• Emily Schultheis, President
• Andrew Brow, Student Project Manager
• Andy Ims, Student Project Manager

met with the leadership of several other STEM organizations including:

• IEEE Graduate Division
• IEEE Undergraduate Division
• SIAM Graduate Division
• MEGSA Graduate Division
• SWE Undergraduate Division

IEEE Graduate leaders hosted the panel, and proposed that we discuss how to "Promote Engineering Research at UMBC".  ASME leaders extended a proposal to the other five organizations that would entail an alliance for the purpose of organizing:

1. Online Research Portfolio Platform - for all members of the substituent societies, fostering community interaction within our university, outside our university, and provide a written record of our students' accomplishments viewable to potential graduate schools
   
2. Thesis Defense Competitive Workshop - a workshop in which members present experimental designs of projects they plan to finish in the next year, receive feedback from a student/professorial panel, and receive recognition of excellence in given categories
3. Researchers of America Competitive Conference - a "science fair style" conference, composed of graduate students, undergraduate students, and high school students who will present independent research to a series of professors and local professionals acting as judges to award scholarship prizes to the most excellent research in the given categories

ASME has named the total alliance of these organizations, "Researchers of America" and has expansion past UMBC borders in mind.  ASME drafted the formal proposal for Researchers of America last week.  After the proposal was approved by all members of the ASME leadership board, the proposal was circulated to the associated organizations listed above.  It is currently being reviewed by leaders of the organization.  The final draft of the proposal will be made available to ASME members in the "Documents" section of this site as soon as it has been approved by all involved organizations (estimated for the end of this week). 

As stated in the first GBM, interdisciplinary involvement is a top priority for ASME leadership.  This alliance will encourage interactive behavior among its STEM community.

These leaders and ASME leaders are anxious to gain an audience with President Hwrabowski for the purpose of introducing this endeavor, seek advice, and pursue preparation for all of the involved components.  ASME hopes to host the first Researchers of America Competitive Conference in spring 2014.  However, the Online Research Portfolio Platform and Thesis Defense Competitive Workshop are planned to be executed this semester (spring 2013) and fall 2013 respectively.

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Please email <asme.umbc@gmail.com> or <emschul1@umbc.edu> or comment on this article if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.  Thank you!

Image By: U.S. Army

Not everyone goes to a NASCAR race expecting to part of the action.

But that’s exactly what happened to fans on Saturday when a crash at the Daytona International Speedway caused debris to fly into the stands. According to CNN multiple specatators were injured, at least two of them critically.

And while everyone’s first reaction is to call for help, their second reaction is to take pictures—or in this case, video.

Footage of the crash quickly popped up on YouTube, but only minutes later it was taken down for copyright reasons.

In the hours after the crash the video has started to show up on other websites, and has even been uploaded to other YouTube accounts. Steve Phelps, NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer has since released a statement in an attempt to explain why the original video was blocked:

“The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today’s accident. Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident.”

While some people have accepted NASAR’s reasoning, others are more skeptical. According to @Sportsfeeder1 on Twitter:

“Fan video of crash is removed from youtube because Nascar is claiming copyright violation. If they can’t make money of video, no one can!”

Others have expressed that in the very least, it’s not right for NASCAR to take down firsthand footage of crashes but then show footage from event cameras later.

What do you think? Should the video be taken down out of respect for those injured, or do we have a right to see what can happen at a NASCAR event? Share your thoughts below.