Arizona State University senior chemical engineering major Zachariah Berkson is beginning to make a mark for himself in energy research.

A technical paper Berkson authored on his part in research aimed at recycling carbon dioxide to produce clean, renewable fuels recently won him a scholarship award from the Arizona chapter of the national Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA). Download Full Image

It’s an especially impressive accomplishment because graduate students also competed for the award, notes his mentor Jean Andino, a chemical engineering faculty member in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The award brought Berkson $1,000 and enables him to participate in the national Energy Utility and Environment Conference in Phoenix Jan. 28-30. He’ll follow that up with a trip to Boston in February to display a poster exhibit of his research at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The technical paper for which he won the recent scholarship award from the AWMA-Grand Canyon Section was based on the research he presented last year at the international AWMA conference. It won him the conference’s best undergraduate student research poster award.

Berkson is seeking to “turn carbon dioxide, a waste product, into a fuel such as methane." The next goal would be to adapt the process of generating fuel from carbon dioxide to an industrial scale to create a viable source of sustainable energy.

"To enhance the efficiency of the process, we are using light-activated photo catalysts, in particular titanium dioxide," he explains. Employing the combination of modified titanium dioxide and light, Andino’s research group is exploring methods of improving the efficiency of converting carbon dioxide into energy.

Berkson, from Indiana, began his project under Andino’s direction in 2011 through the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI), which enables ASU engineering undergraduates to participate in advanced research training.

His project idea and the funding for his work in the lab came primarily through a National Science Foundation grant awarded to Andino.

Once Berkson delved into the project, what was at first merely an interest in renewable energy became an intense focus of his engineering education.

His research has shown that a simple pretreatment process – heating the catalyst before the reaction occurs – can increase the potential of the photocatalyst to produce a reaction by three to four times.

“I’ve shown that when you do this treatment you generate a lot more electrons ready for reaction,” Berkson says. “What I am trying to show now is that this translates to increased chemical activity for the reaction that we are interested in” for converting carbon dioxide into fuel.

His desire to continue the work has driven Berkson’s decision to pursue a doctoral degree in chemical engineering.

Students whose work is accepted for presentation at professional conferences are eligible to apply for a grant from the Engineering Schools’ office of Academic and Student Affairs to help fund travel to conferences.  Berkson was one of 13 engineering students funded to travel to national conferences in 2012 to present research findings.

Written by Natalie Pierce and Joe Kullman

ASU's Dale Baker has been named recipient of the most prestigious award in the field of science education from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. A professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Baker has contributed more than 30 years of research examining equity issues in science, science teacher professional development and engineering education.

Baker will travel to Puerto Rico in April to accept the 2013 Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award from the 85-year-old global organization. Download Full Image

“Professor Baker is an exemplar of a College of Education faculty whose impact on schools is not only through her research but also through teaching future teachers and mentoring of future researchers,” said Mari Koerner, dean of Teachers College.

Baker’s inspiration to study barriers to girls and women in science began with her own frustrations in the late 1960s. Typically, she was the only female in her university science classes and had to endure many negative experiences as a result.

“I had a geology lab in college where I was one of two women, and the other one dropped the class,” Baker said. “None of the males would let me join their lab group, so I had to do the lab alone. Even the instructor told me maybe I should quit coming to class and get married instead.”

Baker persisted, however, and pursued a career in science education. Teaching science to K-12 students, she observed that her students “loved science” when they were taught differently – using hands-on activities to help them learn. That realization sent her back to graduate school to pursue advanced degrees and research creative ways to engage students in learning science in the classroom.

In 1995 Baker co-authored a study, “Letting Girls Speak Out About Science,” which looked at the factors influencing girls to choose science. The researchers interviewed 40 girls in grades two, five, eight and 11, and focused on their feelings about science, science careers, support from friends and parents and how science is taught. It was a watershed moment in how people looked at the issue, Baker explained.

“Up to that point, studies about women in science had always compared women to men,” she said. “It was like the song in ‘My Fair Lady’: Why can’t a woman be more like a man? The data was confusing. So I decided to just look at what the girls had to say.”

