outreach

Texas A&M’s GradSWE Faculty Panel Luncheon

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BiSSL head Dr. Astrid Layton will be joining three other awesome women engineering faculty for GradSWE’s Faculty Panel Luncheon Event on Wednesday, Nov 14, in ETB 3002 from 12:30-2pm, to discuss how to choose the right career path. Some topics we will discuss include:

1- How professors chose their career path (academia, industry, national lab, etc.)
2- What considerations they took into place when making those decisions.

Lunch will be provided!

RSVP link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pYhPnS7PauW5us2BR2sjwlZyl_QQAYRUb7u2vw7ARLY/viewform?ts=5bdb317d&edit_requested=true

The panel will include:

Matrix Tray Student Design Competition

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BiSSL is one of two research labs cohosting an A&M student weekend design concept competition coming up November 2nd-7th, with prizes of $1000 (first prize) $500 (second prize) and $200 (third prize). Texas A&M students with winning designs will have the opportunity to work with Dr. Astrid Layton and Dr. Ahmed Ali’s multidisciplinary research team (both Mechanical Engineering and Architecture departments).

General Motors is committed to becoming landfill-free by 2020 and to achieve this, they are seeking to divert byproducts from ending up in landfills by generating potential applications for their more challenging materials. This includes the matrix trays used to package electronics through the automated manufacturing process. Texas A&M Architecture and Mechanical Engineering are pairing with General Motors to host a design competition to promote byproduct reuse and sustainable industry practices, specifically looking for design concepts that generate new applications for these matrix trays. Deliverables are a short (1 page or less) description and a visual aid (computer generated drawing or neat hand drawing) explaining the design concept.

For more information on the competition please visit https://matrixtraydesign.wordpress.com/

Registration is open to A&M student individuals or teams, with a deadline of November 1st at midnight, registration can be done here.

Circular Economy Roundup in Austin, TX

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Dr. Layton and BiSSL Master’s student Jewel Williams will help Austin Technology Incubator celebrate its launch as the new Circular Economy Incubator! Discussions with industry experts and entrepreneurs about real-world solutions, including leading Circular Economy companies: Wisetek, Remade, re:3D, and Leaf and Flour. Keynote to be given by BiSSL collaborator Dr. Ahmed Ali on Circular Design for the Built Environment.

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) is the deep technology incubator of The University of Texas at Austin working with university and community entrepreneurs to commercialize their breakthrough innovations. For over 29 years, ATI has used a customized approach to support entrepreneurs addressing the world’s most pressing problems by connecting startups with the expertise, relationships, and funding sources they need to succeed in the marketplace.

Read more about the event and the companies presenting here…

Discussions before the presentation
BiSSL collaborator Dr. Ahmed Ali’s keynote talk

“Want to fight climate change? Educate a girl”

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TED Oct. 9, 2018 / Shabana Basij-Rasikh

A coalition of researchers, scientists, business leaders and policymakers came together in 2017 to identify the most substantive solutions to not just halt global warming, but actually cause an annual decline in the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The result was a ranked list of the 100 most powerful solutions to reversing global warming, educating girls was number 6.

To put that in perspective: Rooftop solar panels are #10. Electric vehicles come in at #26. Educating girls ranks at #6.

Read the article here… 

Dr. Layton Invited Panelist for “Network Science Approaches for Systems Engineering and Design” at ASME’s IDETC/CIE 2018 conference in Quebec City, Canada

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Tuesday August 28th from 2-3pm the ASME CIE Systems Engineering and Information Knowledge Management (SEIKM) technical committee will host a panel on “Networks and Systems.” The panel will consist of Mr. Babak Heydari (Assistant Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology) speaking on Complex Socio-Technical Systems, Dr. Astrid Layton (Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University) speaking on Bio-Inspired Network Analysis Techniques, and Dr. Sara Behdad (Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo, SUNY) speaking on Network Approaches for Sustainable Design and Manufacturing.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Perry Announces Texas A&M Energy Institute Joining Collaborative Effort to Advance Women’s Leadership in Clean Energy

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WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that the Texas A&M Energy Institute is joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy to support implementation of the DOE-led U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) program to advance women’s participation and leadership in clean energy.

read more…

Layton Invited Member of Texas A&M’s GradSWE Faculty Panel Luncheon

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April 25, 2018, 11:30-12:30pm Come hear the perspective of five new female assistant professors in Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Computer Science & Engineering, about applying for faculty positions, transitioning from graduate school to faculty, faculty candidate interviews and offer letters, and more!

Dr. Astrid Layton (myself), Dr. Stephanie Paal, Dr. Maria Koliou, Dr. Dorrin Jarrahbashi, and Dr. Theodora Chaspari will all be sharing lessons learned from their experiences.

6th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge

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campus_rainworks_logo_2

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching its 6th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a design competition that is open to colleges and universities across the country. EPA seeks to engage with students to foster a dialogue about responsible stormwater management, and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices.

Registration for the 2017 Challenge is open from September 1st through the 30th. Student teams must register in order to submit their entries by December 15th. Winners will be announced in the Spring of 2018. Each first-place team will earn a student prize of $2,000 to be divided evenly among student team members and a faculty prize of $3,000 to support green infrastructure research or training. Second-place teams will win $1,000 for student teams and a $2,000 faculty prize.

Water pollution associated with stormwater runoff requires infrastructure solutions that are innovative, resilient, and affordable. Today’s scholars are tomorrow’s design professionals. The Campus RainWorks Challenge will harness their creativity and knowledge to jointly advance the agency’s mission to protect public health and water quality.

Learn more at: www.epa.gov/campusrainworks