National Engineers Week
and Related Activities
&
PSEC
Steve Snelling
Industrial Engineer / Process Engineer
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Co.
&
Past PSEC President
stephen.r.snelling@boeing.com
What Boeing does to promote Engineering
• Sponsors many activities related to National
Engineers Week at several U.S. plant sites
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–
–
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Paper airplane building contests
Simple classroom demos
Display tables at open house events
National Engineers Week is officially in Feb. , but some
related activities are held throughout the year
– Provides engineer speakers to local K-12 schools (near
several U.S. plant locations)
• Works with several University engineering
programs
• Sponsors many student Intern jobs for University
engineering students
2
What Boeing does to promote Engineering
(continued)
• Encourages individual engineers to volunteer to
work with schools
• Offers individual engineers, professional societies
support
– Paying for annual dues & conferences
3
What PSEC does to promote Engineering
• Puget Sound Engineering Council (PSEC)
– Made up of 20 Greater Seattle engineering societies,
including local IIE Chapter
– Society representatives to PSEC meet monthly
• Celebrates National Engineers Week with an
Awards Banquet in February
– Gives out 6 annual PSEC Awards from nominations from
member societies (Young Engineer, Industry Engineer,
Government Engineer, Academic Engineer, Professional
Engineer, & Engineering Educator)
4
2009 PSEC Engineer-of-the-Year, Award Winners
5
What PSEC does to promote Engineering
(continued)
• Holds an annual K-12 Engineers Fair with about 25
table displays
• Schedules Mentor Nights at several local
Engineering Universities & Community Colleges
• Provides engineer speakers for high school &
middle school Career Day events
• Provides Career Fair displays at high school events
• Provides information for school teachers, parents, &
students on our web site’s Education Section:
http://pseconline.org
6
IIE Booth at K-12 Engineers Fair
IIE’s corvette car assembly plant model shows a typical plant
layout, sub-assembly work, parts receiving & storage, and
product drawings & assembly instructions. Free Hot Wheel cars.
7
PSEC Mentor Nights
Up to 75 working engineers from 20 different engineering
disciplines - talk to over 200 University of Washington students.
Free pizza & soft drinks.
8
PSEC Career Fair - table display
PSEC’s general engineering display has small products & models that
represent 25 types of engineering. Free plastic mech. pencils.
9
What PSEC’s member societies
do to promote Engineering
• Several of our member societies offer K-12
educational programs to schools:
– Popsicle Stick Bridge Building (Civil engineers)
– Future Cities Competition (Electrical engineers)
– A World in Motion (Automotive engineers)
– NASA classroom (Women engineers)
– Math Counts (Professional engineers)
• Several of our member groups support college
chapters of their engineering society
10
2009 Popsicle Stick Bridge Building,
Seattle ASCE Competition
Some of the bridges being judged,
before destructive testing.
11
2009 Future Cities,
Washington State - Regional Competition
One of the scale models of a future city, 7th & 8th graders.
12
Part of the general engineering presentation
we take to local schools
• The next few slides shows a portion of a general
engineering presentation our PSEC volunteer
speakers take to local high schools and middle
schools
• This is usually to support a Career Day event,
organized by the schools themselves
• We have our speaker volunteers organized by
county – to minimize the driving distances (I’m
the current Coordinator for this activity)
• If a table display is required (for a Career Fair
event) – I usually bring a general engineering
display that I built a few years ago
13
What engineers do
• Engineers in general are problem solvers
• Frequently, engineers design things that have
real world applications
• Engineers have designed many products and
structures that we use in our daily lives
• Engineers look for practical applications for
things scientists and others discover
• Main engineering fields are Mechanical,
Electrical, Civil, Aerospace, & Chemical
• Smaller specialties are Environmental, Ceramic,
Nuclear, Petroleum, Agricultural, & Industrial
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Aerospace Engineering
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Automotive Engineering
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Chemical Engineering
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Civil Engineering
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Electrical Engineering
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Industrial Engineering
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Mechanical Engineering
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Robotics Engineering
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Outlook for young people entering
the Engineering field
• Excellent job prospects with unlimited variety
of work, good pay & benefits
• Should enjoy math & science and have good
study skills
• In addition to education, it requires practical
experience
– Intern or Co-Op work during college is recommended
• Some specialty engineering fields may require
a Masters degree or Ph.D.
• Later - your educational degree, job
experience, and field of interest will determine
the type of engineering work you do
23
Other items covered in our
high school presentations
• A list of all the types of engineering
• A brief discussion of those the students might
already be interested in (when they are asked)
• Specific background of the speaker
• How the speaker chose their type of engineering
• The speaker’s current job duties
• What a typical day is like for the speaker
• What the speaker likes & dislikes about their
current job
• Any general advice to students thinking about
studying engineering
• Leave 15 minutes for students’ questions
24
Some ways for Engineering Societies
(like IIE) to connect with schools
• Utilize local activities like National Engineers Week
activities:
– Engineer Fairs, Corporate events, Mentor Nights, etc.
• Look for local professional groups you can partner
with (like other engineering societies)
• Find out if school districts (and individual schools)
are having Career Days & Career Fair events
• Offer to speak to local high schools & middle
schools (prepare a good PowerPoint presentation
that everyone can easily modify)
• Make a nice table display that will connect with
young students & try it out
25
Thanks
Steve Snelling
Industrial Engineer / Process Engineer
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Co.
&
Past PSEC President
stephen.r.snelling@boeing.com
26
4/13/2015