Mission to Mars Amidst a Pandemic

For years, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in New Mexico has led an outreach effort called Mission to Mars to engage fifth grade students in applying science and mathematics concepts related to building a colony on Mars. Many organizations across the US canceled similar events due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This design case details the original program and the pivot made to continue the program. We share successes—including reaching more rural learners—insights, and challenges, and how these have shaped a more inclusive vision for future programs.

91 Addressing urgency in grassroots organizations - If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door of leadership

Grassroots (GR) organizations that develop pipelines of pivotal leadership are better able to respond to the multiple challenges of the day. As public organizations, social media and biased-literature intensify advocacy for the reduction and constraint of animal agriculture (AA), it is clear AA is under concerted attack. Producers must not only learn to cope with changes in weather pattern intensification and droughts, depletion of resources, dramatic policy shifts and more, they must defend the activist narratives. The need for well-informed, competent GR leader communicators to advocate for the beef community has never been more urgent to the future of the beef industry. The Young Cattlemen Leadership Program (YCLP), a partnership between AU Animal Sciences and the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, is an outreach effort focused on the delivery of an integrated, customized blueprint of content workshops, legislative sessions, industry tours, conferences and mentoring for catalyzed leadership development to meet the current and future needs of a highly diverse state constituency. Based on survey feedback and case analysis, YCLP, now in its seventh cohort, is proving the effectiveness of the collaborative learning design model contextualized around issue topics surrounding AA as alumni have assumed multiple roles of leadership in the organization.

Asset Condition Management: A Framework for Smart, Health-Ready Manufacturing Systems

Unscheduled downtime in manufacturing systems can be a major source of lost productivity, profits, and, ultimately, reduced process quality and reliability. However, the incorporation of asset condition management (ACM) into manufacturing systems offers an approach to improve equipment and plant operations by providing real-time condition awareness, system diagnostics, and estimates of future health to enable predictive maintenance. ACM is a framework for assessing the current and future state of health of a manufacturing system and integrating that knowledge with enterprise applications to meet the demand of production operations. In manufacturing systems, successful operations rely on the ability to maintain production assets at their optimal working levels to optimize operations and system performance. Some large corporations have made great strides in incorporating smart technologies to enhance their asset management strategy; however, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face distinct challenges. One of the key challenges is that most SMEs do not have the wherewithal to invest in new machines nor is there standard guidance on how older machines can be integrated into an ACM solution, so that their end-to-end manufacturing process can be optimized from a health management point of view. This research presents a framework for ACM to facilitate its introduction into manufacturing systems based on their “health-ready” capabilities. Specifically, an ACM system architecture is defined for manufacturing systems, the health-ready principles and capability levels from the aerospace and automotive industries are adapted to the manufacturing domain, and the results from the outreach effort to the manufacturing community are discussed.

SBM Mid-Career Leadership Institute

My purpose for participating in the 2017 Society for Behavior Medicine (SBM) Leadership Institute was to redefine my career goals in an effort to do more work that mattered. I felt overwhelmed by the numerous tasks as a mid-level researcher, including leadership roles outside of my university to fill a desire to pursue activities that were purposeful but not valued by the academy. For example, I served on the Board of Girls on the Run (GOTR) where I was chair, leading a team of about 12 board members to provide a running-based life skills program for girls in Grades 3–5. After stepping down from the Board, I chose to develop a partnership between GOTR and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM) that would provide an opportunity for me to lead an outreach effort extending the GOTR program into Birmingham City Schools. The goal was not only to reach more girls from disadvantaged backgrounds but also to also reach their family members. We used survey results to assess parent/family preferences for receiving physical activity training resources to be able to support their girls at the end-of-the program 5K celebration. The resources were made available via the UCEM website and a link was sent by GOTR to all families of participants in the program. Overall, the partnership allowed us to reach more girls and their families and I know that the SBM Leadership program contributed to my delegation and organizational skills coupled with coaching to reveal my strengths and blind spots.

Not just a collection of old books: Making the most of donations at the Paul Mellon Centre Library

This article shows how large donations of books have transformed the library of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in recent years. Not only have they augmented the collection but they have enhanced the Centre's wider outreach effort and its ability to engage with new audiences.

Current Global Health Impact Assessment Practice

Health impact assessment (HIA) practice has expanded across the world, since it was established more than two decades ago. This paper presents a snapshot of current global HIA practice based on the findings of an online questionnaire survey. HIA practitioners from all world regions were invited to participate. A total of 122 HIA practitioners from 29 countries completed the survey, following a broad international outreach effort. The large variety in the types of HIAs conducted, and the application of HIA in various fields reported by respondents, demonstrates that HIA practice has evolved over the past two decades. Although differences in the use of HIA were reported across world regions, an overall increasing trend in global HIA practice can be observed. In order to sustain this upward trend, efforts are needed to address the main barriers in the utilisation of HIA. The establishment of new national and international HIA teaching and training offerings seems to be an obvious strategy to pursue along with the strengthening of policies and legal frameworks that specify the circumstances, under which HIA is required, and to what extent.