NorthStarNerd.Org

It All Began With Legos!

Back on Arpil 2nd, 2007, I asked my son, Erik, if I could blog about his search for the perfect undergraduate engineering college. Given an answer of "yes", it led to an interesting series of posts, which now finishes with Erik's senior year at Rose-Hulman. You could actually say, it all began with Legos! Thus, you really have to go back nine years when our Lego Robotics Team "Super Nerds In Pink (SNIP)" was formed (I was the coach); the end result will be Erik's graduation this Spring with his electrical engineering degree. Everyone else on that team has also pursued a technical degree!

Along the journey, there were such memorable posts as:

• Initial Post: Search for the Perfect Engineering School
• College Consultants for your Kids
• Our Children's Sloppy Dress
• Hello from Milepost 214 .. or .. Two Nerds in Iowa (a fav of mine!)

At times, Erik would be my guest blogger. For instance he wrote:

• And the winner is ... Rose-Hulman

As a parent I am still pleased with Erik's choice. His engineering internships (GE and Oshkosh) provided good technical learning opportunities, and what can you say about a school which has been ranked #1 for engineering undergraduate programs for over a decade?! (Rose-Hulman: US News and World Report rankings for schools where the top degree awarded is a master's degree). Thus, if you are looking for a sharp young man (I'm biased), download Erik's resume. However, I warn you ... there is plenty of competition!

• Erik Hoeg: Resume

In closing, lest you think our home always had a serious, academic focus ... enjoy this video of one or Erik's earlier robots: Cyrus the Cat vs. the Lego Synchro Drive Robot (121,676 views to date)

Engineering Pranks and Hacks

Here is the latest computer engineering prank from the hallowed halls of academic learning (via my son).

Find a friend's computer which is unattended, hopefully not an software engineering student. From the task manager turn off explorer.exe process and insert your favorite screenshot for the desktop image. Sit back and enjoy your friend's frustration! (and for this I am paying thousands of dollars per year in tuition for my son?!). Actually, GE has offered Erik (my son) a very nice electrical engineering co-op job ... thus some of the money must be well spent. Anyhow, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. At home on vacation enjoying time with my devious son who is also on Thanksgiving break from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. I plan to password protect my home latop ASAP!

And from MIT, learn about some classic engineering pranks ... such as how MIT students took over the Rose Bowl scoreboard to announce they were beating CalTech!

• Where the Sun Shines, There They Hack

College of the Ozarks Grist Mill

This will be my last vacation technology post from the Ozark Mountain Region. As all vacations must end, I will soon return to posting about engineering and knowledge management technology, but for the moment I ask you to take a trip back in time to the College of the Ozarks Grist Mill. This college and its students are unique; they run an actual Grist Mill and grind wheat into flour the old fashioned way. This is just one example of how the students at College of the Ozarks are not your typical college kids ... the nickname for the school is HardWorkU. Anyhow ... my video (44 seconds long).

Rose-Hulman Engineers at Work!

I know there are great reasons why I am paying HUGE amounts of tuition to Rose-Hulman for my son to obtain his engineering degree ... because...

1. Rose-Hulman has maintained their top ranking from US News.
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2. Like any good Minnesotan, I always wanted a Hoosier in the family.
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   but the real reason is ...
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3. The obvious engineering design skills he is learning!

(click to maximize any image of the engineers at work ... and the finished product)

Upping the College Scholarship Ante

I recently had a Mom of a prospective Rose-Holman student contact me about the scholarship process. While this example relates to the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, it really could be about any private college and the scholarship award process. Here is an edited version of my private response to her: (read original blog post by my son about his college selection)

Dear Mary Jane:

I had similar concerns (about Rose-Hulman's scholarship offer).  In fact, my son Erik had better offers from other schools ... some of which offered to pay for over 50% of his education.