One of the questions in Baker’s study asked each girl to respond as if she were a boy to see if she would change her answer. Instead, the girls remained strong in their belief that women can and should do science, she said.

“The reasons they liked science were different than those for boys,” Baker said. “The girls had strong, positive emotional experiences that drew them to science. For example, one talked about how when she was little her grandfather wrapped her in a blanket and they sat out on the deck looking at stars and naming constellations. Another said her mother would be proud if she studied science. They weren’t boys.”

The study was selected by the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, the lead journal in science education, for its issue featuring the most influential research in the past 40 years of the publication. Baker has been co-editor of JRST and also serves on editorial boards of the International Journal of Learning Technology and the Journal of Engineering Education.

More recently, Baker has expanded her research on equity issues in science education to include students with physical disabilities. She is investigating the current state of assistive technology used in Arizona’s high school science classrooms for students with physical disabilities (visual, hearing and orthopedic disability) and determining future needs. The data will be used to help plan professional development programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers, she explained.

“This is a new frontier,” Baker said. “As with women, people with physical disabilities can make a new and different contribution to science based on their perspective. They can make wonderful discoveries based on how they see the world because they ask different questions.”

Championing equity in science education also has meant encouraging the research community to recognize its value, Baker said. In the 1980s, Baker and several female colleagues first approached the National Association for Research in Science Teaching about adding a research strand that would focus on equity issues.

“We actually got push back,” she said. “But over time they added a special interest group and then a strand with a focus on women. Then that was expanded to include equity writ large in science with a strand devoted entirely to cultural, social and gender issues.”

Speaking about the association, Baker said she is honored and overwhelmed to be recognized by her colleagues.

“This organization has been my professional home,” she said. “It’s where I learned to be a professor. For me, this award confirms that I was able to make a contribution that made a difference.”

February 12, 2013 
7-8:30 p.m.

Miral al-Tahawy, award-winning novelist and assistant professor of modern Arabic literature in ASU's School of International Letters and Cultures, has been described by the Washington Post as “the first novelist to present Egyptian Bedouin life beyond stereotypes and to illustrate the crises of Bedouin women and their urge to break free.”  Download Full Image

On Feb. 12 the School of International Letters and Cultures and Changing Hands Bookstore will host al-Tahawy as part of the school's International Artists Lecture Series. The lecture and book signing event will be held at 7 p.m., at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Drive, in Tempe. It is free and open to the public. 

When Miral al-Tahawy moved from Egypt to Brooklyn as a post-doctoral fellow in 2008, she never dreamed that her new neighborhood would bring her literary inspiration – and international notice.

Al-Tahawy wrote “Brooklyn Heights: A Modern Arabic Novel” to help her make sense of being a stranger in a foreign land and an impersonal city.

In the novel, protaganist Hind, newly arrived in New York with her eight-year-old son, several suitcases of unfinished manuscripts, and hardly any English, finds a room in a Brooklyn teeming with people like her who dream of becoming writers. As she discovers the various corners of her new home, they conjure up parallel memories from her childhood and her small Bedouin village in the Nile Delta. Emilia who sells used shoes at the flea market smells like Zeinab, the old woman who worked for Hind's grandfather. The reflection of her own body as she dances tango awakens the awkwardness of her relationship to that body across the years. And the story of Lilette, the Egyptian bourgeoise who has lost her memory, prompts Hind to safeguard her own.

The book was shortlisted for the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction – the “Arab Booker Prize” – and it won the 2010 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. “Brooklyn Heights” recently was translated into English and was named “best novel” for 2011 by the website Arabic Literature (in English).

Al-Tahawy has written a collection of short stories and three other novels, all of which have won acclaim. Her first novel, “The Tent” (Al-Khibaa), published in 1996, was selected as the best literary work in a critics’ questionnaire and has been translated into English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Hindi, Urdu and Dutch, among other languages.

