President's Column
(January 2002)

Let's Make a Difference During National Engineers Week

By the time you read this, a new year has started with all of our hopes and possibilities for better times. With that in mind, I encourage and challenge you to find ways for increasing the public's awareness of the need for sound math and science education and how engineers use these tools for the betterment of our daily lives, as well as the security and economic soundness of our nation. The easiest and most rewarding way to accomplish this is to volunteer to assist our local schools, students and parents in better understanding how technology is born from math and science, and how these subjects don't have to be boring or hard to understand.

January is a great month for preparing to make a difference during National Engineers Week 2002, 17-23 February. Thanks to your E-Week coalition, new tools have been prepared to assist in your volunteer efforts, including a free E-Week kit with a host of ideas on how you can promote your profession. To receive your kit directly from IEEE-USA, contact Rita Hamilton at r.m.hamilton@ieee.org.

In conjunction with E-Week 2002 sponsors, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Dupont Corporation, E-Week 2002 is launching a new outreach program for grade levels K-6. This program, ZOOM Into Engineering, was created by WGBH public television station of Boston from selected episodes of the popular ZOOM daily television series and Web site (www.pbskids.org/zoom) that challenges youngsters 6-12 to explore, experiment and share their creativity.

Unlike other E-Week activities for precollege students, ZOOM Into Engineering can be a single activity or a multitude of activities and can be conducted within several environments, including individual classrooms, malls, parks and museums. Thus, one engineer volunteer or a group of us can implement ZOOM Into Engineering.

In preparation for the launch, more than 100 engineers and educators from approximately 34 cities — including me — were trained for implementing the program last October in Washington. Check out www.eweek.org to find if your locality has a trained facilitator. If so, contact this person to find out how to participate in the local training program and any upcoming events. If your area isn't listed, you can order a ZOOM Into Engineering toolkit, which will provide a training manual, support materials such as a CD ROM and video, and balloons and pencils to hand out as goodies for your first students. The toolkit can be ordered online at www.eweek.org/2002/Engineers/zoom_order.shtml or by calling 412-741-1393.

After reviewing the materials, recruit others to help out and you're on your way. While you're considering the need and possibilities for this and other precollege volunteer needs, remember that U.S. IEEE members and societies only benefit from our E-Week investment when we bring these educational programs to life in our local areas. Please accept the challenge and help improve society's understanding of math, science and technology and you — engineers who bring products and services to life.

Note to Editors: Please feel free to adapt this IEEE-USA President's Column for use in your local IEEE print and electronic publications. For more information, please contact Chris McManes at c.mcmanes@ieee.org.