Finding and Working with a Technical Advisor
Task 1
Your teacher should help your team locate a scientist or an engineer. This person
will become your team's technical advisor. He/she should know about the
technical application you chose to solve your problem. Include the following
information on your website:
Conservation at the University of Florida
b. I work at the University of Florida.
c. My job is to direct and help students and faculty in my department learn, teach,
and do research on wildlife issues in Florida, other parts of the United States,
and even in other countries.
d. I have been a faculty member for 25 years, and I decided to be a scientist after I
took a long camping trip after 8th grade. The trip was a driving trip from south Florida to Alaska! It took the entire summer, and we got to see more 20 national parks on the trip.
Task 2
Ask your technical advisor to review what you have written in Component One. Tell
how your technical advisor helped your team to better understand the problem.
Include any suggestions your technical advisor offered about your team's
solution to the problem. Put this information on your website.
Weebly site for your review
S Hall< [email protected]>
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
Living in the area I have personally seen and been affected by bear issues around our
home. We have had black bears tear down a portion of our fence 3 times trying to
get into our back yard. I think the problem you chose is very timely and impacting for the Heathrow school community. I like the thoughts and efforts you have put into this issue. The radar and imagining
sensor to identify the bear would be a great way to inform the community.
Anne Hall
1. Professor Hellgren helped us decide not to use a motion detector that includes an x-ray
attachment. Professor Hellgren said that it may be difficult and would also increase x-ray radiation around the homeowners’ property.
2. He says that electric fences can be useful for protecting outdoor things from bears.
3. Professor Hellgren thinks the electric fence should go around the garbage, and the
homeowners should easily be able to enter the fenced area with a switch or a passcode.
4. Professor Hellgren thinks that bear-proof garbage cans will go well with our project.
5. He recommended different websites for us to research.
6. He said that Pennsylvania has the same problem that we have and that we should
research about that.
7. He said that there’s also New York’s solutions we could look up because they have
the same problem too.
8. Professor Hellgren sent us pictures of the bears getting into a bird feeder.
Here are our emails to Professor Hellgren and his replies:
From: Judy Wall-Townsend <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 10:09 AM
Subject: “Bear, Bear, Go Away” School Project
To: Eric Hellgren <[email protected]>
Dear Professor Hellgren,
We are a group of third grade students at Heathrow Elementary in Lake Mary, FL, who are researching
the problem of bear invasions into our community. We actually have a recent video of a mama bear with
two cubs by our playground. We could not use our playground or have P.E. outside that day.
We are contacting you because Professor Giuliano recommended you as a bear expert. We had contacted him because of the interviews quoting him on this topic that we have seen in the Orlando Sentinel. Although Professor Giuliano has been helpful, due to his travel schedule he may not be able to contact us over the next few weeks.
We have entered an Internet Science and Technology Fair (ISTF) competition that requires we find someone with technical experience with our project to mentor us through email. We are researching how other communities have dealt with this kind of problem and how we can use technologies to help solve this problem. We will also make a website to show our research and proposed solutions. Would you be willing to mentor our team for this project?
This was our project entry:
"Bear, Bear, Go Away"
Bears are becoming a nuisance and threat in our neighborhoods, local communities, and elsewhere in the United
States. Bears’ environments have been cut down and destroyed by humans and the bears have become bolder in seeking food from our dumpsters, garbage cans, and pantries. There have also been bear attacks on humans.
This team will provide protection for both humans and the bears. Our multi-system approach would provide a Garage/shed-like metal containment device for garbage and dumpster protection, along with bear motion-detection video surveillance, alerts, and an electric fence-type perimeter defense from bears.
Since we entered, we have discovered problems with both the electric fence and the motion detection ideas, but we thought of other ways they may work. Now we are using the electric fence to prevent bears from getting into our garbage cans and dumpsters. Also, we will include a waterproof camera with an x-ray attachment to scan the bears’ bones. If the x-ray scans a bear, it will turn on the electric fence to shock the bear if it comes around the school or
homeowner’s property. We also want to see if we can find a way to make the garbage containment products more affordable.
If you would like to know more about ISTF, you may visit the site at: http://istf.ucf.edu/
FYI: ISTF uses the term technical advisor for the experts who agree to mentor our project.
