more students; some of the attitudes and levels of enthusiasm varied; and the amount of faculty oversight varied greatly from group to group. For example, the chemistry project basically involved giving the students a "recipe" of lab activities to carry out, and they did them and then created a presentation about it. In contrast, the nano group had a lot more freedom to make design choices, and (presumably) carried out their own research into nanotechnology; but, they didn't actually develop the app themselves, rather they used a tool that builds game apps for you, you just put in the relevant information. And the art tech group did arts and crafts. I could tell that my students were frustrated by this - they did research, they developed and carried out their own experiment, they discovered real findings. Why couldn't they just carry out someone else's instructions, or draw digital cartoons, or thread together blinky LEDs? But for how frustrated they were, it became apparent that they also took pride in what they did. Okay, so maybe they quietly called other projects "ugly" or "lame" or "boring", which isn't the most constructive or positive reaction; but they also began defending the hard work they did, and even said they were glad they were in this activity. Through gaining this perspective it made them realize how much they truly accomplished. It made me glad that I challenged them, and proud that they stepped up to it.

At the conclusion of the presentations, we all enjoyed lunch together. It was fun to get to kick back with my students and connect with them on a more social level. I even got to meet some family, who were so appreciative for the opportunity we provided their sons/daughters/grandkids. It made me rather sad that, now after spending 4 Saturdays together, we finally get to connect, only in time to say goodbye. And, the students finally had a wider frame of reference regarding the work they were doing. I wonder how different the past few weeks might have been if we had started off on this foot? We still couldn't totally relax yet, though, because there was still that one pesky detail that I've felt uncertain about all along: the competition to go to Albany for the state STEP conference.

Since there were only 4 activities, two groups were going to be given the opportunity to go to Albany and compete on the state level. Now that I knew who our competition was, I really couldn't predict who would make the cut. I could think of praise and criticisms for each group. I thought for sure, though, that my kids deserved to go (and I'm not just saying that because I'm competitive). But in the end, the committee chose the nano app and the wearable technology. I have really strong feelings about this selection, but I'm not going to get too far into it here. Suffice it to say, I am upset - not because my group "lost", but because I disagree with the whole competition to begin with. At the height of their pride and sense of accomplishment, half of the participants were crushed by disappointment and a sense of losing. I don't think that this conclusion to their experience sends the right message, especially considering the projects that were selected (sorry, I mean no offense to the facilitators and students who participated in those projects - but what's the experiment? How do you write an abstract about that? What exactly are your methods, procedures, data, results, and findings? Just what happened to all the program requirements we were supposed to follow...?). Sorry, I don't mean to show an ugly sour loser face, which I'm afraid I'm doing here. But even if we had been chosen, I would still disagree with introducing competition to this experience. As much as I'm not a fan of "everybody gets a trophy!", I just don't think any of the kids who participated in any of the activities should be left with any feeling of discouragement, especially when it comes to STEM subjects where it's so difficult to get kids engaged to begin with. All of these kids should feel some sort of validation for all the effort they put forth. Not that I have a suggestion for a better alternative off the top of my head... but having tried it, I don't think I would want to do a competition such as this again (and not just because I lost - really).

Okay, so there was some symbol of accomplishment and validation: at the conclusion of the event we were all presented with certificates. Mine was a "Recognition of Teaching Excellence", awarded to "Professor" Bethany Choate - hey, I'm moving up in the world! - for successful completion of the workshop.

Awk.

This piece of paper makes a nice little document to hang on my cork board and put in my performance appraisal, but I'm not sure how much it realistically means to the students. Does it really make up for their disappointment? Would they do it all again? I can only hope that they still feel the sense of achievement I think they deserve to. At the end of the day, if they walk away feeling pride and accomplishment, then I can truly accept my certificate of successful completion.

Texas Roadhouse ≠ Roadhouse Grill... but the rolls are good anyways.

Last night Joe, Maria, and I took out a group of third year students to the new Texas Roadhouse restaurant. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it, but in the interest of documenting all the awesome things we get to do with our students, I figured I'd put an obligatory posting here. Plus, perhaps I can make it known that Texas Roadhouse is NOT a good place to go with a group of people. Reason A: They do not take reservations. Caveat: you can call ahead to let them know you're coming so that you can wait less time once you get there. Counter-caveat: they do not accept call ahead's for parties bigger than 7 people. (Does that seem to defeat much of the point to anyone else?) Now, Reason B: They do not have seating to accommodate groups larger than 6 adults. And 6 is even pushing it. In fact, judging by most of the clientele there, the limit in those booths is really more like 4. (Excuse the remark, I'm simply making observations...). We were lucky enough to get two booths, but they were back-to-back rather than side-by-side, so we might as well have been 2 separate groups. And of course all the students sat together while all the adults sat together. Once the other adults left and I began talking to the students in the booth behind me, we got a lot of weird looks from the people all around us... they probably had no idea that we were actually one big group and thought it was super weird that I was being so friendly with a bunch of kids. Oh well, feel free to judge me for that so long as I can openly judge you for willingly sitting on the (what must be disgusting) roll-around saddle while wearing a silly hat because it's your birthday.

