A message from Director Dr. Cinda-Sue Davis

In 2005, the WISE Program sponsored its first FIRST Lego League Robotics team. Calling themselves the M Go Blue Bots, this team of 10 girls between the ages of 10 and 14, designed, built and programmed Lego Mindstorm robots to perform a number of Ocean Odyssey tasks. Under the direction of Jamie Saville, Director of the WISE Science Office, and her coaches, all undergraduate and graduate engineering students, the team did very well, coming in 14th out of 47 teams in the regional competition. Nonetheless, we were clearly new to the process, and we learned a lot that first year. For the 2006 team, a combination of returning and new girls continued the M-GoBlue Bots effort, this time with a nanotechnology theme. Click here for full story.

Engineering Ethics

WISE, in collaboration with the Minority Engineering Program Office; the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering; and the College of Engineering International Programs Office, recently received a grant from the University Ethics in Public Life Initiative.  EngineeringEthics: PracticalStrategiesforaShiftingParadigm will be a four-part lecture/workshop series with an interactive format.  The topics to be covered include respect for diversity in the classroom and workplace; engineering ethics in a global perspective; engineers dissenting on ethical grounds - the whistleblower’s dilemma; and ethics and social responsibility. Click here for full story.

Lego girls bring home 3 trophies

The M Go Blue Bots, an all-girl robotics team from Ann Arbor, brought home a gleaming, yellow trophy– made from Lego bricks. The team, sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program, earned the trophy for best teamwork in the Fist Lego League state championship and placed in the top 15 overall. A total of 44 teams, including teams from Houghton and Newberry, competed in the Flint/Genesee County Championship Tournament for a chance to advance to the international championship tournament in Atlanta in April 2007. Click here for full story.

WISE Summer REU/Intership Workshop

About 30 students attended a REU/Internship Workshop sponsored by WISE, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Physics Department. As Sandy Gregerman, UROP Director, pointed out at the workshop, the numbers of UM applicants to REUs is low compared to applications from other large research institutions. Now is the time to start getting application material together for these positions. Both internships and summer research experiences are very competitive; students are advised to apply for 8-10 and to make sure they put together very competitive applications. Click here for full story.

Student lunch with SETI's Jill Tarter

Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of the Center for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California was on campus in November as a Physics Department colloquium speaker. WISE and the Physics Department sponsored a student lunch with Dr. Tarter. Dr. Tarter’s work has brought her wide recognition in the scientific and educational community. Many recognize her as the character portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact. Click here for full story.

WISE sponsors two panels for graduate women

WISE sponsored two panels in November: the first was a lunch panel at Rackham that featured new female faculty and fellows talking about strategies for success. "Women to Women: Strategies for Success" featured panelists Amy Cohn, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, Sera Cremonini, Assistant Professor of Physics and Fellow with the Michigan Society of Fellows, and Brisa Sanchez, Assistant Research Professor of Biostatistics. Panelists described their paths from graduate school to their current positions, including events and experiences that made them decide to pursue their particular positions. One of the panelists decided to pursue a research track position over a tenure track professorship because she preferred to focus on research rather than trying to balance teaching and research. Click here for full story

WISE RP update

This semester, the WISE Residence Program (RP) hosted several exciting WISE Nights. On September 12th, the annual Sundaes on Tuesday event offered students the opportunity to hear tips from returning students about how they can succeed in their transition to UM. They also learned more about the many science- and engineering-related resources that they can take advantage of throughout the year, such as the Science Learning Center (SLC). On October 3rd, Dr. Megan Mahoney, a Postdoctoral Fellow in UM's Department of Psychology, enthusiastically spoke about biorhythms and the importance of sleep. Not only did she calm many of the audience's fears by confirming there is a mid-afternoon dip in energy levels and that young adults are not optimally awake when school begins at 7 or 8 am, but she also spoke about the importance of listening to your body.Click here for full story.