This panel will report the results of a workshop and symposium on the technological literacy of undergraduates convened at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) on March 26-27, 2007. The NAE advocates that all Americans become more knowledgeable about technology. Here technological literacy is defined as the broad understanding of all types of technological devices and process not just computers. The opportunity to utilize undergraduate education to further technological literacy of all students must not be neglected. Educators in Computer Science, Engineering and Technology have a responsibility to educate all students not just those intending technical careers. Despite the need for all Americans to become technologically literate, technical literacy is not likely to gain wide acceptance until the scholarly community develops standard courses that are supported by textbooks and other course materials. This National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored workshop sought to identify and define several models of technological literacy courses. In this FIE panel, short presentations about these models will be made by participants in the NAE/NSF symposium. This will be followed by a discussion with the audience. A goal of the discussion will be to seek the input from FIE participants on the technological literacy course models.

No abstract

Heterocyclic, macrocycle organic compounds, structurally characterized with porphyrins, are not only abundant in nature but also environmentally friendly. These porphyrinic compounds have recently been extensively studied for their fascinating structures, physical properties, and high potentials in engineering applications. We report experimental results on the photonicallyactivated thermal energy conversion via irradiations of white light (simulated solar light). The photothermal effects have been well studied for metallic conductors with large number of charge carriers based on the so-called localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). However, the LSPR model may not apply to the porphyrinic materials with very limited number of charge carriers. In this study, we have found several porphyrinic compounds to exhibit pronounced photothermal effects including chlorophyll, chlorophyllin, hemoglobin, and phthalocyanine that all share similar structural characteristics. Raman data show characteristic molecular vibrations from these compounds that are responsible for photon-to-thermal energy conversions near the optical absorption frequencies. We attribute the porphyrin molecular vibrations to the photothermal effects observed from these compounds and predict that all porphyrinic materials can be optically activated for pronounced photothermal effects. Also established is a newly defined Specific Photothermal Coefficient (SPC), a unique photothermal property of the thin films investigated in this study.

Since 1995 engineering faculty at Hope College have taught a course for non-engineering students called: "Science and Technology of Everyday Life" The course examines the science and engineering underlying modern consumer technological devices. Distinguishing features are study of a broad sample of familiar technological devices, construction by students of working devices, and writing assignments on technological topics. Over nine years, the total enrollment of more than 1000 students has averaged 60% women and 26% pre-service teachers. To evaluate student outcomes, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was applied. Statistically significant increases were found in intrinsic motivation, task value, and self-efficacy. A decrease in test anxiety was also found. The results are consistent across all semesters analyzed. The case study shows that non-engineering students can have increased motivation for learning science and technology, increased perceived value for science and technology, increased self-confidence about learning science and technology.

appears "free" as it is abundant in nature, the processes of solar harvesting and energy conversion can be quite costly as they involve complicated facilities for electricity generation, distribution, and storage. It has been estimated that the solar energy costs approximately eight to ten times more than primary fuels. [6] The single largest cost is the solar panels themselves whose production has some serious environmental concerns. [7][8][9] Solar harvesting via PV depends on the area exposed to sunlight which is limited to the 2D surfaces. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, supplying all electricity needs of the US with PV solar energy would require 1948 square feet per person, [10] but not all lands are available for solar cells especially in densely-populated megacities. There is, therefore, an increasing need to seek solar harvest in 3D space for enhanced energy density.For energy sustainability, an energy-free system will be highly desirable for future energy consumption. The residential and commercial buildings account for ≈40% of the total U.S. energy consumption. [11] Energy-free systems will produce significant benefits, including utility costs, increased grid reliability, better air quality and public health, and carbon free. Development of novel energy-free structures, devices, and systems will be a vital step toward future energy sustainability. As mentioned above, the 2D PV systems require additional utilities for solar harvesting, electricity generation, storage, and distribution, which are not ideal for a net zero energy system.Fundamentally, any materials that exhibit sufficient absorption of white light should be able to convert it to other forms of energy, although with varied efficiencies. While PV converts solar energy to electricity, there is another class of photothermal (PT) materials that can be photonically-activated to generate thermal energy directly and efficiently for many energy applications. [12] Using PT, the thermal energy is directly converted from solar light without burning natural gas or fuel oil and the need for complicated PV technologies, making the system much more straightforward, economic, reliable, environmentally friendly, and energy free. It should be noted that both transparent PV and PT films share similar optical characteristics in solar harvesting and light transmittance. For efficient solar A fundamental challenge in energy sustainability is efficient utilization of solar energy towards energy-neutral systems. The current solar cell technologies have been most widely employed to achieve this goal, but are limited to a single-layer 2D surface. To harvest solar light more efficiently, a multilayer system capable of harvesting solar light in a cuboid through transparent photothermal thin films of iron oxide and a porphyrin compound is developed. Analogous to a multilayer capacitor, an array of transparent, spectral selective, photothermal thin films allows white light to penetrate them, not only collecting photon energy in a 3D space, but gene...