How many engineers support this activity ?
How many engineers support this activity ?
(OP)
Do you support STEM activities in your area? Do you help kids understand what engineering, and its related activities are all about?
B.E.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.





RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
http://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/t5/NX-...
Our company also has a national STEM program which holds annual competitions for which scholarships are awarded to the winners:
http://www.siemenssteminstitute2014.com/
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
Now that I am retired I work on some STEM programs through USsailing teaching kids to sail and the mechanics involved.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
Please remember: we're not all guys!
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
I can highly recommend the robotics activities to anyone who has any interest in the world our children will live in. There are options available for those with a lot or time, or no time at all, those with engineering degrees or just a basement workbench, retired VP's or first year college students. For example, three employees here serve as mentors with local teams, which requires a very high time commitment but only for six weeks. Several others here serve as volunteers at regional competitions which only requires a few hours one weekend a year.
Our kids need our help! There are so many fathers out there now who don't even know how to change a flat tire or a toilet flush valve. That means their kids aren't learning it either! (But they sure know their video games!) Last year I had to explain "lefty loosy righty tighty" several times to a high school student who I don't think ever really got it. I was helping a group install a bench vice and asked a young man to go get a 1/4" drill bit. He said, "What's a 1/4" drill bit?"
Check www.usfirst.org for more information.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
I explained very politely, but my mind boggled. what had he been learning?
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
They are always looking for engineer mentors and for engineering societies to help get involved.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
I support and encourage some of the younger members of my team when opportunites arise to go into local schools but don't take part myself at the moment. I might once my own kids are at secondary school unless they tell me I'm too hideously embarrassing!
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
You go to University to learn how to learn, not to come out and be immediately useful (unless you had co-op terms, then you may be a little useful). And I think that is because it's just too broad of a field. For instance I have used ASME and API codes when I was in piping, but then have switched directions and now use ASHRAE and SMACNA etc for HVAC. But I have a friend from the same program and he designs the buttons on cellphones. I have no idea what codes (if any) he uses for his job.
If Universities were expected to prep all their students with the basic design codes in all industries, as well as prep them for masters degrees and every other potential career eventuality the bachelors degree would be years longer than it already is. I think they just took the hit and stuck with teaching the basic theories that support a broad area of careers and let engineers learn their individual jobs under the tutelage of mentors in the work force. Let's face it, you can't learn everything to be a great engineer from a textbook anyway!
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
It's also great to see people teaching kids what engineers do and their value to society. However I get really irritated when these good efforts stray into promotion of engineering as a career choice, as if there were a shortage of kids interested in pursuing engineering. There is NO SHORTAGE- in fact we're drowning in engineering grads already. I'm confident that the kids who are truly passionate about engineering are already pursuing it, and don't have to be sold it like soap. We'd actually be better off as a profession if we ended up with fewer of the kids who are merely good in math and science and can't figure out what else to do with it, who at present are funnelled into engineering with false promises about great job prospects when they graduate. Engineers in general terms haven't been in short supply since before the 1980s. Although no education is a waste, training 3 people for every 1 engineering job coming available through retirements and economic growth is a very questionable use of our collective resources.
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
Couldn't agree more with you there moltenmetal.
However, I'd see out reach programs as being not so much for those folks as for those that perhaps might not consider engineering, or have had much exposure to what it entails. Maybe it's the kids that aren't quite acing math and physics but this gets them inspired to work a bit harder because being an engineer sounds like something they'd like to do.
Perhaps the target should not be on quantity but quality - i.e. getting the kids who'll actually make the best engineers into it rather than lots of kids who happen to do well at math & physics at school.
I've not been involved, our town has a military research base and the high school has an engineering program tied in with them - plus being out of town has made it difficult to get too involved with extra curricular stuff. Heck, I couldn't persuade my step son to build a trebuchet or something with me for science fair.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: How many engineers support this activity ?
In a trade school for an industry that will be using a particular design code yes, there you are giving a student a leg up on an item he/she will be referring to or using everyday.
In my original post, I was trying to see if we could interest kids in practical subjects at an earlier age , before all they wanted to do was play video games, although I guess some of the video gamers do go on to become programmers.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.