National Engineers Week 2005 will be celebrated February 20-26. This is the eleventh in a series of e-newsletters that will inform you of products and programs. Feel free to forward this letter or contents to other interested parties.

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

Contents:
1. MentorNet’s “Drive for 500” Launched
2. Engineers Without Borders
3. Future City Competition
4. Local Events

1. MentorNet’s “Drive for 500” Launched
MentorNet , the e-Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science, is celebrating National Engineers Week 2005 with the “Drive for 500” – an all-out effort to match 500 new pairs of mentors and proteges in its award-winning one-on-one mentoring programs between now and February 28. MentorNet brings together undergraduate and graduate students in engineering and related sciences with professionals in industry, government, and higher education, and graduate students and early career faculty with tenured faculty members, for structured email-based mentoring partnerships lasting eight months. To accomplish the goal of 500 new mentoring matches, MentorNet offers a half-year membership for colleges and universities to participate in MentorNet’s programs at half-price, fields a student leadership corps of student volunteers to spread the word about MentorNet to their fellow students, and launched a Computer Science and Computer Engineering “Hard Drive” for further student outreach in these fields. For more information visit MentorNet online.

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2. Engineers Without Borders: Coming to the aid of a poor Mexican community, engineering students find they, too, benefit.
The tiny Mexican town of Piedritas is only 20 kilometers south of the Texas border, but it’s a world away from the United States . A hardscrabble community in the Chihuahuan desert, it is virtually inaccessible except by an arduous three-hour journey from the city of Muzquiz , the closest source of gasoline, medicine, and groceries. The 230 residents survive largely on meager wages earned from harvesting candelilla, a wild plant unique to the area, which they process in dangerous open vats of sulfuric acid to extract its wax for industry. Poor resource management has left Piedritas with an inadequate water supply which, when available, is tainted with bacteria that results in widespread illness.

A world away, perhaps, but for a group of engineering students from Rice University in Houston , Piedritas has become as close as family. Working with Engineers Without Borders - USA, an emerging humanitarian outreach organization, the students are in the middle of a project in Piedritas to resolve the town’s immediate engineering needs and lay the groundwork so that its citizens are empowered to maintain and improve their own lot far into the future.

That hallmark of Engineers Without Borders – remedy an engineering need and leave the community able to fend for itself – has made it a welcomed presence for people around the world.

Engineers Week 2005 co-chairs ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and BP p.l.c., have made Engineers Without Borders a major focus of their activities. Engineers Week, for more than 50 years the profession’s most visible public awareness and outreach program, has always highlighted the engineering community’s volunteerism. For 2005, the support and expansion of the work of Engineers Without Borders underscores the new global thrust of EWeek and the organization’s intention to take its message worldwide.

Visit the Media section on the EWeek web site to learn more about the project in Piedritas and the Rice students who made a difference.

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3. Future City Winners Headed to Washington
Teams heading to Washington, D.C., for the National Engineers Week Future City Competition National Finals after winning their regional competitions this past weekend include: Maple Hill Middle School, Castleton-on-Hudson, from the New York - Albany region; Epiphany Catholic School, Miami, Florida; St. Thomas More School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and St. Bede School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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4. Local Events: What Can You Tell Us?
What are you planning for Engineers Week 2005? Send information about your events to us and we’ll share your news in an Engineers Week e-newsletter.

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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, Engineers Week (February 20-26, 2005) 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.

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