Building a Bridge to the Future

Patricia Welesko Garland, Soc. of Women Engineers

SPE is a sponsoring society of Engineers Week 2006 (19–25 February), which raises public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to our quality of life and promotes engineering careers to students. SPE encourages all sections and chapters to undertake career events in local schools during Engineers Week.

Each February, Engineers Week reaches students, teachers, parents, and community groups to promote recognition of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy. We want to motivate youths to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse, vigorous, and informed engineering workforce.

The “We” in Week is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Founded in 1951 by the Natl. Soc. of Professional Engineers, Engineers Week traditionally is celebrated at the time of George Washington’s birthday in February, honoring the first U.S. President, a military engineer and land surveyor. But Engineers Week has expanded beyond its U.S. roots.

Recognizing that engineering is a global enterprise for the benefit of a global community, Engineers Week programs and materials are accessible to those outside the U.S. as well. The Engineers Week model that has been successful in the U.S. is being used in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region. Most recently, an outreach program called “Shape the Future” was launched in the U.K. The “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” event launched in 2001 is growing throughout the world. We will hold our second 24-hour online “Global Marathon for, by, and About Women in Engineering” on 24 March 2006.

At www.eweek.org, you will find translations of hands-on activities to conduct with young students in Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese, German, and Russian. We are working to translate additional information.

Reaching Out to Educators

A new project to reach teachers is being launched in 2006 called “Connecting Educators to Engineering.” Where prior outreach efforts had focused directly on students, influencing the lives of tens of thousands, “Connecting Educators to Engineering” will form new relationships with tens of thousands of teachers, guidance counselors, and school administrators. In that way, we hope to influence the future academic paths of millions of students. For added impact, we are focusing on the middle school years (ages 12–14), because this is the formative period that researchers have determined to be pivotal to the development of future math, science, and technology majors.

In concept, “Connecting Educators to Engineering” is simple. Working scientists, engineers, and advanced technologists contact local middle school educators to:

Build engineering concepts into the existing curriculum.
Develop new technical curricula.
Serve as role models for students.
Speak to classes about the true nature of modern engineering work and the realities of the engineering workplace.
Organize after-class activities and field trips.
Serve as technical resources and advisers.

Gradually, the program will breathe new life into academic programs. Public and private school students will upgrade their math and science skills. And successive generations will select even more technically-oriented academic pursuits.

In practice, though, nothing is ever that simple. Volunteers need training in effective outreach techniques. They need access to appropriate and effective classroom materials, information and communication networks, and much more. And finally, they need an organizational structure capable of helping them achieve the program’s goals during a week-long window.

Everyone connected with Engineers Week 2006 has been busy creating the necessary infrastructure for success. The program we developed contains four essential elements. These include a successful model for our outreach efforts, volunteer training, a dynamic information exchange center, and building blocks for new classroom curricula. Volunteers will find them all online at www.eweek2006.org.

The Key Ingredient

Only one element is missing from this mix, and it is the most critical. For “Connecting Educators to Engineering” to succeed, it will require the active support of every stakeholder individual and organization. As SWE’s Cochairperson for Engineers Week 2006, I am proud to have played a part in bringing this extraordinary opportunity for meaningful community outreach to our profession. But I will be prouder still when Engineers Week 2006 meets its ambitious goal of reaching 15,000 middle school educators.

The relationships we have an opportunity to forge will benefit our local communities, our countries, our grandchildren, and generations yet unborn. Each of us needs to rally our fellow engineers to answer this call to service. We need to actively engage our professional societies in the effort. Our corporate sponsors need to champion this program as well by creating internal incentives for participation.

We must remember that “Connecting Educators to Engineering” gives us an opportunity to build more than a bridge between knowledge workers and knowledge teachers. It represents our chance to build a lasting bridge to the future.

Patricia Welesko Garland is Chairperson of Engineers Week 2006 activities and is the Combined Heat and Power Program Manager at Oak Ridge Natl. Laboratory, a multiprogram laboratory managed for the Dept. of Energy by UT-Battelle. She has more than 21 years of technical experience at Oak Ridge and has held planning, implementation, research, and supervisory positions with Oak Ridge and its predecessors, including Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp., Martin Marietta Energy Systems, and Union Carbide. She is the author of more than 25 technical articles and the recipient of numerous awards for both professional and volunteer work, including being named one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce in 2000. Garland is a Certified Energy Manager. She has held various national offices within the Soc. of Women Engineers (SWE), including National Secretary, National Vice President, and a 6-year stint as Chairperson of the SWE National Engineers Week committee. Garland earned a BS degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon U. and an MS degree in chemical engineering from the U. of Tennessee.