STEM Seminar Presentations

For all the groups that have finished your first STEM Seminar: Summer Research presentation should post the link of your presentation file onto your team blog. You can upload your file to Google Drive first and then share the link on your blog.

DOE 2015-16 Scientist-in-Residence Program

Do your group need a technical professional/scientist to help your project on site 2 hours every week? The program details can be found in the link. The application deadline (10/05) is near. Any group (including teams) interested in the program should arrange a meeting with me ASAP to start the application process.

Project Management: Gantt Chart

A Gantt Chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) and dependency displayed against time.

On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity. The dependency between activities is indicated by arrows.

GanttProject is free, Java based, project management software that runs under the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. It features most basic project management functions like a Gantt chart for project scheduling of tasks, and doing resource management using resource load charts.

The major features of GanttProject include:

•     Create Work Breakdown Structure
•     Task Hierarchy and Dependencies
•     Gantt Chart
•     Resource Load Chart
•     Generation of PERT Chart
•     PDF and HTML Reports

Resource:

1. You can download the GanttProject form the link (GanttProject). 
2. The handbook of GanttProject  can be found here. 
3. There are many video tutorials on the YouTube. You can start with this one. 
4. A Gantt Chart created last year can be downloaded here.

MOOC Courses about Robotics

Introduction to Robotics from QUT

A college-level introductory course to Robotics. It's a seven-week course, and just started last week. The pace is medium. The course covers the basic theoretical foundation of robotics such that it will be easier for you to learn advanced topics. The course uses MATLAB as a major tool, and you can download it for free.

Course topics:

• Introduction to robotics
• Where things are in 2D
• Where things are in 3D
• Time varying coordinate frames
• Measuring the motion of things
• Robot arms and forward kinematics
• Inverse kinematics and robot motion
• Robot velocity in 2D
• Robot velocity in 3D
• Robot joint control
• Rigid body dynamics
• Robotics and the future

Autonomous Navigationfor Flying Robots from edX

An advanced Robotics course introducing the theoretical background of how drone is working and how autonomous navigation is possible. It's an eight-week course loaded with heavy-duty contents.  However, since it's an archived course, you can learn it at your own pace. The course will require some math background in calculus and linear algebra.

Course topics:

• Introduction
• Linear Algebra and 2D Geometry
• 3D Geometry and Sensors
• Actuators and Control
• Probabilistic State Estimation
• Kalman Filter
• Visual Odometry
• Visual SLAM and 3D Reconstruction

MOOC Courses about Android Mobile Application Programming

Introduction to Mobile Application Development using Android from edX

An excellent free on-going introductory course to Android Apps Programming. It's a five-week course, and just starts the fourth week. The pace is medium. The conceptual explanation is blended with app illustrations, and is very easy to follow. It will be an ideal starting point for people interested to learn Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android platform and the Android Studio IDE
• Android components, Activities and their lifecycle, Intents 
• UI Design: Widgets and Layouts, UI Events, Event Listeners
• 2D graphics: Canvas/Drawing using a view 
• Multimedia: Audio playback and MediaPlayer
• Network support: AsyncTask, HttpURLConnection

Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 from Coursera

A college-style introductory course to Android Mobile Programming. It's a four-week course, and will start a new run in September 2, 2015. The pace is pretty fast. The professor's lectures focus on conceptual explanation only. The programming part is covered in the homework. There are tons of concepts been introduced in a very short time, so it is not very easy to follow. However, the professor gives you very complete picture of the Android mobile programming. As you replay the videos a few times, you will enjoy the thoroughness of these videos. It will be a great place for people interested to learn the framework of Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android Platform and Android Development Environment
• Application fundamentals, activity classes, activity lifecycle and reconfiguration
• Intent classes, permissions, and the fragment Classes
• User interface classes

Mid-August? Can You Believe It?

Hi,

How are you all? Time flies! It has been mid-August! I am extremely busy with my Electrovibration project at CCNY. Currently I am working on both hardware and software for my final review meeting next Friday.

As we are approaching the deadlines (some are earlier and some are later) of our second task, I'd like to remind you to start posting your notes onto your team blogs. Congrats to those who have already done so!!! Please also add new slides to your PowerPoint. We will have team presentation when the school begins. If you are ahead of the game, there will be no more formal task assignments before the class starts. However, I do want you to focus on the computer-related skills (operating systems, development tools, SDKs, languages, etc.) during this final precious time. For example, I just watched four-week worth videos from a MOOC course in the past two days. It won't be possible for me to do that after school begins.

I will post various general learning materials in the coming weeks. You can pick up the ones relevant or interested to you. After all, don't forget to enjoy the rest of your summer and have a fruitful learning time!

Voice from the Sea

Greetings! Just came back from a vacation to Acadia National Park, Maine. Enjoy the beautiful blue sky, the salty smell of the sea, the undisturbed pine forest, and the creative shapes of rocks. How are you guys doing? Hopefully you all enjoy your summer so far!

As I almost finished assigning the Research Task 2 to each research team. Our summer research has entered the second half of its course. The challenges are getting tougher and tougher! If you have followed all the assignments, by now you should have some ideas about what research is all about, and what level of dedication is required to really achieve something. 

As you are going through the learning curve of the domain knowledge of your research fields, and brainstorming the possible topics you are going to focus on, your roles and mindsets are gradually transforming. You are in a magic process of changing from a student doing the summer assignments to an independent researcher pursuing his/her vision. When a researcher catches his/her vision, research becomes the most exciting engagement and pursue in life. When there is no vision, research becomes the most boring and endless torturing job. 

So, keep that in mind and catch your vision before we meet again in September. As I always said, research is not just about doing some research work, it's about the person, a researcher. It's a life style! It's a very challenging and rewarding life style! 

Wish you continue enjoying your summer and happy researching!