Tapping the Genius of Future Engineers to Meet the High-Tech Needs of Tomorrow

When faced with a problem, engineers usually resort to research, brainstorming, and teamwork. When it comes to the unknown problems America may face in the near and not so near future, however, a growing number of engineers are looking to seventh- and eighth- graders participating in the ninth annual National Engineers Week Future City CompetitionTM.

The non-profit educational program invites middle school students to design and build a city of tomorrow, first on computer and then in three-dimensional scale models, and deal with a host of urban challenges, including transportation, employment, environmental concerns and education. In the process, students solve problems using the very strategies engineers employ and, often, for the first time consider a career they might otherwise miss. This year, the competition will reach a record 26,000 boys and girls in 25 regions across the country.

Finding ways to inspire a new generation of engineers is more than just child's play. As the nation approaches what many think will be a critical shortage of qualified workers in areas of high technology, especially information technologies, reaching middle school students can help provide the right nudge at an important educational juncture.

"This competition will be a gold mine for getting engineers into the workforce," says Sonya Hutchinson, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and that region's Future City coordinator. "I had no clue about engineering in eighth grade. My interest started in high school. Future City helps reach children at an earlier age," she says, adding, "The sooner you tap into those minds the better."

Stoking that interest, of course, means appealing to the mind and imagination, and most agree that Future City has done just that for tens of thousands of youngsters. Part of its popularity stems from the broad range of basic requirements, quite literally something for everyone: Students, working in teams of three with a teacher and volunteer engineer mentor from the community, design and build a city. They write a 300- to 500-word essay about a communications system for their city and a 100- to 200-word abstract describing their city and its services. Finally, students present and defend the design before judges at the regional competition.

This broad palette of challenges opens the competition to students with widely varying skills. Girls, for example, who often outperform boys in public speaking and making presentations during middle school years, can prove their mettle in this critical component of engineering and, thus, possibly warm to a career typically ceded to males.

"Girls, especially at this age, have good communication, writing, and presentation skills," says Wendy Z. Fenner, an engineer with the Clark County Department of Public Works in Las Vegas and coordinator of that region's competition. "When girls see that these skills are an important part of engineering they see this as an opportunity to excel."

One indication of the importance the engineering community places on outreach to girls can be seen in "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day," a new annual program scheduled for launch during National Engineers Week 2001, February 18-24. Spearheaded by this year's co-chairs IBM and the National Society of Professional Engineers, the effort seeks thousands of engineers -- many of them women -- to reach as many girls as possible during the week to interest them in engineering careers.

According to Fenner, examining engineering as a career choice in these grades lets students prepare for college more wisely. For Fenner, who began college as an English major, it's a lesson she learned the hard way. "If I had been exposed to engineering at that age, it would have me saved me two years in college, because I would have taken the extra math in high school."

The parameters of the competition helps it reach students from school districts of all income levels. The software used to plan and design the city, SimCity 2000, is donated to all participating schools by MaxisTM Corporation, based in Walnut Creek, California. Three- dimensional models, which can be no larger than 30" by 60" wide and 24" high, must be built for less than $100. Using recycled materials is encouraged.

Besides engineering skills, the program's breadth makes it a good fit with other educational efforts in many areas. In Virginia's Hampton Roads region, school districts encourage teachers to participate in Future City as part of new statewide Standard of Learning levels. "This is not just extracurricular, and it's not just math and science," says the region's coordinator, engineer Mary Lou Mortimer, president of NRW Engineering in Virginia Beach. "Teachers are using Future City to reach education standards in a variety of subjects, including social studies."

Thomas Heins, an engineer who heads the Buffalo, New York competition, says he's seen the program's increasing popularity. "We're more recognized by the schools and among circles of teachers," he says. "This year, I even had a few schools call me. It gets more and more popular."

By any measure, Future City has become a success. Begun in 1993 with just five participating regions and approximately 600 students, this year seven new regions -- Alabama, Colorado, Dallas/Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and San Francisco -- will join 18 others that participated last year, including Buffalo, Chicago, South Florida, Hampton Roads, Houston, Los Angeles, Michigan, Milwaukee, New York City, Ohio, Oklahoma, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Washington State.

First-place teams from the 21 qualifying regional competitions held in January (some regions lack the minimum 25 registered schools) win a free trip to Washington for the national finals at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on February 20 and 21, in the middle of National Engineers Week.

Carol Rieg, national coordinator of the Future City program, says that the competition's vital role is exposing young people to engineering. "This project breaks down barriers," she says. "Future City proves that engineering is not about your size or your shape. It's about the ability to think." She says that unlike general-interest career days that make a quick play for students' attention, with the all-encompassing nature of Future City -- teamwork, group planning, the many weeks of designing, building, and preparing presentations -- children sample engineering in a non-threatening way. "Future City is subtle," she notes. "Children get interested, and when they're interested we may be able to plant the seed."

One of the ways those interests are being piqued this year is the communications essay, which asks how, specifically in the context of the city students have designed, they will send quick messages, and describe how the system would overcome any problems it might encounter. Considering the average middle school student's love for cell phones and computers and the almost preternatural attraction to any handheld electronic gadget, the winning essays from the regional competitions, scheduled for the end of January, may well be revelatory.

And it's those very insights that many engineers say gives Future City its unique window on the next generation of engineers. Geraldine Robak of ESD The Engineering Society in Dearborn, Michigan and coordinator for the Michigan region notes that her area's competition is getting a significant helping hand from Ford Motor Corporation because, she says, "The automotive industry deals with the shortage of engineers like everybody else. They see this program as encouraging potential employees."

John Kampmeyer, regional coordinator for the Philadelphia competition and a long- time engineer, says looking to youth means the profession realizes the importance of keeping up with the times. "Engineering's changing," he says. "When you look at the world I grew up in you see it's a very different world today."

As the competition's name indicates, the future is what it's all about.

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Engineers Week is celebrated annually by thousands of engineers, engineering students, teachers and leaders in government and business. In 1990, the National Engineers Week consortium expanded its scope and now includes more than 100 engineering, scientific and education societies, and major corporations dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of technology and the engineering profession. Co-chairs for 2001 are the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) and IBM.

The winning team (three students, teacher, and engineer mentor) from each local Future City Competition receives an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals. The national winning Future City team receives a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, donated by national finals host Bentley Systems, an engineering software company. The second-place team receives $1,000 for the school's technology program, donated by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A $500 scholarship for the third place team's school technology curriculum is provided by The National Society of Professional Engineers. Various prizes are awarded at the local competitions.

Maxis, best known for its "Sim" family, develops and publishes top-quality entertainment software that uses advanced simulation technologies to deliver challenging fun through creativity, exploration, and depth of play. To date, players around the world have purchased more than eight million copies in the Sim line including SimCityClassicTM, SimCity 2000TM, SimCity 3000TM, SimAntTM, and SimFarmTM. Maxis is based in Walnut Creek, California, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS). Maxis, SimCity 2000, SimCityClassic, SimCity 3000, SimAnt, and SimFarm are trademarks of Electronic Arts. For additional information on Maxis, contact Patrick Buechner at 925-927-3782 or visit http://www.maxis.com.

Visit the National Engineers Week Future City Competition on the web at http://www.futurecity.org. Visit National Engineers Week at http://www.eweek.org.