For her second novel, “The Blue Aubergine” (Al-Badhingana al-zarqa), she won a prize for the youngest female novelist in Egypt. Her third, “Gazelle Tracks” (Naquarat al-Zibae), was awarded the Best Novel of the Year prize at the Cairo Book Fair.

Al-Tahawy hopes that her books will give readers “a new image of the Middle East,” and that they will make her culture more understandable and accepted. “Literature is a window on culture, language and politics,” she said. “Literature is a bridge.”

A New York Times article about Miral al-Tahawy, "Making the Life of a Modern Nomad into Literature," was published on Jan. 4, 2012. 

Roxane Barwick, roxane.barwick@asu.edu
480-727-8800
School of International Letters and Cultures

"Faced with their own mortality, a group of gay men, lesbians and their straight allies broke the mold as radical warriors taking on a government and medical establishment unresponsive to the AIDS crisis." This is the story behind the acclaimed documentary film “How to Survive a Plague.”

The documentary will be the subject of a free film screening Thursday, Jan. 24, on ASU’s Tempe campus, sponsored by Ubiquity, ASU’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender faculty and staff organization; LGBTQA Services and ASU Wellness. Download Full Image

“We, the Ubiquity Board, felt this movie is something that is important to bring to light at ASU,” says Carol Comito, president of Ubiquity. “For those of us who lived through this era, it is important to recognize the power of a group of people to affect change.

“For the younger people, it is important to understand the impact the activists had, and that this AIDS epidemic – while it is better than it was in the 80s – is still affecting so many people throughout the world.”

Ubiquity was formed in March 1994 as a result of Arizona’s political climate at the time, and remains relevant today. The organization has been instrumental over the years in helping the university’s LGBT employees obtain Domestic Partner Benefits, Comito says.

“This issue is currently in the courts, but we are hopeful the benefits will remain in place.”

Comito, who is currently serving her second term as president of the Tempe Staff Council, has been part of Ubiquity for as long as she has worked at ASU – more than eight years.  

Ubiquity often collaborates with other LGBT organizations and universities, and does not just serve the LGBT community, she says. Its meetings and social events are open to everyone, as the organization supports the work of its allies and various university groups.

“We meet once a month as a board, and we have a social event at least once a semester. We also try to have meetings or events as they are appropriate, such as this film screening.”

The screening event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., Jan. 24, in the Pima Auditorium of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus. Refreshments will be provided, and there will be a post-screening speaker to lead discussion. "How to Survive a Plague" was made an official selection at various film festivals, including Sundance, and has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Comito says the film speaks to the mission of Ubiquity: “We have to be able to stand up for what we believe and continue to care how these issues affect everyone.”

Arizona State University professor K. Selcuk Candan has been selected for special recognition by the world’s largest computing society for his achievements in computer science and engineering.

He was recently named a Distinguished Scientist by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions to research advances and significant impacts in the fields of computing, computer science and information technology. Download Full Image

Candan is on the faculty of the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He joined the university’s faculty in 1997.

ACM specifically cites Candan’s role in advancements in development of data management and multimedia systems.

He is credited for being among the first to merge work in database and multimedia disciplines, becoming a leading expert in both fields. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals and for conferences on the crossover of database and multimedia systems management

Candan’s work “has consistently been beyond the norm in scientific innovation and impact,” the nomination for his selection for the Distinguished Scientist honor stated.

“He has made pioneering contributions to the multimedia community,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, a professor of computer science and engineering, and senior vice president of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development.  

“He is not only prolific in making fundamental advances in his research but is also able to translate those discoveries into impactful outcomes to society,” Panchanathan adds.

Colleague Richard Snodgrass, professor of computer science at the University of Arizona, credits Candan for major contributions for multimedia databases and web-content management, and for being “exceedingly well organized and effective in his leadership” within his professional community.

His work over the years has attracted grants from the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and HP (Hewlett-Packard) Labs, among others, and led to industry research collaborations with IBM, Johnson Controls Inc., HP Labs and NEC Labs, one of the largest multinational information technology corporations.

