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08.11

USDA’s MyPlate Food Guidance Program

By Terrance Malkinson

On 2 June, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the federal government’s new food guidance program, MyPlate. This program is designed to help you make healthier food choices. The program focuses on the fruit, vegetable, grains, protein and dairy food groups. Practical information is provided for individuals, health professionals, nutrition educators, and the food industry when choosing healthier diets. Resources and tools for dietary assessment and self- education are provided on the website. It is well known that appropriate nutrition is essential for health and wellness right from the developing fetus through to the elderly. Nutrition is critical for the development of the brain during our formative years and for providing the substrates so important for cognitive abilities throughout your life.

Other Bytes

Here are some of the things going on in and around the community:

• The cover story of the June 2011 special issue of MIT Technology Review focuses on “Emerging Technologies” (114(3):41-57, June 2011, www.technologyreview.com). A series of ten articles discuss “breakthroughs that are bursting into our lives.” Criteria for inclusion in this annual feature from the editors of Technology Review is simple — “is the technology likely to change the world?” Emerging technologies discussed that provide promise to make our lives better include: social indexing, smart transformers, gestural interfaces, cancer genomics, solid-state-batteries, homomorphic encryption, cloud streaming, crash-proof code, separating chromosomes, and synthetic cells.

• The workplace continues to change and in a way where job security and pension expectations have disappeared for most employees. In “Pulling Off the Ultimate Career Makeover” (FORTUNE 164(1): 70-81, 4 July 2011 www.fortune.com), Douglas Alden Warshaw provides strategies to re-invent yourself, no matter what your age or skill set. The author accomplishes this through a series of five case studies where individuals have turned job setbacks into new, satisfying and sustainable careers. An important inset in the article provides six rules for career re-inventors. In another article in the same issue of FORTUNE, Andy Serwer provides his list of “101 Great Things About America” (pp. 106-112) — leading the list is “opportunity.” The world always has and always will present us with challenges. Those who succeed are those who remain optimistic, agile and invest time in scanning their environment and then having the courage to pursue new opportunities.

• The cover story of Railway Age is titled “Amtrak at 40” (pp.26-33, May 2011, www.railwayage.com). Douglas John Bowen discusses how suppliers have played an important role in helping Amtrak survive and prosper for four decades. Optimism in the future of the rail industry remains high despite the many challenges involved in promoting intercity passenger and cargo railway transport. Bowen discusses many important issues in this piece.

•  The NASA space shuttle program has now ended with the final flight of the shuttle program — STS-135, a 13-day mission to the International Space Station by the shuttle Atlantis. Industry is now expected to fill the need, and last year, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in partnership with NASA, sent a spacecraft into low Earth orbit. A photo essay of the SpaceX program is provided by Brittany Sauser in “Rocket Road” (MIT Technology Review, 114(3):32-39, June 2011).

• A series of interviews of fourteen company builders discussing their success, failures and lessons learned is provided in the July/August 2011 issue of Inc. ( “How I Did It,” pp. 58-73, www.inc.com). One of the best ways to achieve success is by learning from the experience of others. These real-life stories tell it as it is.

Terrance Malkinson is a communications specialist, business analyst and futurist. He is currently an international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer, an associate editor for IEEE Canadian Review, and a member of the editorial advisory board of IEEE The Institute. He was Vice-Chair of the IEEE-USA Communications Committee (2004-2010), and editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Digest (2004-2008). He was an elected Senator of the University of Calgary and an elected Governor of the IEEE Engineering Management Society as well as an elected Administrative Committee member of the IEEE Professional Communication Society. He has been the editor of several IEEE conference proceedings, and past editor of IEEE Engineering Management. He is the author of more than 420 publications, and is an accomplished triathlete. His career path includes being an accomplished technical supervisor and medical researcher at the University of Calgary a business proposal manager for the General Electric Company, an associate for Sears Canada Inc. and research administrator with the School of Health and Public Safety/Applied Research and Innovation Services at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary Canada.

The author is grateful to the professional support of the Haskayne School of Business Library at the University of Calgary. He can be reached at todaysengineer@ieee.org.