Dear Colleague Letter - Employment Opportunity for Broadening Participation in Engineering Program Director, Engineering Education and Centers Division (EEC)

EEC 13-001

Dear Colleague Letter - Employment Opportunity for Broadening Participation in Engineering Program Director, Engineering Education and Centers Division (EEC)

Date: March 14, 2013

The Engineering Education and Centers Division (EEC) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), announces a nationwide search for an individual to serve as Program Director for the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program (BPE). The rotational assignment will be made for one year, and it may be extended for additional years by mutual agreement. Formal consideration of interested applicants will begin April 1, 2013 and will continue until a selection is made. The selected applicant is expected to start between July 1, 2013 and September 30, 2013.

Through its funding portfolio, the BPE Program focuses on effective means of creating diverse pathways to engineering careers for all members of society, particularly those currently under-represented in the engineering workforce. The objective of the program is to improve the quality and diversity of the engineering workforce through targeted, systemic investments that achieve demonstrable short term and long term impact. The selected individual is expected to:

Develop the ENG broadening participation strategy to maximize the impact of ENG investments.Solicit, review, and effectively manage a portfolio of awards in broadening participation.Work with other experts internal and external to NSF to evaluate the long term impact of ENG’s broadening participation portfolio.Serve as a resource for ENG through their expertise on current scholarship and research for effective broadening participation strategies.Work closely with other program officers and administrative staff across the Engineering Directorate on methods to improve existing review, outreach, and other efforts to meet NSF goals of broadening participation.Participate in intra- and inter-agency broadening participation workgroups, as appropriate, to effectively leverage ENG investments

NSF Program Directors bear the primary responsibility for carrying out the overall mission of the agency. To discharge this responsibility requires not only knowledge in the appropriate disciplines, but also a commitment to high standards, a considerable breadth of interest and receptivity to new ideas, a strong sense of fairness, good judgment, and a high degree of personal integrity.

Required qualifications include a Ph.D. degree or equivalent professional experience in an engineering discipline, plus six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience in academe, industry, or government. The appointee is expected to have knowledge of research in an engineering discipline as well as the scholarship of broadening participation as evidenced by leading research efforts, scholarly publications in this area or other relevant measures. Experience in managing programs that enhance the recruitment, retention and successful career development of underrepresented groups in engineering and related disciplines is highly desirable. Leadership experience in engineering education or broadening participation efforts (departmental, college, university, societies, journals, etc.) is required. In addition, demonstrated achievements in classroom teaching and student advising are important attributes for the successful applicant. Also desirable are knowledge of the general scientific and engineering community and strong skills in written and oral communication. The appointee is expected to function effectively both within specific programs and as part of a team, contributing to and coordinating with offices throughout NSF and with other Federal and state government agencies and private sector organizations. The National Science Foundation especially encourages applications from women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities, as well as individuals from Minority Serving Institutions.

This position may be filled through one of the following appointment options:

Intergovernmental Personnel Assignment (IPA) Act: Individuals eligible for an IPA assignment with a Federal agency include employees of State and local government agencies or institutions of higher education, Indian tribal governments, and other eligible organizations in instances where such assignments would be of mutual benefit to the organizations involved. Initial assignments under IPA provisions may be made for a period up to two years, with a possible extension for up to an additional two-year period. The individual remains an employee of the home institution and NSF provides the negotiated funding toward the assignee's salary and benefits. Initial IPA assignments are made for a one-year period and may be extended by mutual agreement.

Visiting Scientist Appointment: Appointment to this position will be made under the Excepted Authority of the NSF Act. Visiting Scientists are on non-paid leave status from their home institution and placed on the NSF payroll. NSF withholds Social Security taxes and pays the home institution's contributions to maintain retirement and fringe benefits (i.e., health benefits and life insurance), either directly to the home institution or to the carrier. Appointments are usually made for a one-year period and may be extended for an additional year by mutual agreement.

Temporary Excepted Service Appointment: Appointment to this position will be made under the Excepted Authority of the NSF Act. Candidates who do not have civil service or reinstatement eligibility will not obtain civil service status if selected. Candidates currently in the competitive service will be required to waive competitive civil service rights if selected. Usual civil service benefits (retirement, health benefits, and life insurance) are applicable for appointments of more than one year. Temporary appointments may not exceed three years.

For additional information on NSF's rotator programs, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/rotators/.

Applications will be accepted from US Citizens. Due to a recent change in Federal Appropriations Law, only Non-Citizens who are permanent US residents and actively seeking citizenship can be considered for Federal appointments (i.e., Visiting Scientists, Engineers and Educators (VSEE) program, Temporary Excepted Service). Therefore, you are required to provide documentation that confirms you are actively seeking citizenship at the time you submit your application. Non-citizens who do not provide documentation will be considered only for the IPA program.