The broad range of the applications of his work is demonstrated by his collaborations with fellow ASU faculty members in a variety of disciplines – including health researchers in ASU’s Disability Resources Center, archaeologists in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and researchers in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering.

Candan is on the graduate faculty of the arts, media and engineering program, and is also a senior sustainability scientist with ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability.

His research has had strong impacts in diverse areas, including technologies and systems to enable people who are blind to have better access to educational materials and advances that have helped e-businesses to thrive.  His work has earned him nine patents.

Candan co-authored the book "Data Management for Multimedia Retrieval" and has written 15 book chapters.

As an educator he has guided seven students to doctoral degrees and 30 to master’s degrees, and supervised three post-doctoral researchers. He is currently adviser to an additional seven doctoral students and two master’s degree students.

He has mentored numerous summer interns at the NEC Labs America, for which has been a visiting scientist for more than a decade.

In 2012, Candan received the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Top Five Percent Teaching Award, which are based largely on student nominations and teacher evaluations by students.

In professional service, Candan has served on the editorial board of the Very Large Databases journal, one of the leading journals in the computer science and engineering field. He’s currently an associate editor for the journal IEEE Transactions on Multimedia and for the Journal of Multimedia.

He’s been an organizer and program chair for several workshops and conferences, including a Multimedia Information Retrieval workshop, which evolved into a full-fledged ACM conference.

He was a general chair for the ACM Multimedia Conference in 2011 and the ACM SIGMOD (Special Interest Group on Management of Data) Conference in 2012. He’s currently on the steering committee for the Multimedia Data Mining workshop affiliated with the ACM KDD (Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining) conference. He also serves in the executive committee of the Special Interest Group on Management of Data.

Candan earned his doctoral degree in computer science in 1997 from the University of Maryland at College Park, after earning an undergraduate degree in computer engineering and information sciences from Bilkent University in Turkey.

Last summer more than 70 teenagers were the first to benefit from the newly established High School Engineering Research Program that gives young students opportunities to learn under the direction of faculty members in Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Expanding on the success of high school outreach efforts initiated by several faculty members, the program offers students half-day or full-day lab sessions over either four-week or eight-week time periods. It’s free to all students who meet basic qualifications (Arizona high school students who are 16 or older, with a minimum 3.0 grade point average). About 20 faculty members are opening their labs to these students. Download Full Image

Natalie Mionis was among the program’s inaugural group of student researchers in 2012. The junior at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale spent eight weeks last summer learning computer programming in the lab of Dijiang Huang, an associate professor in the School of Computer, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering.

Working Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m., Mionis created her own photo-sharing application for Android devices, an app that allows users to take photos on their mobile devices and upload them to a wireless cloud network to be viewed by others.

It “was not your stereotypical research project – it involved a lot of creation and building,” said Mionis, who started the program with no prior knowledge of computer programming. By the end of her time in the lab, she had learned to read and write computer programming code.

Dominick Cocciola, a senior at Fountain Hills High School, participated in research involving neurology and electrical engineering. Working with Jennifer Blain Christen, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Cocciola studied the nervous system by sending electrical signals through a cockroach leg and watching the movements generated by the signal.
 

“My research ended up being right in line with my interests,” Cocciola said. “I indicated my research interests at the beginning of the program and was matched with a perfect project.”

Cocciola worked with four other high school students with similar interests. “It really helps you understand what engineers do, in a fun way. And it’s a great way to meet people,” he said.

The experience made him certain about the direction he wants to take in college. Cocciola has since been accepted into the biomedical engineering program at ASU for the 2013 fall semester.

Carlos Alvarado and Raziel Amado, students at Bioscience High School in Phoenix, were selected for the program because of their interests in synthetic biology. They worked alongside graduate students on a project for ASU’s iGEM team, which was preparing for the International Genetically Engineered Machine contest, the premier international synthetic biology student competition.

Alvarado and Amado assisted in the design and development of a portable biosensor to detect water-borne, potentially disease-causing pathogens.

