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Archives
Books by Celeste Baine
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Engineers Make a Difference: Motivating Students to Pursue an Engineering Education
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Sustainable Energy Engineering Teacher's Guide
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Aerospace Engineering Teacher's Guide
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Mechanical Engineering Teacher's Guide
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Engineering Principles Teacher's Guide
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Engineering Graphics Teacher's Guide
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Aeronautical Engineering Teacher's Guide
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Civil Engineering Teacher's Guide
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Teaching Engineering Made Easy: A Friendly Introduction to Engineering Activities for Middle School Teachers
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The Musical Engineer: A Music Enthusiast's Guide to Engineering and Technology Careers
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The Fantastical Engineer: A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering - Second Edition
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High Tech Hot Shots: Careers in Sports Engineering
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Is There an Engineer Inside You?: A Comprehensive Guide to Career Decisions in Engineering |
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The Engineers Week AdvantageI've received many emails lately about Engineers Week and what it's all about. To briefly summarize, Engineers Week is always during the president's birthday week. So this year, it's Feb. 15-21. Eweek statistics show that last year, 40,000 engineers visited classrooms to educate students about the field of engineering. Eweek extrapolates that those engineers reached 5 million students! It's not too late to get involved.
Below, I have provided suggestions for teachers, engineers and programs. From a marketing point of view, no matter who or where you are, this is your time to really educate, inspire, motivate and/or cajole interest in engineering. It's a time to celebrate the profession and the amazing advances and achievements of the field. It's also the perfect opportunity to get people to help you in this mission.
If you are a teacher, there are five things that you can do right now.
- The first thing I would recommend to get an engineer to come to your classroom is to open the phone book and call a local firm that has a yellow page ad. Explain that you are a teacher and would like an engineer to talk to your kids for Engineers Week. You can give them the link to eweek (eweek.org). Most firms benefit from the exposure so you might be surprised at the results. If they seem resistant, just try another.
- Put your state in the search engine on the first link below and connect with one of your state contacts.  The contacts should be able to help you find volunteer engineers.
http://www.eweek.org/site/DiscoverE/eweeksrch.shtml. You can also search the local events forum, http://www.eweek.org/site/forums/forums.asp?ForumSection=1 for contacts and events in your area. - There is a good chance that in a classroom of 30 students, at least one or two will have parents that are engineers. You may be able to get the parent engineers to talk to your class.
- Call your local college of engineering and see if you can arrange a tour or see if they are doing anything special to celebrate the week. Don't forget about junior colleges and vocational schools! They are also great resources.
- Contact your local engineering society to find out what they are doing. For example, the IEEE, ASME, ASCE, NSPE and many others have state branches that are independently run by engineers in your state. This may be an excellent opportunity to make a lasting connection. Just put (ieee.org) or (asme.org) or (asce.org) or (nspe.org) into your browser and search for local or state chapters of the organization. When you find your state contact, write to the president asking for help.
 
If you are an engineer:
- Stock up on resources that can help you. The EESC has created an outline for 50 and 90-minute classroom presentations. Hopefully, it will make your life easier and your time in the classroom less stressful. To see the solutions, visit: //www.engineeringedu.com/store/engineersweek.html
- You can also find a tremendous amount of information about the week at eweek.org.
- Call your local schools and volunteer some time. This is a great community service that is highly influential - especially in rural areas. Large companies such as HP and IBM require that their employees do 1-3 days of community service each year. This will also help you become part of the Million Hours Campaign
If you are a coordinator or a volunteer for a program, camp, competition or event:
This is your time to shine. Fortunately, you automatically have a very symbiotic relationship with the teachers and engineers you need because they need you too. You are in a unique position to hold celebrations that are out of the box. You can inspire kids in unusual ways.
For example, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers uses the entire last half of the school year to promote engineering. Some of the events they are organizing or helping organize include:
- The New England Region Future City Competition.
- The Annual Model Bridge Contest.
- They partner with WGBH to visit schools on "Be Curious" Day featuring Curious George.
- They run "Design Squad" activities with high school students as part of the e-week activities.
- They run a huge Career Fair. 
- They organize a Massachusetts Engineering Career Day - the Engineering counterpart to Construction Career Days - It features a large number of hands-on engineering related activities and representatives from a number of engineering schools.
- And much more!
This list in itself is a reason to celebrate. There are many things that you can do and the resources are there. Often you just have to know where to look or who to talk to. What are you doing for eweek? Questions, suggestions? Post them here!
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Posted by Celeste Baine on January 13, 2009
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