Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology Final Presentation December 16, 2006

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Anita Borg Institute for Women and
TechnologyFinal PresentationDecember 16, 2006
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Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• F.I.T.
• Agent April
• L.U.M. and Workshops

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Our Mission

• To increase the impact of women on all aspects of
  technology.
• To increase the positive impact of technology on
  the lives of the world's women.
• To help communities, industry, education and
  governments benefit from these increases.

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F.I.T. Females in Technology
Presenting Go Choi Kate Hood
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Team Composition

• Project Leader
• Go Choi
• Team Members
• Priyum Jyoti
• Brad Boldt
• Lindsay Okray
• Eric Ridenour
• German Rendon
• Kate Hood

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Only 19.6 of engineering majors and 11 of
technology majors in the U.S. are women(1,2)

• Develop educational product that sparks interest
  in science and technology early, around pivotal
  ages of 9-13(3)
• Develop website that supports and nurtures these
  interests
• Combine these to build confidence in the girls in
  their science and technology abilities, which is
  important for their future success(4)

F.I.T. Bracelet
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Product Overview

• Hardware and Software
• User Friendly and Interactive Website
• Set of Interactive Best Friend Products

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Bracelet Overview

• Color changing and interactive
• Friendship bracelets
• Technology
• Radio Frequency (RF) Transceiver
• Ease of Implementation
• Long range
• Electroluminescent (EL) Wire
• Radiant Color Display
• Flexible and low heat

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How the Product Works

• Composed of 2 parts
• RX (Receiver)
• TX (Transmitter)
• Signal flow
• TX sends encoded signal
• RX receives and decodes
• Check code
• Send out result to microcontroller
• Light up wires

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Mentor Website
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Future Website Features

• Technology of the Week section
• Bracelet Tutorial and Guide
• Site will be monitored for content, and use of
  site by the girls will adhere to rules and
  limitations of the Childrens Online Privacy
  Protection Act (COPPA)

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How is it really educational?

• Raise awareness of the field
• Maintain awareness
• Broaden definitions
• Interaction with problem solving via bracelet
  assembly and customization

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Current Progress

• Prototype
• Website
• Participated in Global I2P
• Workshops
• Networking

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Roadblocks

• Interference in signal
• Minimization of the circuit
• Pricing for production
• Increasing the number of hits on the website
• Generating a filter for the content on the
  website

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Agent April
Presenting Dan Coffey
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Team Composition

• Project Leader
• Dan Coffey
• Team Members
• Eric Ridenour
• Kara Cunzeman
• Brad Boldt

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Our Mission Motivation

• Low Female Enrollment in Technology-based Fields
• 19 percent national enrollment
• 15-20 percent of Purdue Undergraduate CS
  Engineering Degrees are granted to women
• Only 6 of total CS enrollment is female
  (2005-2006)
• Gaming Industry
• Female roles
• Themes
• Marketing

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Our Mission Goals

• Helping the Future See Its Potential In Science
  and Engineering
• Encourage young women to become interested in
  Engineering through
• Active Learning
• Self-efficacy
• Interactive Education

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Project Overview

• Interactive Educational materials
• Recruitment of Girls to Engineering, CS, or
  Technology
• Fun, customizable, non-linear game play
• Adventure Game

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Basic Concepts

• Goal
• Education
• Entertainment
• Platform
• Computer
• Interval
• Real time
• Player mode
• Single
• Online-multi
• Genre
• Adventure

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Semester Progress
Goal Feasibility Study of Project

• CPP Presentation
• Meeting with Prof. Hoffman
• Renamed project Agent April
• Workshop _at_ Tecumseh
• Decided upon creation of Flash demo
• Collaboration with Ray Hassan on 3D modelling
  class

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Current Status

• Creating Flash-Based gameplay Demo
• End of Spring 2007
• Creating complete storyline for full version of
  game
• Researching Possible Outcomes
• Companies
• Non-Profit Organization
• Development Firms
• Purdue Programs

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L.U.M. Workshops

• Presenting Kara Cunzeman

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Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM)

• -Provides assistance and relief to Lafayette's
  needy children and families.
• Role of ABIWT
• -Bring fun and educational activities to after
  school program
• -Expose children to engineering principles
• -Provide encouragement

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Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM)

• Fall 2006 Afterschool Activities
• ?Rotorcopter
• ?Gumdrop Bridges
• ?Jumping raisins
• ?Soap Jars

Format of our Visits -Walk through hands-on
activity -Ask them to observe and describe what
they are seeing -Give scientific explanation
-Make sure everyone is having fun and
participating
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Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM)