“It was a fantastic teaching and learning experience for both the iGEM team members and the high school students,” said Nisarg Patel, an ASU molecular bioscience and biotechnology graduate student. “Teaching the high school students about our own research helped us to better understand the techniques ourselves.”  

Keith Holbert, an associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, is among faculty members participating in the program. He directs research for high school students in the FREEDM Young Scholars pre-college program offered through the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management Systems Center – called FREEDM.

The FREEDM Systems Engineering Research Center is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and industry partners, and based at North Carolina State University. ASU is a research partner in FREEDM.

Combining the FREEDM Young Scholars Program with the High School Engineering Research program “changed the dynamic in a good way,” Holbert explained, by allowing students the opportunity to see research being conducted by other students and to present their own work to other students.

The program gave about a dozen students from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix the opportunity to work on campus five days a week for a month last summer. Their projects focused on renewable energy research designed to provide students a basic introduction to college-level studies in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math.

Students got the chance to explore electricity generation, power transmission and distribution, and electricity distribution, as well as solar energy and hybrid cars.

They sought answers for such energy-related questions as: Which light bulb best conserves energy, incandescent, fluorescent, or light-emitting diode bulbs? They figured out answers in a “myth buster”- like fashion, said Holbert, “using critical thinking to investigate the everyday energy- related questions in a hands-on way.”

The learning activities included trips to the nearby Arizona Public Service Ocotillo Power Plant, ASU’s Gammage Auditorium and the ASU Art Museum. The field trips are “not just about engineering, but also about getting out and having fun,” Holbert said.

The program also provides a rewarding experience for faculty. “It’s great to see both education and maturity develop as students see concepts come together and face challenges like riding the light rail for the first time,”  Holbert said.

The High School Engineering Research Program includes closing ceremonies at which students present their research to fellow participants, faculty mentors and parents.

“I came away as a parent with a great respect for the engineering program at ASU for the level of involvement and openness by the faculty and administration toward the students,” said Anne Cocciola, mother of Dominick Cocciola. “Dominick definitely felt he was part of a scientific community at the college level.”  

The High School Engineering Research program is coordinated by the office of Academic and Student Affairs in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Learn more.

Written by Rosie Gochnour

Lauren McBurnett is doing big things, fast.

At age 18, McBurnett has already completed her undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Arizona State University. She got off to her quick start with time spent in public schools, charter schools and homeschooling until at age 13 she pursued dual high school/college enrollment opportunities at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Download Full Image

McBurnett tried a lot of different approaches to education as she searched for the best way to overcome her struggles with dyslexia. She found that homeschooling and the one-on-one approach enabled her to create the learning strategies that worked best for her.

“My mother has homeschooled all three of my siblings at one point or another, but it was different for each of us. Mainly she always promoted what we as learners wanted,” says McBurnett. By the time she transferred to ASU at age 16, McBurnett was a math- and science-loving engineer with a lot of motivation.

A straight-A student in community college, McBurnett admits that she experienced “a typical transfer student GPA drop,” but it was only temporary. She says that the resources that ASU provided more than made up for any of the challenges she faced and she quickly regained her top grades.

“When I came in as a transfer student, I felt more driven than ever as a learner and a student,” says McBurnett. She credits a portion of this drive to Fulton Engineering’s Motivated Engineering Transfer Students program – called METS – a program that offers courses, resources and scholarships for transfer students at ASU.

Through METS, McBurnett received a transfer student scholarship and took a course that taught her how to study at a university level.

“It’s a different feel on a big campus, but in the end all of the same opportunities are available if you seek them out, plus many more,” says McBurnett. “Your teachers don’t come to you all the time – you have to go to them. When you do, they have the skills, patience and expertise to give you all the help that you need.”

McBurnett also encourages transfer students to form small study groups in each class and to look into engineering programs and clubs offered at ASU. She is a member of Chi Epsilon, the civil engineering honor society, and the ASU branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

For McBurnett, her involvement in engineering activities took her all the way to Kenya, something she “never expected to be doing by age 18.” This trip came through her involvement with the ASU chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a national organization that focuses on utilizing engineering skills to solve problems across the globe. McBurnett spent two years on her Engineers Without Borders team working to implement better rain water collection strategies in Bondo, Kenya.

