Within the last two weeks the US National Science Foundation (NSF) published not one but two studies on (a) the attitudes of scientists and engineers to the changing world of publication, and (b) the relative global productibity of US science & engineering as measured by journal publication.    



These are not dense 500 page reports, but short, readable (10-15 min.).  I think iMechanica readers will find them relevant and interesting:

I've been to two conferences this year and I've again seen the same annoying features in many talks that have been warned against by numerous people over the years.

Here are some tips that might come in handy :

http://tinyurl.com/2ud2wn

Long URL: (http://www.scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/

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The above was written for the interested layperson who wants to learn more about science. It provides some context for our manuscript that has recently appeared in Nature.

From Northwestern Engineering:

In a paper published July 26 in the journal Nature, researchers led by Rod Ruoff, John Evans Professor of Nanoengineering in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, report on the development of "graphene oxide paper."

Recently, Prof. Suo and several of us students have been discussing the possibility of increasing student presence and activity on iMechanica . With this in mind, two of us: Mahdi Kazemzadeh and I, have identified three important issues we would like to get your thoughts on. Please comment and let us know what you think, even if you are not a student. Also, if you wish to add any more issues you think we should look at, please post your thoughts in this regard as well.

The mechanical engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University is now advertising faculty positions. Ranked by US News & World Report as a top 10 graduate engineering program and a Top 25 undergraduate university, Carnegie Mellon might be a good fit for someone that you know.

The number of registered users of iMechanica exceeded 3000 today, three months after iMechanica welcomed its 2000th user.  The number of posts has exceeded 1700, and the number of comments, 3800. The growth of iMechanica has been stable and amazing, leading to a natural question: why do people register at iMechanica? iMechanica is open:  evevryone can read everything without registration.  You can post anything of interest to mechanicians once you register for a free account. 

We invite you to submit an abstract for the poster sessions in the International Workshop on SMART DEVICES: MODELING OF MATERIAL SYSTEMS Jan 10-12, 2008. IIT MADRAS, Chennai.  INDIA.    (pl. note: VERY LIMITED SLOTS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE POSTER SESSIONS) www.sdmoms.org

--> 15 Aug 2007:  Deadline for abstract submission (poster sessions only)

--> 20 Aug 2007:  End of abstract selection (poster sessions only).