Welcome to Our Tech Talk

Ezine Spring 2022

Welcome to Our

TECH talk

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents 4-5

Meet the Editors 6-7

The Threads of Technology 8-11

by Treana Vickery

aF st aF shion 12-13

by Treana Vickery

Powering Medicine 14-17

by Kirthi Korattur 4 | Welcome to Our Tech Talk

Newest Tech in Medicine 18-19

by Kirthi Korattur

Engineering University 20-23

by Ben Pont

The Slingshot to Mars 24-25

by Ben Pont

The Silicone Hills 26-29

by Jackson McNelis

The History of Technology 30-31

by Jackson McNelis

Technology in Climate Change 32-35

by Zach May

Tech in Climate Change 36-37

by Zach May

Welcome to Our Tech Talk | 5

Meet The Meet The Editors Editors Treana Vickery Treana Vickery enjoys doing gymnastics, playing the piano and singing. She speaks English and Spanish and is learning Mandarin. She has four siblings: an older sister, two older brothers, and a younger brother. Treana wants to inform people about how technology is used in fashion as well as how fast fashion is harming the planet in the hopes that people reconsider the kind of clothes they buy. She hopes you enjoy reading this magazine.

Ben Pont Ben Pont likes playing video games, and he is in band. Ben likes hanging out with his friends and playing with his dogs. Ben is writing about becoming an engineer and some of the different degrees involved in the engineering field. Ben hopes to become an engineer at NASA or Space X, but if he decides not to be either of those, he will probably search for some sort of career in the military or the police force.

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Zach May Zach May likes playing the viola, biking, playing tennis, and enjoys video games.

He speaks English and Mandarin and is currently learning Japanese. He is writing to inform others about how climate change is destructive to our planet and how technology can solve that problem and save many people. He wants people to know how dangerous climate change could be, and how technology is an important part in eradicating climate change.

Kirthi Korattur Kirthi Korattur enjoys playing the violin, which she has done for nine years. She is part of LASA’s debate team and enjoys competing at debate tournaments. Kirthi speaks English and Tamil and is learning Latin. In this magazine, Kirthi writes about the use of technology in medicine and biotechnology. She finds this topic interesting and wants to pursue biotechnology further when she is older.

Jackson McNelis Jackson McNelis likes playing lacrosse, snowboarding and biking. Jackson is writing about how technology affects Austin and new startups along with larger companies’ involvement in the Austin community. Jackson also wants to get a degree in computer science at USAFA. He plans to work in the military for a couple years to get rid of any debt then hopefully either continue a path in the Air Force or get a new job in software development.

The Threads of Technology By: Treana Vickery

T

he type of clothes people wear can depend on how people express themselves, what cultures they are a part of, or what mood they are in. Whether it’s a short silk skirt or an enormous wool puffy jacket, the material and the stitching are hardly ever thought about. Some dedicate every last minute to making a stitch perfect for a dress, but others simply walk to a nearby store and buy the first piece of clothing that meets their eyes. There are not many who reflect or even think about the clothes they buy and how they might affect the environment. However, the use of technology might spark an idea to create a beautiful and sustainable piece of clothing.

As technology revolutionizes, it has become clear that it can impact businesses and individuals. From local businesses to fashion industries across the world, technology has become an important part of this process. Due to the development of technology, clothes can now be shipped to people’s doorstep, however, the clothes that are being shipped to customers are mostly fast fashion brands. Although these brands are cheap and fast they have negative effects on the environment.

Due to the negative effects of fast fashion, local Austin seamstresses want to inform more people about the positive impacts of making clothing themselves.

Vanessa Farrow, a woman who works at the Fashion Design Program in Austin and created a business called Ronkita Custom Sewing and Design, has been a seamstress for 20 years. Farrow started her passion for sewing when she was making a few

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dog collars. She soon realized sewing was a hobby she liked, so she started a business called Ronkita Design.

Ronkita Design has been aimed to help students learn to sew so that they can gain confidence. Farrow also hopes that by teaching people to make clothes, kids might reflect on the ethical aspect of buying clothes.

“When someone realizes it can take four hours to make a simple dog coat, you realize if you’re paying $5 for an item then somebody is not getting their fair share.”

Vanessa Farrow “It’s important for me to make people understand that when you start learning to sew people realize that this takes time, this takes skill,” Farrow said.

Farrow enjoys making her clothes instead of buying them because then she is sure that they are environmentally friendly. Farrow mostly uses 100% cotton but also uses other natural fibers, such as, linen. She said that she has collected a variety of different fabrics so she

rarely has to drive to the store to buy more. Farrow also mentioned that she kept a lot of scraps so that eventually, she can sew them together. She does this to support the environment.

“Material has been given to me, it’s important to keep it out of the landfill, and then you can make it into something else again,” Farrow said.

Sondra Primeaux, another local Austin seamstress, has also worked in the industry for 20 years. Primeaux started making clothes for her barbies when she was a child and she has loved fashion ever since. Primeaux has always believed that wearing clothes is how one wants to express themselves, which is why she loves fashion.

Another reason Primeaux enjoys making clothes is that she can help the environment. Primeaux supports a few recycling companies, for example, the Austin Creative Reuse Center.

“I would say that my definition of fashion is how people adorn themselves to present themselves to the public,” Primeaux said “It doesn’t actually have to follow a trend, or what social media tells you you should look like, it can be just personal style. It’s however you dress and how it says what you want it to say about you, to the public.”