This project included designing a collection system that fit the community’s needs, abilities, and financial restraints, and then submitting a proposal to the larger Engineers Without Borders organization for approval. McBurnett’s team expanded upon current technologies and came up with the idea to store rainwater from school roofs into a large, cost-effective tank in the ground. With approval, McBurnett and several other team members flew to Kenya to build, implement and teach the community about their solution – a solution that can be replicated and easily understood, helping Kenyans solve water infrastructure deficiencies across Bondo and neighboring communities.

In the spring, McBurnett will begin her doctoral program at ASU and hopes to continue serving local and global communities with her knowledge of water resources and engineering. McBurnett is expected to graduate with a doctorate at age 22.

McBurnett is quick to explain that she’s not a "child prodigy" or a genius by any means.

"I’m just one of those students that studies really, really hard and seeks help from teachers, tutors and fellow students at every chance I get,” she says. McBurnett says she’s grateful that ASU allows a student in her situation to not only succeed, but excel.

And, don’t worry, McBurnett wants everyone to know that she had time to make it to a prom.

Written by Rosie Gochnour

From preventing student bullying to easing conflicts between religious and secularist views in society, the fall 2012 College Completion Fellows focused on research that can have a positive impact locally and globally.

The Arizona State University Graduate College awarded 11 Completion Fellowships to support degree completion of doctoral and master’s students in arts, humanities, social sciences and education during the 2012 fall semester. Download Full Image

The graduate students were nominated by their academic unit on the basis of demonstrated ability to complete research projects of high quality.

Their impressive and diverse research includes:

• Helping educators develop empathy for marginalized students, including English language learners, special-needs students, ethnic and religious minorities, homeless children, gay students and immigrants, through participatory theatre activities.

• A framework of practices to assist public administrators in assessing the results of public programs and to design and implement more effective programs.

• Uses of poetry and the written word to deepen an appreciation of natural beauty, as encouragement to communicate in a way that fosters compassion, and as a tool of empowerment for individuals and society.

• An ecological approach to shaping conservation plans and preventing extinction in endangered animal populations.  

"These fellowships provide students who perform outstanding research a semester of support to complete their dissertation or project,” says Andrew Webber, Associate Vice Provost at the Graduate College. “We are proud to help them achieve their educational goals.”

The deadline to apply for a fall 2013 Completion fellowship is March 30, 2013. See graduate.asu.edu/completion for full details.

The Fall 2012 Completion Fellows are:

Ljubinka Andonoska, PhD in Public Administration, School of Public Affairs, College of Public Programs

Sarah Flett, PhD in Justice Studies, School of Social Transformation, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Julia Rosa Jones, MFA in Drawing and Painting, School of Art, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Masakazu Mitsumura, PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College

Carol Palmer, PhD in History, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Victor Parra-Guinaldo, PhD in English, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Heather Poole, MFA in Creative Writing, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Samantha Russak, PhD in Anthropology, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Semiha Topal, PhD in Religious Studies, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Kade Twist, MFA in Art (Intermedia), School of Art, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Ran Wei, PhD in Geography, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Arizona’s FIRST LEGO League expanded its reach again this year – as it has each year since it came under the direction of Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering in 2008.

About 2,500 youngsters throughout the state got involved in the program designed to ignite interest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) among students 9 to 14 years old. Download Full Image

A record number of student teams – more than 300 – participated in the program’s local events and regional tournaments, including a growing number from small and rural communities.

A record 56 top-performing teams (almost 500 students in all) earned their way to ASU’s Tempe campus in December for the annual FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international endeavor founded by renowned inventor Dean Kamen.  On average in recent years, FIRST LEGO League programs around the country have seen roughly an 8 percent growth in participation each year. The Arizona program has exceeded that growth rate.

Focus on core values

But the program’s success isn’t based primarily on quantitative measures. The focus is on the quality of the students’ experience.

