Susan Kristoff's Blog
Posted by Susan Kristoff
I like to keep an eye on the views that each of my articles get, in order to generate new articles that are of interest to my readers. For some reason, I've had a lot of interest in my articles that are related to civil engineering topics, including my introductory article, Civil Engineering 101.
Search terms don't seem to be related to any news articles, so that doesn't explain the interest. Are my recent readers a group of civil engineering students who have recently returned to school? I may never know.
Here's a list so you can easily find the articles I've written that are related in some way to civil engineering:
Hydroelectric Power Generation
How Cofferdams are Used in Construction
Fatigue in Engineered Structures
Common Software Packages Used by Engineers
Is there a topic related to civil engineering that you'd like to learn more about? Click on my name above to send me a message about article topics you'd like to see at Suite101.
Posted by Susan Kristoff
While engineering in its infancy was primarily concerned with what would now be considered civil engineering, and later mechanical engineering, today there is a wide variety of engineering branches and sub-branches. I'm trying to create a complete library of introductory articles on engineering specialties, and because the article format here does not support the large number of links that would be involved, I'm creating this blog post, and I intend to update the post as I create more and more articles.
So, here's your one-stop source for learning about the basic branches of engineering:
Electro-Mechanical Engineering
Management Engineering
Manufacturing Engineering
If the topic above has a link, you'll find an article detailing some introductory information about that branch of engineering and details on the sub-branches within the primary engineering area. If the topic does not have a link, it means that I'll be working on an introductory article soon, so come back and check up later if you're interested!
Posted by Susan Kristoff
People are getting back to work and school, and starting to read up on engineering topics again, now that the summer is over. Here are a few articles that I've written this summer that you may have missed while vacationing.
Introduction to Data Acquisition
Financing an Engineering Education
An Introduction to Refrigeration
An Introduction to Railway Engineering
I have many new article ideas planned for the fall. Is there an engineering topic you want to read more about at Suite101? Please send me your article ideas!
Posted by Susan Kristoff
Last week I wrote an article on financing an engineering education. It turns out that paying for school is getting even harder. The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), who provided over $500 million in student loans last year, would not be issuing any loans this school year due to lack of financing. It seems that the credit crunch has extended to the student loan market, and students will have to find other sources to pay their tuition bills.
Since many engineering schools are private schools, their tuitions are far higher than state schools, and it takes more loans and grants to fill the gaps. As someone who has only recently paid off her student loans (ten years after graduation), I would hate to be in the shoes of students who are not only stressing out about their classes and projects, but how to pay for it all in the first place.
If any of you readers have any ideas about sources for student loans and grants, especially those specifically for engineering students, please let me know so I can share them here.
Posted by Susan Kristoff
As reported in the July 31, 2008 issue of Science, researchers at MIT have developed a method that uses electricity generated from solar energy to create hydrogen and oxygen gasses from water. The gasses can be stored as needed, then used in fuel cells to generate electricity whenever it is needed.
The downside of solar power is that it can only be generated during the day. Energy storage for solar power, as well as other renewable energy sources, has been a perplexing challenge in bringing alternative power into the mainstream.
Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan of MIT created a process, inspired by photosynthesis, that uses non-toxic materials to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. These materials include cobalt, phosphate and platinum, which are far safer than the materials used in traditional electrolyzers.
Energy storage has been the key sticking point in the arena of alternative power. It is refreshing to see that this research is being performed (sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Chesonis Family Foundation), and that successful breakthroughs are being reported. It is work like this that will help reduce the cost and accessibility of electricity both in industrialized nations and in remote third world villages.