Primeaux said that part of the reason she makes clothes is to help the environment. Primeaux uses primarily silk but also uses natural fibers such as cotton and wool that she collects from a sustainable store called the Austin Creative Reuse Center. She said that especially in the U.S, humans should be more aware of the type of clothing that is being used because there is an incredible amount of textile waste. The textile waste is caused by fast fashion, which is when

How Technology can Influence People to Start Sewing

A person sews a piece of fabric.

Photo courtesy of Ronkita Design.

trendy clothes are being sold for low prices but at the same time adding to the landfill and atmosphere. Primeaux stated that by supporting more sustainable businesses or making clothes, there would be a positive change to the environment.

“I try to promote and encourage people to make what you can make, if you buy new clothing, wear it and repair it or repurpose it for something else,” Primeaux said. “I try to encourage people to be more aware of our environmental impact when we shop, as consumers.”

Amanda Valentine makes a dress for a collaboration with a New York Street artist frankape.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Valentine.

Backdrop courtesy of newhat.

As well as sustainability, technology also plays a critical role when a person is making clothes.

Farrow said that teaching is a big

Sondra Primeaux makes a jacket/robe out of silk, an old japanese kimono and a butterfly scarf. This design is made out of recycled materials and is meant to fit all body sizes. Photo courtesy of Sondra Primeaux.

portion of her business and not meeting students in person was a challenge. Luckily, technology came into play and helped her company, she was able to use zoom to talk to her students. In addition to that, Farrow also used technology when she needed a certain type of fabric that was only online.

“Addressing my instruction side, the technology’s helped because I have a multi-camera system set up for my lessons, they see that I’m doing every step with them,” Farrow said.

As well as Farrow, Primeaux also agreed that technology had enhanced her career. First of all, Primeaux said that she used her Bernina and Serger Juki machines while making clothes which helped with efficiency. Second of all, Primeaux explained that sewing involves a high amount of design, for example, using Procreate on an iPad could help brainstorm design ideas.

Finally, Primeaux mentioned that she used social media for inspiration. She used apps such as Pinterest where she created boards as inspiration.

Amanda Valentine creates a dress for a project runway. She likes how the color blocking is designed in this dress.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Valentine.

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Sewing will help people’s individual skills and the environment.

Credits: Reviews xp, Juki, Gardening Know How, Alamy, Deposit Photos, Pinterest, Home Depot, Green Schools National Network, Shutterstock Graphics by Treana Vickery

10 | Welcome to Our Tech Talk

“You can involve technology with sewing and especially the design portion,” Primeaux said.

Amanda Valentine is another seamstress who has worked in the fashion industry for 15 years. She has made a fashion line called “Amanda Valentine.” She said that she was inspired to start sewing becasue of her mom. She loves fashion because there are several ways to style clothes.

Valentine agreed that the introduction of technology in the fashion industry has helped her clothing business. One way technology has helped Valentine is by allowing her a platform to sell her clothes online and on social media.

She has also created a website so that people can buy her clothes easily. Valentine also mentioned

that she uses technology when making clothes, for example, her Juki industrial straight stitch sewing machine.

“The internet has helped significantly], especially in small businesses,” Valentine said. “I started on Etsy over 15 years ago but now sell through my website. I use my iPhone camera for product pictures and apps to edit the photos. I also built both of my websites myself with Squarespace.”

These three women started sewing as a passion and now believe that it can impact a person’s individual life and the world environment. They also believe that technology might help attract people to sewing.

Primeaux said that being environmentally aware of the clothing humans buy is incredibly important.

Especially from the effects of fast fashion and how it has hurt the world, it is important to reconsider the fashion brands people support.

Primeaux thinks anyone could sew since sewing is such a simple and affordable hobby. She explained that by doing this the environment and the seamster could benefit.

“I love to teach people how to sew because there’s not a big barrier to entry.

You can get an old sewing machine for $50, that’ll work well,you can use a sketchpad and thread’s not expensive. It’s a very accessible craft or hobby for almost anyone.”

Sondra Primeaux

Farrow concluded that sewing is important to her because it can impact an individual’s life. The skills kids gain from sewing, such as handeye coordination and improved math skills, can help them later on in life.

Farrow thought that every skill a kid learns from sewing can impact their everyday life, such as building their confidence and making them feel powerful.

Amanda Valentine hand draws and then uses photoshop to edit this creative print. She loves putting obnoxious print designs into dresses.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Valentine.

A little girl learns to sew for the first time. She is excited and determined.

Farrow Photo concluded sewing is courtesythat of MomTrends.

important to her because it can

“I think the reason behind learning to sew is to make what you want and utilize any skills that you may not realize you’re using. Also that empowering feeling students get when they are proud of what they do, makes me so happy,” Farrow said.

These three local Austin seamstresses believe that if more people learn to sew, then the envionremnt and their life skills will benefit. This starts with technology.

Welcome to Our Tech Talk | 11

FAST FASHION

By: Treana Vickery

Fast fashion is a phrase used in the fashion industry to describe certain types of clothes. These types of clothes are made by companies that try to mimic high fashion brands but sell them for a lower price. Fast fashion clothes have become popular because they are trendy, fast and cheap.

However, fast fashion affects the environment tremendously.

Fast fashion produces carbon dioxide when it manufactures and transports clothes. Manufacturing makes clothes by using toxic chemicals and gasses, such as carbon dioxide. These chemicals are burned and then released into the enviornment. Transporting clothes also uses carbon dioxide. Trucks are used to move clothing into shops, this is fueled by fossil fuels. The carbon emissions from fast fashion are released into the atmosphere causing global warming.

700 gallons of water are used to make a simple cotton T-shirt Fast fashion is the second largest pollution industry 2.6 of global water is used for growing cotton

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Fast fashion has affected the environment through climate change. Climate change affects wildlife by causing them to migrate or go extinct because it becomes too hot in their home.

