Assistant Professor Luis Rodriguez Jr. at Alfred University
Today, more than 15 Alfred University students met on the AU football field in order to test their drone flight skills. . .and to have pizza.
Most flew trainer drones, but a select few also flew more high-end drones, such as the Phantom or Inspire drones, which will be used for the club’s commercial activities in the near future. The students also created an obstacle course to hone their flight skills; maybe future drone races are in the works!
Today, Alfred University faculty from the School of Engineering and the School of Business submitted their final Appalachian Regional Commission grant proposal to Southern Tier West. The proposal aims to educate the local workforce in drone repair and maintenance, flight operations leading to a commercial drone flight license, and in entrepreneurship skills leading to business creation. The students will then work with local farmers by using drones to help increase crop yield and health.
We hope to receive the grant, but in any case we want to publicly acknowledge all the new friends we met in this journey and who supported us in this project, specifically:
Thank you all, Fiat Lux!
Mrs. Shequeila Birdsong and Mrs. Amber O’Dierno of the US Department of Labor spoke to Alfred University students about Wage and Hour legal issues. They gave many interesting examples of industries that are investigated for non-compliance with federal minimum wage requirements.
Mrs. Birdsong is the Community Outreach and Planning Specialist for the Federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. She began her federal service with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where she spent a decade working in various positions. Her final position at the IRS was as a Taxpayer Advocate.
Ms. O’Dierno is an investigator with the United States Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division. She was hired as an investigator in January of 2015. She investigates employers to ensure they are in compliance with federal labor laws including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Service Contract Act (SCA), Davis Bacon and Related Contract Acts (DBRA), Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), and temporary worker programs (H-2A, H-2B, H-1B). Prior to coming to work for the U.S. Department of Labor, she worked as an investigator at the New York State Department of Labor ‘s Division of Labor Standards, and the Internal Revenue Service. She has a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice.
AU accounting students spoke to recent and older alumni who gave them practical advice on taking the CPA exam, and on how to enter and advance their accounting and tax career.
The Water for Haiti Discussion revolved around faculty and students who spoke about their first hand experiences when they visited Haiti, and of their population’s struggles. The students realized how other cultures struggle for clean water, while Americans take that for granted.
Students then discussed in class the role of education and the pros and cons of depending on government solutions to Haiti’s problems.
On Wednesday, September 13th the faculty of the Political Science Department and those of the School of Liberal Arts briefly discussed the history of the Korean war before discussing the current political hostility between North Korea and the United States and the possibility of nuclear and conventional war in that region.
Students analyzed the current heightened political atmosphere and arrived at their own conclusions on how best to resolve the current regional conflict.
