2012 Kinect Move
aAlex Kipman, GM, Hardware Incubation for Xbox at Microsoft Corporation, addresses the audience and the Kinect skeleton talks about how Kinect will be used in the 2012 FRC Season.
2012 Team 1717 Regional Competitions
15-17 March 2012: Long Beach Regional
Where: Long Beach Arena
300 East Ocean Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90802
USA
05-07 April 2012: Central Valley Regional
Where: Madera South High School
705 W. Pecan Avenue
Madera, CA 93637
USA
2012 Team 1717 Mission
Excitement and enthusiasm filled the air Saturday as the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy’s robotics team learned the details of this year’s FIRST Robotics challenge.
Read More (source: Noozhawk)
2012 Rebound Rumble
Inventor Dean Kamen was joined by former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, will.i.am, frontman of The Black Eyed Peas, and a host of other celebrities via video to launch the 21st FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) season today with the Kickoff of a new robotics game called “Rebound Rumble".
A crowd of 800 people at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, N.H., the hometown and headquarters of FIRST®, an estimated 60,000 around the world joined the Kickoff via live NASA-TV broadcast and webcast.
All First Robotics 2012 Rebound Rumble Videos can be found here
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Dr. Elings To Cut Ribbon
Signaling completion of the $6 million facility, built by Schipper Construction, and kicking off the long-awaited opening of Elings Center for Engineering Education (ECEE).
UPDATE: Pictures from the event can be seen here.
Funding of $3 million came from a 2007 state grant and a matching amount of $3 million was raised in a capital campaign spearheaded by the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA) Foundation, a dedicated parent group that now raises the annual operating budget for the Academy.
An enthusiastic Amir Abo-Shaeer, founder and director of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy said, “The new facility will give the Engineering Academy the equipment and space to make four-year project-based education a reality. The DPEA will be a model for the future of education and we will use the Elings Center for community outreach and teacher training. I can’t wait to get in there and start working! This could not have happened without all the volunteers, parents, friends, corporate sponsors, and district and county supporters who have been with me through this intense and exciting period!”Mr. Abo-Shaeer received a 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in recognition of his innovative ideas and pioneering efforts to transform secondary education.
Dr. David Cash, superintendent of Santa Barbara Unified School District, added, "I am very proud of what the students and staff have accomplished. The program makes a statement for relevant curriculum to get students engaged with real ‘contextualized learning.” The nice new facility says to students and the community that the program is important. What happens inside the building will excite students.” He went on to say that he hopes the concept of the Engineering Academy and other significant programs in the school district will expand into the community far beyond Dos Pueblos High School. “Expanding into the new building will encourage a deeper study of not only engineering, but also creativity.”
The Engineering Academy operates under the umbrella of the Santa Barbara County Education Office’s Regional Occupational Programs, which provide career education on local campuses. “We are very proud of the amazing student outcomes Mr. Abo-Shaeer has been able to accomplish with the academy to date, and we are confident this new facility will vastly expand opportunities for student learning, which is the bottom line for all of us.”
Principal Shawn Carey said, “We are so thrilled to be opening the Elings Center for Engineering Education in order to accommodate the expanding Dos Pueblos High School Engineering Academy. The Academy offers students a transformative educational experience based on a vision of integrated, project-based learning that equips students with the skills they need to pursue success in a variety of 21st-century careers. The new facility is not only expressly designed to meet the needs of the Academy students, but will allow us to extend the benefits of the Academy experience to more than 400 students over the next four years. I am confident we can expect even stronger learning outcomes, community partnerships, and program diversity as a result.”
The new facility, named in honor of Dr. Virgil Elings, reflects his belief in creative learning opportunities. Asked why he chose to support the Engineering Academy in such a big way, Dr. Elings said, “Life is about opportunities and taking advantage of them. I am trying to help make opportunities come true. The Engineering Academy is all about that. Amir [Abo-Shaeer] knows his students have to take a lot of tests, and that's reality. But outside of that, he makes sure they actually get educated. 'Educated' is not passing a test.”
His advice to students: “Learn more math. It is the one kind of book learning that I believe in because it is useful in so many areas like engineering, physics, and everyday life. Amir and the Engineering Academy understand this.” Dr. Elings is a local UCSB Professor Emeritus, inventor, businessman, and community leader. He founded Digital Instruments, a company focused on developing and manufacturing custom electronic applications.
Raytheon, a major corporate sponsor of the capital campaign, has also provided DPEA with volunteer technical mentors, "Raytheon's partnership with the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy program is a model for effective industry/community collaboration in the area of STEM education," said Pete Gould, vice president of Engineering for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. "The unique, hands-on curriculum offered by the Academy furthers our mission of engaging and inspiring tomorrow’s innovators today. We look forward to helping them develop our future technology leaders for years to come." Raytheon provided $175,000 for construction of the new Elings Center for Engineering Education. In honor of all of Raytheon’s support of the Engineering Academy, the electrical engineering classroom in the Elings Center is named the Raytheon Electrical Engineering Laboratory.
In 2011, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy received a grant of $250,000 towards the purchase of machinery and capital equipment for the new center from the Change Happens Foundation (www.changehappens.us <http://www.changehappens.us> ). In recognition of the grant, the conference room in the new facility is named the Change Happens Meeting Room.
