EWeek

EWeek 2008 ENews #8 – January 21, 2008

Engineers Week 2008 will be celebrated February 17 – 23, and is co-chaired by the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE)–USA and IBM Corporation. Feel free to forward this letter or contents to other interested parties.

Contents:
1. President Bush Sends Greetings for Engineers Week 2008 Observance
2. Super Saturdays for Future City Competitions
3. Catch a Sneak Peak of Design Squad Season Two during Engineers Week
4. Do You Use Design Squad Challenges in Your Classroom?
5. In Local News

1. President Bush Sends Greetings for Engineers Week 2008 Observance
In a White House letter, President Bush states that "For nearly six decades, National Engineers Week has recognized engineers' contributions to society and encouraged young people to learn more about this exciting field." He praises engineers' contributions to innovative advances and encourages improvement in education. Click here to read the complete greeting.

2. Super Saturdays for Future City Competitions
More than 20 National Engineers Week Future City Competition regional contests occurred last Saturday, with another 16 scheduled for this Saturday, January 26. There may be a competition coming to your town. Click here for competition details and locations. Future City students are dealing with real problems and are determined to prevent them and engineer a better tomorrow.

3. Catch a Sneak Peak of Design Squad Season Two during Engineers Week
Design Squad's second season premieres in April, but you can check out a sneak peek of the first episode on the Web during National Engineers Week. Stay tuned for more details. And don't forget to order your copy of the new Activity Guide. This guide, available at the end of January, has five new hands-on challenges. Between this new Activity Guide, the Event Guide and the Educator's Guide, you'll have 17 great hands-on activities to use at events, school visits, or in after-school programs. To request a guide, email designsquad_feedback@wgbh.org. Please include your full name, company, mailing address (please indicate work or home), and phone number.

4. Do You Use Design Squad Challenges in Your Classroom?
WGBH-TV (Boston's PBS station) is writing an article about Design Squad for The Technology Teachermagazine, published by the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) and seeks to interview teachers who use activities from the Design Squad Event or Educator's guides in their classrooms. We would like to hear how students responded to the challenge(s) they did, some things they picked up and how well the activities fit the class program/curriculum. An interview takes 10-15 minutes. The deadline for the article is early February and interviews will be conducted January 25. Contact Chris Randall, Editorial Project Director, WGBH, 617 300-3925, chris_randall@wgbh.org.

5. In Local News
Want to see your event announced here? Send it to eweek@nspe.org or enter your news in the online Local Events Forum. We will accept electronic photos with captions as well.

Google will host a full week of student visits in US office locations for all-girl, female-engineering focused events to celebrate Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day 2008. Visits will include presentations, introductory computer science and engineering workshops, tours of the Google campus, lunch, and engineer career panels. Google is working with partner K-12 organizations to bring hundreds of students to the events, including TechBridge, Girl Scouts of the USA, MESA and Citizen Schools. To learn more about Google's Pre-University Diversity Programs Team and education outreach, please visit www.google.com/jobs/diversity.

The Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, hosts the 37th annual Career Day for Girls on February 23. This one-day workshop is designed to expose girls in grades 6-12 to the various engineering fields. Activities will include a mini design competition, lab tours, and the opportunity to listen to some amazing female engineers. The event is $5 and all participants must pre-register. To download a registration form and obtain additional information, visit http://msgroups.mccormick.northwestern.edu/swe/cdfg.html.

The 10th Annual SWE Engineering Expo, cosponsored by the College of Engineering at Wichita, Kansas, State University, will be held on February 23 at the Wichita State University Hughes Metroplex. The event provides hands-on activities for K-8 students to explore how engineering helps society. Participants and volunteers are invited. Contact Vicki Johnson at vicki.johnson@swe.org.

Discover Engineering - Family Day at The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in Charleston, West Virginia, is February 23. Fun and learning combine to motivate children in science, math, and engineering through related hands-on activities, promote life-long learning, and introduce potential career paths available within West Virginia. For more information, contact melissa.thompson@mail.wvu.edu or lferguson@theclaycenter.org.

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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.

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