2011 Issue

40 worked in their footprints. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit both the Scott and Shackleton huts (only 1000 people per year are allowed in the Scott Terra Nova hut), and have included many pictures and videos of these haunting historic places in the photos on our blogsite. One of the most profound visions I have of Antarctica is the empty anchor out- side of the Scott Hut. This anchor originally tethered the ship Aurora to the land near the hut. She was frozen into the ice for the winter, as many ships have been, and held the majority of supplies for the expedition. One night as the men lay sleeping, a gale broke her moorings, and she floated away entombed in a large iceberg. When the men woke up, their ship, their lifeline, was gone. They ended up taking a small lifeboat to Elephant Island, where they were marooned for nearly 2 years. This was not your typical desert island, this was a FROZEN des- ert island. For me, this anchor will forever represent the BAD DAY. I mean a very, very BAD DAY. Whatever is going wrong, whatever experiment is fouling up, it cannot possibly compare to the experience of the ultimate BAD DAY of awakening to find your ship and provisions blown irreplaceably out to sea. What next? We just returned from an incredible research expedition, with scads of data and mounds of laundry. We will be working with the rest of our research teams for several months to fully ana- lyze the data, correlate it with simulations and models, and write up the results for publication. We are currently planning a follow up expedition to the Arctic this spring. All sea ice is not created equal, and we expect a few significant differences. We have specific collaborations planned with researchers from K131 as well as others, to compare data taken in very different ways and different locations in order to hopefully better un- derstand both the methods and results. And we hope that our results will be incorporated into the most advanced models used for climate prediction and analysis. This research is but a small piece in a large puzzle, but we were very fortunate to be able to be a part of the elite group of polar researchers working together to better understand our world. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the National Science Foundation for supporting this research, the other student researchers in our teams – Adam Gully, Christian Sampson, Erik Gamez, and Jake Hansen, and Antarctic New Zealand for providing the excellent logistical support for this mission. Dr. Furse (PhD ‘94) is the Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Utah and Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. She received her BSEE in ’85, MSEE in ’88 and PhD EE in ’94 from the University of Utah. Dr. Furse’s expertise in electromagnetics is applied to sensing and communication in complex lossy scattering media such as the human body, geophysical prospecting, ionospheric plasma, and aircraft wiring networks. Dr. Furse teaches electromagnetics, wireless communication, computational electromagnetics, microwave engineering, and antenna design. Dr. Furse works to interest young students, particularly women and minorities, in engineering and routinely volunteers in Utah’s K-12 schools as an engineering mentor. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. (http://www.ece.utah.edu/~cfurse ) Electical Properties of Sea Ice — continued from page 39 Computer Careers — continued from page 26 income of $52,000. Figure 1 summarizes salary information for the careers outlined above. Employment Outlook The prospects for growth in the computer and Information Technology (IT) industry are above the industry average of 13%, with some careers expected to grow by more than 50% over the next decade! These represent fantastic job growth and show a clear need for qualified professionals over the coming years. The outlook for the Computer Programmer career indicates a shrinking of available jobs by about 3%. This is speculated to be due primarily to the international outsourcing of many of these jobs as well as the natural improvement of high-level tools that are expected to make some aspects of this work obsolete. While interpreting this data, it is important to note the difference between the more senior-level Software Engi- neers and more junior-level Computer Programmers. While the junior-level jobs are expected to decline slightly, the more senior level positions are expected to grow quite dramatically, by as much as 34%. In Conclusion In summary, the trend for growth in technology careers con- tinues to be optimistic over the next decade. Technology jobs tend to yield a strong above-median income and will continue to be in high demand for the foreseeable future. In particular, there appears to be a need for qualified professionals in all areas of technology, including IT and Information Sciences (IS), and not only in Computer Science or Software Engineering. A career in technology is a wonderful opportunity for personal growth and satisfaction. Those of us who are already employed in this industry should find joy in leading the way for the up- and-coming technology workforce. It is truly an exciting time to be a technologist. Mr. Jones is a senior member of IEEE serving on the executive committee for the local section. He is the Chair for the local Computer Society and is an active consultant in enterprise systems. He currently works full-time as the Lead Technologist for aVinci Media, LC (AVMC.ob ). The Water Resource Specialists  Hydraulic Analysis & Design  Hydrology  Permits & Environmental Studies  Planning & Economic Studies  Sewer Systems  Source Protection Plans  Water Distribution Systems  Water Storage Tanks  Water & Wastewater Treatment 1276 South 820 East, Suite 100, American Fork, Utah 84003 T 801-756-0309 or 888-756-3726 (toll free) F 801-756-0481 Jones Furse