The mission of the Change Happens Foundation is to act as a meaningful catalyst towards positive change on a global level. The foundation funds the development and implementation of innovative technology and progressive ideas to generate a positive force for change. Doug Troxel, the President and CEO of Change Happens, said, “The Change Happens Foundation is very pleased to support the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Foundation. With DPEA addressing both of Change Happens Foundation's targets of science and education in one public facility, we feel doubly rewarded for assisting in this project.”
Don and Linda Rose's daughter Lindsay would have been a senior in the Academy this year. Lindsay passed away in a tragic surfing accident in April 2009. The Rose family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be directed to the DPEA Capital Campaign, which resulted in an outpouring of community support. The Foundation expressed gratitude to Lindsay’s parents for ensuring that Lindsay will forever be a part of the DPEA family by allowing the mechanical engineering classroom in the Elings Center for Engineering Education to be named in her memory. Don and Linda Rose described how Lindsay became part of the Engineering Academy: "Lindsay saw the outreach program the Robotics class did at La Colina Junior High and came home and said she wanted to build a robot. We were surprised and asked her several times if she was sure--that it was a four-year commitment. Lindsay enjoyed the hands-on aspect of the Engineering Physics class. She was proud to be part of the Engineering Academy and excited about the new building. We recently found a note she had written: ‘Mr. Shaeer promised we could build a non-Newtonian fluid pool if the Engineering Academy is built!’ Lindsay embraced all of life's opportunities and had a great enthusiasm for learning. Lindsay's life touched many people in our community. Because of their generous contributions to the Engineering Academy in Lindsay's memory, we are able to establish the Lindsay Rose Mechanical Engineering Lab as a memorial to her."
Parking for those attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be available in the lot at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Cathedral Oaks. Student guides will direct guests to the site. After the ribbon cutting, light refreshments will be served and guests are encouraged to tour the Elings Center for Engineering Education.
The Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA), operated in collaboration with the Santa Barbara County Education Office’s Regional Occupation Program (ROP), provides an engineering program designed for secondary students. Its initial course was offered during the 2002-03 school year. The capstone senior-level ROP Robotics course, offered by the Santa Barbara County Education Office ROP program, was added in 2005. DPEA’s broad base of community support includes UCSB, Santa Barbara City College, and local industry partners. The DPEA is a public school program, operating on campus at Dos Pueblos High School, at 7266 Alameda Avenue in Goleta, CA. For more information on the Engineering Academy, please see http://www.dpengineering.org <http://www.dpengineering.org>
Prepared by Barbara Keyani
Coordinator, Administrative Services and Communications
MacArthur Fellowship
is an annual award given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to between 20 and 40 recipients per year, in any discipline, who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work.” The award consists of $500,000, paid over the course of five years. There are no requirements as to how the award winners spend the prize, as it is considered to be an investment in their future contributions to society. Award winners are nominated and chosen anonymously, and usually do not learn that they have been considered until they receive a phone call informing them that they have won.
In 2010, Amir Abo-Shaeer was named a MacArthur Fellow in recognition of his work with the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy and Team 1717. He is the first high school teacher ever to win this award.
Lego Mentoring
This year, three mentors will have the opportunity to teach Lego Mindstorms NXT to Hollister students who have little or no Lego Mindstorms NXT programming experience, and one mentor will help the competition group prepare for the FLL competition on November 19. The goal for mentoring the Hollister FLL students is to give Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy students a chance to share what they have learned as a part of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, and to help the Hollister students learn to appreciate science and technology in a hands-on environment.
In Memory of Lindsay Rose
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Freshman DPEA student Lindsay Rose passed away in a tragic surfing accident in April 2009. Besides being in the Engineering Academy, Lindsay was a member of the National Honor Society, the DP soccer team, the DP surf team, and the DP softball team. The Rose family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be directed to the DPEA Capital Campaign. The DPEA Foundation has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community. The Foundation is grateful to Lindsay’s parents, Don and Linda Rose, for ensuring that Lindsay will forever be a part of the DPEA family by allowing us to name the Mechanical Engineering Classroom in the Elings Center for Engineering Education in her memory. Our hearts and our gratitude go out to Lindsay’s parents and the extended Rose family. Ways to Make a Gift:
Contributions in memory of DPEA student Lindsay Rose are tax-deductible. Donors will receive a letter acknowledging their gift with the tax ID number of the Foundation. |
Engineering Building Status
Construction is nearing completion for the new home of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy! Please come join us for the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, October 1 at 4 pm on the Dos Pueblos High school campus. Special guests scheduled to appear include Dr. Virgil Elings and Academy founder and Director Amir Abo-Shaeer.
The new 12,000 square foot Elings Center for Engineering Education has been made possible by many extremely generous benefactors and a $3 million matching grant from the State of California. It will include laboratories furnished with industry-grade machines and electronic instruments, classrooms for computer and design instruction, and manufacturing space for robot construction and testing. Most importantly, the building will accommodate an expansion to 400 students for the Engineering Academy, substantially broadening the program's impact.
