Spring 2018 Newsletter of the Christian Engineering Society
RSVP for CES Dinner at the 2018 ASEE Annual Conference
By Ted Song (tsong@jbu.edu)
Please RSVP for dinner on June 25th, 5:30 PM (Mon.) by sending me an email. This year's ASEE Conference will be held in Salt Lake City, and we will meet at The Cheesecake Factory (click here for the map--it's a 6-minute walk from the convention center). Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Results from the Survey for the 2019 Christian Engineering Conference
By Justin Vander Werff (Justin.VanderWerff@dordt.edu)
The planning process for the 2019 Christian Engineering Conference is underway! You may recall a brief survey in the spring CES newsletter gleaning your thoughts on location possibilities for the 2019 CEC, given the lack of an obvious host venue in the vicinity of the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida. As CES considers possibilities for CEC’s timeframe and location in 2019, we thought it would be helpful to share the survey results.
We received close to 30 responses to the survey, with 64% of those respondents indicating they were very likely to attend the 2019 CEC and the other 36% indicating they would maybe attend. For the entire group of respondents, 25% indicated a strong preference of having CEC in the vicinity of and immediately following ASEE, with the remaining 75% not having a strong preference or being indifferent toward the proximity of the two conferences. 61% of the total respondents indicated they would be able to attend CEC even if it was not in the vicinity and timeframe of ASEE and 36% indicated they were unsure if they would be able to attend. Only 1 respondent indicated they would not be able to attend CEC if it was not in close proximity and timeframe to ASEE. One other result to note is that 33% of the respondents who indicated they were very likely to attend the 2019 CEC indicated a strong preference of having CEC and ASEE in close proximity.
So, while the results are certainly not unanimous, the survey indicates that a sizeable proportion of the group is mostly indifferent to a close tie between CEC and ASEE, but a notable minority has a preference to retain the connection. In the end, a decision like this really boils down to individual circumstances and opportunities, so if you have any specific thoughts or direction for CES as it moves toward more specific planning for the 2019 CEC, we encourage you to share them with us!
Disaster Shelter Design Competition Results
John Brown University Press Release
"The 2018 Disaster Shelter Design Competition sponsored by Samaritan's Purse was hosted at John Brown University. This year’s competition scenario was based on the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 that affected more than a million people in Nepal. The shelters were required to address the local climate in Nepal, as well as their mountainous terrain, by retaining heat and transporting easily as well as by being water resistant, cost-effective and culturally appropriate. The shelters were also required to be able to house a family of four.
“Samaritan’s Purse responds to natural disasters and crises around the world, and emergency shelter is often one of the most critical needs that we see,” said Eric Weaver, a shelter technical advisor with Samaritan’s Purse. “By sponsoring this competition with John Brown University, we hope to engage and inspire students that are interested in construction to use their skills in a way that makes a global impact."
Each team’s disaster shelter prototypes endured durability testing – including earthquake sustainability, heat retention, overnight habitability, wind turbulence and water resistance (new this year). In addition, teams competed in an emergency shelter construction test, where they were evaluated on their ability to quickly design and construct emergency shelters from given materials.
Teams were scored based on their shelter’s performance in individual events and on their presentations detailing their shelter’s schematics, design and materials. One of the two teams from LeTourneau University (Longview, Texas) finished in first place, and Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan) took second place. Other universities who participated this year include Dordt College (Sioux Center, Iowa), Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, Kansas), Gyeongsang National University (Jinju, South Korea), Murray State University (Murray, Kentucky) and University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock, Arkansas)."
Here are the winners from this year's competition. Congratulations to all participants!
Moderating the CES List of Books and Articles
by David Che (ched2@asme.org)
Are you a Christian who happens to be an Engineer? Are you an Engineer who is also a Christian? Have you ever thought about integrating the two roles into one? These are tough questions to ask and answer. Fortunately, many Christian engineers and scholars had mulled over the same questions over the years and they are willing to share their thoughts with you! One of the main reasons for CES' existence is to help you think through these issues. In addition to offering bi-annual conferences and making conference papers available online, CES also maintains on its website a rich compilation of books and articles that reflect the integration of engineering and faith. We welcome CES members to contribute articles or suggest new books to be added to this growing body of literature. For more information, please contact our new CES resource curator Dr. David Che.
CES Update on Membership
The officers of the formally organized Christian Engineering Society have determined our membership guidelines, which are posted on the CES website. The guidelines provide for individuals to become members of the society and for institutional membership. We will continue to publish the website and newsletter for anyone interested, even if not an official member. However, we hope you will prayerfully consider joining the society in a formal way to show your commitment and interest to this important subject. In order to encourage this, we have set the membership dues at a very low amount compared to most other professional societies. We now have two options for you to make the membership purchase. You can send a check to our treasurer, or you can subscribe via PayPal.
US citizens can also make a tax-deductible donation to the society, either by sending a check or by using the Pay Pal link on the main page. Questions or comments? Feel free to contact any of the four officers.
Seeking Engineering and Christianity Activities
If there is a project or activity at your institution/organization that relates engineering with faith, missions and/or service, we’d like to include it in a future CES newsletter. Please contact Ted Song (tsong@jbu.edu) or Steve VanderLeest (Steven.H.VanderLeest at gmail dot com) with a description of the project/activity. Thanks!
Newsletter Sign Up and Article Contributions
This newsletter is a publication of the Christian Engineering Society, distributed no more than once per month. You can sign up to receive an email notification when a new newsletter is available. Ted Song of John Brown University is the moderator and editor of the newsletter. Sometimes email filters will block mass distributions like the newsletter announcement, so be sure you whitelist the address "ces-announce@calvin.edu" to allow the newsletter announcement to get through.
If you have questions about the newsletter, send an email to Ted at tsong@jbu.edu. Society members are encouraged to submit announcements and contribute articles! (Editor reserves the right to make the final decision on inclusion of all content.)
Resources & Career Opportunities
For resources and career opportunities, click here.