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, andteamwork. When it comes to the unknown problems America may face in thenear and notso near future, however, a growing number of engineers are looking toseventh- and eighth-graders participating in the ninth annual National Engineers Week FutureCityCompetitionTM.

The non-profit educational program invites middle school studentsto design andbuild a city of tomorrow, first on computer and then in three-dimensionalscale models, anddeal with a host of urban challenges, including transportation, employment,environmentalconcerns and education. In the process, students solve problems using thevery strategiesengineers employ and, often, for the first time consider a career theymight otherwise miss. This year, the competition will reach a record 26,000 boys and girls in 25regions across thecountry.

Finding ways to inspire a new generation of engineers is more thanjust child's play. As the nation approaches what many think will be a critical shortage ofqualified workers inareas of high technology, especially information technologies, reachingmiddle schoolstudents can help provide the right nudge at an important educationaljuncture.

"This competition will be a gold mine for getting engineers intothe workforce," saysSonya Hutchinson, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center inHuntsville,Alabama, and that region's Future City coordinator. "I had no clue aboutengineering ineighth grade. My interest started in high school. Future City helps reachchildren at anearlier age," she says, adding, "The sooner you tap into those minds thebetter."

Stoking that interest, of course, means appealing to the mind andimagination, andmost agree that Future City has done just that for tens of thousands ofyoungsters. Part of itspopularity stems from the broad range of basic requirements, quiteliterally something foreveryone: Students, working in teams of three with a teacher and volunteerengineer mentorfrom the community, design and build a city. They write a 300- to 500-wordessay about acommunications system for their city and a 100- to 200-word abstractdescribing their cityand its services. Finally, students present and defend the design beforejudges at the regionalcompetition.

This broad palette of challenges opens the competition to studentswith widelyvarying skills. Girls, for example, who often outperform boys in publicspeaking andmaking presentations during middle school years, can prove their mettle inthis criticalcomponent of engineering and, thus, possibly warm to a career typicallyceded to males.

"Girls, especially at this age, have good communication, writing,and presentationskills," says Wendy Z. Fenner, an engineer with the Clark County Departmentof PublicWorks in Las Vegas and coordinator of that region's competition. "Whengirls see that theseskills are an important part of engineering they see this as an opportunityto excel."

One indication of the importance the engineering community placeson outreach togirls can be seen in "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day," a new annualprogram scheduledfor launch during National Engineers Week 2001, February 18-24. Spearheaded by thisyear's co-chairs IBM and the National Society of Professional Engineers,the effort seeksthousands of engineers -- many of them women -- to reach as many girls aspossible duringthe week to interest them in engineering careers.

According to Fenner, examining engineering as a career choice inthese grades letsstudents prepare for college more wisely. For Fenner, who began college asan Englishmajor, it's a lesson she learned the hard way. "If I had been exposed toengineering at thatage, it would have me saved me two years in college, because I would havetaken the extramath in high school."

The parameters of the competition helps it reach students fromschool districts of allincome levels. The software used to plan and design the city, SimCity2000, is donated to allparticipating 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 bebuilt for less than $100. Using recycled materials is encouraged.

Besides engineering skills, the program's breadth makes it a goodfit with othereducational efforts in many areas. In Virginia's Hampton Roads region,school districtsencourage teachers to participate in Future City as part of new statewideStandard ofLearning levels. "This is not just extracurricular, and it's not just mathand science," says theregion's coordinator, engineer Mary Lou Mortimer, president of NRWEngineering inVirginia Beach. "Teachers are using Future City to reach educationstandards in a variety ofsubjects, including social studies."

Thomas Heins, an engineer who heads the Buffalo, New Yorkcompetition, says he'sseen the program's increasing popularity. "We're more recognized by theschools and amongcircles of teachers," he says. "This year, I even had a few schools callme. It gets more andmore popular."

By any measure, Future City has become a success. Begun in 1993with just fiveparticipating regions and approximately 600 students, this year seven newregions --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 heldin January (someregions lack the minimum 25 registered schools) win a free trip toWashington for thenational finals at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on February 20 and 21, inthe middle ofNational Engineers Week.

Carol Rieg, national coordinator of the Future City program, saysthat thecompetition's vital role is exposing young people to engineering. "Thisproject breaks downbarriers," she says. "Future City proves that engineering is not aboutyour size or yourshape. It's about the ability to think." She says that unlikegeneral-interest career days thatmake a quick play for students' attention, with the all-encompassing natureof Future City --teamwork, group planning, the many weeks of designing, building, andpreparingpresentations -- children sample engineering in a non-threatening way. "Future City issubtle," she notes. "Children get interested, and when they're interestedwe may be able toplant the seed."

One of the ways those interests are being piqued this year is thecommunicationsessay, which asks how, specifically in the context of the city studentshave designed, theywill send quick messages, and describe how the system would overcome anyproblems itmight encounter. Considering the average middle school student's love forcell phones andcomputers and the almost preternatural attraction to any handheldelectronic gadget, thewinning essays from the regional competitions, scheduled for the end ofJanuary, may wellbe revelatory.

And it's those very insights that many engineers say gives FutureCity its uniquewindow on the next generation of engineers. Geraldine Robak of ESD TheEngineeringSociety in Dearborn, Michigan and coordinator for the Michigan region notesthat her area'scompetition is getting a significant helping hand from Ford MotorCorporation because, shesays, "The automotive industry deals with the shortage of engineers likeeverybody else. They see this program as encouraging potential employees."

John Kampmeyer, regional coordinator for the Philadelphiacompetition and a long-time engineer, says looking to youth means the profession realizes theimportance ofkeeping up with the times. "Engineering's changing," he says. "When youlook at the worldI grew up in you see it's a very different world today."

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

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, NationalEngineersWeek is celebrated annually by thousands of engineers, engineeringstudents, teachersand leaders in government and business. In 1990, the National EngineersWeekconsortium expanded its scope and now includes more than 100 engineering,scientificand education societies, and major corporations dedicated to increasingpublic awarenessand appreciation of technology and the engineering profession. Co-chairsfor 2001 arethe National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) and IBM.

The winning team (three students, teacher, and engineer mentor) from eachlocal FutureCity Competition receives an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., forthe nationalfinals. The national winning Future City team receives a trip to U.S.Space Camp inHuntsville, Alabama, donated by national finals host Bentley Systems, anengineeringsoftware company. The second-place team receives $1,000 for the school'stechnologyprogram, donated by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A $500scholarship forthe third place team's school technology curriculum is provided by TheNational Societyof Professional Engineers. Various prizes are awarded at the localcompetitions.

Maxis, best known for its "Sim" family, develops and publishes top-qualityentertainment software that uses advanced simulation technologies todeliver challengingfun through creativity, exploration, and depth of play. To date, playersaround the worldhave purchased more than eight million copies in the Sim line includingSimCityClassicTM, SimCity 2000TM, SimCity 3000TM, SimAntTM, and SimFarmTM. Maxis isbased in Walnut Creek, California, and is a wholly owned subsidiary ofElectronic Arts(Nasdaq: ERTS). Maxis, SimCity 2000, SimCityClassic, SimCity 3000, SimAnt,andSimFarm are trademarks of Electronic Arts. For additional information onMaxis,contact Patrick Buechner at 925-927-3782 or visit http://www.maxis.com.

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