Week of April 20

This Week in DE
DE will wrap up the initial state machine (candy machine & 4 digit display) design on Tuesday and then start work on the copier jam circuit Thursday.  In this project, you will interface the circuit that you are making with external sensors since all circuits are designed to get information from the outside world (sensor), make a decision, and control an action (motor).

Agendas for this Week:
Tuesday: Complete Phone Number Display
Thursday: Copier Jam Detector

Field Trips/Conferences

This Thursday is the deadline to sign up for two exciting field trips available to engineering students.  Cedar Ridge High School will host the 4th annual Youth in STEM conference this Saturday (THIS Saturday, April 25).  It is from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and doesn't cost anything to you.  There will be several companies there to demonstrate the exciting and new things that engineers are doing in their work.  There are also several exhibitions to allow attendants to get their hands dirty with engineering, game design, robotics, drones, and much  more.  Below is a partial list of the some of the exhibits that will be there.  Bring some canned food to donate to the local food bank for a chance to win an iPad or a Lego Mindstorms kit.

• Dell Alienware – Gaming Technology
• GeekBus (STEM mobile trailer out of San Antonio) - http://www.geekbus.com/
• Steve Wolf (“Science in the Movies”) - http://www.scienceinthemovies.com/
• KingsIsle Entertainment (Gaming Software) - https://www.kingsisle.com/
• Flat Iron Pre-College Academy (Drones) - http://precollege.flatironschool.com/
• AT&T (Fiber Optics)
• Texas A&M (Engineering)
• ACC (Gaming, Electronics, Auto Cad, and Computer Science)
• Texas Board of Professional Engineers (Professional Organization)

You must sign up by Thursday at the latest at the conference web site.

Then, on May 12, we will take 20 students to visit Samsung's Austin Semiconductor plant.  It is a fascinating trip, and students always enjoy the day.  You will get a chance to peek inside of an operating, fully-automated modern semiconductor plant, interact with their engineers to find out about engineering and college, tour the museum on the history of semiconductors (aka electronics or computers), and get fed a good meal.  There is no cost to you.  Just sign up (below), turn in your permission forms, and meet us at school on the morning of May 12.  We will take you to Samsung and return to campus around 2:00.  You will miss 1st, 2nd, & 3rd periods and should be back before 4th period starts.  That is the day of the French Language, Spanish Literature, or the US Government AP exam, so you won't be able to go if you are taking those.


  

This Week at RRHS
Other than a faculty meeting Thursday morning, it is a pretty normal week.  Even Thursday will follow the normal bell schedule, but there will be no Thursday morning tutorials before school because of the meeting.

This is now the last "six" weeks of the year.  Although, it is really 8 weeks long.  Things get really busy from here on, so keep on top of things.  Starting May 4, AP and STARR (or EoC) testing will cover two weeks and affect a number of our classes.  Not long after that, you should look for exemption information and start preparations for the final exams.

College Recruiter Visits
Wednesday - The University of Houston