Recently, iFoundry student advisors Aman Kapur and Theresa Tanbonliong have created an advisory group for international students in the iEFX program. To find out more about their efforts to better the college experience for freshman international students, check out the article about them here on the iEFX website.

The newest iSA to have a spotlight on the iEFX website is Claire Slupski from the Art & Engineering Design iTeam. To read more about Claire and her hobbies outside of engineering, please go here.

iFoundry friends may be interested in today’s talk (October 7) by Dr. Joel Schindall, co-director of the Bernard M. Gordon – MIT Engineering Leadership Program, titled “Empowering Engineers to Be More Effective in Industry and Academia” which will take place  in Room 151 Everitt Lab at 4pm.

On Saturday, 9 October 2010, the Technology Entrepreneur Center is hosting their Charm School event at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) beginning at 8:15 am. The event will host activities teaching students how to be successful in the “real world,” covering topics like networking, job searching, business communication, and proper dress in the workplace. Also, students will be participating in a business lunch where they will be learning the finer points of formal dining etiquette. The event goes until 4:30 pm. To register and view a copy of the day’s agenda, please go here.

University of Notre Dame College of Engineering undergraduates worked with 350 fifth-grade students from the South Bend Community School Corporation on Friday, 3 September 2010, as a part of a technological discovery day titled, “I2D2 – Imagination, Innovation, Discovery, and Design at Notre Dame.” The students took part in the “Irish Pet Project,” in which first-year engineering students worked with their fifth-grade “customers” to brainstorm ideas for toy robotic pets. The Notre Dame students will then design and build these pets using the LEGO®Mindstorms® NXT system and demonstrate them at the intermediate schools at a later date, when the fifth-graders will judge them. To watch the students in action, watch a video I2D2 here on the Notre Dame website.

Kevin Wolz, an iSA in the Engineering in Service to Society: Energy/Earth 1 iTeam, created his own internship this summer, one that catered to the exact things he wanted to learn and experience.  Kevin scored his dream internship working at several locations in southern Wisconsin. He worked at a farm that incubated sustainable agriculture and energy projects, an agro-forestry based farm, and worked with various sustainability and activists groups, among other things. To learn more about his unique internship experience, go here to check out an article about him.

iFoundry and iEFX students and friends may be interested to hear Stanford’s Dean of Engineering, James Plummer, at 4:30pm today (October 27, 2010) in the NCSA Auditorium.  Dean Plummer’s talk is entitled, “Educating Engineers for the 21st Century” and questions assessed include:

• How should we educate students today for engineering careers in an increasingly global, flat world?
• Is packing as much detailed technical material as possible into an undergraduate major the best strategy?
• Should we put more emphasis on quantitative reasoning, entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, systems integration, working in teams, and other skills?
• Should we rely more on graduate education and life-long learning for the detailed technical skills engineers need?

Registration is not required and admission is free.  More information about Dean Plummer and the Dean’s Distinguished Leadership Lecture series may be found here.