However, I was able to get Rose-Hulman to increase their award. This is the approach I took:

1. I did NOT take the position that their award level was a mistake
2. I DID mention the other scholarship offers (by school name and amount)
3. I stressed how much Erik liked Rose-Holman (he did then, and is still very happy with his choice)

Now we get to the important part of my email (sent to the head of financial aide). I pointed out some aspects of Erik's background that were unique and unusual in a "good way". I pondered whether they knew these facts. I also discussed one or two items where Erik could have done better (always hard for a parent to admit shortcomings in their own children).

It worked, and our offer was increased. Basically I politely implied that the admittance and scholarship process was a competition to get Erik's acceptance. However, I communicated it in a manner that was both reasonable and allowed everyone to "save face".

Rich

Ranking Engineering Colleges

A colleague passed along this link: Boeing to Rank Colleges by Measuring Job Success. While the US News methodology is controversial, this may make schools think twice.  After all, Boeing has over 35,000 engineers. How was your performance appraisal?

Make certain you see my prior post and follow-up on college rankings. It generated some good discussion points by leading web thought leaders. Finally, link to my college search section of this blog. My son, Erik, gave me his permission to blog about his search for the perfect engineering school, which ended with his choice of Rose-Hulman.

 

Four High Schools Seniors ... Robots ... Leaving Microsoft

On the surface these three topics might seem unrelated, but they are! This evening I will take out to dinner four young men who just graduated high school. These guys are the core members of my S.N.I.P Lego robotics team. After having coached S.N.I.P. for six years ... since their elementary school days, I wondered how I could recognize these boys, and the fact thay they were moving on in the world ... to various engineering schools around the USA. Each young man has already shown me that they are socially conscious, but I wanted to encourage them to continue following this path.

Eureka! A quick visit to Amazon yielded four copies of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. Ever since last year when my own effort started to build schools in the mountains of southern China, I've been inspired by John Wood. He was Microsoft's second highest ranking executive in China, and he gave everything up to build schools in rural Nepal.

Last night I contacted John Wood via email, and asked him if he might send me a dedication I might put in each book.  Here are John's direct words ... they're good:

"To whom much is given, much is expected. The true test of your education will be in bringing that same opportunity to others, throughout your lifetime. Good luck, and make the world proud!"

Feel free to chime in with your own advice via the comments section for Caleb, Erik, Matt and Tim. In closing, here are two podcast interviews with John Wood, author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

PBS Podcast Interview with John Wood (his organization)

National Geographic Podcast Interview with John Wood

The Next Generation of Engineers - VEXplorer

My son who will start Rose-Hulman next Fall was one of the 25 selected finalist for the VEXplorer Contest. The contest requirements were to build an interesting robot using the VEXplorer system and post a video on YouTube demonstrating the end result.  The top prize is a $5k college scholarship.

In Erik's case, he used SolidWorks for the initial design, and a black tabby cat named Cyrus for the testing phase! His accompanying music includes "White and Nerdy". Like father (aka the Northstar Nerd)... like son!

• VEXplorer System | Contest Announcement
  and
• Erik's YouTube Video: Lift-O-Bot

You should also be able to view other entries via the related videos link!

And the winner is ... Rose-Hulman

A little over one year ago I started a series of blog posts, the engineering college search from a parent's perspective. My son, Erik, gave me permission to blog ... and now our journey is over. It is only appropriate that Erik should have the last word. Thus, the following words are Erik's.
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Erik Hoeg's College Decision and Competitions

