Despite recent reports about job losses, there are good news on employment: engineers are in high demand. But available jobs do not always bring qualified candidates. Manpower, a global staffing company, has ranked engineering as the most difficult job to fill.
The study was combined with one by the American Mathematical Society. It is clear that the U.S. has a long way to go in developing high-tech engineering talent. The study showed “U.S.-born white and historically underrepresented minorities”Many people view math attempts as a failure. “for fun”As “uncool.”
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, through its Web sites and youth programs, is working to change the perception of engineering and raising engineering’s cool quotient.
What does SME-EF do to make it happen? Through outreach and marketing. Two user-friendly websites are hosted by the Foundation: www.smeef.org www.manufacturingiscool.com. While smeef.org is the main site, the manufacturingiscool.com site lives up to its name. This interactive site encourages young people be innovative thinkers. They can scroll across items on their desks, such as books or cell phones, and view videos. You can also play games, meet engineers, and even play video games.
SME-EF’s cool factor has been augmented by youth programs. Project Lead the Way (PLTW), was a collaboration between the Foundation and the Foundation. www.pltw.orgGateway Academy, a camp that introduces middle school students to science and tech, was launched. It plans to host over 200 camps this year.
“Gateway Academy gives students the opportunity to build model cars and robots and launch rockets, but it’s our ultimate goal to launch engineering careers,”Bart Aslin is director of SME EF.
Chris Bird can attest. “I participated in several classes at my high school and would not have known about engineering had it not been for PTLW,”He said.
Bird, who was a $5,000 scholarship winner and is a freshman in the University of Wisconsin–Stout, is just one of more than 170 students to have received scholarships of varying amounts. The Foundation has granted more than $25,000,000 to North American universities and K-12 students.
That is just awesome!