Individuals interested in applying for this Program Director position should send a current CV and statement of interest to:

Engineering Education and Centers Division
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 585
Arlington, VA 22230
Phone: 703-292-8380
Attn: Dr. Theresa Maldonado, Division Director
Email: tmaldona@nsf.gov

NSF IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER COMMITTED TO EMPLOYING
A HIGHLY QUALIFIED STAFF THAT REFLECTS THE DIVERSITY OF OUR NATION.

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Science & Engineering Internship programme

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Registered office: Prospects House, Booth Street East, Manchester, M13 9EP. Registered number: 2626618 (England and Wales)

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Patent Examiners in the field of Mechanical Engineering

© Copyright 2013 Graduate Prospects Ltd. All rights reserved.

Registered office: Prospects House, Booth Street East, Manchester, M13 9EP. Registered number: 2626618 (England and Wales)

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NASA-JPL Scientist Elected to National Academy of Engineering

JPL's Moustafa Chahine. Image credit: NASA/JPL February 06, 2009

PASADENA, Calif. – In one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to engineers and scientists, the National Academy of Engineering has elected Moustafa T. Chahine, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as a member of its organization.

The academy elected Chahine based on his leadership in determining the structure and composition of Earth's atmosphere from space. The organization awards those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education" and for pioneering new fields of technology, advancing the engineering field, and "implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Chahine, the founder of JPL's Earth and space sciences division and the lab's chief scientist from 1984 to 2001, is one of 65 members and nine foreign associates newly elected to the Washington-based academy. He is the principal investigator for NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, which was launched onboard the Aqua spacecraft in 2002. Aqua is part of NASA's Earth Observing System, which studies Earth's water cycle and energy fluxes.

Chahine's primary interests are in the remote sensing of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, and in climate change processes. Among the remote-sensing methods he has developed is one that enables infrared remote sensing through clouds. This has been applied to the remote sensing of Earth, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. His current research activities are in transport studies of Earth's hydrological cycle.

Chahine served as a member of NASA's Earth system sciences committee and as chair of the World Meteorological Organization's science steering group for the organization's global energy and water cycle experiment from 1989 to 1999. His many honors include the William T. Pecora Award from NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the American Meteorological Society's Jule G. Charney Award, and in 2007, the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievements.

Chahine received his Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of California at Berkeley, the same year he joined JPL. He and his wife, Marina, live in La Canada-Flintridge and have two sons.

In addition to being a new member of the National Academy of Engineering, Chahine is a fellow in the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union and the American and British Meteorological Societies.

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information on JPL is at www.jpl.nasa.gov . More information on the National Academy of Engineering is at www.nae.edu .

Media contact: Rhea R. Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

2009-018

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Rigid growth matrix: A key to success of cardiac tissue engineering

A new study by researchers at UCLA suggests that the elasticity of the physical matrix used for growing heart muscle cells outside of the body may be critical to the success of cardiac tissue engineering. The results were published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials this week.

Adult heart muscle is the least regenerative of human tissues. But embryonic cardiomyocytes (cardiac muscle cells) can multiply, with embryonic stem cells providing an endless reservoir for new cardiac tissue. A new study by Nakano, Gimzewski and their co-workers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) suggests that the elasticity of the physical matrix used for growing cardiomyocytes outside of the body may be critical to the success of cardiac tissue engineering efforts.

Published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, the study found that a stiff or rigid environment not only enhances the function of existing cardiomyocytes (as has previously been shown), but also promotes the generation of cardiomyocytes from embryonic stem (ES) cells. It may therefor be possible to grow new heart muscle tissue from stem cells by manipulating the stiffness of the medium they're grown in.

In living organisms, a type of adult stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are extremely sensitive to the elasticity of different materials, when cultured outside the body. For example, soft growing matrices that mimic brain tissue promote the differentiation of MSCs into neurons, while rigid matrices that resemble bone tissue promote the differentiation of MSCs into bone cells.

In this study, the UCLA team examined the role of matrix elasticity on cardiac muscle development using mouse and human embryonic stem cells, which were grown on different substrates of a silicon-based organic polymer that varied in stiffness. The team found that rigid matrices promoted the generation of more cardiomyocytes cells from ES cells. In addition, ES-derived cardiomyocytes displayed functional maturity and synchronization of beating when cultured with cardiomyocytes harvested from a developing embryo.

The team recommends further research on how biophysical cues determine the fate of embryonic stem cells in order to improve cardiac tissue culture methods for regenerative medicine purposes.

More information: Arshi, A. et al. Rigid microenvironments promote cardiac differentiation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 14 (2013) 025003. doi:10.1088/1468-6996/14/2/025003

Journal reference: Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

Provided by National Institute for Materials Science

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