Issues & Experts >
Issues & Experts Archive > Week of June 23 – 30, 2003
Week of June 23 – 30, 2003
Document Tools
Jun 25, 2003
Teen robot winners inspired by SFU lab…A pair of young sister researchers who first got their feet wet in SFU’s underwater research lab have won international recognition for their own underwater robot. White Rock teens Sarah Thain, 13, and sister Beckie-Ann, 15, shared first place (scoring 97.5 out of 100) in the annual ROV competition held June 19-22 at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge. An ROV, or remotely operated vehicle, is an unmanned underwater robot linked to a pilot control on shore or on a vessel. It typically carries an array of cameras, lights and tools. For the contest, the girls created their ROV (20 X18 inches) to salvage small instruments from a mockup of the Titanic resting in 14 feet of water, using an underwater vacuum they call the Sucker. Their mentor, Harry Bohm, organized the competition for college and high school students. He maintains ties with the SFU lab after working as project manager for several years. He began creating low-cost, simple robots with SFU students to test their electronic control circuits. At the same time he encouraged younger kids — like the Thains — to visit the SFU lab and build their own robots (he has written a how-to book for kids). The duo returns to White Rock later this week. Bohm can provide background and arrange interviews with the young champions he inspired at SFU.
Making political mileage of terrorism…While Iraqi soil has become a killing field for American and British soldiers, other countries continue to realign following 9/11. Iran and the US recently had words over political protests in Iran. SFU political scientist Lenard Cohen says the US, by virtue of its control of Iraq, is now a Middle Eastern power as well as a superpower, which raises new issues with the neighbouring country. "The demonstrations in Iran arise from the growth of civil society in that country and a quest for enhanced reform by some students and other groups, and this is supported by the US," he says. Cohen and political science colleague Alexander Moens are co-editors of Foreign Policy Realignment in the Age of Terror, a book published by the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies: CISS. It’s an analysis of the evolving New World political order since 9/11 and a forecast of how international relations are likely to unfold in coming years. The analysis is based on discussions at CISS's annual conference on the redirection of foreign and security policies of major states following 9/11: http://www.ciss.ca
- Harry Bohm, 604.868.8697; hbohm@yahoo.ca
Making political mileage of terrorism…While Iraqi soil has become a killing field for American and British soldiers, other countries continue to realign following 9/11. Iran and the US recently had words over political protests in Iran. SFU political scientist Lenard Cohen says the US, by virtue of its control of Iraq, is now a Middle Eastern power as well as a superpower, which raises new issues with the neighbouring country. "The demonstrations in Iran arise from the growth of civil society in that country and a quest for enhanced reform by some students and other groups, and this is supported by the US," he says. Cohen and political science colleague Alexander Moens are co-editors of Foreign Policy Realignment in the Age of Terror, a book published by the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies: CISS. It’s an analysis of the evolving New World political order since 9/11 and a forecast of how international relations are likely to unfold in coming years. The analysis is based on discussions at CISS's annual conference on the redirection of foreign and security policies of major states following 9/11: http://www.ciss.ca
- Lenard Cohen, 604.291.4518, lenard_cohen@sfu.caAlexander Moens, 604.291.4361, alexander_moens@sfu.ca