Speakers:
Mon., Nov. 1, 4:00 pm, Mason 107.
Monday Evening Seminar:
"Backaction Effects of the Superconducting Single Electron
Transistor," Ben Turek, Physics.
Adviser: Prof. Robert Schoelkopf.
Refreshments at 3:30 pm.
Wed., Nov. 3, 11:00 am, Hope Building 216, Medical Center.
Department of Biomedical Engineering Research Seminar:
"Brain-Machine Interfaces: From Systems Neuroscience
to Prosthetic Devices," Dr. Jose M. Carmena, Center for
Neuroengineering, Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, NC.
Host: Dr. Mark Laubach.
Wed., Nov. 3, 1:00 pm, Mason 107.
Solid State and Optics Seminar:
"Nanoscale Fluctuations in Glass," Prof. Nathan Israeloff,
Physics Department, Northeastern University.
Host: Prof. Robert Schoelkopf.
Wed., Nov. 3, 4:00 pm, Mason 211.
Department of Chemical Engineering Seminar:
"The Role of Natural Plant Products in Disinfection
Byproduct Formation," Prof. David A. Reckhow,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Host: Prof. William Mitch.
Thurs., Nov. 4, 11:00 am, Watson 400.
Thurs.,
Nov. 4,
1:00 pm, Sloane Physics Lab 52.
Condensed Matter Physics Seminar:
"Nonequilibrium Transport through a Phonon
Coupled
Molecule," Prof. Aditi Mitra, Columbia
University.
Host: Prof. Steven Girvin.
Applying
to Graduate Schools:
Tau Beta Pi invites Engineering undergraduates to
a discussion of the application process to Graduate
Schools
(including what Admissions Committees look for when
selecting candidates for admission). Presenters:
Prof. Daniel Prober, Director of Faculty of
Engineering
Graduate Admissions; Ms. Cara Gibilisco,
Registrar,
Engineering Graduate Studies Office; Mr. Jonathan
Bau,
Undergraduate Career Services.
Wed., Nov. 3, 4:00 pm, Engineering Student Center.
Refreshments.
Last one this term:
Engineering undergraduate and graduate students are
invited to the last in the "Life after a Yale
Engineering Degree"
lunch and informal chat series with alumni who have
put
their Yale engineering education to good use is
Mon., Nov. 1, noon to 1:30 pm, the Engineering
Student Center.
The guest will be Mr. Peter Berg '68, Manager, Design
Engineering, Precision Products Business Group, Texas
Instruments, Inc., Attleboro, MA.
R.S.V.P. to <eric.mitchell@yale.edu>
Be
ready, says NSBE-Yale:
In light of the upcoming Engineering Career Fair at
Columbia
Nov. 5, the National Society of Black Engineers-Yale
Chapter
invites everyone to a workshop on "Interviewing
and Networking
Skills" Wed., Nov. 3, 7:00 pm, in the
African-American House
Library, 211 Park Street. This event is co-sponsored
by University
Career Services.
Not
Grace Hopper 
but
Thomas Edison:
Mr. Fred R. Shapiro, Law School Associate Librarian,
lecturer
in legal research, and editor of the forthcoming
"Yale Dictionary
of Quotations," says that "bug" was an
engineering term in
use during the 1800s. He says: "When writing
about inventions,
in 1878, Edison wrote: 'The first step is an
intuition....then....
"Bugs"--as such little faults and
difficulties are called--show
themselves.'" In 1889, the Pall Mall Gazette of
March 11 reported,
says Mr. Shapiro, that "Mr. Edison....had been
up the two
previous nights discovering a 'bug' in his
phonograph--an expression
for solving a difficulty, and implying that some
imaginary insect
has secreted itself inside and is causing all the
trouble." The 1934
Webster's New International Dictionary lists
"bug, n...3. A defect
in apparatus or its operation...Slang, U.S."
Rear Admiral Grace
Hopper did, however, find a real dead bug in the Mark
II (not
the Mark I) at Harvard and taped it to her log for
Sept. 9, 1945.
End
of Faculty of Engineering Bulletin 638