 Weekly News for Faculty, Staff and Friends of the Worcester State College Community |
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Nursing Students and Faculty Raise Dollars,
Student from Thailand Works on Biodiesel Project at
WSC
AROUND CAMPUS
Upcoming LASC Workshops: The Center for Teaching and Learning and LASC would like to invite you to attend the second part of a two-part workshop series led by Dr. Andrew G. De Rocco. Attendance at the first session is not necessary for participation in session two. Discussion will include examination of a multidisciplinary approach to LASC at the program versus course level and course design for LASC versus the major. Breakout sessions and exercises will be focused on the design and/or redesign of student-centered courses not driven by the needs of the major or course content but focused on alignment of course specific SLOs with the overall learning objectives of LASC as well as the more detailed student learning objectives in one or more of the LASC content areas. DAC:
Diversity Across the Curriculum MAC:
Math Across the Curriculum If you have a specific LASC related topic(s) you would like addressed or are interested in leading or co-leading a workshop on a specific LASC area, please contact Bonnie Orcutt at borcutt@worcester.edu or extension 8750. LASC Team Site: LASC documents and other LASC related information will be available at www.worcester.edu/teamsites/LASC/default.aspx. Please visit the site to find the latest version of the LASC document dated August 2008 and the application forms to be used when seeking funding from the Davis Foundation Educational Grant for on-campus and off-campus activities related to LASC. Information regarding the course approval subcommittees, the course approval process, and the course approval forms should be available in October. The LASC Advisory Board is working on finalizing the term, purpose and role of the advisory board. A call for new advisory board members along side the release of this document will be forthcoming in October. Davis Educational Foundation Grant: Worcester State College received a $248,000 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to support the continued development and implementation of LASC. The three-year grant funding period began November 2007. The grant provides funds to support the First Year Experience Co-Directors and the LASC Area Program Chair, faculty enrichment, course development, assessment and advising activities and programs, and the acquisition of registration software and other supplies. Departmental and Faculty Support:
Please contact Bonnie Orcutt, LASC Coordinator/Area Program Chair, to discuss departmental needs or concerns regarding LASC. Every effort will be made to address your concerns and provide the support needed for your department to continue to move forward in the design, redesign and submission of courses for LASC. Summer Workshops: Kris Waters and Bonnie Orcutt would like to
once again thank you for your willingness to participate in the Davis funded
summer workshops. The final reports
are continuing to be submitted and reflect effort, energy, and a clear
willingness by participants to embrace and participate in LASC.
Please feel free to contact Bonnie Orcutt and/or Andrea Bilics,
director, Center for Teaching and Learning, to explore support for continued
departmental and interdepartmental dialogues.
Student from Thailand Works on Biodiesel Project Erika Kubota, a senior in industrial management at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, is the first student from that institution to accept Worcester States invitation for an academic exchange. Shes here for the fall semester working on her senior thesis under the direction of Margaret Kerr. Kubota is researching ways to extract biodiesel from soybean oil using ferric chloride as a catalyst. Ferric chloride eliminates a corrosive component in the process, potassium hydroxide, which is better known as lye. No one has used this catalyst before, Kubota said. My adviser in Thailand wants me to find out whether it works. Her academic major entails equal
She will present her research results when she returns to Chulalongkorn University in December. She envisions doing some sort of chemistry for a multi-national corporation after graduation. In Thailand, there's not much green chemistry, Kubota said. Her thesis adviser therefore wanted her to do her research here. Kerr, whose specialty is green chemistry, spent the fall 2007 semester as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Chulalongkorn and began discussions about such an exchange program then. We may have four Thai students from Chulalongkorn here next fall to do research projects with our faculty, Kerr said. The chemistry department is creating an upper level research course that will allow faculty to teach in their research specialties; students will do research under their supervision. They envision a mix of Chulalongkorn University and Worcester State students in such a course. Kubota may have an opportunity to try her biodiesel research using a new processor at the college. Bob Daniels, the colleges environmental health and safety officer, says that this biodiesel processor will turn waste cooking oil from Chartwells into fuel for the campus tractors. These do lawn mowing in summer and snow blowing in winter. Daniels is scouting out a place to house the biodiesel processor. He estimates it will be up and running in four to six weeks. Those interested in how the processor works can stop by the display van parked outside the Student Center on Oct. 2 during the Sustainability Fair.
High Performance
Computer Cluster to Eihab Jaber spent his summer refurbishing 18 computers that AstraZeneca donated to the chemistry department. These computers, plus two servers that IBM donated, have enabled the department to have a high performance computing cluster, known as a HPCC.
I worked with Jason Kost, a brilliant student, to get these computers up and running, Jaber said. He's been an undergraduate researcher for me for a couple years. I'm very fortunate to have him work with me. The two placed the computers in a chemical hood in a lab, the only available space for them. They couldn't move the hood, so they adapted it to their needs. Turns out, this was a smart move. Its a good place to store the computers because they give off heat, Jaber said. The WSC Information Technology (IT) department helped get the $11,000 worth of donated equipment to function in the lab. Nancy Ramsdell and the whole IT department were extremely helpful, Jaber said. The computers form a Beowulf cluster, which means that all of them work together in parallel to solve a computational problem. The kinds of problems the cluster works on fall into three categories at the moment: nanotechnology, material science and green chemistry. Students will continue their work under Jabers direction to develop nanoparticles for cancer research. Others will work on the development of smart, field-responsive polymers. Still other students will work on the prevention of ozone destruction by researching the effects of hydroxyl radicals on ozone. The computer cluster will also be used in an upper level undergraduate research course the department is creating. Jaber and Kost are currently at work on a manuscript, Beowulf Computing Constructing a HPCC to Promote Undergraduate Research, which they will submit to the Journal of Undergraduate Research. In addition, Jaber envisions using the cluster in his work with Upward Bound students. He's a science instructor for the program, and he tries to interest these high school students in science careers as he works with them throughout the school year. They'll present their work at a mini-conference in the spring for their teachers and parents, he said. The new computational computer cluster will be getting quite a workout. Good thing its housed in that hood.
**Please Note - Links to online newspaper
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College
Town - More Shades of Green
College
Safety 101
Giving Back |
Monday, September 29, 2008
THIS WEEK Tues., Sept. 30
Volleyball vs. Newbury
M.
Soccer vs. Plymouth State W.
Soccer @ Keene State Thurs., Oct. 2
Dr. Robert Ross presents
Volleyball @ Becker
M. Soccer @
W. Tennis @ Nichols
Football @
W. Soccer vs.
Field Hockey vs. COMING UP
Columbus Day Holiday
Andres Torres presents
Native American Storytelling
An Evening of Music
Energy Efficiency Workshop |
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Jaber
is an assistant professor in the chemistry department. Computational chemistry
is his specialty.