Videoconference on the International Space Station; Boeing, NASA and UPRM join forces to strengthen engineering education.
By Dr. Miguel A. Torres
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The videoconference was conducted on Thursday, February 6, 2003, at the Nursing Building Amphitheater and was organized by students from the Tau Beta Pi (Thomas Hatch), IEEE Communications Society (Omar Rupert) and the ASME (Oscar Ruiz), with the mentoring of Dr. Miguel A. Torres.
Through our state-of-the-art videoconference infrastructure and with remarkable technical assistance of Carlos Olivencia and his team, the activity joined live and from Huston, TX and Seattle, WA more than 80 UPRM students with project managers and experts on the different aspects of the International Space Station. The videoconference was conducted in English but student as well as faculty were pleasantly surprised and proud to learn that all the lecturers were puertorrican
engineers graduated from El Colegio and now hold important managerial and technical positions at both NASA and The Boeing Company.
Dr. Torres opened the activity with a formal welcome followed by an introduction of all the participating lecturers by Eng. Jose Font from Seattle, WA. From Seattle, Steve Myers, Human Resources, Boeing, Eng. Agueda Martínez, BSCE class ‘79, Eng. Miguel Ocasio, BSME class ‘79, and Eng.
Tomás Rivera, BSME, Class 79. From Huston, TX (NASA and the Boeing Company), Juan Lesieux, BSME class ’79, BSME Carlos Pagán class ’79, BSME, and Keyla Anglada, BSME class ‘01.
During the videoconference, engineers presented subjects in the area of heat transfer, thermodynamics, celestial mechanics, and the design requirements for the International Space Station. In addition, Boeing representatives discussed the present and future role of the Boeing Company in the development of the International Space Station. Towards the end of the videoconference, students and faculty had the opportunity to ask questions and interact live with NASA and Boeing engineers.
This is the first in a series of videoconferences to be sponsored by The Boeing Company under the coordination of the student organizations and the leadership of Jose Font from Boeing.
In light of the recent catastrophe of the Space Shuttle Colombia, on the 1st of February 2003, this videoconference represents a tribute to the seven astronauts who died in the disaster and reiterated the our commitment as a university to instill the passion for scientific discoveries on the next generations of scientist and engineers.
Seminars
The following seminars were offered by our ME graduate students on February
“Energy Exchange of Critical Poing” by Mr. Iván Rojas.
“Electro Thermal Modeling of a Integrated Power Electronic Module” by Ms. Madeline Hernández.
“Mechanical Deformation in Aluminum Matrix Composites” by Mr. Hermes Calderón.
“Heat Conduction in a Semi-Infinite Slab” by Mr. Omar E. Meza.
“Damage Detection Using Acoustic Emission” by Mr. Amilcar Quispitupa.
“Modulus Determination using the Vibration Beat Phenomena” by Mr. Juan Mejia.
“Mechanical Behavior of Aluminum Matrix Composites Reinforced with Carbon Fiber” by Mr. Diego F. Villegas.
Trips
On February 8-11 Dr. Jorge González visited the University of Syracuse in New York to meet with Dr. Ezzal Khalifa, Director of the Environmental Quality Systems Center of such institution.
Dr. Jorge E. González participated at the NESDES NOAA Meeting held in Washington, DC on February 24-25, 2003.
Visits
Dr. Juan E. Figueroa, Program Manager of NSF’s SBIR Program visited the Department and met with some of our ME researchers including Dr. David Serrano, Dr. Frederick Just, Dr. Paul Sundaram, Dr. Yi Jia, Dr. Vijay Goyal, and Dr. Jorge González.
The SBIR Program supports creative, advanced research in important scientific, engineering and education areas and is designed to simulate its conversion into technological innovation and commercial application for its potential economic benefits to the nation.
Other Activities
The Department Of Mechanical Engineering Participated at the “Central New York-Puerto Rico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Program (CNY-PR AGEP)”. This activity was an unique opportunity to receive information about several graduate programs, orientation about scholarships and economic aid available for students. It was also the opportunity to meet the
faculty in their area of studies. Participant institutions were: Syracuse University, Cornell University, Resesselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and the UPRM.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
P.O
Box 9045 Mayagüez, P.R. 00681
Phone: 787-832-4040 Ext. 3659 or 2560
Fax: 787-265-3817
Technical Support:
admin@me.uprm.edu
Academic Support: ee_jimenez@me.uprm.edu
