This archival (yet recent) posting to an obscure physics list might be of some interest to those taking a longer view. The work/study projects described below come from an Oregon think tank working in private-public partnerships on education policy. I'm one of the principals.
Kirby ===== Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:28:54 -0800 Sender: Education about physics-related social topics <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Kirby Urner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: 4D Solutions Subject: FW: new work / study opportunities... FYI to PHYSOC, something I wrote for a different clique, mentions this list in the endnotes. Kirby Urner Portland, Oregon -----Original Message----- From: kirby urner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:21 AM To: [ list of recipients ] Subject: HPNY! So welcome to 2008 ya'll. I'm back from a 3687 km drive to/from LA, a loop down the coast, back on I-5 (odd number freeways run north south, increment west to east, with I-95 the analogy to I-5 in the east). Current project: [ Background: Oregon / Washington suffer from degraded railroad infrastructure and poor passenger service, whereas the latter especially could add tourist dollars to the local economy, were it able to manage itself successfully. ] I'm recruiting players to this idea of college students getting semesters abroad to do work / study doing interesting body-building work like revamping a railroad through rural (some urban) Oregon. Not everyone would be cut out for this, and it'd be the usual thing of screening candidates through an admissions process. The perks would include cultural immersion, free time, trips to surrounding cities, room and board, lots of bandwidth, flatscreens for after hours video gaming etc. College credit would attach, as this isn't just about building a railroad. You learn some North American history at the same time, about Chinese (including pre European), about gold rushes (California, Alaska), about the local tribal nations, both their history and current operations (guided tour of a casino or two?). Sounds like *nothing* to do with Python right? Right in a way, but on the other hand 4D Solutions has built much of its local street cred around this phase-in of explicit programming around math concepts, per Pippy on the XO: Fibonacci Numbers and Pascals Triangle both figure. The partnership's results boost our credibility with funders, but more importantly with local college and university faculty. We already have fans at Linnfield, PSU (Wanderers helps with this too). The fact of these contacts makes it easier to envision coordinating with college admissions officers around such projects as the above (a way of training geek civilians in the use of heavy equipment, or so- called "blue collar" skills (an unfortunate classism, still very engrained)). Having been the database guy for Associated Oregon Industries also helps, plus the Saturday Academy connection, explicitly backed by Silicon Forest powers that be. Of course we need to test the system locally for awhile, so the first step is to look for interested local schools and departments. It'd maybe sound funny to have a comp sci department recruiting for railroad work, but on the other hand the railroads have long been clients of software engineering (something I learned about at Princeton, long before Python was invented (I cut my teeth on APL and FORTRAN, was even a paid FORTRAN programmer at one point in my life, before switching to xBase pretty much full time (all pre Open Source revolution))). In the long run, we're looking at Python bindings (APIs) to next generation heavy lifting machinery, whole factories (EuroPython @ Vilnius opened my eyes to these possibilities), not just to lighter weight instruments and sensors ala the Turtle / Robotics models (though some of those robots might well be truck-sized -- might even *be* trucks per my "ZTS" proposal on another list **). You need people who've been there done that, not just arm chair imagineers with cube farm experience, but no hands on, in-the-field stuff on their resumes / transcripts. So this semester (or year) abroad, and / or from another state, rebuilding some infrastructure in Oregon (bulldozers!), under expert tutelage (some doubling as recruiters for unions and guilds, seeking longer term commitments (not a secret)) and under university supervision (strong faculty presence, access to admin services, including around visas), *does* tie in to building on Python's reputation as a controller in technology settings, in telescopy and such. I expect to see some of you in Chicago, where I'll be enroute to a family reunion further on in west Pennsylvania (Amish country). I expect my two daughters to join me, maybe more (still too early to have a script completely worked yet). More later, Kirby ** [EMAIL PROTECTED] Education about physics-related social topics e.g. http://tinyurl.com/2zbwkg See also: http://storage.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/11/08/netapp-drives-zombie-truck-in -desert-race/ Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main PHYSOC page -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
