EWeek 2007 ENews #4 – October 9, 2006

Engineers Week 2007 will be celebrated February 18 – 24, 2007. Feel free to forward this letter or contents to other interested parties.

Contents:

1. Seeking New Faces of Engineering
2. For Future City Mentors, A Refresher On The Joys Of Engineering
3. Students Explore Engineering, Make a Difference, Have Fun, and Win Prizes!
4. MIT-Student-Mentors Available

1. Seeking New Faces of Engineering
Do you know a young engineer who is an inspiration to others? The National Engineers Week Foundation recognizes some of the profession's up-and-coming talent around the world in the New Faces of Engineering campaign. Top nominees are recognized in USA TODAY. New Faces provides stimulation and incentive for college-level students and encourages younger students to consider engineering careers. Eligible candidates are age 30 and under who hold an engineering degree, have been employed as an engineer from two to five years, and are involved in projects that impact public welfare or further professional development and growth. All nominations must come through an engineering organization represented on the National Engineers Week Steering Committee. Click here for all nomination and deadline information.

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2. For Future City Mentors, A Refresher On The Joys Of Engineering
The word rejuvenate comes from the Latin "young again." Appropriately enough, that is precisely the word Jane Sternemann uses to describe the benefits of volunteering as an engineer mentor in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition^TM.

"Future City rejuvenates me," says Sternemann, when asked why she takes time from her job as engineering group manager at General Motors' Vehicle Safety and Crashworthiness Integration program in Warren, Michigan. "When you've been in engineering a long time - I've been in the crash area for 17 years - it can get a little old. My interaction and connection with these kids rejuvenates me."

Stefan Gantert, PE, a civil engineer with the Rice County, Minnesota highway department, has a similar take on the power of seventh- and eighth-graders. "Too often we get stuck in a rut of doing things the same way over and over," he says, "when a little creativity might lead to great things. These students remind me that it's good to dream as long as you base the ideas in reality."

Sternemann and Gantert are among hundreds of engineers who volunteer in the annual Future City Competition, the nation's largest and most successful not-for-profit engineering education program.

School registration deadline for the 2007 National Engineers Week Future City Competition is October 15, 2006, but the competition continues to seek engineers from every field to volunteer as mentors to introduce middle school students across the nation to a career in engineering. For more information, visit http://www.futurecity.org.org or call toll-free 1-877-636-9578. To become a volunteer mentor, visit www.futurecity.org and click on "Register / Register as an Engineer." Engineers will be contacted by their area competition's regional coordinator.

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3. Students Explore Engineering, Make a Difference, Have Fun, and Win Prizes!
By participating in the JWOD/JETS National Engineering Design Challenge - NEDC, high school students explore aspects of engineering -- mechanical, electrical, biomedical, and rehabilitation engineering -- and make a difference in their community and in someone's life! NEDC is a cross-curricular activity that involves problem solving skills, math, science, research, writing, presentation skills, and drafting/design skills...and fun and prizes. Teams work with individual mentors. After competitions across the country, the top five teams go to national finals in Washington on Friday, February 16.

Teams may register online, and the deadline is October 16. For complete details, click here.

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4. Mentors Available
The Women's Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is run entirely by students and is completely cost-free for participating middle and high schools. Each January, enthusiastic women from the MIT School of Engineering are selected to go to middle and high schools nationwide to speak with young women about the excitement of careers in engineering. The presentations include activities to engage students in thinking about engineering concepts, demonstrations of projects on which the presenters have worked, and information about the fields of engineering and the life of an engineering student. The MIT students have reached more than 10,000 young women in the program's first six years.

Presentations take place only during the month of January. Pairs of presenters fly to selected school districts for a week. Every day they visit one or two schools and give four to five presentations. The presentations range from 60-90 minutes and are geared toward an all female audience of 30-60 students. Each presentation is unique, as each pair of presenters decides the best approach for their schools.

If you have questions about the program or how to apply, contact wi-directors@mit.edu.

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Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, Engineers Week (February 18-24, 2007) 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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National Engineers Week Foundation
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