Another way fast fashion has affected the environment is by using dyes and oils. The chemicals in both these substances are thrown into oceans, rivers, or streams which then kill the animals.

H&M

ZARA

Why not buy fast, cheap & trendy clothing?

Information by: The Sustainable Living Guide, Battered Women’s Support Service (BWSS), Leaders in Wildlife Conservation (LIWC), Carbon Literacy Project

After buying a piece of fast fashion clothing most people only wear a piece a few times. They then proceed to discard the item where it is put into textile waste and takes 80 years to decompose. This has contributed to overproduction and overconsumption, both leading to an increase in landfills. Now over 300,000 tons of clothes are considered textile waste, which is 4% of the world’s landfill. The worst part is that 95% of the garments could have been reusable.

How can Humans Help?

• Resell clothes • Donate clothes • Make new clothes by using old materials • Thrift Shop • Reduce washing clothes in high temperatures

NIKE

GAP Welcome to Our Tech Talk | 13

Technology in medicine is paving the way for patients to access better care.

by Kirthi Korattur

Powering medicine In the Doctor’s Office

Y

ou walk into the doctor’s office and sit on the examination table, the exam table paper beneath you crinkling loudly. As the doctor logs into their computer and begins to type in your height and weight, you look around the room, glancing at the various instruments hanging on the walls, from sphygmometers to ophthalmoscopes. Suddenly, you realize that you are surrounded by technology.

Technology currently being developed and used across the United States allows doctors to increase their impact on patients and better care for them. Technological innovations make practicing medicine more convenient and enable patients to receive procedures that are more efficient and less damaging. Telemedicine, 3-D imaging systems, bioelectricity and robotic surgery are only some of the technologies that are improving patient’s lives.

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Electronic Medical Records, or EMRs, record data regarding a patient’s health, such as their blood pressure, oxygen level, heart rate and prescriptions.

EMRs keep information safe and make it easier for the information to be transferred.

Dheepa Ramasamy practices internal medicine at the Houston Methodist West Hospital in Houston, Texas.

Ramasamy received her Doctor of Medicine from the Thanjavur Medical College in Thanjavur, India.

“There’s no more paper charts,” Ramasamy said. “It’s all digitized. It’s easy to record data, it’s easy to store it [and] it’s easy to send it.”

EMRs have allowed doctors to digitally send prescriptions to the pharmacy. This avoids errors and better ensures that the patient receives the medicine they need.

Mia Markey is a professor in computational biomedical engineering and researches technology to help breast cancer patients.

Markey is part of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and focuses on providing data and images to women seeking breast reconstruction.

While EMRs have their benefits, they still have some issues that must be resolved. For example, data may not be transferable if two offices use different systems incompatible with each other, Markey said. Although EMRs can make storing information easier, the process of entering the data can be difficult.

“There is a lot of information to go into the health record; it’s created a burden in some places on providers,” Markey said.

EMRs result in “additional new work and new paperwork that [healthcare providers] have to do, that they actually didn’t do before,” Markey said.

Outside of EMRs, even the stethoscopes that measure a patient’s heart rate or a sphygmomanometer, which measures a person’s blood pressure, are examples of technology used in medicine.

A Computed Tomography Scan, or CT Scan, is used to obtain a more detailed assessment of a patient’s organs, while avoiding the risk of harming a patient when cutting into their skin to diagnose them.

Before, doctors performing laparotomy would have to “open up the abdomen to see what’s wrong,” Ramasamy said. “Now, you can just send them for a CT scan. It’s like

an X-ray, but more advanced to see deeper organs.”

Now, patients don’t need to have their bodies cut open to diagnose small issues. CT Scans make it easier to find the issue, Ramasamy said, and it avoids unneeded surgery.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring, or CGM, enables people with diabetes to monitor their blood sugar more easily.

The CGM is inserted into a patient’s skin and replaced every one to two weeks.

“There are a couple of ways to insert [the CGM],” Ramasamy said.

“One way to do this is to insert it under the patient’s arm so that it is subcutaneous, or under the skin.”

CGMs allow patients to read their blood sugar without pricking themselves with a needle. This makes it easier for patients to stay healthy and make sure their blood sugar is level. The data can be transferred to and stored in the patient’s phone.

Patients can use the collected data to monitor themselves and notice patterns in their blood sugar, allowing for them to note what foods they should avoid.

Another example of technology furthering doctors’ impact is telemedicine. During the pandemic, telemedicine was an especially important technology that helped doctors and patients.

“We would... send a message [to the patient] saying that [the doctor] is waiting for you,” Ramsamy said.

Patients could then click a button to start the call with the doctor, who would then ask the patient questions to diagnose them.

However, there are limits on what can be done through telemedicine. Certain procedures require a physical exam, which would require an inperson appointment.

Regardless, telemedicine has let doctors expand their impact.

Nikki Le is a surgeon at St David’s Medical Center, the first facility worldwide to use the da Vinci robot, a

robotic surgical system.

“Technology will allow us to improve access to care,” Le said. “For instance... if you need a specialist in

“It’s

about trying to understand how... these options compare against what you value and what your needs are as an individual person.”

a specific field, but you live in a rural area, you wouldn’t have access to certain specialties. But in the future, we can integrate telemedicine with improved options for physical exams.”

Breast Reconstruction Markey helps research technology

that allows women with breast cancer better visualize what breast reconstruction may look like for them. “[W]hen people who identify as women have breast cancer, they often have to have a mastectomy, a surgical removal of their breasts as part of their treatment,” Markey said.

“For some women, they may choose to have a reconstructive procedure to give them back some semblance of what their body used to be like.”