Also, if you agree to mentor us, it would only mean registering and responding on the ISTF site and replying to a few emails with your expert advice or opinions on our project through our teacher’s email:
[email protected]
If you can help us, to register as a Technical Advisor/Mentor for our project, log-on to:
http://istf.ucf.edu
go to Newcomers link, review as interest and time allow
click on Technical
Advisors link, read
click on “My ISTF”
click on “Technical Advisors/New Account”
Complete registration
It is quick and easy!
Thanks so much, we hope to hear from you soon and appreciate your interest.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J.,
Jaiden, Luke, Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Judy Wall-Townsend
Gifted Resource Teacher
Heathrow Elementary School
5715 Markham Woods Road
Lake Mary, FL 32746
407-320-6865
[email protected]
Wed 2/5/2014 11:38 AM
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
4 attachments
Hello Judy and class members:
I would be happy to provide some assistance to your group as a technical advisor on the Bear, Bear Go Away
project. I have signed in as a technical advisor, and so am ready to answer questions as they develop.
Hopefully, I will be helpful.
I have attached some pictures showing some other bear-related problems!
Good luck with your project!
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
RE: "Bear, Bear, Go Away" School Project (no subject)
Hellgren,Eric C< [email protected]>
Hello,
Again, thank you for your help. The students are thrilled and loved the photos. Below are a list of
questions that they typed for you today.
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J., Jaiden, Luke,
Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Hellgren,Eric C< [email protected]>
Tue 2/11/2014 1:32 PM
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
Hello Class and Mrs. Wall Townsend:
Thank you for your insightful questions. My answers are as follows:
1. I wanted to study the hibernation of bears for my graduate study (after I
finished college). Black bears can go up to 6 months without eating or drinking
when they hibernate in the winter. Even in Florida, females will
hibernate for about 3-4 months.
2. American black bears. There are 8 different species worldwide: sloth
bear, sun bear, spectacled bear, American black bear, brown bear (grizzlies are
a type of brown bear), Asiatic black bear, polar bear, and giant panda.
Yes, giant pandas are considered part of the bear family! Look them
up – each bear would be a great subject for a report!
3. I do not think that technology has been developed to link an x-ray camera to
alerting electronic devices about different animals. I think that it
could be done, but would be very difficult and would also increase x-ray
radiation around your house, which might not be wise unless the area around the
camera was modified like it is in hospitals and dental offices.
4. Electric fences can be very effective to protect things from bears. Many
beekeepers use electric fences around their hives to prevent bears from
breaking into the hives and eating honey. Although it would be effective,
it would have to be constructed so that it was easy for you and your family to
enter the fenced area to place you garbage. A switch to easily turn the
fence off and on would be sufficient.
5. I assume that you mean bear-proof garbage containers. There are many types out there –
here is a link to one of them: http://www.belson.com/aptr.htm These containers are expensive
for a families to buy (usually, they are bought by parks or campgrounds). You might want to do web
search to try to find bearproof containers for individual houses.
6. The American black bear is the only bear species that lives in Florida. They live in several areas of
the state, including Ocala National Forest near you. Go to this link to learn about bears in Florida: http://www.myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/bear/ It includes a 15-minute video. This website was put together by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, also known as the FWC. They are
responsible for managing bears in the state.
I am not sure how to use social media to better educate people about bears – that is not one of my areas of expertise.
To answer the personal questions:
a. Eric Hellgren, Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida
b. I work at the University of Florida
c. My job is to direct and help students and faculty in my department learn,
teach, and do research on wildlife issues in Florida, other parts of the United
States, and even in other countries.
d. I have been a faculty member for 25 years, and I decided to be a scientist after I took a long camping trip after 8th grade. The trip was a driving trip from south Florida to Alaska! It took the entire summer, and we got to see more 20 national parks on the trip.
That is all the time that I have today.
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
Task 3
If your technical advisor is an engineer, ask him/her about working with
scientists. If your technical advisor is a scientist, ask him/her about working
with engineers. Explain the difference between what a scientist and engineer do
and why you think it is important for scientists and engineers to work together.
Put this information on your website.
Here is the email we sent to Professor Hellgren for both Task 2 and 3:
Dear Professor Hellgen,
We have been working on our website and would like for you to look at what we have included for Component One, so we may add Task 2 for Component Two (see below) to our website. We are using Weebly.com to build our website.
