SWE - Spring 2009 - (Page 58)

ENGINEERING WORLD S. Fauci, M.D.; The Honorable Al Gore; The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton; The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.; The Honorable Thomas H. Kean; The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy; The Honorable John Lewis; The Honorable Richard G. Lugar; Wilma Mankiller; The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta; The Honorable George J. Mitchell; Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; The Honorable Peter G. Peterson; The Honorable Colin L. Powell; The Honorable Thomas J. Ridge; The Honorable Alice M. Rivlin, Ph.D.; The Honorable Robert E. Rubin; The Honorable George P. Schultz, Ph.D.; The Honorable Donna E. Shalala, Ph.D.; The Honorable Paul A. Volcker; and The Honorable John C. Whitehead. exercise (8 percent) and computer activities and fishing (each at 7 percent). M The median amount of time spent working, including housekeeping and studying, is now at 46 hours per week, up slightly from 45 hours in 2007. In 1973, when this question was first asked, the median was 41 hours a week. M By generation, Generation Xers (ages 32-43) work the most hours (55 each week), followed by 50 hours each week for Echo Boomers (ages 18-31) and Baby Boomers (44-62). As many Matures retire, they work 15 hours each week. As leisure time shrinks, Americans appear to be indulging more in solo activities. Four of 2008’s top-five choices were typically done alone: reading, watching TV, exercising, and computer activities. world each year. The used or “spent” grounds remaining from production of espresso, cappuccino, and plain old-fashioned cups of java often wind up in the trash Wonder Where Your Leisure Time Went? Evidently the stock markets weren’t the only indices that declined last year. America’s leisure time is shrinking, and how we spend that time is changing too. These are the latest results from The Harris Poll® , which tracked America’s leisure time since 1973. Harris Interactive® surveyed 1,010 adults by telephone between Oct. 16 and 19, 2008, and found: M The median number of leisure hours available each week dropped 20 percent in 2008, from 20 hours in 2007, to an all-time low of only 16 hours in 2008. This continues a trend that has seen America’s median weekly leisure time shrink 10 hours from 26 hours per week in 1973, the first year Harris tracked it. M The biggest changes in 2008 in how people use their precious leisure time were in TV watching (up 6 points), exercise (up 3 points), and spending time with family and kids (up 3 points). M Three in 10 (30 percent) of Americans say their favorite activity is reading (up from 29 percent in 2007), while one-quarter (24 percent) say it is TV watching, and 17 percent say it is spending time with family and kids (up from 14 percent in 2007). Rounding out the top-five leisure-time activities are 58 SWE SPRING 2009 Growth Markets for 2009 Mark LaPedus at the EE Times cited a list of five growth markets for 2009 compiled by the Information Network: 1. Solar panels 2. Hard-disk drives 3. Nanomaterials 4. LCDs 5. MEMS Waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant source of biodiesel fuel. Wake up and Smell the Biodiesel Researchers in Nevada report that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. In the study, published online in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Mano Misra, Ph.D.; Susanta Mohapatra, Ph.D.; and graduate student Narasimharao Kondamudi noted that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, highquality source or feedstock. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That is about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oils. Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world’s fuel supply. To verify it, they collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel. The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel due to coffee’s high antioxidant content. Estimates are the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. The researchers plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months. A Double-bind for Women A new study in the Psychology of Women Quarterly finds that women who present themselves as confident and ambitious in job interviews are viewed as highly competent, but lacking in social skills. Women who present themselves as modest and cooperative, while well liked, are perceived as NARASIMHARAO KONDAMUDI, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Spring 2009

SWE - Spring 2009 Heritage Club Contents President's Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Honoring Women’s History Public Policy Update First Lady: The “Second-Hardest Job in America” Bringing Science and Engineering into Public Policy At the Intersection of Engineering and Public Policy From Research to Reality Coffee Table Dialogues Membership Information & Calendar A&B Winning Essays from the Lava Lounge Engineering World: Issues • Events • Technology • People Point of View: Your Role in Public Policy Career Toolbox: Communicating with Congress; Finding Your Voice Corporate Partnership Council Media Shelf: Women’s History Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook: Dressed for Success

SWE - Spring 2009

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