Markey focuses on using and improving 3-D photography and computational models that give people the chance to make more informed decisions.

“A clinical trial that we’re running right now at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center... is doing some feasibility testing, with algorithms that we designed, to try to provide women with examples of photographs of other people who have been through this before, to help them better understand what could happen to them,” Markey said.

Data is collected about the patient, like their age and the type of reconstruction they want, and the data is entered into a database to find

Graphics by Kirthi Korattur.

Above: CGMs are inserted into the patient’s arm to measure their blood sugar.

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people that have gone through the reconstruction process and have similar attributes.

Images of these people

A member of the Biomedical Informatics Lab (right) at the University of Texas at Austin uses a scanner to take 3D photographs of a patient (left) with breast cancer. Photo courtesy of UT Biomedical Informatics Lab.

are then used to show patients what the results of the process may look like.

“They’re not just a gallery that you might... find if you just Google to look for images,” Markey said. “[The images] are things that should be closer to what’s relevant for this person.”

Markey’s research seeks to allow patients to make more educated choices about their body.

“What we’re doing isn’t it’s not preventing someone from getting breast cancer, it’s not detecting breast cancer earlier,” Markey said. “It’s about trying to understand how... these options compare against what you

value and what your needs are as an individual person.”

Bioelectric Technology Another field of technology improving the world of medicine is bioelectronic medicine, where electricity is used as a part of treating patients.

Renee Ryan is the current CEO of Cala Health, a company that focuses on developing wearable technology for neuromodulation to help people with essential tremor, a condition in which patients have involuntary hand tremors.

“We deliver electricity across the skin, into the nerves, currently at the wrists,” Ryan said. “The nerves do what they’re supposed to do, which is deliver electrical signals. They deliver the electrical signals into the brain.

[The signals] are certain waveform patterns that allow for oscillations in the brain to be addressed and start to calm down.”

The signals in technology developed at Cala Health are set at specific waveform patterns, called Transcutaneous Afferent

Cala Trio is worn on the wrist to reduce hand tremors due to Essential Tremor.

Photo courtesy of Cala Health.

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Pattern Simulation (TAPS), or stimulation patterns that are sent to the brain from across the skin, Ryan explained. “[Cala Health] is reading or sensing the signals from the body, adjusting our waveform to match the needs of that patient and then measuring again, after a therapy session,” Ryan said.

This data based process of recording, treating and recording a patient’s biometrics again is growing and allowing doctors to better assess patients.

Robotic surgery Robotic surgery is another area in which technology is being used in medicine. In robotic surgery, doctors are able to work on a device that moves the robot within the patient’s body.

“If

you have the ability to practice medicine successfully, then you have... a huge impact on someone’s life.” “​​The da Vinci robot is a platform that allows us to perform laparoscopic surgery, where we are not actually at the bedside with the patient,” Le said.

“We control the da Vinci instrument by working in the console, which gives us a 3D image of what we’re operating on, the surgical field. And then we move the controllers and the da Vinci robot, which moves the instruments, which are usually inside the patient or in the surgical field.”

Robotic surgery decreases the recovery time for patients because there is a smaller incision. When completing laparoscopy, a

procedure used to check abdominal organs, the smaller incision means that less of the bowel is exposed, allowing for faster recovery, Le said.

The da Vinci robot makes performing surgery easier, as it allows doctors to reach corners and small spaces, which is harder to do with laparoscopy, where large instruments that are difficult to bend prevent surgeons from getting to these spaces, Le explained.

“There are parts of the pelvis that are difficult to visualize,” Le said. “If you do a prostatectomy, you have to look behind the pubic bone, and that’s a difficult angle, [which] can cause a lot of discomfort to the surgeon and makes it harder to suture. Whereas in the robot, because the cameras are inserted inside the patient and you have much better visualization, not only is the angle better and more comfortable for the surgeon, the magnification makes it much easier to define nerves and vessels.”

Improving Lives The most important impact of using technology is improving patients’ lives and allowing them to achieve normalcy.

“If you have problems with your health, that pretty much permeates every aspect of your life, relationships, finances, social relationships,” Le said.

“If you have the ability to practice medicine successfully, then you have... a huge impact on someone’s life, not just their health.”

The

hopefully then, they can move on with their lives as survivors.”

Considering How Technology Is Used Although recent innovations in technology for medicine are exciting, there are other factors that must still be taken into account, especially the actual use of

Surgeons at the St. David’s North Austin Medical Center use the da Vinci robot in an operating room. Photo courtesy of St. David’s Office of Research.

technology developed at Cala Health seeks to do this and helps patients return to their normal lives.

“At the end of the day, all of us will be a patient some day. We will all have some sort of health struggle that we have to take into, and in many ways, I can see myself on the end of the line, needing a technology like [Cala Health’s], where it fits seamlessly into the patient’s body, helping them handle their activities of daily living and restoring a lot of dignity and confidence in their ability to be social with others,” Ryan said.

Similarly, Markey’s research in imaging seeks to help people live and survive with breast cancer.

“In my specific area, what we’re interested in is trying to improve people’s experiences of living with disease,” Markey said. “Our goal really is about how [we can] use technology to help people better manage the stressors of going through this difficult experience, so that

technology and the lived experiences of people.

“I would most like to see... more consideration of technology in the context of the other aspects of our life as humans,” Markey said. “It’s easy to focus on just technology and forget about the other parts... You can be very excited about the technological advances that come with a vaccine and lose sight of the fact that it doesn’t work if people won’t use the vaccine.”

Even as technology begins to fill the doctor’s office, it is important to remember that robots cannot replace humans.

