NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK 2003: NEW TALENT AND FRESH FACES 

Vitality and diversity will be front and center for National Engineers Week 2003 with the launch of The New Faces in Engineering, a new program that will spotlight the outstanding contribution's of America's youngest professional engineers.

For the past several years -- as well as for 2003 -- National Engineers Week activities have targeted students in an effort to expand the potential ranks of "the engineers of tomorrow." For the National Engineers Week Committee, the coalition of engineering societies and corporations that sponsor the week's activities, the New Faces of Engineering program is a logical extension of those efforts and a chance to showcase the exciting new talents that epitomize the dynamic innovations and advancements that are engineering.

The New Faces of Engineering initiative is sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Lockheed Martin, both co-chairs of National Engineers Week (February 16-22, 2003).

"We want to provide stimulation and incentive for college students," explains ASHRAE president Donald Colliver, Ph.D., P.E. "The New Faces will reflect the broad spectrum of engineering today, including women and underrepresented minorities, and let the next generation of engineers 'see' where their degrees might take them."

All engineering societies represented on the National Engineers Week Committee can submit nominations. Nominees must hold an engineering degree, be employed as an engineer for between two and five years, and have been involved in projects that significantly impact public welfare or further professional development and growth, with 15 to 20 individuals to be featured in the campaign.

Of course, National Engineers Week organizers also recognize that before someone gets to the point of entering college to pursue that career path, they must first be convinced to consider engineering as a career. To that end, the week will bring back programs that have already introduced hundreds of thousands of young people to the significance of engineering in society.

ZOOM^TM into Engineering (ZIE), a volunteer program where engineers work with students in grades 1-6 will return in 2003. Dozens of organizations hosted hundreds of ZIE events across the country in 2002 through the program, based on the popular PBS television show ZOOM produced by WGBH Boston. Girl Scouts USA used ZIE for summer camps and the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted ZIE within its "Cities United for Science Progress" program. Additionally, more than 5,000 attended the ZOOM into Engineering Family Festival at the National Building Museum in Washington on February 16.

Also returning is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. Organizers say that this program has become one of the week's starring activities as engineers -- particularly women engineers -- are encouraged to make the world of engineering come alive for girls. Since its inauguration in 2001, an estimated two million girls have had a chance to experience engineering firsthand. Last year, when more than 110 organizations participated, programs ranged from a "role model" luncheon for 21 high school girls in Bartlesville, Oklahoma to a NASA-sponsored engineering confab for 80 girls in Huntsville, Alabama. Organizers expect even greater success in 2003.

The enormously popular National Engineers Week Future City Competition^TM also returns for its 11th year. Having reached more than 30,000 middle school students from 950 schools in 29 regional competitions across the country in 2002, Future City has firmly established itself as one of the nation's largest engineering education programs and one of the most successful educational outreach program of any kind. So far, more than 100,000 middle school students have participated, learning the potential of careers in engineering, math and science. Notably, an estimated 7,500 engineer volunteers give 225,000 service hours annually to the competition.

Future City asks students, working under the guidance of teachers and volunteer engineers, to build computer and three-dimensional scale models of cities of tomorrow. Students defend their designs before a panel of engineer judges at the competition, and research and write essays. Students begin in the fall and go to regional competitions in January. First place regional teams win a trip to Washington for national finals from February 17-19, 2003.

The program expands to 31 sites in 2003: Albany (NY), Buffalo, Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, Colorado, South Florida, Hampton Roads (VA), Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York City, North Carolina, Northern Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Texas-Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas-Houston, Washington, D.C., and Washington State. For more information, visit www.futurecity.org.

In addition to ZIE, Girl Day, and Future City, the DiscoverE K-12 outreach program continues to provide innovative materials and programs to engineers and young students, and thousands of engineers visit classrooms and support extracurricular programs reaching more than five million students and teachers annually.

National Engineers Week has something for the big kids, too. Besides student outreach, there's the unique online "Sightseers Guide to Engineering" at www.engineeringsights.org. The site, created by the National Society of Professional Engineers for National Engineers Week 2001, celebrates engineering marvels from the spectacular to the mundane in all 50 states. It encourages the public to recognize the engineering achievements around them and understand their importance in everyday life. Visitors with ideas for other possible engineering "sights" can submit additional entries.

Other news for 2003 includes several awards for achievements in engineering. The second annual Asian American Engineer of the Year Award will be given by the Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA, a new board member of National Engineers Week. Dr. Leo Esaki of IBM and Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien of the University of California-Berkeley shared the award in 2002.

The National Academy of Engineering will present the annual $500,000 Charles Stark Draper Prize, the profession's highest honor for engineering achievement and innovation, and the biennial Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, also worth $500,000, at a black-tie dinner on February 18. The 2002 Draper Prize went to Dr. Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, credited with developing biocompatible polymer technologies that control the release of medicine over weeks or years. The inaugural Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, also valued at $500,000, went to Dr. Eli Fromm of Drexel University in 2002. It will next be awarded in 2004. For more information on these prizes, visit www.nae.edu/awards.

Editors Please Note: Updated information on all National Engineers Week programs, including this press release, is available at www.eweek.org.