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2013 Student WorkSHOPs

When you register for EYH, you will indicate your top 8 choices of workshops in order of preference.  Please be aware that you may not get your top 3 choices.  Registering early will improve your chances of being placed in your top choices, but it is not always possible because of the schedule and the number of participants.

1. A DAY AT THE BEACH

   Do you like going to the beach? Did you know our beaches are moving? How will they change? In this workshop we will discover how our local beaches are changing. Using Google Earth to view historical aerial photographs we are able to see how our shorelines have changed over the last 20 years. We will talk about these changes and discuss why they occur.

   Dr. Shelley Whitmeyer, Instructor of Geology & Environmental Science, JMU

 

2. BREAKING PASTA

   When you press on both ends of a spaghetti noodle hard enough, it will break. But what happens in the instant right before it breaks? We'll do some experiments and then use a high-speed camera to catch every instant, not seen with the naked eye. Can math help us predict where the noodles break, and how many pieces they break into? Come see for yourself how a high-speed camera can reveal the mathematics behind noodles breaking!

   Dr. Roger Thelwell, Associate Professor of Mathematics, JMU

 

3. CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

   Most surfaces that we encounter allow a consistent choice of "up" and "down." They have well-defined areas and behave predictably if we make simple slices in them. Refreshingly, the Moebius band does none of this. In this workshop we will examine the paradoxical as well as the practical properties of the Moebius band and its higher-dimension cousin, the Klein bottle. We will create and dissect Moebius bands; the more ambitious can attempt a Moebius bagel.

   Dr. Elizabeth Brown, Associate Professor of Mathematics, JMU

 

4. ENGINEERING CANDY BRIDGES (This workshop is full.)

   Have you ever wondered how a bridge is capable of supporting a lot of weight? Engineers must make sure bridges can withstand large loads so that multiple cars and people can cross over them at the same time. In this workshop we will explore the strength of shapes and how they relate to the structure of bridges as well as other engineering concepts. Using candy and toothpicks, workshop participants will design and build bridges that can hold the weight of a candy bar (and yes, you can eat it afterwards!).

   Dr. Jacquelyn K. Nagel, Assistant Professor of Engineering, JMU, and The Society of Women Engineers at JMU

 

5. ESTIMATING THE UNSEEN

   We’ve all heard about species being endangered. If endangered species are rare, how do scientists know how many individuals are left? We will do a mark-recapture experiment on ladybugs and then estimate population size based on the proportion of individuals we capture and then recapture. We will also examine models of extinction time for our population of beetles.

   Dr. Alex Bannigan and Dr. Kerry Cresawn, Assistant Professors of Biology, JMU

 

6. GETTING TO KNOW PYTHAGORAS

   In ancient Greece, a famous mathematician named Pythagoras discovered and proved a very important and powerful relationship between the lengths of the three sides of a right triangle. We know this relationship as the Pythagorean Theorem, but what makes it true? You will have the opportunity to work with hands-on materials in order to prove why this historical mathematics theorem is true.

   Dr. Alexis Stevens, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU

 

7. HOW LIKELY ARE YOU TO DEVELOP TYPE II DIABETES?

   Epidemiology is scientific study of the causes, progression and onset of disease development within a given population. Knowledge of both statistics and biology are needed to understand epidemiology of any disease. This session will explain how probability theory is used to examine how different epidemiologic factors (such as smoking, genetics, lack of exercise, and diet) affect the odds of developing Type II Diabetes. In the United States almost 8.3 % of the population has Type II Diabetes, and about 79 million people (25%) are pre-diabetic and likely to develop diabetes if they don’t change their habits. Diabetes develops because of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Through studying these complex interactions epidemiologists can learn major disease causes and use them to help prevent the continued increase in Type II Diabetes in America.

   Dr. Nusrat Jahan, Associate Professor of Statistics, and Dr. Terrie Rife, Associate Professor of Biology, JMU

 

8. IT'S A LINE! IT's A PLANE! IT'S A SET!

   Euclidean geometry is based on a system of assumptions called axioms that allow us to determine geometric relationships between objects. From these axioms, we can build points, lines, planes, and say quite a bit about how they interact. On the other hand, SET is a simple and fast-paced card game that hinges on just one rule. In this session we will see how to connect the cards in a SET deck to the basic axioms of Euclidean geometry to create something totally new and different!

   Dr. Cassie Williams, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU

 

9. LET'S MAKE A DEAL! : THE MONTY HALL PROBLEM

   The Monty Hall problem is a classic, often misunderstood, and heavily debated probability problem. It was named for Monty Hall, a TV game show host. In the problem, a contestant chooses from three doors, one of which has a prize. After the contestant makes her initial choice, the host opens one of the other losing doors and then gives the contestant the option of switching to the other closed door. Should she switch? We will play the game for candy prizes, discuss the history, and determine the best strategy to maximize the odds of winning.

   Ms. Colleen Watson, Instructor of Statistics, JMU

 

10. MAPPING A DIFFERENCE

    Can maps make a difference in helping people and solving problems? In this workshop, you'll learn how! You'll get to make and investigate maps of different things in your community, the US and the world. We'll go places Google Earth can't take you. You'll explore population, energy and the environment and you'll learn how maps can make a difference. Come explore why things are where they are.

    Dr. Bob Kolvoord, Professor of Integrated Science and Technology and Interim Director of the School of Engineering, JMU

 

11. PROGRAMMING STORIES WITH ALICE

    Create interactive stories using Alice’s rich array of characters! Using this computer programming language, students will be able to animate their own stories and add interactive elements such as key control and mouse events. Alice can also be used to write interactive games, plays, and 3-D artwork. Information about obtaining Alice for student use after the workshop will be provided.

    Ms. Nancy Harris, Lecturer of Computer Science, JMU

 

12. QUALITY TOOLS FOR PROBLEM SOLVING

    In this workshop, you'll be introduced to quality tools - simple applications of the scientific method and data-driven problem solving - that can help you improve things at home, at school, and in your personal life! We will collect data about ourselves and about each other, and learn techniques like finding breakpoints on Pareto charts to help improve personal time management and finding the root causes of important issues in our lives so we can more effectively solve them.

    Dr. Nicole Radziwill, Assistant Professor of Integrated Science and Technology, and Ms. Rebecca Simmons, Instructor of Computer Information Systems/Management Science, JMU

 

13. SECRETS OF THE HUMAN SKELETON

    Have you ever wondered how forensic scientists are able to get so much information from bones, or even just from bone fragments or teeth? In this workshop, you will learn about human skeletal anatomy and skeletal analysis methods. These methods include estimating an individual’s age, determining if an individual was male or female, how to identify bone fragments, and more. You will then have the opportunity to test your forensic skills by examining different types of skeletal material.

    Dr. Jessica A. Newnam-Baicy, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology, JMU

 

14. TOUR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

    Using JMU's Science on a Sphere exhibit, we can take a virtual tour of the Solar System. Join us for an exciting tour of the 4 terrestrial and the 4 Jovian planets. Short of actually traveling to each of these planets, seeing a projection of these surfaces on the Sphere is the next best thing. Science on a Sphere (SOS) is a sphere-shaped, visualization tool that was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

    Dr. Shanil Virani, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Planetarium Director, JMU

 

15. WATCHING WORMS WIGGLE

    Did you know there are itty-bitty (the size of a speck of dust) worms living pretty much everywhere in your environment? How do these little critters survive? How do they find food and evade predators? Using simple mathematics and a few microscopes, we will to attempt to answer the burning questions: How fast can a worm wiggle?

    Dr. Eva Strawbridge, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU