Lakeshore Technical College

QuarkNet is a particle physics outreach and education program in the United States. We have learned from our own experience and from international colleagues, especially in Japan, of the usefulness of the Cosmic Watch small cosmic ray detector. We are in the process of testing multiple units and adapting them for use in laboratory investigations in high school physics classes. This presentation will report progress and prospects.

In the current study, we examined the relationship between Big Five personality traits, cognitive flexibility, and life satisfaction. We expected that the Big Five traits would predict cognitive flexibility, cognitive flexibility would predict life satisfaction, and cognitive flexibility would mediate the relationship between four of the Big Five traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) and life satisfaction. We sampled 258 U. S. participants through MTurk, where they completed a series of self-report measures. Using path analysis, we found support for each of our predictions. Future research should examine the role of affect and cognition in the Big Five traits, and how those might predict cognitive flexibility and life satisfaction.

At the time of LTC’s application we were home to a small / mid-sized Wind Energy Research and Teaching Center, funded in part by We Energies, and offered the state of Wisconsin’s first Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) Degree in Wind Energy Technology. With President Obama promising investment in wind, LTC and its partners were uniquely situated to meet the challenge through an organized career pathways approach that utilized industry drivers and occupationally verified curriculum to train the workers who “transform our energy sector.” LTC’s employer partners validated the findings of the “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply” report by the US Department of Energy which recognized programs like LTC’s as an “excellent beginning,” noting that many more like them are necessary to meet the challenges of the 20% Wind scenario.One of the focuses of the study was the lack of trained technicians to work on installation and maintenance of renewables (and more specifically for our grant application wind turbines). LTC’s goal, made possible with the funding provided in this grant, was to increase the number of skilled graduates to help meet this national objective. LTC was already a leader in wind for the state of Wisconsin but wanted to upscale from a single school to a statewide (and potentially regional) center for wind energy. LTC planned to leverage our facilities, curriculum, and faculty expertise to meet this goal.