ADULT PROGRAMS - Needham Public Schools

HUMANITIES, MATH & SCIENCE
NEW
“TRANSDUCTION IN
ENGINEERING”
Jose Oscar Mur-Miranda, Assistant Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Can we predict what happens if you short the
electric terminals of a motor Engineering
transduction is the conversion of energy and
information across domains. In this talk, based
on one of the first courses our students take
in their first semester at Olin, we’ll focus on
motors as transducers between the domains of
electric and mechanical energy. Transduction
leads to interesting effects: do you know what
happens if you drop a magnet through a copper
tube Engineers exploit transduction to create
effects intentionally. You’ll see how knowledge of
mechanical physics allows engineers to create a
virtual spring using transduction. Furthermore,
transduction can be used to make systems that
seem to defy the laws of physics. In particular,
the same principles used to create a virtual spring
can be tweaked to balance an inverted pendulum.
Come see how to make a Segway for a mouse!
11042 $10
1 Thursday @ Olin College Academic Center,
Room 113 7-8:30pm
October 17
“NUMBERSIGHT: THROUGH
MEANING TO MASTERY OF
THE NUMBERS AROUND YOU”
Sanjoy Mahajan, Associate Professor of Applied Science
and Engineering
The physical world we understand through
numbers and mathematics. In our social world,
trillion-dollar decisions depend also on numerical
insight – what I call numbersight. However, people
believe that numerical insight must be innate or,
at best, can be learned only very young, the way
Mozart is said to have learned music. However,
mathematical expertise and insight can be
taught. I will first discuss how and why traditional
mathematics teaching is such a disaster,
producing numerical paralysis rather than insight;
and then teach, through examples, mental tools
for mastering the numbers around you.
11035 $10
1 Tuesday @ Olin College Academic Center,
Room 328 7-8:30pm
October 22
NEW
“WHAT IS ENERGY –
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
TO THE LAWS OF
THERMODYNAMICS”
Brian D. Storey, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Energy is critical to our society, economy,
environment, and everyday lives. One only has
to listen to a political debate or the news to hear
terms such as “renewable energy” or “energy
security” repeatedly. While most of us have some
intuitive understanding of energy, have you every
stopped to think about what energy really is In
this lecture, I will attempt to explain what energy
is and explain the basics laws of thermodynamics
that govern its behavior. Through some simple
examples I will show how these laws can help
us think about how much energy is required for
everyday tasks and how energy can be extracted
from different sources.
11040 $10
1 Tuesday @ Olin College Academic Center,
Room 328 7-8:30pm
October 29
Best $10 I’ve ever spent!
– Attendee at one of the Olin College Lectures
in the Fall of 2012
FAX: 781-455-0417 • PHONE: 781-455-0400 x235 27