“Patients still need the personal touch,” Ramasamy said. “[Patients] want to have compassion, and it won’t exist with artificial intelligence. They need a touching hand.”

A patient wears the Cala Trio device while holding another person’s hand.

Photo Courtesy of Cala Health.

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Newest Tech in Medicine

Information by Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, New Scientist, National University of Singapore, Medical News Today and John Hopkins

Explore recent technology, from 3D printing to virtual reality, and how they improve medicine.

by Kirthi Korattur

Trackers 3D Printing 3D Printing is used to print skin and blood vessels that act as a bandage while skin heals.

3D Printing can also be used to print prosthetics, making them more accessible to people across the world.

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Wearable health trackers motivate people to be more active and healthier. They allow people to track their health, incentivizing being more fit. This improves your health, especially heart health.

Bionic Power Nurses may have back pain after standing for long periods of time and lifting patients. Bionic power suits aim to reduce this by providing aid and relief to nurses.

Nanotechnology

Suits ARMAS (above) is a robotic suit designed to decrease muscle strain.

Self Check Throughout the pandemic, people began to use self check quizzes.

This provided relief at a time when many were worried about their health and getting exposed to the virus when at the doctor’s office.

Quizzes

Microbots are able to swim through a person’s body to give them medical aid. This is used for cancer cells, where microbots target the cells. Researchers are developing technology that can produce the needed proteins at the site of the cell. Nanotechnology has also allowed for a better understanding of DNA.

When in-person learning was not possible, nursing schools turned to using virtual reality to teach students. Simulations would reflect real situations in the ER, and students were tasked with diagnosing a character. The technology helps students learn about the environment of a hospital while reducing the risk of accidentally harming a real patient.

Virtual Reality

Engineering University Shedding light on the intense process of becoming an engineer.

By:Ben Pont

Top photo is an aerial shot of MIT, photo credit is to MIT. Middle is a picture of an enginnering student, credit of US news. The bottom photo is of two engineers working on a project, photo credit to NASA.

The buzz of a saw. The clanking of gears. The quiet hum of a fan. The loud noise you hear as a rocket leaves its docking port. These are all sounds you might hear as an engineer.

Becoming an engineer is not an easy process and takes many years of studying and hard work.

Engineering is for those who are problem solvers, enjoy challenges and like to think outside the box. Becoming an engineer is challenging but the hard work will pay off. Engineering is the science and technology of manufacturing, design, building and use of machines, engines and structures, but some just describe it as finding the best way to fix a problem.

There are many colleges and universities that offer engineering programs, such as the University of Texas in Austin and the Massachusetts Institution of Technology.

Often, people will get their undergraduate at one school and switch to another for their graduate school to learn more and see new environments.

Scott Snarr has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and is currently working on his PhD at UT Austin. Some of the hardest parts of becoming an engineer is the large amount of research and work you have to do.

“The hardest part, I think, is the research,

so in your undergrad it’s a lot of research and work.” Snarr said. “Just the sheer amount of work is probably the hardest part in your undergrad because it’s just a lot of classes, a lot of homework, and it’s just you’re working on stuff all the time.

That’s a lot of undergrad degrees though.

But in graduate school, I think the hardest part is your research,” No engineering program is easy, and they each have different challenges, some being more selective than others. The schools are selective due to their low acceptance rates and high quality engineering programs. Becoming an engineer takes a lot of effort and time. Snarr mentions how you do a lot of homework in your undergraduate, most of which will be worksheets and calculations, but he also mentions his research in his graduate degree, a lot of which is through internships.

Specializing is where you find out what field of your degree you want to go into. For example Snarr, while he had a mechanical engineering degree, specializes in additive manufacturing, which is 3D printing. In this specialization, Snarr finds materials and tests them on powder bed fusion printers and finds new materials that can be used on them to make different products. That is just one of the many different specializations.

Powder bed fusion 3D printing, which is a form of 3D printing that uses a laser to fuse one layer of material at a time with another layer of material. That is just one of the many different specializations.

What you research is connected to the engineering degree you are getting. For example, the internships Snarr is getting are mostly technological and design and

have more moving parts because of his mechanical engineering degree.

However, if you were getting a degree in civil engineering, you may have more internships related to designing blueprints and planning build times.

Snarr has had four internships with many companies like NASA Barco and Viasat. The internships you do are no small deal and affect very large companies. Internships prepare you for when you actually get a career in engineering, and if you didn’t do them, you would miss out on key experience and practice.

“Some of the other engineering degrees get kind of pigeonholed into one sector,” Snarr said.

Mechanical engineering, according to Snarr, is the most versatile degree, as it allows you to work in any field, rather than just specializing in one thing, so if you find out you don’t like a certain field, you can always switch to another one. However, if you have a degree in environmental engineering, you can’t switch to a job at NASA, as the job at NASA would be more in the

field of aerospace engineering, when you are not specialized in aerospace engineering.

The degree you choose is dependent on if you want to be more specialized in a certain field or if you want to have general knowledge about engineering. The degree you choose also determines the amount of work needed to complete it, as some degrees take more work and time than others because some cover more material than others and are either more specialized or more general.

What field you choose is purely up to you, but you should take into consideration what Snarr said about being pigeonholed into one sector because you don’t want to get a job, find out you don’t enjoy it and then have to go back to college because that would be expensive.

“You take a couple of physics courses, you take a couple of math courses, you get up into calculus one, two and three differential equations.” Snarr said. “And then you take your basic chemistry courses, and then you

start getting specialized and you start taking your mechanical engineering courses.’”

