Remote Instrumentation & Data Visualizations Working Group

["Klaver, Kristen" <>]

My son is 6 and will be 7 in July.  He was 20 months old when I was able
to bring him home and he has grown leaps and bounds!  He was very tiny
and wasn't even walking on his own, etc but now he is your normal first
grader!

Don't take that you haven't heard from any of us that they might not be
interested. I know several of us are in the middle of huge projects and
are feeling very overwhelmed right now.   Just so you can see two of my
projects, you might want to check out the following websites.  One of my
projects is called Penning with the Pros.  It has four K-12 states
(North Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri) that are participating in
a creative writing contest and I am having university faculty (authors)
judge the contest.  We had a couple of classes that met with the authors
via videoconference.  That website is located at
http://www.greatplains.net/penning/

The other project I am doing that might interest you more is I am having
a Virtual Science Fair on April 28th in Oklahoma.   The students will be
showcasing their project in front of a camera (videoconferencing) and
the judges (again University and College faculty) will be located
throughout the state via videoconference.   That website is located at
http://www.okepscor.org/sciencefair/index.html

Unfortunately, my job is kind of in limbo right now.  I currently have
two half-time grants and as of July 1, the Great Plains Network portion
isn't going to be funded.  I am asking Oklahoma EPSCoR (the other half)
if they would consider me full-time and so I should find out something
soon.    However, one of the two funded activities in Oklahoma EPSCoR is
Nanotechnology so this would fit in very nicely with us here in
Oklahoma.

Regarding resources on what we could provide is probably the number one
would be students!  But all of us have a pretty good list of teachers
who are interested in the technology and how to utilize it (it has been
a challenge but they are slowly coming around and feeling comfortable
with what they can do with it).  Also, we all have a huge list of
schools who have videoconferencing equipment where they can not only
utilize the network but would be a great resource to get in touch with
the museums, mentors and each other. We also are working with the
Omniplex (our local science museum here in Oklahoma) to get them onto
Internet2 and I believe this would be a wonderful fit.   Their website
is http://www.omniplex.org/
  

As I mentioned, I am interested in working with you.

Terry's email address is 

 but I believe he is on
this listserve.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kristen

-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory Louie 
[mailto:]
 
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 1:53 AM
To: Klaver, Kristen; 

Subject: Re: RE: An idea for the future - Nanoscale Science Education

Hi Kristen,

Thank you.  Our daughter is a constant source of joy.  She's 17 months
and
learning like gangbusters.  How old is your son now and what is he up
to?

I haven't heard from anyone else yet, but Terence Rogers is reasonably
close
by (I'm in NY).  I intend to contact him directly to see if he would be
interested.  Would you know his current email address?

As to what we need to get this rolling, it depends on a lot of things,
but
here's my thinking.

1.  The site to test the idea should be one that should be reproducible
nationally with minimum cost and would also serve a large and continuing
audience.  I imagine that those characteristics would be necessary to
both
justify the cost of installation and make any funders happy.  Science
museums close to the Abilene backbone would do nicely.  A simultaneous
event
at both the Smithsonian and the new Hayden Planetarium in NY should
showcase
the capabilities of the Internet2 both to the public and to our
country's
legislators.
2.  I'm a high school science teacher with big ideas but without enough
of a
track record for this kind of project.  In most cases, in order to get
funding and invite important people to a party, one needs a reputation
for
successfully completing a project of the same size.  That is why I
sought
your group out.

What resources and people would the K20innovators be able to assemble
for
this project?

Greg




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Klaver, Kristen" 
<>
To: 
<>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 12:11 AM
Subject: RE: RE: An idea for the future - Nanoscale Science Education


Gregory,

First of all congratulations on your daughter.  I adopted my son from
Romania 5 years ago and it seems just like yesterday!

I am in Oklahoma and am interested in your idea.   Have you heard back
from anyone else?   What do we need to do to get this rolling?

Kristen

-----Original Message-----
From: 

 
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 4:15 AM
To: 

Subject: Re: RE: An idea for the future - Nanoscale Science Education

Hi folks,

Here's an idea: Narrated tours through atomically resolved bionanocapes.
The images produced by atomic force microscopes can commented on by
outstanding research scientists in real time.  During an online
conference, a moderator could take student questions.

This idea would demonstrate the power of Internet2, connect the bionano
research community in a powerful way and reach out to an existing K-14
audience.

I have developed a list of research scientists that might be suitable
collaborators, if you are interested in making this happen.

Gregory Louie

P.S.

Since I'm new to your list here's a little blurb about myself.

I'm a NYS Authentic Science Research in the High Schools (ASR).  I've
taken a year off to ease the transition of our newly adopted Chinese
daughter to her new family.

While she naps, I'm developing a web portal to recruit, challenge and
support research students.  I'm gearing this site to a K-14 audience.

The intention is to challenge students to design solutions for medical,
health and global environmental problems.  My focus is on bionanotech
designs.  I have some experience in this field.  Besides my daughter, it
is one of my life's passions.

For those of you unfamiliar with the ASR program:  This three year
program provides high school students with an authentic experience of
scientific research.  The students select an individual project of their
own choosing, read scientific papers, contact research scientists and
design and conduct experiments in their mentor's laboratory.  The best
students produce papers(in peer-reviewed journals) and go on to compete
and win at local, national and international science competitions.

For those of you unfamiliar with bionanotechnology:  This is an emerging
discipline that has resulted from the convergence of molecular biology
and nanoscale science (physics, materials science, and microprocessor
technologies).

The nanoscale is 1000x smaller than the microscale reaching nearly down
to the atomic scale.  It is the scale at which molecules operate.

The hope is to shrinking devices like microprocessors another 10-1000
fold, so imagine your desktop computer shrunk down to the size of your
wristwatch or even smaller.  Inside that wristwatch would be a nanoscale
computer processor.  Some even envision nanoscale computers embedded in
the very threads of your clothing.

Of course, those crafty little cells have been there first - operating
at the nanoscale for billions of years.  A cell can be considered as a
package of approximately 300,000 to 1 million nanoscale components all
wonderfully orchestrated to perform the complex tasks of daily life.

Ciao,

Gregory
LIFE IS GOOD!