You may view our work in progress at: www.bearbeargoaway.weebly.com
We would also like for you to answer the questions for Task 3 (see below) for your opinions about engineers and working with them.
We have a lot more stuff ready to add, but we feel like we may
be done with Component One.
Thank you so much for all your help.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J., Jaiden, Luke,
Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Here is Professor Hellgren's answer:
Dear Class and Mrs. Townsend:
I am sorry to respond late to your request. The difference between engineers and scientists was answered well by your alternative person. Scientists develop ideas to attempt to answer questions. They develop a reason to explain why or how something happens, then they try to conduct experiments to see if their explanation is correct.
Engineers, on the other hand, develop the items or things that are needed to conduct an experiment (like producing unmanned aircraft that can be controlled by radio signals so that a scientists can use the aircraft to observe or count
wildlife). In your bear project, both are needed – ideas to solve the problem and structures or products that need to be made to see if the idea works.
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
Our other mentor, Anne Hall, also answered this question.
Here is Anne Hall’s answer:
Please tell us about working with scientists. What is the difference between a
scientist and an engineer? Why is it important for them to work together?
Scientists are more focused on research and an engineer is more focused on
building staff or implement a solution. It is important for them to work
together because scientists have the ideas and engineers make these ideas work.
Your teacher should help your team locate a scientist or an engineer. This person
will become your team's technical advisor. He/she should know about the
technical application you chose to solve your problem. Include the following
information on your website:
- who he/she is,
- where she/he works,
- what she/he does on the job,
- how long she/he has been doing this kind of work,
and why she/he decided to become a scientist or engineer.
Conservation at the University of Florida
b. I work at the University of Florida.
c. My job is to direct and help students and faculty in my department learn, teach,
and do research on wildlife issues in Florida, other parts of the United States,
and even in other countries.
d. I have been a faculty member for 25 years, and I decided to be a scientist after I
took a long camping trip after 8th grade. The trip was a driving trip from south Florida to Alaska! It took the entire summer, and we got to see more 20 national parks on the trip.
Task 2
Ask your technical advisor to review what you have written in Component One. Tell
how your technical advisor helped your team to better understand the problem.
Include any suggestions your technical advisor offered about your team's
solution to the problem. Put this information on your website.
Weebly site for your review
S Hall< [email protected]>
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
Living in the area I have personally seen and been affected by bear issues around our
home. We have had black bears tear down a portion of our fence 3 times trying to
get into our back yard. I think the problem you chose is very timely and impacting for the Heathrow school community. I like the thoughts and efforts you have put into this issue. The radar and imagining
sensor to identify the bear would be a great way to inform the community.
Anne Hall
1. Professor Hellgren helped us decide not to use a motion detector that includes an x-ray
attachment. Professor Hellgren said that it may be difficult and would also increase x-ray radiation around the homeowners’ property.
2. He says that electric fences can be useful for protecting outdoor things from bears.
3. Professor Hellgren thinks the electric fence should go around the garbage, and the
homeowners should easily be able to enter the fenced area with a switch or a passcode.
4. Professor Hellgren thinks that bear-proof garbage cans will go well with our project.
5. He recommended different websites for us to research.
6. He said that Pennsylvania has the same problem that we have and that we should
research about that.
7. He said that there’s also New York’s solutions we could look up because they have
the same problem too.
8. Professor Hellgren sent us pictures of the bears getting into a bird feeder.
Here are our emails to Professor Hellgren and his replies:
From: Judy Wall-Townsend <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 10:09 AM
Subject: “Bear, Bear, Go Away” School Project
To: Eric Hellgren <[email protected]>
Dear Professor Hellgren,
We are a group of third grade students at Heathrow Elementary in Lake Mary, FL, who are researching
the problem of bear invasions into our community. We actually have a recent video of a mama bear with
two cubs by our playground. We could not use our playground or have P.E. outside that day.
We are contacting you because Professor Giuliano recommended you as a bear expert. We had contacted him because of the interviews quoting him on this topic that we have seen in the Orlando Sentinel. Although Professor Giuliano has been helpful, due to his travel schedule he may not be able to contact us over the next few weeks.