To become an engineer, you complete many classes throughout your undergrad years in college. These classes teach the basics of what you need to know to become an engineer and the advanced topics that an engineer should know. Many of these classes expand on what was already learned in high school. Taking math and science classes throughout high school can make the process of becoming an engineer easier.

“What I would say is cool about being an engineer is the way I think about being an engineer. And what drew me to it is it’s a lot of problem solving and it’s a lot of creativity,” Snarr said.

Engineers constantly face issues that must be solved creatively. The ability to think outside the box is essential to making progress as an engineer.

Snarr also enjoyed playing with legos and other engineering toys as a kid so if you enjoyed playing with those, you might also think about becoming an

This Image shows a powder bed fusion 3d printer melting each layer together. Photo credit goes to engineeringproductdesign.

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engineer.

Engineering degrees include mechanical, electrical, software, aerospace, environmental, civil, and many more. As an electrical engineer, you will specialize with electrical currents and pathways. As a software engineer, you would be designing and fixing software. As an aerospace engineer, you would work on things like planes and rockets. As an environmental engineer, you would work on things like environmental issues, solar panels, and windmills. Finally, as a civil engineer, you will do things like design blueprints for roads and tunnels.

There are many engineering jobs and degrees for any niche, so if you are interested in engineering and have another subject you are passionate about, you would probably be able to find one that suits you.

A picture of UT Austin during the midday. Photo courtesy of Miguel Guitterez of the Texas Tribune.

Top six engineering colleges According to U.S. News.

1. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

4. Carnegie Mellon University

2. Stanford University

3. University of California, Berkeley

5. Purdue University, West Lafayette

6. University of Texas, Austin, Cockrell

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The Slingshot To mars The gravitational pull that will launch us to the red planet

By Ben Pont

Second, the rocket will use the moon’s gravitational pull to circle around the Moon to build up momentum before launching away towards Mars.

This is not NASA’s only plan to get to the red planet.

NASA’s other plan uses Venus instead of the moon.

Information by NASA and Space.

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After the launch, it will take the rocket approximatley seven months to reach Mars. In that time, the rocket will travel around 300 million miles.

The total trip to Mars and back will take around 21 months, 14 of which will be on the trip there and back.

First, the rocket would launch off from Cape Canaevaral, Florida.

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Aerial view of downtown Austin.

Photo courtesy of Katherine Alex Beaven.

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The silicone Technology has Influenced hills How the Austin Community By: Jackson McNelis

Y

ou walk into the lobby and wait for the elevator. You walk into the office and sit down at your desk and get to work. You slap on a pair of headphones and start playing music, the sound blasts away as you stare at a screen working constantly. You turn around and look out the window at the vast city spreading out in front of you for miles as far as the eye can see and think about the beautiful city you live in.

Austin is the capital of Texas and is growing at an incredible rate. Its population has exploded and large companies and corporations have relocated to Austin, such as Samsung factories, the VRBO headquarters, a Google office and the Tesla headquarters. There are also lots of new successful startups. Austin is also home to many important representatives of these companies such as Jeff Hurst and John Andrew Entwistle. A lot of these companies have taken a large blow from COVID, however, in 2022 many of them are also having large comebacks as Austin still continues to grow.

Jeff Hurst is the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Expedia and manages its brands such as hotels. com, Travelocity, Hotwire and VRBO, which is located in Austin. He explained that the reason Austin grew so rapidly is that it’s cheap to move to and the quality of life is higher here than in other tech cities like Seattle and San Francisco.

“The main cause is it’s a desirable place to live, it’s cheaper than Seattle and San Francisco,” Hurst said. “So people can raise a family here, people can afford to buy a home here. And because of that, you’re seeing companies accommodate that the company can save money, and

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the employee can have a higher quality of life, just by relocating.”

Hurst explained how VRBO is involved with the Austin community.

They hold several events and have a hand in large staple events important to Austin culture. They take pride in their involvement in the community and plan to continue these events for years to come.

“We do a handful of things,” Hurst said. “We always participate in South by Southwest, and are hosting an event for historically black colleges and universities called Battle of the Brains. We are active in several different charities. In the past [we] have been active in Habitat for Humanity and active with Mobile Loaves and Fishes. We have a big presence with Austin City Limits, and always sponsor a stage there.”

Hurst also made a statement on his opinion of the large movement of people from California to Austin. He is involved in this movement and while a lot of native Austinites and Texans do not approve of this movement, he thinks it’s a good thing and embraces it.

“Well, I’m kind of one of them,” Hurst said. “I grew up in Texas, but I lived in California for 10 years.

Emerson [my daughter] was born in California. I mean, overall, I think it’s great. I think the more diversity of opinion in Austin, and mobility, the better. It’s good for the

tech industry, because one of our challenges in Austin has been that there were typically smaller younger startups and more junior resources here, but not as much in terms of executive talent.”

Many long-time citizens of Austin believe that a large movement of people from around the country, specifically California, will cause Austin to lose its culture and uniqueness. Hurst explains why this movement is not a bad thing and argues that even with the flow of new people, Austin will keep its culture and will stay weird.

“There are pros and cons,” Hurst said. “It’s kind of like what’s your definition of what makes Austin Austin. I don’t think we’re going to lose the status as a place for great live music, if anything it might expand a little bit because we’re adding so many music venues. I’m kind of familiar with the pattern of when I got here in 1997. There was a movement of Keep Austin Weird because they were worried it was changing too much. The movements kind of stayed the same the whole time. And along the way, everyone still thought Austin was kind of weird.

And so I don’t know that there’s a lot of consistency to what it really means.”

John Andrew Entwistle has started several startups including his John Andrew Entwistle, CEO newest of Wander, stands in front of a startup, mountain. Photo by John Andrew Wander.

Entwistle.