At tournaments, teams are judged on their technical skills in designing, building and programming robots (constructed from LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics kits) to perform specified missions autonomously, and for the innovativeness demonstrated by their proposed solutions  to societal challenges in areas such as technological advances, energy, health care and environmental stewardship.

The emphasis, however, is on how students’ efforts reflect FIRST’s core values – teamwork, a spirit of sharing, appreciating the joy of learning and discovery, and competing with an attitude of “gracious professionalism.”

By that measure, according to teachers and team coaches, the Arizona FIRST LEGO League is succeeding as well.

Learning experiences

Becky Babcock, Laurie Miller and Sophany Tibke were among teachers from the Chandler Traditional Academy- Independence elementary school who assisted coach Deepa Iyer in getting the Hawkbots team of determined sixth-graders prepared for the state tournament.

“Our kids are all born leaders and competitors. To them, failure is not an option. We had to do some work on teaching cooperative leadership,” Babcock says. “So winning a core values award [at a regional tournament] was a phenomenal accomplishment for them.”

Teresa Gonzalez, school psychologist for the Winslow Unified School District, came to the state tournament with the Winslow Magnet School team, the Techno Pups, which included her son, Joseph Gonzalez. He and his teammates took a first-place award at a regional tournament.

Gonzalez said her son was attracted to the program because he has always loved building things with LEGO blocks “and this was a way to take that interest to the next level and learn while playing.”

His first experience with FIRST LEGO League experience may have helped him “find a passion that makes him aspire to go to college,” she said.

The bustling environment during the tournament at ASU was also inspiring. “Getting to see the campus and compete at an important institution is a great experience,” Gonzalez says.

She had plans to take her son to shop at the campus bookstore after the tournament “because he wants to go to ASU now.”

Connecting generations

This year’s Arizona FIRST LEGO League theme was the Senior Solutions Challenge. Teams had to propose innovative ways to help senior citizens become more independent, engaged and connected to their communities.

That task made this year’s program a particularly meaningful learning experience.

Erin Thomas of Sahuarita, near Tucson, helped coach Cat Power (sponsored by the Caterpillar construction equipment company), a team that included her 12-year-old son Tristan, who “has wanted to be an engineer since he was three,” when he started watching the children’s TV show “Bob The Builder.”

More than advancing his technical know-how, the competition’s Senior Solutions theme provided broader lessons.

“The team went to a senior assisted-living center. They talked to about 30 [senior citizens] for their project research,” Thomas said. “They learned to respect elderly people and to value the stories they heard from them.”

The team “got a lot out this, because they realized they could use their technical skills and knowledge to do things to improve the lives of other people.”

Life-skills lessons

The LEGO Lumberjacks team – five boys and four girls in the fourth and fifth grades at Sechrist Elementary School in Flagstaff – gained a similar cross-generational awareness.

The team’s FIRST LEGO League research led to a community service project, said teacher and team coach Jannette Bressler.

“They went to senior living homes and got to know these people and  they fell in love with them, so the kids have kept going back to hang out with them,” Bressler said. “They took this to a deeper level, and that’s what has made me really proud of them.”

The youngsters also “got into the whole team-spirit thing,” she said. “They learned to communicate and have a little democracy in making decisions. Sometimes someone’s ideas did not win out, but they got on board with whatever decisions the group decided to go with.  That is a huge life-skill lesson for them.”

At a regional tournament, the LEGO Lumberjacks, “were not real strong in the robot competition, but they were strong as a team,” Bressler said. “I think the judges saw how they put their hearts into it, and that’s what got them through” to the state tournament.

Keeping it fun

Hearing about such experiences “tells us FIRST LEGO League is working, doing the things we want to make happen,” said Stephen Rippon, an assistant dean who heads the Student Outreach and Retention Program for ASU’s engineering schools.

Fun is the first thing Arizona FIRST LEGO League organizers want to make happen in the program. That goal is reflected in the festive atmosphere of the state tournament.  Students scurry about in colorful team shirts – some sporting comical hats, capes and other costume apparel and accessories. Some shout team cheers. Others whoop and pump fists upward in celebration when their robots perform well.