• Our Question to LUM
• After a couple of minutes, what happens to the
  raisins?
• Our Simple Scientific Explanation
• - A base (baking soda) and acid (vinegar) react
  to form a gas (carbon dioxide)
• - Carbon Dioxide clings to raisins
• - Once enough gas adheres to the raisin, begins
  to rise to the surface
• - Gas escapes in the air and the raisin sinks
• - Raisin will repeat several hours until the
  raisin gets too soggy

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Engineering Workshop Tecumseh Junior High School

• Our Goal
• ? Gain insight on how to get girls ages 9-13
  interested in engineering
• ? Help provide sense of self-efficacy when faced
  with engineering related problems
• ? Make available a meeting place for girls to
  discuss and learn about engineering
• ? Provide support and encouragement
• ? Acquire feedback on how we can improve our team
  projects

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Engineering Workshop Tecumseh Junior High School

• What we have learned
• In General
• ?None of the girls could tell us what engineering
  is
• ?Engineering is too hard
• ?When asked what profession they might be
  interested in Engineering was NEVER mentioned
• ?Want to help people in their job
• ?Marketing is extremely important when targeting
  girls 9-13
• ?Discussion group-based environment encouraged
  girls to be open and honest in their answers
• ?Workshops taught the girls to be more
  open-minded about their career choices

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Engineering Workshop Tecumseh Junior High School

• What we have learned
• Our Projects
• Agent April Game
• ?Mystery
• ?Customizable characters
• ?3D, life-like, colorful graphics
• ?Want to be challenged, but successful
• ?Speed and information given affects level of
  difficulty---want different levels to be
  available
• ?Want to be the main character

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Engineering Workshop Tecumseh Junior High School

• What we have learned
• Our Projects
• Bracelet/FIT
• ?Colors liked pink, blue, neons
• ?Small watch sized
• ?Off button
• ?Customizable add charms, stickers, etc.
• ?Water proof
• ?Maximum price would pay 15
• ?Contests on website, win prizes for best idea

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Purdue University Leadership Team

• Jean Jackson
• Manager of Corporate
• Relations, Computer
• Science
• Anne Custer
• Middle School Language
• Arts Teacher
• Dr. Barb Clark
• Director of Science
• Diversity Office

• Dr. Leah Jamieson
• Dean of Engineering
• for Undergraduate Education,
• Ransburg Professor of ECE,
• President of IEEE
• Dr. Patrice Buzzanell
• Professor of
• Communication
• Dr. Beth Holloway
• Director of Women in
• Engineering Program

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Outside Resources

• Nancy Clement
• Interim Director of EPICS Entrepreneurship
  Initiative Entrepreneurship Program
  Coordinator
• Chris Rains
• MBA student
• Prof. John P. Denton
• Electrical Engineering Technology Professor

• Charlotte Erdmann
• Associate Professor
• Hilton Turner
• Technology Manager, Office of
  Technology Commercialization
• Joe Leong
• Electrical Engineering Undergrad,
  Website Consultant

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Questions
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Sources

• (1) Engineering Workforce Commission, American
  Association of Engineering Societies, Inc, 2005
  Study
• (2) Prism magazine, Jan. 2005 ASEE data
• (3)http//proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index6did3211
  47861SrchMode1sid3Fmt6VInstPRODVTypePQD
  RQT309VNamePQDTS1162925992clientId31343
• (4) A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student
  Performance and Retention. III. Gender
  Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes

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COPPA

• Obtain parent permission to create account
• Require email address
• Verify using DLN or credit card
• Create parental account
• Allow parents to see a detailed report of childs
  activity
• Option to receive periodic emails regarding
  childs activity
• Additional Monitoring
• Software monitoring for inappropriate content
• Human monitoring

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Cost of Bracelet

• 25 figure based on current design and
  capabilities
• Integration of all components should reduce cost
• VP of Cypress was confident that circuit could be
  manufactured for 5 at the size of a quarter

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Why EL Wire?

• Thin, lightweight, flexible
• Low power consumption
• Long life
• Very low heat output
• Low cost (1/ft)
• Functions even when damaged
• Not affected by vibration
• More intuitive application to bracelet design

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Bracelet Details

• Can be turned off
• EL wire can flash or glow
• Future plans to increase diversity of light
  patterns
• Intent to make light response dependent on friend
  ID
• Ability to exchange wires for different colors
• Can have more than one color at a time
• Wire comes in red, blue, lime, aqua, purple,
  green, yellow, and pink

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Other Possible Products

• Shoes
• Belt buckle
• Costume jewelry
• Pet products
• Hooded sweatshirts
• Bags