Well I have finally picked the college I will be attending next year, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana (about an hour from Indianapolis). The main competition for this choice was Valparaiso University which is located in Valparaiso, Indiana (an hour from Chicago). Here is the list of schools to which I applied:
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o Michigan Tech
o Olin School of Engineering
o Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
o Valparaiso University
o Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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I originally decided to stay away from the big engineering schools such as Purdue when I discovered that I preferred smaller schools where the professors did most of the teaching (at larger schools TAs’ do a lot of teaching).  I was accepted to all of my schools except Olin, so that left me with four choices.  In brief, I did not pick Michigan Tech because when I visited the school I just couldn’t get over the fact that there was very little in the way of prospering cities in the U.P. of Michigan.  I didn’t need big cities, but all of the towns were kind of depressed and left over from industry that had once taken place there.  I also ruled out Worcester because the school was very urban with many streets running through the campus, and the robotics degree just didn’t really seem to be quite what I was looking for. I decided I wanted to stick to a more traditional engineering degree.  That left Valpo (Valparaiso) and Rose-Hulman. It was a hard choice for me, as I really liked both campuses and felt both schools really wanted me. Each college had good programs.  In the end I chose Rose-Hulman over Valparaiso for several reasons:

• The number of engineering classes are more numerous at Rose-Hulman
  • Given the entire college is devoted to engineering, although it is a smaller school than Valpo, there are more engineering opportunties.
• I felt that the caliber of engineering courses might be higher at Rose-Hulman
• There is more equipment available for engineering at Rose-Hulman
• Each senior on average has 4 job offers at Rose-Hulman
• Rose-Hulman is a division III school which gives me the opportunity to compete in sports.

And of course my parents would probably add as a joke ... someone comes in to change your sheets and clean your dorm room once per week at Rose-Hulman. In the end I chose Rose-Hulman because I felt that it was an excellent school and it has continuously rated number 1 for undergraduate engineering degrees by US News (schools which don't have PhD programs). I am really looking forward to attending starting next Fall.

Another thing that happened to me recently was I was chosen as 1 of 25 semi-finalists for the Vexplorer Contest sponsored by Revell and Robot magazine. One of the judges for the competition is Grant Imahara from the show Mythbusters.  Anyway, I submitted an idea for their new product: a robot that picks itself up, turns on an axis, and then sets itself it back down and drives off in the new direction.  As of now they are sending me a free kit and I have $100.00 to spend via VexLabs to help build my robot.  I have until June 1st to make my robot, create a video and post it to YouTube, and then the final winners will be selected with the first place prize being a $5,000 dollar college scholarship.

My Dad will link my YouTube Video here when I complete my robot.   

 

Engineering in America ... What's the Future?

Last night we put down my son's enrollment deposit to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (#1 ranking from US News). Erik is excited about his choice (read my entire series ... the college search from a parent's perspective). I'm also thrilled with his choice, but as a father I must consider this issue: What's the future of engineering in America?

For an answer, I'm going to pull upon my alma matter, Dartmouth.  Dean Helble notes that American Media has taken a sensationalistic approach which makes it seem like "the sky is falling". In fact, this year's graduating class at Rose-Hulman had on average 5 job offers per newly minted engineer! If one keeps current, there is plenty of engineering work in the U.S.A.

Here is a quote and podcast from Dean Helble which further expands upon this subject:

• Podcast: Making Engineering Relevant
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• Quote: (read entire article)
  "Unfortunately, students considering a technology-based education these days are confronted by stories of the growing numbers of engineers in countries such as India and China, stories suggesting that many U.S.-based engineering jobs will be outsourced. The implicit message is that America doesn't need to develop its own technical talent. This is wrong, and it is a dangerous message to send to those now making decisions about colleges, their majors and their careers." ...
  "It is true that India and China produce more engineers than the United States, but per capita production of engineers in those countries lags far behind that of the United States, and those countries, with their needs for basic infrastructure, have ample work to keep their local engineers busy for decades, The question is not whether we are graduating as many engineers as India or China, the question is whether we are producing the technical talent we need to create new industries and address pressing problems in energy, health care, the environment, sustainable manufacturing, security and communications."

Finally, some of Dean Helble's article is based upon the report written by the former president of the University of Michigan, James Duderstadt: Engineering for a Changing World.

I think Erik made a great choice, and has an excellant future!