NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK
“CONNECTING THE WORLD TO ENGINEERING” TELECONFERENCE
FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Introductory Remarks by Moderator Joe Lillie
IEEE Senior Member
2004 Chair, National Engineers Week

Hello students, teachers and distinguished guests. I’d like to welcome you to the first Connecting the World to Engineering teleconference. This international dialogue among engineering students, young professionals and business leaders is part of our celebration of U.S. National Engineers Week, or EWeek. EWeek celebrates the engineering profession and the engineers whose creative work improves living standards for all of us. Its programs and activities are designed to instill pride among all engineers, increase public awareness of the key role engineers play, and spark an interest in the profession among youngsters.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), based in New York City, and the Fluor Corporation of Aliso Viejo, California, are sponsoring this teleconference and leading this year’s EWeek activities. These activities include the national finals of the Future City Competition; the National Academy of Engineering’s awards for engineering achievement and innovation; Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day; and thousands of other activities led by engineers around the country. An ad running Thursday (February 26) in USA Today will highlight the 12 New Faces of Engineering recognition program.

This year we’re pleased to say that we’ve begun the process of expanding EWeek concepts worldwide. For example, international New Faces of Engineering were featured in an ad that ran yesterday (February 23) in the International Herald Tribune. Many of you already celebrate a week dedicated to engineers and engineering, and we thank you for sharing in this exciting teleconference.

My name is Joe Lillie and I will be your moderator today. I am a senior member of the IEEE and chair of National Engineers Week 2004. I worked for 29 years as an engineer with the BellSouth Corporation and am now Director of Corporate Quality for NorthStar Communications Group, a BE&K Company. We are coming to you from Fluor’s office in Washington, D.C.

On the line with us today are engineering and technology students from four prestigious universities: the University of Calgary in Canada; the University of Pretoria in South Africa; the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom; and Texas A & M University in the United States.

Telecon Ground Rules:
This teleconference is being recorded and a summary will be posted on the EWeek Web site, www.eweek.org. Following our feature presentation, you will be given the opportunity to engage in a question-and-answer dialogue. We’ll give you some format guidelines when we get to that section. Please remain quiet and place your phone on mute, if possible. If you get disconnected, you may directly dial back in at the number you were provided.

Our special guest speaker today is Alan Boeckmann, chairman and chief executive officer of Fluor Corporation.

Many of you know that Fluor provides services in the fields of engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, operations and project management. Consistently rated as one of the industry’s safest contractors, the company is known for developing, executing and maintaining some of the world’s most impressive capital projects on schedule and within budget.

Mr. Boeckmann leads this industry giant, which maintains a network of offices in more than 25 countries across six continents and employs 30,000 people worldwide. The company works across a wide variety of industries, including chemicals and petrochemicals; commercial and institutional; government; life sciences; manufacturing; microelectronics; mining; oil and gas; power; telecommunications; and transportation infrastructure. Last year, its revenues topped $8.8 billion.

Mr. Boeckmann was named chairman and chief executive officer of Fluor in December of 2001. During his 30 years with the company, he has held many functional and business leadership positions, working from offices or project sites in several different countries.

In addition to his responsibilities at Fluor, Mr. Boeckmann is active in a number of business, professional, civic and charitable organizations. He serves as chairman of the Engineering and Construction Governors of The World Economic Forum and is currently leading a global anti-corruption program for the industry. Mr. Boeckmann also serves as a director of the American Petroleum Institute, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the Business Council for International Understanding, the Hearing and Speech Foundation, the National Petroleum Council and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Mr. Boeckmann is a member of the Business Roundtable, as well as the College of Engineering & Mines’ Industry Advisory Council at the University of Arizona, where he earned his engineering degree. And I’m proud to say that today I had the honor of presenting him with a plaque signifying his senior membership in the IEEE.

We are happy to have him with us today, so please give your full attention to Mr. Alan Boeckmann.

[ Presentation by Mr. Boeckmann ]

Moderator
Thank you very much, Alan. I enjoyed your presentation and I’m sure our students and distinguished guests did as well. You made a number of good points, which we hope will generate a lively question-and-answer dialogue.

Now I’d like to go over some general guidelines for our session. First we’ll go individually to each of our four student locations in alphabetical order and give you the opportunity to ask a question and one immediate follow-up question, if desired. We’ll start with the University of Calgary, then go to the University of Pretoria, the University of Surrey and Texas A&M University. We’ll continue alternating between schools, and even if you’ve already submitted a question in writing, you’re welcome to ask it now live. If we have a break in live questions, I’ll go to our written ones. Your questions can be directed to both Mr. Boeckmann and myself.
If you muted your speakerphone, don’t forget to take it off just before you ask your question. Then we ask that you mute your call again so that we can reduce background noise. Before you ask a question, please tell us your name, what year of school you’re in and what your major is.

So, let’s begin with the University of Calgary. Please go ahead with the first question.

Question and Answer Session.