Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
Friday Update - 02/11/05
Please visit the ISPE Sustaining
Organizations page on the ISPE web site.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
● February 12, 2005 -
Southeast Chapter MATHCOUNTS Competition - Pocatello
● February 12, 2005 -
Southwest Chapter MATHCOUNTS Competition - Boise
● February 15, 2005 -
Northern Chapter MATHCOUNTS Competition - Coeur d'Alene
● February 20 - 26, 2005 -
National Engineers Week
● February 22, 2005 -
ISPE Southwest Chapter Engineers Week Luncheon -
11:30 am - Doubletree Riverside - Boise
● March 1, 2005 -
Nomination deadline for 2005 ISPE Awards. More
information and nomination forms can be found on the ISPE web site
● March 5, 2005 - State
MATHCOUNTS Competition - Boise
● April 14 - 16, 2005 -
ISPE Annual Meeting, Pocatello, Idaho
● July 7 - 9, 2005 - NSPE
2005 Annual Convention, Chicago, Illinois
IT'S NOT
TOO LATE!
Sign up now for the
ISPE Southwest Chapter Engineers Week Luncheon!
The luncheon will be held February 22, 2005, 11:30 am, at the Doubletree
Riverside in Boise. Activities during the luncheon will include the announcement
of BSU student awards, introduction of newly licensed PE's, and speaker Stephen
G. Hanks - Washington Group International President and Chief Executive Officer.
The Chapter also has a Proclamation from the Governor declaring the week
Engineers Week. This Proclamation will be read at the luncheon. E-mail
your information to the ISPE office today!
CALL FOR
NOMINATIONS/VOLUNTEERS
ISPE is looking for nominees to fill the positions of state President Elect and
Junior Regional Director for 2005-2006. The President Elect will move on to
serve as President and the Junior Regional Director will serve a two-year term
in that office and then serve a two year-term as Regional Director.
Self-nominations are welcomed and encouraged. If you are interested in getting
involved, or know someone who is, please contact the
ISPE office, or Nominations Committee Chair
Karen Doherty.
PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTING LICENSING AND BIDDING PROPOSED LEGISLATION
Since May of last year, a group of representatives from the Idaho public works
procurement and construction industry has been working to improve those
processes. The goals adopted include: strengthening the Public Works Contractors
License Board (PWCLB) so that holding a public works contractors license will
come to give a significant indication of contractor qualifications; provide the
PWCLB with enforcement capability to enforce public works contractor licensing
and bidding; provide public owners with statutory authority and a process to
prequalify bidders for projects; consolidate the numerous Idaho Code public
works procurement provisions into one Code location applicable to all State
political subdivisions—counties, cities, special purpose districts. Participants
in the Idaho Public Works Contractors Licensing Task Force (IPWCLTF) include
representatives of the Idaho Public Works Contractors License Board, the
Legislature, the Association of Idaho Cities, the Association of General
Contractors, State Division of Public Works, the Idaho Transportation
Department, the Idaho Association of Counties, ACEC and several other groups.
Proposed legislation to meet the goals is nearing completion of a draft for
introduction to the Legislature. For more information, contact any of your ISPE
Board members, your Legislative Affairs Committee or Jerry Eggleston (serving as
ISPE liaison to the IPWCLTF) at email:
jegglest@mindspring.com or cell phone 208-867-3611.
SUMMER INTERNSHIP WANTED.....
Capital High School senior Jason Perez is looking for a firm that offers summer
internships for high school students. He will be attending BSU's College of
Engineering in the fall. If you have any information please contact him at
tlmuchow@cableone.net.
NSPE SPRING 2005 ETHICS FORUM
Navigating Professional Challenges
Our panel of experts will tackle important issues that impact the PE in a very
personal way and offer an in-depth analysis of selected cases and arguments
presented to the Board of Ethical Review. The series will be moderated by NSPE
Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel Arthur E. Schwartz, Esq.
