"Authur T Winfree Lecture"
Paul Mac Cready, Ph.d.

"The highlight of the third annual Citizen Science Conference at the University of Nevada on 13-15 January 2005 came when Paul B. MacCready gave the Winfree Lecture on Friday evening. While he is best known for his achievements in aviation, Dr. MacCready has long been involved in environmental monitoring, the development of miniature remotely-piloted reconnaissance aircraft, the first solar-powered aircraft, and battery-powered vehicles. He supplemented his PowerPoint slides with fascinating video clips of some of these projects." - Forrest Mims III

"Rubbing Shoulders with Newton: A New Look at a Fundamental Constant of Nature" (.PDF 274KB)
Harlan Brothers

A lesser-known cousin to pi, the numerical constant e pops up everywhere in Nature where rates of growth are involved. It was Isaac Newton who derived an extremely efficient method for calculating e, which, like pi, is a transcendental number and can only be approximated. Using elementary techniques accessible to anyone who is comfortable with the four basic mathematical operations, this paper demonstrates methods for improving the efficiency of Newton's approximation for e. The newly derived series are fast, pleasing to the eye, and fun to create, offering readers the opportunity to experiment and make genuine discoveries.

"NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA Opportunities for Citizen Scientists to Investigate the Earth's Atmosphere"
Lin Hartung Chambers, Ph.D.

NASA has initiated a new project to make its vast collection of scientific data about the atmosphere more accessible to citizen scientists (where K-12 students are included in the definition of citizen scientist). The project, Mentoring and inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and Earth Science for Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA, for short) involves three components: (1) Development of microsets of interesting atmospheric parameters from satellite data that are easily accessible using readily-available computer tools; (2) a mentoring component where interested retired and citizen scientists are matched with interested K-12 teachers to provide guidance on student research projects using atmospheric data; and (3) an Open Source component where tools for manipulating and visualizing data and for computing parameters of interest can be shared. The latter element is being broadly expanded to include web hosting and sharing for teachers' lesson plans, student research reports and citizen scientist research ideas and results. This presentation will report on the activities during the first year of this project, and will invite SAS members and attendees to participate by using the microsets, suggesting new microsets, serving as mentors, and sharing tools, resources and ideas through the Open Source portion.

The Society for Amateur Scientists is expanding its educational mission and developing LABRats, a highly structure program that will link scientists and engineers of all stripes with teenagers who share their passion for science. Every young person who goes through the LABRats program will receive a broad-ranging inquiry-based introduction to all of the major fields of science. This panel will discuss some of the problems the LABRats program seeks to address, drawing from their own extensive experience bringing science to young people by way of volunteer outreach, the nonprofit world, commercial products, and the classroom.

"Post-Apocalypic Engineering? Experiments in the Construction of Functional Radio Equipment from Virtually Nothing" (.PDF 74MB) Movie | Sound Clip
Pete Friedrichs

Primitive crystal radio sets, easy to assemble and coax into operation, have a long and grand history as the subjects of numerous school projects and science fairs. For many people, they rapidly become a source of boredom, as it is a simple matter to purchase the necessary parts and assemble them. That said, What happens if some of the parts are missing and unobtainable? What if, in fact, one has no parts at their disposal at all? Can radio equipment be built from nothing?

This question ceased to be rhetorical when H.P. Friedrichs challenged himself to construct a functional radio without the benefit of any commercially available parts. The results of this challenge were an interesting chain of experimental projects, the publication of two critically acclaimed books on the subject, and a very definite answer: yes.

Armed with little more than household odds and ends --- bolts, bits of wire, a magnet, a shoe polish tin, and a suitable rock from the back yard --- it is entirely possible to build functional tuning equipment, simple semiconductor diodes, and even transducers (headphones.) Add some old carbon rods, an old glass ashtray, pipe fittings, and some household chemicals and the list of homebuilt radio components expands to include even vacuum tubes and primitive transistors!

In this presentation, H.P. Friedrichs discusses some of these projects, interesting details, and some of the unexpected lessons that arise from this work.

"The Foucault Pendulum from the First SAS Conference to a Commercial Product"
Mark Streitman

Mark will start with John Dooley's presentation at the First SAS conference in Philadelphia in 2002. Mark will then explain how he built his first pendulum and decided that he would get this manufactured. He will then go through the steps of making the transition from employee to company owner, from idea to commercial reality. If anyone in the SAS has ever wondered "What would it take to get this (your creation) into the commercial realm", this paper will explain a path from project to product.

"Amateur Astronomers in Las Vegas"
John Heller

This presentation will discuss the work of the Astronomical Society of Las Vegas and their efforts to do community outreach, events for the public, and their own research projects. Over the course of their twenty-five year history, they have also created affiliations with other science-oriented groups to further their mission to "Encourage, foster, conduct and support programs on astronomy and related sciences for the education and enlightenment of the general public and membership."

"The Rock Art of Nevada: Art for all times"
Alanah Woody, Ph.D.

The rock art of Nevada is as beautiful as that found anywhere in the world, and spans the entire period of human occupation of the western Great Basin, from as much as 10-12,000 years ago until historic times. A basic primer on the current state of knowledge of rock art production and contexts, along with an overview of the variety of styles and motifs found in the state will be presented. The social connotations that this suggests and the important role that has always been, and continues to be, played by avocational archaeologists in rock art research will be discussed.

The NJSAS Chapter will give a presentation of the various activities that it has been involved with since the last conference.  This include:  "Seeing Atoms" their experiments to try and show that atoms exist, two field trips,  community science participation and other experiments.  They  will also give an primer of how to start a chapter, how theirs is doing and how they keep it interesting.

"The Citizen Scientist and Environmental Regulations: Making Measurements That Make a Difference"
John Lighton, Ph.D.