We have entered an Internet Science and Technology Fair (ISTF) competition that requires we find someone with technical experience with our project to mentor us through email. We are researching how other communities have dealt with this kind of problem and how we can use technologies to help solve this problem. We will also make a website to show our research and proposed solutions. Would you be willing to mentor our team for this project?
This was our project entry:
"Bear, Bear, Go Away"
Bears are becoming a nuisance and threat in our neighborhoods, local communities, and elsewhere in the United
States. Bears’ environments have been cut down and destroyed by humans and the bears have become bolder in seeking food from our dumpsters, garbage cans, and pantries. There have also been bear attacks on humans.
This team will provide protection for both humans and the bears. Our multi-system approach would provide a Garage/shed-like metal containment device for garbage and dumpster protection, along with bear motion-detection video surveillance, alerts, and an electric fence-type perimeter defense from bears.
Since we entered, we have discovered problems with both the electric fence and the motion detection ideas, but we thought of other ways they may work. Now we are using the electric fence to prevent bears from getting into our garbage cans and dumpsters. Also, we will include a waterproof camera with an x-ray attachment to scan the bears’ bones. If the x-ray scans a bear, it will turn on the electric fence to shock the bear if it comes around the school or
homeowner’s property. We also want to see if we can find a way to make the garbage containment products more affordable.
If you would like to know more about ISTF, you may visit the site at: http://istf.ucf.edu/
FYI: ISTF uses the term technical advisor for the experts who agree to mentor our project.
Also, if you agree to mentor us, it would only mean registering and responding on the ISTF site and replying to a few emails with your expert advice or opinions on our project through our teacher’s email:
[email protected]
If you can help us, to register as a Technical Advisor/Mentor for our project, log-on to:
http://istf.ucf.edu
go to Newcomers link, review as interest and time allow
click on Technical
Advisors link, read
click on “My ISTF”
click on “Technical Advisors/New Account”
Complete registration
It is quick and easy!
Thanks so much, we hope to hear from you soon and appreciate your interest.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J.,
Jaiden, Luke, Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Judy Wall-Townsend
Gifted Resource Teacher
Heathrow Elementary School
5715 Markham Woods Road
Lake Mary, FL 32746
407-320-6865
[email protected]
Wed 2/5/2014 11:38 AM
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
4 attachments
Hello Judy and class members:
I would be happy to provide some assistance to your group as a technical advisor on the Bear, Bear Go Away
project. I have signed in as a technical advisor, and so am ready to answer questions as they develop.
Hopefully, I will be helpful.
I have attached some pictures showing some other bear-related problems!
Good luck with your project!
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
RE: "Bear, Bear, Go Away" School Project (no subject)
Hellgren,Eric C< [email protected]>
Hello,
Again, thank you for your help. The students are thrilled and loved the photos. Below are a list of
questions that they typed for you today.
- Why did you want to be a bear expert?
- What favorite bear do you like?
- Will you give us an idea about an x-ray camera that can tell the difference between different animals that will alert your electronic devices in your house?
- Should we use some type of electric fence for a bear? (Their research has already discovered a problem with their original concept, but the original email we sent attempts to describe their revised concept for this.)
- Can you inform us about containment devices?
- Can you inform us about different bears in Florida?
Below there is an idea that you may know something about. Professor Giuliano has suggested that
we research what Pennysylvania has done about this problem.
Can you think of a way to use technology to better educate people about this issue? We do not know much about Twitter, Instagram, and other social media, but could these methods be helpful? Also, are there
any particulars you could share about food and trash management technologies?
Finally, for now, these are the questions that the students need to include your answers
on the website that they will make: - who he/she is,
- where she/he works,
- what she/he does on the job,
- how long she/he has been doing this kind of work, and why she/he decided to
become a scientist or engineer. (or become a bear expert)
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J., Jaiden, Luke,
Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Hellgren,Eric C< [email protected]>
Tue 2/11/2014 1:32 PM
To: Judy Wall-Townsend;
Hello Class and Mrs. Wall Townsend:
Thank you for your insightful questions. My answers are as follows:
1. I wanted to study the hibernation of bears for my graduate study (after I
finished college). Black bears can go up to 6 months without eating or drinking
when they hibernate in the winter. Even in Florida, females will
hibernate for about 3-4 months.
