Skip to main content

Symposium topics include ions, Rube Goldberg, physical fitness and NASA

Steve Evans, Thomas Clark, and Trevor Pratt looked ready for work – neatly cropped hair, slacks, shirts with collars, and neckties.


They stood in front of a large poster board bearing the title, “Ion Drives in Application.” Suffice it to say these guys knew their stuff as they explained their research during the 2014 School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering Symposium.

“The application of using ion engines as a tugboat to go to Mars is possible,” Evans explained.

When asking the three men who would like to go to Mars someday, Clark piped in, “Dibs!”


At the risk of butchering Pratt’s explanation, an ion drive is an engine that works by ionizing noble, or electrically neutral, gasses like xenon and argon, which are attracted to two grids at the end of an engine. When the ionized particles enter the space between the two grids and there is a resulting change in voltage, they immediately accelerate through the grid at a rate of about 30-50 kilometers per second.

In short, it’s a type of engine that gives one heck of a boost to whatever object it is attached.

You’re probably wondering what guys like these, who as of the symposium in April, were pursuing their Associate of Pre Engineering degrees, want to do in life.

“I really like doing cool things,” Evans said. Trying to break it down for the lay person, he said he’d like to build something useful or “sexy,” in terms of marketability, in the world of high-tech gadgetry.


Clark was a little more vague in his answer, which was to design something “cutting edge,” maybe along the lines of aerodynamics. But it might be Pratt people want to keep an eye on.

“I want to save the world,” he said. And he was serious.

Pratt is interested in aerospace defense and in finding a way, like maybe inventing an energy shield that can keep nuclear missiles from entering U.S. airspace.

These are the type of students that symposium guest speaker Paul Karner hopes will take his place someday. Karner is currently the senior program manager over avionics and control systems for Utah-based ATK, specializing in aerospace and defense technologies.


Karner gave a stern warning about the direction this country is headed with relationship to the subjects of math, science and engineering.


“It’s not easy. For some it comes easier, for others it takes a lot of work,” he said. “It’s a road that is becoming less and less traveled by our younger folks. Any country that leads in science, engineering and technology is what leads the world. I don’t mean in a militaristic sense, I mean that in a peaceful sense. We as a nation just simply are not producing enough scientists and engineers right now. We’re in a significant deficit.”

Throughout the all-day symposium students and faculty gave presentations and listened to lectures.

Perhaps the most interactive poster of the day was presented by a group of students in SLCC’s Fitness Technician Program, under the direction during the symposium of instructor Chad Harbaugh.

Clad in T-shirts, sweatpants and Lycra, this energetic group of students put willing observers through several tests that measure or determine an athlete’s susceptibility to injury. The name of their poster was, “Determining a More Reliable Athlete: Functional Movement Screening.”


Through the use of very specific, simple yet demanding movements, these fitness and physiology gurus-in-the-making were actually able to identify several athletes on SLCC’s own baseball and softball teams who needed to check in with their doctors, trainers or physical therapists, perhaps saving them from future injury.


“There’s lots of personal trainers out there who don’t know what they’re doing,” explained group participant Arthur Hockwald. “You walk into a gym and see what they’re doing and you cringe.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SLCC Automotive Repairs

Click to enlarge. Attention: SLCC Students, staff and faculty! Many SLCC automotive programs need vehicles to work on in these areas: 30 point inspections Oil changes Tire rotation Engine repair Brake systems repair Automatic and transmission repairs Air conditioning repair Electrical troubleshooting & repair Suspension & steering system repair Auto-body repair and painting (on a very limited basis) Please be advised that any repairs are done at the discretion of the instructors due to the subject areas they are teaching.  Because we are using your vehicles for training purposes, we offer members of the College discounts on parts and labor. Parts are at our cost plus 15% and the service fee is $20 per hour based on industry time standards (if the industry assigns an hour for a repair, that's all you're charged for, regardless of how much time it takes the student). We can also offer these services to non-college personnel on a limited basis with...

SLCC All Access

Did you know you can access SLCC lab software for free from your own computing device?   Come learn how SLCC is supporting BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) with All Access. The goal of All Access is to provide any time, any place, and any device access to college computing and lab software SLCC students, faculty and staff.  All Access works on almost any device from a PC or Mac, to tablets and smart phones.  With All Access you can use programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, AutoCAD, MatLab, Mathematica, MyITLab, NetBeans, and online Library Databases.  We also provide you with online storage space so you can save your files in the cloud and have access to them wherever you are.  Anyone is welcome to this session where we will cover the basics of All Access, give you some tips and tricks for getting the most out the system, and we’ll also have some people there to help get your computer set up.  When and where: ...

SLCC Alumnus and U.S. Diplomat to Speak at 2025 Commencement

Salt Lake Community College’s 2025 Commencement speaker Branigan Knowlton will share his perspectives drawn from a 12-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. In serving his country, Knowlton has honed his foreign relations and diplomacy skills in Hong Kong, Mexico, Colombia and Italy. Knowlton is also a proud Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) alumnus (2002).     Knowlton currently serves at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Before reporting to the embassy, he was detailed to the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport as part of the Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellowship program. In Bogotá, Knowlton worked for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, and in Hermosillo, Mexico, he worked for the Bureau of Consular Affairs. His first assignment abroad was in Hong Kong, where he worked for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.     "I've actively sought opportunities that push me into the unfamiliar, even when ...