THIS MONTH'S FEATURE ARTICLE
Engineers Week® 2012
February 2012
Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Engineers Week is among the oldest of America’s professional outreach efforts. The National Engineers Week Foundation, a formal coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies, is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers among young students and by promoting pre-college literacy in math and science. Collectively, America’s engineers contribute more than one million hours annually to public service. National Engineers Week Foundation coalition members, with the support of engineering firms and agencies, represent a significant segment of this volunteer force. The Foundation’s signature program, Engineers Week celebrates the positive contributions engineers make to society and is a catalyst for outreach across the country to kids and adults alike. Engineers Week 2012, February 19-25, will be led by Battelle and the American Society Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Honorary Chair for 2012 is Jeffrey Wadsworth, Ph.D., Pesident and CEO of Battelle and the 2012 Chair is Victoria Rockwell, President of ASME. Visit www.eweek.org for more information on programs including:
• National Engineers Week Future City Competition™ – Sponsored by the nation’s professional engineering community, Future City, one of the nation’s largest engineering education programs and among the most popular, aims to stir interest in science, technology, engineering and math among young people. Operating in 35 regions, Future City works with 1,034 schools and reaches 33,000 students in a semester-long program. This engaging program challenges 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students to design a city 150 years into the future. Each January, thousands of students participate in regional competitions presenting their designs before a panel of volunteer engineer judges. First place regional teams win a trip to Washington for National Finals, held each year during National Engineers Week. The President of the United States recently recognized Future City at the first White House Science and Engineering Fair.
• National Engineers Week Foundation Diversity Council – A formal alliance of engineering and diversity organizations dedicated to promoting and advancing diversity in engineering. The Council collaborates on projects and issues of interest that add value to the members’ organizations as well as to broader communities, drawing upon the member organizations’ individual interests and strengths to present a stronger and wider-reaching message on how their constituents contribute to engineering solutions. National Engineers Week Foundation facilitates communications among the Council’s member organizations and among the more than 75 Engineers Week coalition partners.
• My DiscoverE – The Foundation’s latest offering, this new site is a rich searchable database filled with engineering events, workshops, and camp programs that will quickly become the go-to reference for families looking for opportunities in their area.
• Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day – Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day celebrated its 10th Anniversary in February 2011. Each year “Girl Day” gives thousands of women engineers, with support from their male counterparts, the chance to directly mentor more than one million girls and young women in grades K through12. This section of the www.eweek.org website has been translated into Spanish.
• Engineer Your Life (EYL) – EYL is a ground-breaking messaging campaign that is successfully challenging high school girls, teachers, and counselors outdated stereotypes about engineering. Based on the results of an extensive nationwide survey identifying what girls want—careers that are creative, collaborative, personally fulfilling, and most of all socially relevant, EYL is making a compelling case to high school girls through a web site, promotional materials, and national workshops for engineers and educators.
• Family Event – The annual Washington, DC Engineering Family Day is enjoyed by over six thousand visitors to the National Building Museum every February. The festival, to be held on February 18, 2012, features dozens of hands-on activities provided by local engineering chapters and national organizations. Every year at the start of Engineers Week, the impressive main hall of the National Building Museum is taken over by thousands of children of all ages experiencing the excitement of engineering.
• New Faces of Engineering – Reflecting the increasingly important role engineers play in today’s society, National Engineers Week Foundation is broadening its annual New Faces of Engineering program, which, for 8 years, has honored the nation’s most promising young engineering professionals. Now, for the first time, the popular initiative will also recognize the best and brightest college engineering students, whose academic successes and contributions to the industry are already poised to make an impact.
• Discover Engineering (www.discoverengineering.org) – This dynamic web site is designed to showcase the hows and whys of becoming an engineer to middle school students and educators. The site features an exciting video series and related hands on challenges, career information, engineer profiles, and links to related educational, professional, and corporate sites.
• Global Marathon – For, By and About Women in Engineering and Technology, a weeklong event March 5-10, 2012. Women (and men) from around the globe gather to discuss universal topics—how to encourage girls and young women to consider engineering as a career, advice on career paths for young engineers, achieving a life/work balance, and benefits of networking.
Local events planned in conjunction with national Engineers Week events will include:
• The 2012 Richmond Joint Engineers’ Council (RJEC) Annual Banquet will be held on Thursday, February 23rd at the historic Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia. This year’s invited speaker is Mr. David R. Lohr, President and Executive Director of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM). Mr. Lohr is responsible for general oversight and management of the organization, as well as its member recruiting efforts.
A founding member and past chairman of the Virginia Tech Chemical Engineering Department Advisory Board, Mr. Lohr is a member of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Committee of 100 and College of Engineering Advisory Board. He has served as a director of the Richmond Venture Forum, RichTech (formerly the Greater Richmond Technology Council) and the Greater Richmond MathScience Innovation Center. During 2011, Mr. Lohr was appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Manufacturing Development Commission and to the Board of Directors of the A. L. Philpott Manufacturing Development Partnership.
Also at this year’s banquet, RJEC will present its annual Engineer of the Year and Community Service awards. Additionally, the winners of RJEC’s annual essay and media contests for area students will be announced. Complete banquet schedule and registration information is available at www.rjec.org.
• The Virginia Society of Professional Engineers (VSPE) will sponsor and coordinate the MATHCOUNTS 2012 competitions in Virginia which will be held during February and March. MATHCOUNTS is a national competition where students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades compete both as individuals and as teams in events designed to promote mathematical competency. MATHCOUNTS was developed as a positive and rewarding solution to reversing the current problem of math illiteracy and as a way to make parents, educators and the general public aware of career opportunities in math. For more detailed information about Virginia competitions, visit www.vspe.org. ##
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Engineers Week® 2012
February 2012
Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Engineers Week is among the oldest of America’s professional outreach efforts.
January 2012
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