Engineering Educational Activities – discussion
(led by Steve Snelling – IIE)
What your Society does locally to support Engineering Education (K-12 & college), and any special events.
ITE
Has several student events, including a Student Night in May (like a Mentor Night). Local college students compete for scholarships. Offer reduced rate for students to attend local meetings. Have a Student Committee Chair. No existing programs with K-12 students.
EWB
There are several University Chapters of EWB. All of the University Chapters are autonomous. Some University Chapters volunteer with local high schools and provide support as a long term relationship: tutoring, helping with homework, & mentoring. The Professional EWB Chapter provides mentoring to University Chapters as well as helps with some fundraisers.
SEAW
Working to get younger people involved to understand design. Host competitions at UW & SU, three teams given materials to build trusses. The truss competition was a big success, and want to expand it to WSU and Idaho. A YMF group started a few years ago. YMF Social Chair has started monthly happy hours, get 20 younger engineers attending & some businesses participating. This allows their YMF members to get hands on experience. Local Chapter is sponsoring STEM outreach, working with schools on robotics program & also working with schools on design/build of trusses.
SME
Supports local educators. One of their PRIME high schools, sponsored by SME, is Roosevelt H.S. in Seattle. SME gave $25K to Roosevelt to support a Gateway Academy for middle school students over the summer. They also work with “Project Lead the Way” schools. At the college level have Tech Talks, and 4 student Chapters in the Puget Sound area. Sponsor scholarships through an educational fund. They setup and run Mock Interviews through student Chapters. At high school level, SME members are on H.S. advisory committees. Get high school students exposed to professional society magazines (by bringing in spare copies for their use). Helped create a Composites Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts, working with the Portland SME Chapter. A new “Light the Fire” program would pair local society members with middle schools & high schools – program was started but has not gotten a lot of traction yet. Need more advocates from Industry from all engineering Societies at the High School & Middle School levels, particularly volunteers to serve on high school advisory committees.
APWA
Involved in an “Expanding Your Horizons” program at Bellevue College. Works with WISE (Women in Science & Engineering) group at U.W. APWA has an active local scholarship program, with a $10K and two $6K scholarships. This year’s scholarship winner did an outreach program at schools, focused around public works projects. APWA participated at PSEC’s K-12 Engineering Fair, and has an Emerging Professionals group (younger engineers) that is becoming stronger & more active. They are looking to grow their STEM component activities & support.
ASHRAE
Has a Student Activities Chair that acts as liaison with Universities. Have a few Student Chapters in the area. Offer student members free lunches at meetings. They are starting to see more participation of students at their meetings. Partnering with North Seattle College on curriculum and participating on committees & activities. Offer scholarships, local Chapter determines how many and what value is given each year. It has been difficult to get applicants for scholarships. Participates in PSEC’s K-12 Engineering Fair.
ASCE
Elementary education – participate in Fairs: “Engineering Rocks” and “Popsicle Stick Bridge Building” contest (run by their YMF group). Three Student Chapters, have events & happy hours. Several Scholarships are available, giving $5K. They held their 1st Annual Executive Forum this year. ACE Mentoring program – an after school mentoring program that is built around construction management, mentor high school students on building construction.
IEEE
Sponsors “Future Cities Competition” for middle school student Teams. Provides judges for Science Fairs. There are 10 Student Chapters in the Puget Sound area, with faculty advisors & industry advisors for each University Chapter. They have contests for college students: “Extreme Programming” (a 24 hr. “hackathon”) challenge, “Micro-Mice” (small autonomous robot competition), and a Student Paper competition. Some Specialty groups within IEEE are very large (like the Computer specialty group). They participate in PSEC’s K-12 Engineering Fair. IEEE members give presentations to STEM high schools throughout the region.
SWE
SWE has lots of educational activities, and is a 501c3 Educational Organization. Has an integrated STEM program for K-12 students. Works with the Girl Scout’s “Explore Engineering” program. Has several University Student Chapters, which also work with K-12 students. Has a college level structured mentoring program with 30 mentor pairs. Provides high school speakers. Provides training to speakers on how to interact/present. Participates in Engineering Fairs. Has 3 college scholarships.
IIE
Has a U.W. Student Chapter – works with them to conduct Mock Interviews, Resume Writing Workshops, and provide Industry speakers for Career Panels. Also provides financial support for Student Chapter events, and helps with several of their activities. Provides judges for the Senior Design Project – Poster Contest. Provides some model/presentation judges to local WA Futures Cities Competition. Has a representative on the ISE Department’s Industry Advisory Board (advising the Dept. Chair). Have provided speakers for PSEC’s program to go in and talk to high school classes. IIE sponsors a National competition to make a 3-8 minute YouTube video on what IE’s Do (cash prizes for top 3 videos from University Chapters).
ASMI
There is a decline of students going into metallurgy. The U.W. has a Student Chapter, and the professional chapter works with them. Have Mock Interviews & Resume Writing Workshops for Material Science Department at U.W. Teach a class on various metals, 2-3 times a year. Holds a week long “Materials Advantage” camp for high school students and occasionally holds a camp for high school teachers. Helps the Student Chapter put on the high school camp. Participates at PSEC’s K-12 Engineering Fair.
AIAA
Very active at Science Fairs, PSEC’s K-12 Engineering Fair, and other events. Has a “Cardboard Challenge” with Boys & Girls Clubs to make things from cardboard & duct tape, and talk about engineering as a career. Also has a “LEAF (Lindberg Electric Air Flight) challenge” for students to design, build & fly an aircraft (partner with “Power of Imagination”).
SPE
Sponsors a “Plasti-van” – a van full of plastic information displays & objects that goes around to high schools & middle schools to introduce them to plastics. In the Fall they have 4 plasti-van events planned along the I-5 corridor. They work closely with WWU’s Plastics program. Host annual meeting at WWU with both professional chapter & students. Have a program with the local schools in the Bellingham area to come in to the WWU Plastics Department and learn about plastics forming.
ASME
Hosts a student Baja Car Design competition that is popular with many student branches of ASME. Local Student Chapters participate in the Design competitions. Also has a Student Paper competition at the local level that moves up to the National level. Some of the local events have moved out of area, and are now run Regionally by ASME. There are challenges keeping a contact at the various university/colleges. U.W. – Bothell is starting a new student section of ASME. They provide volunteers to PSEC’s speakers bureau that go into high school classrooms.
ASQ
Had a student branch at WWU, but it has folded. No other student branches in the area. All ASQ courses are now online. Approximately 55% of ASQ members are engineers.
WSPE (Seattle & Lake WA chapters)
Sponsors a “Math Counts” program for 6-8 grade students, coaching to learn math. Competition at both individual & team level. Teaches math & shortcuts that are likely not taught in classrooms. Top teams and individuals go on to compete at State level, then potentially on to the National level. WSPE has an educational foundation that sponsors scholarships for 2 yr. & 4 yr. colleges. Has provided presentations to K-12 students for Science Days.