He is the current CEO of

Jeff Hurt is the Chief Operating Officer of Expedia. Photo courtesy of VRBO.

Wander and has received 27 million dollars in funds and investments. He explained how creating Wander during the pandemic has affected how Wander functions and how they work asynchronously.

“So Wander is a very interesting company in the sense of that we do most of our tasks asynchronously,” Entwistle said.

“We try and spend as little time in meetings as possible. When collaboration is necessary … [it] happens asynchronously, meaning that you use tools like email and slack and otherwise to be able to get your work done without much interaction.

You will wake up in the morning, and you’ll likely have your set of tasks or things that you want to work on.

And you’ll have complete freedom throughout the day to work on them.”

Entwistle also explained how Austin is an amazing place for startups and companies to work in.

Hurst and John Entwistle shared a few ideas about cheap housing and quality of life but he also explained how Austin is optimal from a business perspective.

“What people realize is that companies are just groups of people,” Entwistle said. “ And so you need to locate your company in a place that is very friendly to the people living there.

If you want very friendly policies that

allow people to live their lives, the way that they want to live them… The other thing you’re looking for is to have a very business-friendly state. So you’re looking to have as few regulations and taxes to the actual business as possible. The Texas government has worked hard to ensure that Texas is a business-friendly state. And I think that what you’re really starting to see now with all these startups … and these larger companies like Tesla” Jeff Hurst and John Andrew Entwistle both believe that in the next few years Austin will improve and continue to grow. Austin is still a music capital and that doesn’t seem to be changing. Thanks to companies like VRBO and Wander Austin is becoming and increasingly better place to live.

Wander’s property in Port Orford, Oregon. Photo courtesy of Wander.

The audience watches a concert on the VRBO ACL stage. Photo courtesy of VRBO.

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THE

Historyof Technology

By Jackson McNelis

1879 Thomas Edison invented the first lightbulb in 1879 and patented it a year later. This was one of the first practical uses for electricity.

1945 On August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This was the beginning of nuclear energy and weapons.

1969

1947

On July 20, 1969, the first man step foot on the moon.

This was a huge milestone which was the pinnacle of technology.

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On December 16, 1947, the transistor was built. This is the birth place of current electronics. Transistors today are incredibly small while the first one was pretty big.

Technology has changed significantly over time. We went from the first lightbulb to the first personal computer in a little over a century, and just 26 years later, we a have a computer multiple times more powerful small enough to fit in our pockets.

1983

Information from Ericsso, Brittanica and Georgia Southern University.

1992

The internet was created January 1, 1983 by Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf.

The internet is one of the most important inventions ever because it gave people access to large amounts of information and easy communicaiton.

2007

The first smartphone was the Simon Personal Communicator

by IBM released in 1992. This eventually evolved into the iPhone we have today.

The first iPhone was realeased in June 29, 2007 and was created by Steve Jobs. This changed how people lived their daily lives.

1981 The IBM Personal Computer was released August 12 1981 and was the beginning of the computer that we have today.

1973 John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola created the first cell phone in 1973.

This is the earliest version of the phones we have today.

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Technology in Climate How Technology could be a Solution to Climate Change

T

emperatures increase and oceans rise. Coastal cities become engulfed in water.

Crops stop growing and famine spreads. Wars are fought over climate change.

The most severe problem is climate change, and unless we find a way to stop it, it will continuously get more dangerous for us and our environment, and it will only steadily get worse as time goes on.

That’s where technology comes

The air is being polluted. People are having to leave becuase of this.

Photo Credit: CNN

in: technology can help eliminate climate change in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

Humanity can use the current knowledge of technology they currently have to build structures and buildings that will change the world, such as by changing our sources of energy to be nature friendly, and improve our understanding of technology to develop more efficient ways of stopping climate change.

The more pollution on earth, the more it affects the species living on the planet, including us. If nobody does anything soon, the problems will only get worse. Ice caps are melting, animals are losing their habitats, Earth’s global temperature is rising, natural disasters are increasing and air is slowly advancing towards becoming unbreathable. If this is continuously ignored, these

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By: Zach May problems will continue to grow more and more dangerous, and Earth’s temperature will rise to dangerously high levels. However, this problem could be eradicated if humans rely on technology and use it to their advantage.

Carbon dioxide emissions are from factories, generators and mines. These emissions increase global warming. Factories use fossil fuels and electricity to run machines to create useful tools, devices and other miscellaneous items. Humans get electricity from burning fossil fuels and nuclear energy, which generate steam, water, combustion gasses or air to rotate turbines which will convert it into kinetic or mechanical energy to generate electricity. Additionally, these power plants generate pollution, which can take the form of ocean pollution, light pollution, noise pollution and radioactive contamination. All of these kinds

Robotic hand holding a tree, symbolizing technology.

Photo Credit: Azo Robotics

of pollution contribute to climate change, which won’t ever stop until action is taken.

Peter Kamus is a climate scientist.

Kamus’ goal is to spread awareness about climate change, its effects and how devastating it can be.

He wants to stop climate change before it causes more damage to planet Earth and its inhabitants.

Not many people are actually concerned about climate change, as they always just brush it off and leave that problem for later.

“I think most people don’t realize that it’s effectively irreversible, the damage that gets done to the Earth system,” Kamus said.

As the climate worsens, climate change may have impacts outside of just harming the environment.

“Wars based on climate impacts are probably going to start happening at some point in the future,” Kamus said. “We should be studying that and talking about it

The Stanton Solar Farm in Orlando. It produces six Megawatts of electricity per day which is enough to power 1,200 homes. Photo Credit: CNS

Hydropower is one of the biggest source of renewable power with a maximime power generation of 1,307GW. Image Credit: Samo Trebizan.

and taking it seriously and doing everything we can to avoid it.”

