PULLMAN, Wash. — It may take a village — AND lots of techno-toys — to educate an engineer today.
With that in mind, a troupe of Washington State University engineering and architecture students will spend the morning and lunch hour with about 100 Pullman High School science and math students Tuesday, Feb. 24, having fun with airplanes, robots, bridges, catapults and prizes. They’ll talk a little about what engineers do and provide some hands-on projects.
Engineering professor Michael Symans and some civil engineering students will visit Lincoln Middle School during the week of Feb. 23-27; and members of the student civil engineering organization will dazzle Franklin Elementary and Sunnyside Elementary school kids in March.
It’s all part of the National Engineers Week effort in which engineering schools and companies across the nation engage youngsters in competitions, demonstrations and field trips to help “Discover E.” As the world becomes more dependent upon high technologies, the national concern is to educate and prepare a large enough workforce to design, build and operate the utilities, roads, communication systems and products for the 21st century.
WSU College of Engineering and Architecture’s 125 faculty at four campuses in Washington play a significant role in preparing more than 2,000 students every four years to become society’s problem-solvers for the cities of the future.
At 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25, WSU electrical engineering alumna Pauline Seals, from the Boeing Company, invites students from throughout the region to a “Challenge.” A model of how education opens doors, Seals will apply the challenge to education, career and life, she says. Her dialog with students and faculty in Carpenter Hall 102 is sponsored by the College of Engineering and Architecture and the National Society of Black Engineers.
In conjunction with the national agenda, the College also will honor its outstanding students, faculty and staff of the year at a Convocation ceremony Thursday, Feb. 26, at 3:15 p.m. in the CUB Ballroom. WSU professor Clayton Crowe, mechanical engineering, will be named the Inland Empire Chapter of ASME “Engineer of the Year” Feb. 28 in Spokane.
The public and university community are invited to the lecture and convocation, which are followed by receptions and refreshments. Other schools interested in arranging college student visits may contact the CEA student services office, 509/335-0348.
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