2. American black bears. There are 8 different species worldwide: sloth
bear, sun bear, spectacled bear, American black bear, brown bear (grizzlies are
a type of brown bear), Asiatic black bear, polar bear, and giant panda.
Yes, giant pandas are considered part of the bear family! Look them
up – each bear would be a great subject for a report!
3. I do not think that technology has been developed to link an x-ray camera to
alerting electronic devices about different animals. I think that it
could be done, but would be very difficult and would also increase x-ray
radiation around your house, which might not be wise unless the area around the
camera was modified like it is in hospitals and dental offices.
4. Electric fences can be very effective to protect things from bears. Many
beekeepers use electric fences around their hives to prevent bears from
breaking into the hives and eating honey. Although it would be effective,
it would have to be constructed so that it was easy for you and your family to
enter the fenced area to place you garbage. A switch to easily turn the
fence off and on would be sufficient.
5. I assume that you mean bear-proof garbage containers. There are many types out there –
here is a link to one of them: http://www.belson.com/aptr.htm These containers are expensive
for a families to buy (usually, they are bought by parks or campgrounds). You might want to do web
search to try to find bearproof containers for individual houses.
6. The American black bear is the only bear species that lives in Florida. They live in several areas of
the state, including Ocala National Forest near you. Go to this link to learn about bears in Florida: http://www.myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/bear/ It includes a 15-minute video. This website was put together by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, also known as the FWC. They are
responsible for managing bears in the state.
I am not sure how to use social media to better educate people about bears – that is not one of my areas of expertise.
To answer the personal questions:
a. Eric Hellgren, Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida
b. I work at the University of Florida
c. My job is to direct and help students and faculty in my department learn,
teach, and do research on wildlife issues in Florida, other parts of the United
States, and even in other countries.
d. I have been a faculty member for 25 years, and I decided to be a scientist after I took a long camping trip after 8th grade. The trip was a driving trip from south Florida to Alaska! It took the entire summer, and we got to see more 20 national parks on the trip.
That is all the time that I have today.
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
Task 3
If your technical advisor is an engineer, ask him/her about working with
scientists. If your technical advisor is a scientist, ask him/her about working
with engineers. Explain the difference between what a scientist and engineer do
and why you think it is important for scientists and engineers to work together.
Put this information on your website.
Here is the email we sent to Professor Hellgren for both Task 2 and 3:
Dear Professor Hellgen,
We have been working on our website and would like for you to look at what we have included for Component One, so we may add Task 2 for Component Two (see below) to our website. We are using Weebly.com to build our website.
You may view our work in progress at: www.bearbeargoaway.weebly.com
We would also like for you to answer the questions for Task 3 (see below) for your opinions about engineers and working with them.
We have a lot more stuff ready to add, but we feel like we may
be done with Component One.
Thank you so much for all your help.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wall-Townsend’s students: Alex, Avery, Elijah, E.J., Jaiden, Luke,
Rahma, Rayyan, Thaddeus, and Mrs. Wall-T
Here is Professor Hellgren's answer:
Dear Class and Mrs. Townsend:
I am sorry to respond late to your request. The difference between engineers and scientists was answered well by your alternative person. Scientists develop ideas to attempt to answer questions. They develop a reason to explain why or how something happens, then they try to conduct experiments to see if their explanation is correct.
Engineers, on the other hand, develop the items or things that are needed to conduct an experiment (like producing unmanned aircraft that can be controlled by radio signals so that a scientists can use the aircraft to observe or count
wildlife). In your bear project, both are needed – ideas to solve the problem and structures or products that need to be made to see if the idea works.
Cheers,
Eric C. Hellgren
Professor and Chair
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Institute of Food and Agricultural Science
University of Florida
110 Newins-Ziegler Hall
P.O. Box 110430
Gainesville, FL 32611-0430
352-846-0552
www.wec.ufl.edu
Our other mentor, Anne Hall, also answered this question.
Here is Anne Hall’s answer:
Please tell us about working with scientists. What is the difference between a
scientist and an engineer? Why is it important for them to work together?
Scientists are more focused on research and an engineer is more focused on
building staff or implement a solution. It is important for them to work
together because scientists have the ideas and engineers make these ideas work.