Engineer Mentors: Helping Young People-- And Others -- Better Understand The "Stealth" Profession

Engineer mentors who volunteer for the 2002 National Engineers Week Future CityCompetition^TM will help introduce a new generation of young people to the essence of engineering. At the same time, however, they'll be sharing that message with a much larger audience, as schools, teachers, parents, businesses, and local and national media get involved with this increasingly popular educational effort.

Engineering is sometimes called the stealth profession. For all the good that engineers do, most people rarely consider the critical role they play in society. That makes the Future City Competition, now in its tenth year, an ideal way to showcase the many facets of engineering, its challenges and rewards. And, not coincidentally, it allows engineers a chance to shine as individuals, too.

The Future City Competition invites seventh- and eighth-grade students-- working in teams of three under the guidance of a teacher and engineer -- to design a city of tomorrow, first on computer and then in large, three-dimensional scale models. Beginning at the school level, and then in regional competitions across the United States, the student teams vie for a chance to win a free trip to Washington for the national finals. Using SimCity 3000 software donated free to every participating school by Maxis Corporation of Walnut Creek, California, students plan and design their city through the fall and then build their models in December and January. Regional competitions are held in January, with national finals during National Engineers Week, February 17-24, 2002. 

Besides building the models, which are often dazzling, and defending their city's design at the competition, the Future City program also calls on the teams to write abstracts and essays about their city. The100-to 200-word abstract describes how each city operates. Developments such as communication chips implanted under every citizen's fingernails at birth and solar powered monorails were just two of the more intriguing ideas proposed by students at the 2001 competition. 

The 300- to 500-word essay gives young people a chance to test their mettle with different topics each year. The essay for the 2002 competition will explore the environment, requiring students to explain how their particular city design deals with conservation, recycling, pollution controls and other important ecological issues. 

At every stage of the process, mentors engage the students to work as a team, solve problems, overcome obstacles and achieve success -- in short, the very things engineers do for a living. They also help the students "keep it real," to borrow a Gen Y phrase, by ensuring that every contrivance, innovation, and invention is based on sound engineering principles. A team that wants a wind-generated power source to run their city, for example, must face the consequences of that decision, such as budgeting sufficient city funds to pay the higher initial building costs. If a town is dependent on a series of transmission towers for its communications system, the students must also make back-up plans in case the towers are destroyed in a natural disaster.

In the end, the students learn the basics of engineering and they learn it from a pro, someone who can reveal the profession's nitty-gritty in a way that helps these young people achieve their goals and gain valuable insights on a profession they might otherwise miss.

Last year, 25 regions held competitions -- Alabama, Buffalo, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas/Fort Worth, South Florida, Hampton Roads (Virginia), Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Michigan, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York City, Ohio, Oklahoma, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco, Washington state and Washington, D.C. -- reaching more than 26,000 students. In 2002, the competition is expected to expand to Reno, Nevada, Albany, New York, and the states of Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, and Utah.

The Future City Competition is sponsored by the National Engineers Week Committee, a consortium of engineering societies and major U.S. corporations, in 2002 co-chaired by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and DuPont.

The national champion team receives a free trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, donated by the National Engineers Week Committee. The second-place team receives a large cash grant for the school's technology program, donated by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A scholarship for the third-place team's school technology curriculum is provided by The National Society of Professional Engineers. Nearly 20 special awards are also presented by various engineering societies, corporations, and government agencies. Other prizes are awarded at the regional competitions.

The 2001 Future City Competition, held February 20 and 21 at Washington's Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, was won by St. Barnabas Catholic School in Chicago. Second place went to Lewiston Porter Middle School in Youngstown, New York, from the Buffalo competition, and third place to Drexel Hill Middle School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, from the Philadelphia competition.

For more information on volunteering as an engineer mentor for the 2002 Future City Competition, please contact Carol Rieg, National Director, at (301) 977-6582, via e-mail at cardress@aol.com, or visit www.futurecity.org. All interested engineers will be put in touch with their area's regional coordinator.

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EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
Photographs of the first, second and third place 2001 Future City Competition teams are available. Contact Donald Lehr at (212) 967-8200 or 74731.2172@compuserve.com

IN BRIEF: The National Engineers Week Committee needs volunteer engineers from every field to give some of their time this fall and winter to introduce local young people at middle schools across the nation to a career in engineering through the National Engineers Week Future City Competition^TM. Since its founding in 1992, this educational program has made engineering come alive for tens of thousands of students. For more information on becoming a volunteer mentor, contact Carol Rieg, National Director, at (301) 977-6582, via e-mail at cardress@aol.com,
or visit www.futurecity.org. Interested engineers will be put in touch with their area's regional coordinator.