Anyways, they had a jackalope there, so that was pretty silly.

The rolls were good, but other than that we were not too impressed. But the opportunity to spend some off-the-clock time with students is always worth it! And, jackalope. The end.

STEP day 3

Today's session, being the last full Saturday workshop, was devoted to data analysis and preparation for our presentation next week. I actually put together the skeleton of the presentation ahead of time, but really just to facilitate the analysis itself - see, all I did was assemble the sets of images captured last week onto slides, plus a title slide.  No labels, no data, nothing. And as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of my hands-on involvement in the presentation; I really want this to be something by the kids that they can own and know they accomplished themselves.

Anyways, we got started by me bringing up the first data set on the projector and asking, "So, what do you see?" I was met with the standard fare: silence. You'd think I'd be used to this by now. I let the silence soak in for a bit, intending that to be a hint that the data was not going to analyze itself, but using that approach we were getting nowhere fast. So I decided to try bargaining: I'll lead through the analysis of this first one, and then you take it from there. Okay, sure.

So I start out with the basics: At time T0, what's the temperature of the ungloved hand? What's the temperature of the gloved hand? Now let's do the same for T5.... and T10... and then T10 immediately after removing the glove. And now that we have these numbers, what does that tell you about the glove? How well do you think it worked? How do the two hands compare to each other at the end, and versus the start? And so on... Seems pretty straightforward, just work though making observations step-by-step. Right? So we get to the second data set, and I say, "Now take me through this." And we're back to silence. Sigh. I know they can do this! So I ask one of the students to take the rest of us through it. And they squirm with discomfort, and don't want to do it, but eventually they suck it up and take the lead. And for the next data set, another student leads us through. And we slowly make progress from there, with me occasionally stepping in where needed to keep things moving. Then it came time to see the bigger picture and come up with some overall conclusions, which apparently also required my intervention - So what was the most effective? Okay, why? How would you rank the different insulators? What did you observe about the effect of the material composition on its ability to insulate? (Okay, that one was a little advanced. But not beyond what I think these students are capable of...)

All of this seems pretty basic, but these kids don't seem to know to even ask these questions to generate these answers. Which really makes me a bit concerned, and overall skeptical of our education system. Has science really come down to this? Do lab reports really just consist of recipes to follow and blanks to fill in? Are conclusions just made based on leading questions? Don't students have to write actual lab reports anymore??!? But I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I see this with the lab reports submitted as parts of intern application packages. And even when I was in high school, I could see that science labs were becoming a joke. But why? And why does this seem to get by as okay? Why are students only held to such low science standards? But I digress...

After a short break (since we were already more than half way through our day by this point), I tasked the kids with outlining their presentation and what should go into it. I had written the components of the abstract again during the break for reference (and as a hint as to what types of things should go into the presentation). Whiteboard marker in hand, I asked, "So, what sections do you want to include in you presentation?" As you probably have guessed, I was met with blank stares. "Okay, so I'll give you a hint, because I've already done it for you. We'll start with a title slide. So.... now what?" They started to get the idea, and we eventually developed a thorough outline. From there it came time to actually produce the slides, so I asked who wanted to do what. You got it - silence. Finally one of the students asked if she could do the first section. Fabulous - it's hers. One of the other students got the idea, and asked for a section. Done. As for the rest, I practically had to assign them - as if not volunteering for one was going to let you not do one at all? It's like some of these kids hope that by doing nothing, someone else will finally step up to get the job done for them, and they operate by putting in the least possible effort that's just barely enough to get by. Sigh. Are all of the workshops like this? Is this just how students are, now?

After drafting out their slides individually, the kids worked on the computers in pairs to put together their respective slides. This mostly went well, though I had to occasionally interfere when one student decided he'd rather criticize his partner's grammar and spelling than actually help her through getting it done. And I mean, this was going beyond what was in the slide and was getting quite offensive. I had to ask, "Is that constructive criticism? Or are you just being counterproductive?" Disappointingly, this was one of the older students. What grade am I working with here, again? Sheesh. These are the kinds of situations that I feel especially unprepared for. I don't usually have to deal with disruptive behavior or acting like a parent; I don't know how to do that...

Once everyone was done, we regrouped and started going through the slides to make edits as a team. We didn't get too far though before it was time to break for lunch, so we'll have to hope that we have enough time next week before the presentations to clean everything up. And as for the poster board we are also supposed to make... it is sitting in my office, still in its wrapping. Oops!

