News Story

Upcoming Maryland Day Highlights

Saturday, April 24, the entire University of Maryland, College Park, campus will be open to the public and the Clark School is offering dozens of demonstrations, hands-on activities and other events for prospective students, alumni and their families.

Highlight from the Department of Civil Engineering

A group of researchers in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering led by Chair Ali Haghani have designed an event-monitoring system based on Bluetooth technology to study the vehicle and pedestrian traffic on Maryland Day 2010. The team will use Bluetooth sensors, developed at the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT), to measure the travel time, arrival pattern and walking routes of the visitors on campus. Unlike other traffic-monitoring methods, the Bluetooth sensors operate in a manner that protects the public from potential privacy intrusions. Bluetooth addresses cannot be associated with specific individuals, vehicles or devices. This project expands the application of the Bluetooth technology, which has previously been used for freeway travel time measurement, event monitoring and anonymous pedestrian tracking. Twenty sensors will be used to cover the entrances and major areas of interest on campus.

Other departmental offerings:
For a comprehensive list, visit: http://marylandday.umd.edu/misc/plan_results_scisum.cfm

Aerospace Engineering: Airplanes, Cars, Trucks, Sailboats, Submarines, and even Hurricanes: We Do It All!
Visit the Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel. Learn how the tunnel works and how it is used in aerodynamic studies. Experience a short blast in the Wind Tunnel. Last tour begins at 3:30 PM.

Bioengineering: Respiratory Health
Measure your respiratory resistance with the airflow perturbation device. Talk about the latest advances in bioengineering.

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Poly-Fun with Slime & Colors
Discover chemical engineering through an array of stimulating hands-on activities, including classical slime, super-soaker poly-gel, dancing black ink, Silly Putty and more. You make it, you take it.

Civil and Environmental Engineering: Maryland Water Resources Research Center
Explore new technology and more efficient methods for resolving local, state and national water resource problems.

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Student-Designed Electric Guitar
We are developing new approaches to building guitar electronics that integrate the techniques and technologies from both electrical and computer engineering, including a modular preamp design developed by students.

Fire Protection Engineering: Fire Lab Demos
Come to our laboratories and see an astounding 4 meter fire tornado! Also on display will be a scale room fire, fire sprinkler sprays and smoke visualizations.

Materials Science and Engineering: Magnified Materials
Tour the Nanoscale Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Properties Laboratory. Get up close and personal with common objects magnified greater than 10,000 times. Tours on the hour.

Mechanical Engineering: TERPS Racing
See the Formula-style and Baja race cars designed and built by engineering students.

April 20, 2010