Environmental quality can be degraded by chemical, particulate, acoustic, or light pollution. Statues exist to limit all or some of these disruptive factors. However, just because laws exist doesn't mean that they are enforced. In particular, citizens subject to any pollutants will find it difficult or impossible to make a case without credible evidence. Measurements must be collected using the techniques and units specified by legislation, which are often far from straightforward. For example, noise pollution measurements usually require the use of an octave band noise analyser that is beyond the reach of most citizen's budgests. Using an actual test example of an all-night mega-warehouse and liquor distribution center inappropriately located next to a rural preserve area in greater Las Vegas we show how citizens can measure several of these forms of pollution with high accuracy and at low cost using microcontroller-based sensor arrays.

"Airships to Orbit (ATO) and Ping Pong Balls" (.PDF 4.4MB) Movie1 Movie2 Movie3 *(right click and save as if WMV files do not auto open)
John Powell

Balloons have carried people and machines to the edge of space for over seventy years. JP Aerospace is developing the technology to fly a balloon--or more accurately, their relative, the airship--directly to orbit. JP Aerospace has flown over 80 missions in development of the ATO. They have flown everything from rockets to platforms to gigantic airships that fly at the edge of space.

PongSat: Pong Pong Ball Satellites. 1600 flown, built by 6000 students, teachers, construction workers, other amateur scientists around the world. All of JP Aerospace vehicles are build and flown by volunteers. The goal of "America's OTHER Space Program" is give regular people access to space.

"Geological Issues in Nevada and the West"
(best viewed with Internet Explorer)
Jonathan Price, Ph.D.

Many societal issues have a basis in geology. We will examine a number of these in the context of what contributions amateur scientists can make. Water is a key resource in the arid West, yet flash floods are significant hazards. Pumping of groundwater locally causes subsidence and fissures that are another major hazard to buildings and roads. The basin and range topography of Nevada and surrounding states is related to regional earthquake hazards. Volcanism is another hazard in some areas. Long-term storage of nuclear waste must take into account all the relevant geological hazards and effects of groundwater. High heat flow and abundant faults give rise to numerous hot springs and uses of geothermal energy. In the geological past, geothermal activity, often associated with volcanism, gave rise to many types of metallic ore deposits. We are in the midst of the biggest gold-mining boom in American history, new discoveries are being made, and most of the gold deposits are in Nevada and neighboring states.

"Sodium Migration in Borosilicate Glass at High Temperatures: What are the Ramifications and Benefits?" (.PDF 3MB)
Gary Coyne

When glass is being manipulated in a gas/oxy torch by a glassblower, a feint, whitish deposit can be observed near that region. The author had a theory that this deposit was sodium oxide sublimated on the glass surface. Through a variety of tests, including X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, the author was able to verify his initial thoughts. However, the peripheral benefits of this discovery have led to enhancements of scientific glassblowing, such as more control of flame annealing (to prevent glass from premature failure) and a better understanding of devitrification of "over-worked" glass. This paper will explain some of the complications that can arise when blowing glass and how the sodium oxide discovery have helped overcome some of these problems.

"Guppies and Alpha Male Feeding Patterns"
Scott Little

Guppies are a small tropical fish that is native to South America and The Caribbean. They have been bred in captivity for years, producing a wide variety of sub-species with striking and beautiful color combinations. My paper is a study on Alpha Male patterns in Guppies with an emphasis on feeding behaviors. The catalyst in this experiment is the fact that I purchased three male Guppies at the same time and one of the three appeared to be dominant. Two types of stimuli were used, one to produce a bold response (ex: food) and one to produce a shy response (ex: a net). Results were then evaluated on whether Guppies do exhibit Alpha and Beta Male behaviors in regards to the stimuli.

"Vacuum Technology and the Amateur" (.PDF 21MB)
Steve Hansen

A vacuum environment is required for many interesting pursuits that may be explored by the amateur scientist. Unfortunately, vacuum remains a mystery to many and perceived cost and complexity remain a barrier to entry into this wonderful world of low pressures. This talk will cover some highlights in the history of amateur involvement with vacuum and some current topics that amateurs are engaged in. He will also cover sources of supply, how commonly available materials can be utilized to minimize cost and what information resources are available to the amateur scientist. Steve will also detail the history of his publication, the Bell Jar, and his plans for its future.

"Radical Botanicals: Disappearing Plants, Scientific Illustration, and the Need for an Ecological Vision"
Ana Soto-Canino

Botanical illustration, a tradition of scientific illustration, is a cultural phenomenon that has its roots in ancient Greek civilization--the very dawn of Western thought. It came into its own as a field of inquiry during the European Renaissance (late 15th century, early 16th century), and culminated as a scientific pursuit during the latter part of the great voyages of discovery of the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, the shipís artist and the shipís scientist was often one and the same person. This was the person who observed, documented and cataloged the newly discovered plant forms in the strange new worlds beyond the horizon, revolutionizing science with the introduction of images that could be used for identification and taxonomy. The central tenets, methods and goals of botanical illustration that these artist-scientists helped develop are today a canon unto themselves, pursued as a highly specialized discipline. Yet many of the core, hallowed premises and axioms of botanical illustration became severely problematic when one artist chose to portray the highly endangered and legally protected native flora of Puerto Rico. This poster session explores the crisis of vision and conceptualization she experienced, and details how the artist is meeting the challenge by creating a new, unorthodox vocabulary that seeks a progressive, ecological vision within-not outside of the venerable tradition of botanical illustration.

"Thrombosis and Cancer" (best viewed with Internet Explorer)
Gary Mahon

"Airship Hindenburg: Experimental study of the involvement of the outer covering paint (dope) in the disastrous final fire"
William H Appleby