• NSF awards Norwich University a grant for computer security scholarships

    Norwich University in Vermont was awarded a $975,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scholarship for Service program; the funds will be used to support Information Assurance students; the students will fulfill the “service” obligation through employment by a government agency in their area of information assurance expertise for two years

  • U.S. risks losing out to Asia in medical research

    Medical research saves lives, suffering, and dollars — while also creating jobs and economic activity; the United States has long led the world, with hundreds of thousands of jobs and marketable discoveries generated by government research funding every year; this is now changing: strong, sustained growth in research spending in Asian nations contrasts with U.S. cuts and short-term approach, and a brain drain could result

  • U.S. Army trains rats in explosives detection

    Landmines kill between 15,000 and 20,000 people a year, and continue to kill adults and children decades after a conflict ends; the U.S. Department of Defense currently relies on dogs as the animal of choice for explosives detection, but Pentagon researchers want to see whether rats can be trained to do the job; rats are smaller so they can search smaller spaces than a dog can, and are easier to transport

  • Penn Stater is first in family to earn masters degree

    Isiah Jones of Harrisburg will receive a master’s degree in Homeland Security-Information Security and Forensics, which he earned online through Penn State’s World Campus; the Penn State World Campus specializes in adult online education, delivering more than eighty of Penn State’s most highly regarded graduate, undergraduate, and professional education programs through online formats

  • New STEM education initiative in Virginia

    A 2010 Georgetown University study found that by 2018, Virginia will need to fill more than 400,000 science, technology, engineering, and applied mathematics (STEAM)-related jobs, while the country will confront a shortage of three million STEAM-educated college graduates; Virginia Tech and the Virginia STEAM Academy are forming a strategic partnership to address critical STEAM education needs in the Commonwealth of Virginia

  • Conflict of interests charges surround two pro-fracking studies

    Two recent studies — by research institutes at  the University of Buffalo and the University of Texas — on the relationship between fracking and the contamination of groundwater, offered what was claimed to be scientific, peer-reviewed research which concluded that fracking does not contribute to such contamination; an examination of the two reports reveals that they were not properly reviewed according to accepted academic standards, and that their authors, and the research institutes which sponsored them, are heavily involved with companies which conduct fracking operations; the author of the University of Texas report sits on the board of a leading fracking company, where his compensation is more than twice as large as his UT salary; he did not disclose this fact in the study — or inform UT of this connection; UT is investigating

  • Winners of the California Cyber Summer Camp Capture the Flag competition announced

    Cal Poly Pomona, in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton and the U.S. Cyber Challenge, hosted the U.S. Cyber Challenge California Cyber Summer Camp in Pomona, California; the camp curriculum included in-depth workshops on a range of topics, including penetration testing, reverse engineering, and forensics; the week was capped off by a virtual “capture the flag” competition and awards ceremony on the last day

  • Game lets players try their hand at computer security

    A new game — Control-Alt-Hack — gives teenage and young-adult players a taste of what it means to be a computer-security professional defending against an ever-expanding range of digital threats; the game’s creators will present it this week in Las Vegas at Black Hat 2012; educators in the continental United States can apply to get a free copy of the game while supplies last; it is scheduled to go on sale in the fall for a retail price of about $30

  • Engineering students race first 3-D printed boat in Milk Carton Derby

    University of Washington mechanical engineering students braved uncharted waters as they paddled to the finish line at the annual Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake in Seattle in what they believe is the world’s first boat made using a 3-D printer

  • World’s top high-school chemistry students to compete in the International Chemistry Olympiad

    On 20 July, nearly 300 high school students from more than seventy countries will arrive in the Washington, D.C., area to compete in the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) at the University of Maryland, College Park

  • U.S. launches national corps of STEM teachers

    On Tuesday President Barack Obama announced his plan to create a new, national STEM Master Teacher Corps that fosters peer-to-peer professional development; the corps would start with fifty of the nation’s top STEM teachers established in fifty sites and, over four years, expand that core group to 10,000 teachers

  • U.S. students' achievements middling

    A new study of international and U.S. state trends in student achievement growth shows that the United States is squarely in the middle of a group of forty-nine nations in fourth- and eighth-grade test-score gains in math, reading, and science over the period 1995-2009; that rates of improvement varied among states; Maryland had the steepest achievement growth trend, followed by Florida, Delaware, and Massachusetts

  • French students win 2012 International Rocketry Challenge

    Lycee Louis Bleriot of France beat out stiff international competition to win the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough International Air Show the other; teams of students 11-18 years old hand-designed, built, and launched rockets to reach exactly 800 feet during a 43- to 47-second flight. The payload, two raw eggs, had to return to the ground by parachute undamaged

  • The best way to get teens interested in math and science: Targeting their parents

    Increasing the number of students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math — otherwise known as the STEM disciplines — is considered to be vital to national competitiveness in the global economy and to the development of a strong twenty-first century workforce; the pipeline leading toward STEM careers begins leaking in high school, however, when students choose not to take advanced courses in science and math

  • Training the nuclear forensics experts of the future

    Ten percent of the U.S. experts in nuclear and radiochemistry are at or nearing retirement age, according to a recent report from the National Academies of Science; meanwhile, not enough students are being trained to take their places; undergraduate summer programs in nuclear forensics and nuclear chemistry aim to replenish the ranks