The more pollution on earth, the more it affects the species living on the planet, including humans.

If nobody does anything soon, the problems will only get worse. Coral reefs can not be brought back very easily, Kamus explained.

“When you look at the fossil records, you see that it takes about 10 million years for biodiversity to recover after a mass extinction event,” Kamus said.

Technology, however, enables people to monitor the climate and the patterns that occur over time.

Satellites are used to collect data about the climate, which is essential to study the climate and the patterns that occur.

Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon is the Texas State Climatologist and a meteorologist. Nielsen-Gammon focuses on studying the biggest

This is an image of one of the worlds largest goldmine which producecs more than two million ounces of gold in 2020. This mine was discoved int 1958 and measures about 3.5km by 3.5 km and has a depth of 600m.

Photo courtacy of Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine

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Graphic a earth melting.

Photo Credit: Duke Today

issues relating to the weather in Texas. Through his work, Nielsen-Gammon is able to help people better understand what is happening in the weather and “As state climatologist, my mission is to help the state of Texas make the best possible use of weather and climate information,” NielsenGammon said. “When I started out,

Graphic a earth melting.

Photo Credit: Duke Today

and computer programming to create models and look at further climate projection. Computer programs can be used to analyze the weather and understand how the climate works.

The computer system can be used, “not just to look at future climate projections, but also to understand how the climate system actually works,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

Multiple computer programs can be used to make statistical analyses of the climate. Examples of these programs include Unix, Linux, Python, or R, Kamus explained.

Kamus also works on publishing articles about climate change to spread information about it.

Technology and the internet enable him to increase awareness about the issue. In his articles, Kamus describes the dangers of climate change and all of the consequences the planet may face due to it.

“Most of the articles I write are about just trying to raise urgency and to say things that I don’t see getting said in the media to kind of connect the dots,” Kamus said.

“I’m trying to convince the public that this is a lot more serious than they think, climate ecological breakdown.”

However, it is necessary for us to take action and not hide from climate change. To achieve this, articles must have more detail on the steps of how disasters may occur to allow people to better understand what the climate may look like over time.

“I try to point out that, you know, if we, if we started to lose coastal cities, because of sea level rise,

then how’s that gonna affect the insurance industry? How’s that gonna affect the economic system?

And then if we start getting, you know, regional crop failures, at the same time, in different parts of the world, how’s that gonna affect food prices? And will that lead to famine in different countries?” Kamus said.

Popularizing renewable energy and addressing the severity of climate change can aid in ending climate change.

With modern technology available in the hands of humans, electricity can be generated in ways that don’t harm the environment. That specific type of energy is called renewable energy, which can be produced using many different advanced technologies. The three main and most efficient sources are solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropower. They work by using natural forces and using advanced technology and design to convert it into electricity or other forms of

A windmill that can create resusable wind energy.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

An earth on fire.

Credit: Amazon

energy.

Solar panels work by gathering ultraviolet waves from the sun to convert it and generate electric currents which will then be used.

Wind turbines work by using wind to spin large turbine blades which will create electricity from the friction caused by the rotating shaft connected to the turbine blades. Hydropower utilizes dams by installing many water wheels in the shaft where water flows down which will spin the wheels which will then generate mechanical energy, which will be converted to electricity.

The upside to all of these available options is that they are efficient in producing energy and ecofriendly, which means that they don’t pollute. The down side to this solution is the expenses to construct and pay for these power generators. However, overall the pros outweigh the cons, as they produce energy without polluting the environment and could put an end to climate change.

Humanity should start working together to find ways to contribute to popularizing renewable energy generators and convince other people and countries to also join in on ending climate change. Then humanity will eventually mitigate climate change and eventually vanquish climate change.

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Tech In Climate Change

By Zach May

Learn about climate change, why it’s important and how technology can stop it.

Information courtesy of Global Change.

1 As time goes on, our problem of climate change keeps growing more and more, and with each passing day, the pollution in the sky keeps increasing. This pollution affects us and other animals around us. Ice caps are melting, animals are losing their habitats, our temperature is rising and natural disasters are increasing, and all of these problems are due to the actions of humans. If this problem keeps going, all animals on earth will die and soon, we will be unable to breathe in the air, due to it being too toxic and dangerous.

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2

3

The cause of climate change and all of the pollution is factories, generators, and mines. Carbon dioxide is the result of burning fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. Factories use fuel and steam to run machines and electricity. We get electricity from burning fossil fuels and nuclear energy, which generate steam to power steam turbines that can spin fast enough to generate electricity. However, those power plants generate a lot of pollution, which also contributes to climate change.

In modern days, we can produce electricity by using nature to our advantage.

That energy is called reusable energy, which comes from solar panels, wind mills, hydropower, biomass and geothermal power plants. They work by using nature and advanced electronics to convert it into electricity. Solar panels work by collecting heat from the sun to generate electricity. Wind mills use wind to spin large propeller blades that generate electricity. Hydropower uses dams and flowing rivers to rotate water mills, which creates electricity. Biomass energy comes from burning dead or alive plants to create heat, which can then be converted to electricity. Geothermal energy is from boiling water with hot temperatures from deep underground to generate steam to rotate propellers and convert to electricity. Some of these are more efficient than others, but they all share one common thing: they don’t pollute, and all energy is from nature.

However, the downside to renewable energy is that they are quite expensive and some are hard to construct. However, you can help by installing solar panels onto your house, and although it might not seem helpful, it means one less household is using energy from fossil fuels.

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Beep Boop Goodbye!