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. (EST)
March 9, 2005: International Practice Issues
April 6, 2005: Whistleblowing
May 4, 2005: Political Contributions
The Panel: William Lawson, Ph.D., P.E., Louis Guy, P.E., DEE, F.NSPE, F.ASCE,
and Marco Rajkovich, Jr., PE, PLS, Attorney
Registration: NSPE member $149 per session, per site connection, $399 for the
series; Non-member $189 per session, per site connection, $465 for the series.
This seminar will be broadcast entirely online. You must have a 56K modem and
audio capability through your computer to receive a quality product. Each site
will receive supporting materials and a copy of the PowerPoint presentation
slides. Participants will have an opportunity to submit questions to the
presenters via seminar messaging. All participants will receive documentation of
PDH credit for submission to state licensure boards. Each 1-hour seminar earns 1
PDH. Enroll online at: http://www.c2ed.com
TAKE THE JETS CHALLENGE
Can you solve this JETS challenge problem? The answer will appear in
next week's edition of the Friday Update!
The Nano-Technology Challenge
The world of nano-technology allows us to build objects on the molecular level.
A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (1 nm = 1x10-9m). Today we can
"nano-write" on surfaces with letters that are about 75 nm square. To put these
dimensions in perspective, a human hair is 80,000 nm in diameter. Suppose you
wanted to "nano-write" the names of all 50 states (New York = 8 letters
including the space) with two blank spaces between state names and 40 nm between
lines of text. (Hint - save some time by counting the letters in any ten states
as a representative sample).
To the nearest order of magnitude (power of 10) how many copies of the state
names could you write on a 1 cm long strand of hair?
Answer to last week's MATHCOUNTS problem:
Since the price of the marble is given per square foot, let’s change our
dimensions to feet. There are 35 ´ 3 = 105 feet in 35 yards, so our floor
measures 105 ´ 105 = 11,025 square feet. If we are charged $65 per square foot,
that comes to 11,025 ´ 65 = $716,625.
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If the train accounted for 70% of the weight of the entire dress, then the train
weighed 0.7 ´ 50 = 35 pounds. Divided equally among the 13 feet of the train,
the train weighed approximately 2.7 pounds per linear foot.
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We’re told that the top tier of cake is in the shape of a cylinder that is 4
inches tall and 6 inches in diameter. The volume of a cylinder is p ´ r2 ´ h, so
the volume of the top tier of the cake is p(32)(4) = 36p. The layer just under
that will be p(42)(4). Since the diameter increases by 2 inches each time, the
radius will only increase by 1 inch each time. For the seven layers of the cake
we’ll have a total of p(32)(4) + p(42)(4) + p(52)(4) + p(62)(4) + p(72)(4) +
p(82)(4) + p(92)(4) = p(32 + 42 + 52 + 62 + 72 + 82 + 92)(4) = p(9 + 16 + 25 +
36 + 49 + 64 + 81)(4) = p(280)(4) = 3519 cubic inches, to the nearest whole
number. Here’s a cool formula we could have used to determine the sum of
consecutive squares in our expression (32 + 42 + 52 + 62 + 72 + 82 + 92). The
sum of the squares of the first N positive integers is [(N)(N + 1)(2N + 1)] ¸ 6.
We were trying to find the sum of the first 9 positive integers, as long as we
remember to take out 12 and 22, or 5. So the sum of these squares is [(9)(9 +
1)(2 ´ 9 + 1)] ¸ 6 – 5, or [(9)(10)(19)] ¸ 6 – 5, or 285 – 5 = 280.
If you want to see last week's problem again, click on
http://www.mathcounts.org/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=605&z=104
Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
PO Box 170239
Boise, ID 83717-0239
208-426-0636
Fax: 208-426-0639
E-Mail: ispe@rmci.net
Web Site: www.Idahospe.org
Idaho
Society of Professional Engineers
