Engineers In Search To Honor The Youngest And Most Outstanding Of Their Profession

In an effort to honor the most outstanding among its youngest members, the engineering community has announced an international call for nominees for New Faces of Engineering 2006.Now in its fourth year, the recognition program is a centerpiece of Engineers Week, February 19-25, 2006 , and has expanded to include young engineers from around the globe.

Each year, more than a dozen women and men 30 years of age and younger are selected as New Faces from hundreds of nominees, each submitted to the Engineers Week Committee by one of its sponsoring societies or government agencies. Reflecting the interconnectedness of the challenges and opportunities for engineers from all over the world, societies with international affiliations are asked to submit up to two nominees from outside the United States .

The top nominees will be featured in a full-page ad in USA Today, but there’s more to being named one the year’s New Faces than just the honor. Each engineer will also serve as an ambassador, literally representing the very face of this dynamic, essential profession to the media, the general public, and their peers of all ages.

They will also be part of Engineers Week’s goal to reach out to young people – including college engineering students and high school students considering career choices. Profiles of each New Face of 2006 will be posted at the National Engineers Week web site at www.eweek.org, at www.discoverengineering.org, the Engineers Week web site for middle school students, and in publications and web sites of the nominating societies and organizations.

By highlighting the accomplishments of these young engineers, the program’s organizers hope to shine a light on what is sometimes called the "stealth profession." The diversity of the finalists – men and women, multi-racial and from various countries, and pursuing a vast array of projects which impact society – also helps underscore that engineering is open to everyone.

Any engineer, from any discipline, 30 years of age or younger with a degree in engineering from a recognized U.S. college or university or equivalent international educational institution, is eligible. Nominees must be members of a sponsoring Engineers Week partner. Nominations may only be submitted by a partner society or government agency, each of which may name up to five individuals, listed in priority order. Individuals must submit applications to their society, not to Engineers Week headquarters. Final deadline for nominations is November 23, 2005 , although each society and organization will have an earlier deadline.

Complete nominations are to be submitted electronically by the sponsoring society or agency to Anne Squire, New Faces of Engineering Program Manager, at asquire@nspe.org, who can also be contacted for further information.

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Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), is dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to the quality of life. It promotes recognition among parents, teachers and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Co-chairs for 2006 are the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Northrop Grumman Corporation. For more information, visit www.eweek.org.