Some 500 educators and professionals will attend SUNY Oswego’s 76th annual Technology Fall Conference Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29 and 30, providing more than 50 unique sessions, including a demonstration of “seismic” proportions.
The conference reaches a variety of school disciplines and educators interested in learning about the latest advancements in technology education while networking with other professionals. Organized by faculty of the college’s technology department, the event will cover tech-oriented classroom activities and instruction, from the latest on 3D printing to aquaponics systems, from app design to smartwatches.
One of the workshops this year will feature a new seismic system demonstrated by geophysics students of SUNY Oswego’s David Valentino, a professor in the atmospheric and geological sciences department.
Students Dana Harper, Alex Dalessandro, Tracey Garland, Icaro Augusto Pacheco, Luis Henrique, Luis Henrique Aguiar De Araujo and Kendell Cozart-Middleton will use the college’s new compact, weatherproof Geometrics StrataVisor NZ seismic-reflection system to pick up and plot energy waves traveling through the ground. One demonstration includes students aggressively striking a steel plate with a sledgehammer to create vibrational waves.
“We have very sensitive devices called geophones stuck in the ground, and they detect vibrational waves,” Valentino said. “The geophones are linked through cables to a recording device called a seismograph. In the end, we make a plot that reveals time and distance information about the vibrational waves.”
Pre-registration is required for the conference, which offers hands-on workshops, presentations, commercial exhibits, networking events and a conference reception. Encouraging student involvement, the conference also features the Technology Innovation Showcase, an exhibition of innovative practices in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field.
“I personally most enjoy getting my students involved,” Valentino said. “It gives them a chance to demonstrate what they’ve learned by explaining it all to other educated people.”
Richard Bush chairs the conference; the program chair is Mark Springston. For more information, including registration information and a list of presentations and workshops, visit fallconference.com.