Uncategorized

Unleash Your Inner Asimov

Don’t be alarmed–this is an actual sighting of an engineer reading!
I was very pleased to read G. Pascal Zachary’s Opinion piece in the November 2012 issue of the IEEE Spectrum magazine.  Yes, fiction has an important role to play in inspiring creativity among the engineering set.  In fact, …

Let’s Engineer Communication!

Teaching communication to engineers looks a lot like conducting an orchestra.
On Monday, November 26th, we started a new academic term here at Rose-Hulman, my home institution. That means I met with students in the two sections of the Technical and Professional Communication course that I …

A Reminder about PCS Elections

There is still time to cast your vote in the 2012 PCS elections for AdCom members.
The presidential election in the United States is over now, but you can still keep the election spirit alive by voting in the 2012 IEEE PCS election for members of …

Let Me Verbalize It For You

You can turn each of these nouns into a verb, but do so at your own peril!
I thought I would recommend Helen Sword’s recent posting in the NYT Draft column on the topic of mutant verbs.  Be warned–the creation of verb forms from nouns doesn’t make our …

The “A” Word

In this case, it stands for ABET!
My blogging has been severely curtailed in the past several weeks because of the imminent arrival of program evaluators from the Engineering Accreditation Commission and the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET.  Yes, every six years (or more frequently if …

More on the M-Dash

Ben Yagoda has provided more information on the m-dash in today’s New York Times.  I am pleased that my own ramblings on the subject in a previous blog inspired others to explore this dainty bit of punctuation goodness!

(Not) The Queen’s English

The perfect blend of Old World style and New World bravado!
It’s Friday, and what better time to reflect on a recent item that made news on both sides of the pond:  Americans are barmy about Britishisms!
According to University of Delaware professor Ben Yagoda, who curates the Not One-Off Britishisms …

IPCC Day 3

The final day of IPCC, and we started with a morning keynote.  Jon Leydens, winner of the Lufkin Award for Best Paper in the 2012 Conference Proceedings, argued for the role of social justice in professional communication.  Part of the presentation included a memorable illustration …