Portfolio 4

In my engineering classes, I often encounter with several difficulties when writing my answers. The very first problem is nothing other than writing good sentence structures. Good sentence structures are very important to express my idea. Without good sentence structures, it's hard for the examiners to understand my points, because of the ambiguity of the sentences. For example, in MLE 1101 module, we often need to compare difference materials and their properties. In doing so, we usually end up with long sentences of poor sentence structures.

To solve this problem, I'll try to keep my sentences short, instead of connecting a few phrases using commas. In this way, I can control the way my points are organized. However, this is not a bullet-proof method. It's not always possible to change a long sentences to short ones.

Thus, I need to improve my writing skills, especially sentence structures. I need to practice more. EG 1471 is a very useful module to help me improve my writing skills. I get to learn grammar and write essays in EG 1471. The more I learn and practice, the more my writing skills improve. Also, reading is another way to improve my writing skills. I've made it a point to read at least an article from the Internet everyday. When reading the articles, I also note down how the author play with language.

Another problem I'm facing in writing is to make my point clear. In engineering, making my points clear is very important so that the readers do not need to hunt around to get the real meaning of my points. Sometimes, even sentences with very good sentence structures cannot fully express the points. This problem can be caused by redundant sentences and also incorrect use of word.

I think the best way to solve this problem is, again, to read. By reading other people's article, I can learn how they bring out their points. Reading helps to improve my vocabulary also.

In short, the way towards excellence is to learn and practice. I believe, with enough reading and practice, I can eventually solve the difficulties I'm facing.

Portfolio 3

Electronic computing and communication create complex challenges to engineering. Nowadays, most of the aspects of modern life rely on electronic information. Any attack to these information will greatly affect individual and society. Actually, breaches of cybersecurity in financial and military computer system have already occurred. However, research and development has not found a better way to tap into the problem. The usual way to protect computers is called “perimeter defense”, where routers and firewalls are placed at the entry point of a sub-network to block outside access. Experts know clearly that these defenses do not work, as they can be bypassed. And even without breaches of such kind, systems can be disrupted by “denial of service”. Undeniably, engineering needs to solve these cybersecurity problems. One of them is to authenticate hardware, software and data in computer systems and to verify user identities in a better way. Creating more secure software is a critical challenge. This can be done by using better programming languages that have security protection. Also, technology that detects vulnerabilities before software is installed is needed.  Another concern is to secure the data transferred over the Internet so that it cannot be manipulated. Methods to monitor and detect security compromises are needed. Once problems are detected, countermeasures must be taken too.  Forensics to find cyberterrorism should be part of the process as well. Engineers should see cybersecurity as a whole and should fight cyberterrorism on the personal, social, political and electronics fronts. The psychology of computer users should also be considered, where more research is needed on how people interact with their computers. The reason to what leads to computer crime have to be found. Furthermore, laws and regulations concerning cybersecurity need to be evaluated and political forces should also be part of the mission to protecting cyberspace from attack.

Reference:
National Acedemy of Engineering of the National Academies. (2008). Grand Challenges for Engineering. Retrieved 6 October, 2008, from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/Object.File/Master/11/574/Grand%20Challenges%20final%20book.pdf.