Even as students work on their projects after school, and sometimes even on weekends, “They’re having a good time with their friends, but at the same time they’re learning something about engineering, about how gears work, or how to program an electronic device like a LEGO robot,” Rippon said.

Positive impacts

Beyond the technical training, students are also learning about teamwork and collaboration. In having to make presentations on their projects, they’re also honing communications skills.

Today’s engineering world “isn’t like the old stereotype where an engineer sits alone in a cubicle working with a slide rule,” Rippon said. “Engineering now is a team sport, so it’s critical that kids learn these ‘soft skills’ that engineers today and in the future must master.”

Each year – especially after the state tournament at ASU – Arizona FIRST LEGO League organizers "are hearing from a lot of coaches and parents about the positive impact that it’s having on their kids,” he said. “We’re looking for ways to get even more kids involved in coming years.”

Fulfilling the vision

Betsy Daniels, a FIRST LEGO League administrator who works with the program’s key volunteers around the world, visited this year’s Arizona state championship tournament.

“It was rewarding to hear about the personal relationships the teams developed with seniors in their communities,” she said. “I think that helped drive home the lesson for the students this year, that they can truly make a difference in the world.”

Daniels considers the Arizona FIRST LEGO League operation “a great example of doing what it takes to fulfill FIRST’s vision for its programs. It’s giving students an opportunity not only to build skills in engineering and science,  but  more importantly  become individuals who are grounded by a set of values and a passion that promises to make them great leaders in the future.”

See the list of 2012 Arizona FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament awards winners.

See video and audio of Arizona FIRST LEGO League state championship tournament action.

Written by Joe Kullman and Natalie Pierce

New technologies in communication are essential for the progress of Native American communities, says Alaina George, a member of the Navajo Nation. George wants to help Native Americans take advantage of the opportunities technology and science can provide to tribal homelands.

“I hope that my work at ASU will help document what the Navajo Nation has implemented to date in regards to telecommunication,” she says. “I also hope that it allows others to realize that information and communication technologies are just the first step and a lot has to happen for it to be sustainable.” Download Full Image

George is graduating with an interdisciplinary Professional Science Master (PSM) degree from ASU’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The innovative PSM degree was a natural fit for her goals, as it is designed to prepare graduate students in science and technology with enhanced training in business and management skills.

After receiving a bachelor’s in Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of New Mexico, George searched for a graduate school. 

“After reading about the New American University vision, I really felt that ASU was where I wanted to be,” she says.

She encountered enthusiasm and encouragement when she met with faculty and staff at CPSO as well as the American Indian Policy Institute. 

“All things considered, it really just felt like the best place for me to study and to be able to research this particular topic.”

A family tragedy made the support from CPSO even more heartfelt. “My uncle had terminal liver cancer, and in January of 2012, he passed away. My department was very understanding and I was able to attend classes via televideo while I stayed with family.”

As a recipient of the 2011 Graduate College Reach for the Stars fellowship, George participated in the Interdisciplinary Research Colloquium (IRC) seminar series (formerly called Diversity across the Curriculum), where she collaborated across disciplines with other first-year graduate students. “My fellow students all had such interesting topics to research and were also a great support group to have.”

During her graduate studies, George interned in Washington, D.C. for the executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. “I was able to learn about what goes on at that level of government. It was also amazing to see firsthand how much work people put in to create change in Native communities, at all levels.”

George is already employed in Albuquerque at the Indian Health Service Area office as the TeleEducation Coordinator for the TeleBehavioral Health Center for Excellence. She plans to return to ASU to celebrate with her family at commencement.

“My family has been incredibly supportive and they tell me how proud they are," she says. "It’s good for my younger family members to see that it is possible to go to graduate school. I want them to know that anything is possible if you apply yourself and set goals for yourself. It’s something my parents shared with me and I think it is the reason I’ve come this far.”

Michele St George, michele.stgeorge@asu.edu
Graduate College