I told the kids as they left that they did a really great job today, and despite how critical or disappointed I may sound here on my blog I was not being facetious. We really did have to go through a lot of data and work, and I think their efforts are going to show when they do their presentation next week. Although sometimes it feels like I'm pulling teeth to get them to step up, I think in the end we are going to have something we can all feel proud of. I think I'll be glad I approached things the way I did and didn't give in to taking an easy way out or doing it all myself, no matter how exhausting it feels right now. And I hope I'm helping to fill that void that I so frustratingly feel school science curricula have. Hopefully the kids will look back on all this and feel similarly, too... Though I suspect I wouldn't have at their age, and probably wouldn't recognize the value of these experiences until many years later when I'd have more perspective. (Does this mean I'm getting old? Yeah, I think it does.)

Imaging Hall of Fame 2012

Last night was the 7th annual Imaging Hall of Fame! Now, we couldn't just let this year's event be the same as last year's, so we planned for a couple little special extras. For the first time ever, of of the current honorees was actually present for his induction! And then to take things even one step further, we also decided to honor Dr. Schott for all his years of dedication to CIS - but NOT as a retirement celebration, no sir re bob... (Despite the communication that went out that did indicate it as such. WHOOPS) (Not my fault) Anyways, following the usual ceremony for this year's inductees (Harold E. “Doc” Edgerton, David E. Kuhl, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, and Steven J. Sasson - click for more info), Dr. Schott was presented with a non-Hall of Fame, but similar, plaque in his own likeness...

After which, special guest (how many special guests are we up to now?) Steve Schultz (VP and CTO of Pictometry) (and former boss of mine!) said a few words...

"Schott: 'Imagine my hair as a black body radiator.'
'Don't you mean a white body radiator?' And that cost me a letter grade." - Steve Schultz

And then we got to the actual keynote speaker, special guest Dr. Ray Jayawardhana...

ALIENS

At this point I actually had to duck out to get to the after party and set up, but Joe stayed behind to snap a few pics of our VIP inductee, Steve Sasson.

Imaging Science 3rd year student Kevin Dickey presents 2012 inductee Steve Sasson with a souvenir plaque in his honor, identical to the one to be hung in the Hall of Fame.
PS: Kevin also got Steve's autograph. Awesome

Congratulations, Steve!!!

Following the ceremony, (and ceremony, and recognition, and keynote,) was the afterparty at TC Riley's! Similar to 2010, when we hosted the very first Hall of Fame afterparty, we reserved TC's Library and stuffed ourselves silly on deliciously greasy finger foods.

This is the only picture I've got of the reception, and I didn't even take it. My camera is out for repair :-( and the backup I was using took pictures so terribly in such low light that I didn't even try.

This year we had our highest turnout EVER, with around 55 CIS students, faculty, staff, alumni, and several VIPs!! It was really exciting to see so many people come out, especially the various VIPs, which included Catherine Carlson, former director Ed Przybylowicz and his wife, Steve Schultz and family, Steve Sasson and his wife, Dr. Schott and his wife, and our keynote speaker Dr. Ray. The party stayed strong for around 3 hours (!) and went incredibly smoothly (well done, TC's!).

Considering how seemingly successful the night was overall, I hope everyone will now plan to make an annual tradition of attending! Or maybe we just peaked by having so many excellent special recognitions and talks all at once. How can we possibly top this next year?!

To see more pictures (except for the afterparty, SORRY), click here. Video of the ceremony and keynote also available.)

451ºF

Just about a month ago I teased a new undergraduate information digital booklet - and I am proud to announce it is now available!

This booklet is pretty much a total revamp and update of the previous printed booklet, which is particularly out of date now that we'll be changing to semesters. This time, we plan on only having a digital version, and do not plan on producing printed booklets at all. It is simply not worth the cost - booklets are extremely expensive to produce, and many of them just end up in the garbage (or, hopefully, recycling bins) anyways. Plus, now when we need to update the information, all we need to do is change out a digital slide; gone are the days where hundreds of booklets become kindling because they are out of date practically as soon as they are printed.

It's probably not possible to get away from physical promotional materials entirely - everybody likes to have a takeaway of some sort - so I'm still hard at work at an undergraduate information brochure that then directs readers to the online slideshow for detailed information. This should be incredibly less wasteful and significantly less expensive than the booklets. Stay tuned for this release, though it may still be a while.

Meanwhile, I had to tinker around with a number of different viewer codes in order to create a simple slideshow display for the booklet. Hopefully the fruits of my labor give the booklet a little extra pizzazz beyond simply scrolling through a PDF. But, the PDF is still there just in case the slideshow doesn't work.

Enjoy!