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How many engineers support this activity ? 1
- Thread starter berkshire
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JohnRBaker
Mechanical
Yes, our company is very active in supporting STEM at local schools near where we have offices. I've personally participated in several STEM sessions for 3rd and 4th graders where they build a simple robot using LEGO bricks and then using a laptop to drive the robot, in this case 'kicking' a ball a certain distance. The students can control the distance the ball is kicked by pre-setting the angle of the 'kicker'. Each group of students goes through several iterations comparing the distance the ball is kicked versus the angle of the pre-set, to show them there's a relationship and that you could even predict the results if you do this several times. We also show a short video introducing them to Siemens and what we do and how learning math and engineering in school is critical to getting jobs with companies like ours.
Our company also has a national STEM program which holds annual competitions for which scholarships are awarded to the winners:
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.
Our company also has a national STEM program which holds annual competitions for which scholarships are awarded to the winners:
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.
I don't, but it is something which I would like to get involved with. Right now, between work and making sure I spend some time with my own kids while they are young, I don't have much time available at the right time of day to help. In a few years when my own kids start to tell me that I'm not even slightly cool, I'll have time to put something back in. I'm looking forward to it, except that I will be getting old...
- Thread starter
- #4
I do the E-Week through ASCE every year, where middle school science teachers let engineers come into their classrooms and do engineering activities to get the kids thinking and let them meet a real engineer. I love it.
Please remember: we're not all guys!
Please remember: we're not all guys!
I have been involved in the local elementary school and high school robotics teams for three years now. The manufacturing firm I work for has been an active financial supporter of these activities for years. The robotics efforts in our county actually grew out of the STEM program in the local public schools. A local teacher of high school pre-engineering classes spent this last summer working at our plant as an engineering "intern" just to get some good first hand experience in real world uses of Solidworks in order to do a better job training his students. Several employees here have also spoken at local schools about their career activities.
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 for more information.
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 for more information.
- Thread starter
- #7
Whilst I am not a member of their group, I do support Make Magazines Maker Faire in San Mateo and other sites across the company, together with their Makerplace workshops in various cities. These people support stem activities for kids and adults. I am including a link to my local workshop so you can see what they offer. Whilst some of this is for the Crafter crowd There is a great deal to offer others.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
I've worked with the Engineers in Residence program ( for a program at the Science and Technology Museum. And I've volunteered to be a judge at a couple of local science fairs.
Longinthetooth
Chemical
RE: J Boggs last comment: A number of years ago a new graduate of a very prestigious engineering asked me what NPSH meant.
I explained very politely, but my mind boggled. what had he been learning?
I explained very politely, but my mind boggled. what had he been learning?
If you have a "Future City" competition in your area, it is a great way to encourage STEM and more specifically engineering to 6th - 8th grade students.
They are always looking for engineer mentors and for engineering societies to help get involved.
They are always looking for engineer mentors and for engineering societies to help get involved.
When I was fresh out of university I did a lot of careers evenings for the IEE (as it was called then) and a few sessions in schools. There was very little support from the older engineers (who felt they were too old to be able to relate to the kids) so I got slightly disillusioned and once I started my own family my spare time disappeared.
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!
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!
Longinthetooth: I have many discussions about what is learned in engineering in University and what is learned in engineering technology programs at colleges. Colleges are more industry applicable, you learn the actual codes that industry uses. And colleges teach the computer programs that industry uses. Engineering is more theoretical, they wouldn't teach NPSH at university, the same as they wouldn't teach ASME code. What they would teach is the thin shell theory that ASME pipe wall thickness is based on.
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!
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!
JohnRBaker
Mechanical
When I was in engineering school (late 60's early 70's) the only 'technical' degrees were from two-year programs at the community colleges. If you were on a four-year degree program in was at a university and it was, as you said, more theory than anything. I was lucky as I was working on a four-year BSME degree but I also worked summers as a draftsman and for an 18 month period when I left school to get married before going back full-time and getting my degree, granted, a couple of years later than originally planned, but it all worked out for the best in the end as that total of 25 months of real world experience was well worth it. As for the use of codes and such at work, the most critical we dealt with was piping systems for gas burners and some low-pressure steam (we designed and manufactured commercial bakery equipment) but most of that was based on designs that had been in use for years. The only time anyone had to do anything special was when we sold one of our direct-fired bread ovens into someplace, usually outside the country, where their standards were different and usually all that we had to do was demonstrate that the US codes that we had adhered to adequately covered their situations as well. Our designs complied with all applicable US and Canadian codes and that generally was good enough for most anywhere in the world. The only concern then was more environmental or exceptions/options/custom jobs. For example properly sizing the gas system on an oven being installed in say Mexico City was very differnt than say Long Island due the differences in altitude. And then there were the special situations where someone used something other than natural gas, say propane or even butane, which required a totally different safety and exhausting/venting scheme and sometimes we had to deal a multi-fueled oven setup using either natural gas or gasified oil (which was a mess but the only option in some parts of the world). As for all these sorts of things, you learned it on the job as it was based a lot on 'tribal knowledge' both inside our company as well as the baking industry itself, what with their own professional organizations and standards setting groups (ever heard of BEMA, the Bakery Equipment Manufacturers Association).
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.
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.
moltenmetal
Chemical
I am not actively involved in teaching any kids other than my own, and the young engineers who work here. Frankly I don't like other people's kids much...there are days when I'm not all that fond of my own either! I've done a few classroom demos but they were pretty lightweight affairs for gradeschool kids. It's great for people enliven what I feel is a natural curiosity and fascination with science and technology in most young children, which can regrettably tend to be extinguished over time by poor curriculum and bad teaching. Teaching kids that liking science doesn't automatically make you a social paraiah is good for them, irrespective of what they pursue for a career. Fortunately that attitude has been changing over the past twenty or thirty years.
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.
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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- #17
I don't think learning design codes in college is practical, learning why the design codes are there in the first place is. Since they are often the result of spectacular disasters in the past. i.e. boiler codes.
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.
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.
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