National Engineers Week 2004 will be celebrated February 22-28. The 2004 program is chaired by IEEE/IEEE-USA and Fluor Corporation. This is the third in a series of EWEEK 2004 newsletters that will inform you of products and programs. Previous issues are available in the archives.

Feel free to forward this letter or contents to other interested parties.

Contents:

1. Future City Competition Update
2. Women in Engineering at the Movies
3. Order Now

1. Future City Competition Update: Kids, Plastics and Senior Citizens
Michael Gippetti from Valley Middle School in Oakland, New Jersey, is a fairly typical teen. He enjoys sports, names lunch as his favorite subject, and when he needs advice on how plastics can generate new cell growth in human organs, he asks Dr. Robert Langer, MIT’s pioneering biotechnology engineer and winner of the Charles Stark Draper Prize. “I heard there was a guy at MIT who knew a lot about plastics,” understates Michael, “so I emailed him.” Soon Michael received Langer’s reply. “I learned that cell regrowth is possible. In the future we won’t need transplants anymore.”

Gippetti and some 30,000 other students from 1,100 middle schools nationwide are big on plastics and human health these days. They're participating in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition^TM, creating cities of the future and writing essays on solving an important social need with engineering; this year’s essay focuses on how plastics can be used to help senior citizens in the future. Winning teams from 33 regional competitions this month receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for national finals, February 23-25. For competition locations and dates, visit http://www.futurecity.org. Regional finals are covered by local media and are open to the public.

Winners of the two National Engineers Week Future City Regional Competitions held January 10 are:
Kentucky Region: Pineville Middle School (Pineville, KY)
Albany, NY, Region: Maple Hill Middle School (Castleton-on-Hudson, NY)

The schedule for the rest of the country looks like this:
January 17: Miami; Oklahoma City; Aiken, South Carolina.
January 22: Livonia, Michigan.
January 23: Lafayette, Louisiana.
January 24: Haleyville, Alabama; Santa Clara, California; Chicago; Denver; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Lawrence, Kansas; Las Vegas; Boston; Milwaukee; New York City; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Dallas/Fort Worth; Houston; Seattle.
January 31: Buffalo; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Piscataway, New Jersey; Omaha, Nebraska; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

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2. Women in Engineering at the Movies
To help with Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, or other campaigns targeting women in engineering throughout the year, you can advertise at your local movie theater with pre-movie "teasers," an ideal way to reach a captive and receptive audience of thousands, including pre-teens, teens, and parents. Here's how it works: the teaser, featuring an attractive visual provided by National Engineers Week headquarters, will tout your organization, along with phone number or Web site. The teasers run every four minutes -- about three times before every movie -- and stay on screen for approximately 10 seconds. And the best part is that it only costs a special rate of $20 per screen per week (there is a four-week minimum). So, to advertise for four weeks at your local theater with six screens, the cost would be only $480!

It couldn't be easier. Just tell us the city or county where you want your ad to run and provide us with copy for the slide, such as: Sponsored by the Anytown National Engineers Week Coalition -- (777) 777-7777 / www.anytowneweek.org. You can check out the slide at http://www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/girlsday_mov.shtml.

This offer is not available everywhere, so if your organization is interested please let us know at least eight weeks before you want your ads to run. We'll need your confirmed commitment and the copy for your ad six weeks before the ads run. Contact Don Lehr at dblehr@cs.com for more information.

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3. Order Now
Helping third-graders discover engineering? We have cool new magnifying glasses. Having a fair? Let guests carry give-aways in the Engineers Week plastic tote bag. To be sure your Engineers Week product order arrives in time for your events, get those orders in. If you’re working with young students we have special colorful bookmarks. Older students use the “Engineering & You” guidance brochure. To build spirit in volunteer and business organizations there are posters and buttons. Visit the Product Catalog at http://www.eweek.org; orders may be placed online, by phone at 412-741-1393, or by mail.

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To submit content or comments, or to be added to our email distribution list, please e-mail eweek@nspe.org. All suggestions will be considered.

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Engineers Week (February 22-28, 2004) is celebrated annually by thousands of engineers, engineering students, teachers, and leaders in government and business. In 1988, the National Engineers Week consortium expanded its scope and now includes more than 100 engineering, scientific, and education societies and major corporations dedicated to enhancing the public understanding of the engineering profession and to promoting pre-college interest in math, science, and engineering as a career option.

Previous issues of the EWEEK ENEWS available here.