Sixth Annual IEEE-USA Career Fly-In

IEEE-USA wants Congress to help American schools do better a better job of preparing students to become engineers.

“We are raising a new generation of Americans that is
scientifically and technologically illiterate.”

                              — Paul Hurd, A Nation at Risk

Only 25% of America's high-school seniors have the academic background necessary to major in math, science or engineering in college. IEEE-USA doesn't think that's enough.

Do you want to help do something about it?

Then join IEEE-USA in Washington, DC on June 20th and 21st, 2011 for our 6th annual Career Fly-In.

>>  Click To Register Now  <<

In 2011 IEEE members from across the country will visit Capitol Hill to explain why we, as a country, need to do a better job teaching our children math, science and engineering.  And then we will offer a way to start: The E2 Act.

Introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), S. 969, the Engineering Education for Innovation Act (or, “E2 Act”) is an inexpensive, groundbreaking bill that will help states add engineering lessons to their K-12 science and math curriculums.  It has broad, bi-partisan support in Congress, but will need grassroots support to pass.

Who should come to the Fly-In?

Everyone!  IEEE-USA needs all interested engineers (and their families) to join us for this event.  It doesn’t matter if you have never done this before, if you don’t know much about politics, or if you don’t know much about the legislative process.  IEEE-USA staff will teach you.  What is important is that you care about education reform and sincerely want to help fix our education system. 

If that describes you – IEEE-USA wants you to join us.

The Engineering Education for Innovation Act

The Engineering Education for Innovation Act was first introduced in February of 2010 in both the House and Senate. The bill received solid support in 2010, but was never brought up for a vote. IEEE-USA and a coalition of science and engineering groups are again supporting the E2 Act in the 112th Congress.

The bill was introduced in early May by its 2010 sponsor, Sen. Gillibrand from New York. The bill was backed by a bipartisan alliance of Senators: Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). We expect a companion bill in the House of Representatives soon.

The E2 Act will help states expose all of their public school students to engineering as part of the students' science curriculum by allowing states to compete for two new grants. The first grant would pay for the development of a plan to include engineering in public schools. The second would pay for up to half of the cost of implementing the plan. Total cost to the Federal government will around $140 million, spread over six years.

The bill does not create any on-going obligations for the federal government. Schools will be responsible for maintaining the engineering programs, but the new programs should not be notably more expensive than the costs of whatever science class engineering is replacing. Once started, the new engineering programs should not have a s significant impact on the cost of education to the Federal, state and local governments.

The E2 Bill also does not impose any obligations on the states. Individual states are free to choose whether or not they want to apply for a grant. The states then have very wide latitude to decide how to introduce engineering to their students. Any type of engineering can be taught to any grade. Entire classes can be dedicated to engineering, or it can be included as part of an existing class. It is entirely up to the state. The goal of the E2 Bill is to give states an opportunity, not to force something on them that they don't want.

As you know, engineering is currently not taught in most primary and secondary schools.  The first real exposure most students get to this vital field is in college – if they major in engineering.  The majority of students decide to abandon engineering years before they are even know the field exists when they decline to take advanced science and math classes in high-school. 

How many skilled engineers have we failed to produce simply because students with the potential to be great engineers found out what engineering is too late to pursue it as a career?

Beyond Engineering

The E2 Bill isn't just about engineering. Studies have shown that engineering is a great way to keep kids interested in all science and math.  Currently, most American students say they like science and math in elementary school, but most have lost their enthusiasm for the subjects by the time they reach high school.  Engineering is a way to keep students interested in the sciences long enough for them to receive the basic education required to major in the sciences, should they wish to do so in college.

Engineering does this by being a great bridge between elementary and high school science. Engineering allows students to begin to learn advanced concepts in a playful way.  Usually, the transition from elementary science education to high school science is abrupt and, for many students, traumatic.  High school science is much more abstract than elementary school science. It involves memorizing lots of facts, formulas and tricky theories, without the fun of elementary science.

Engineering provides a nice middle ground between elementary and high school science. Engineering involves mathematical formulas and tricky concepts, but in a much more accessible way than physics or chemistry. Students can see how engineering works and can play with engineering concepts (by building robots, for example) without first needing to memorize abstract ideas. When it has been tried (which isn't very often), engineering has proven to be a good way to help acclimate students to the rigors of real science, encouraging more students to stick with science and math through high school.

The E2 Bill will allow more states to add engineering to their public school curriculums, helping students to improve in all the science and math fields in the process.

Full text of the bill

Research on engineering education can be found Here.

Fly-In Schedule (tentative)

On the first day, all participants will meet for a thorough briefing on the E2 Education Act, the legislative process and working with Congress.  You’ll learn a year’s worth of civics in just a few hours.  By the time the training is finished, you will be fully prepared to have productive discussions with your legislators about science education and the E2 Bill.

On the the second day, you will put your skills to use by discussing science education reform and the E2 Bill with your legislators.  You will spend the day on Capitol Hill with a team of IEEE members, organized by state, attending private meetings with all three of your members of Congress and/or their staff.  IEEE-USA will arrange the meetings for you and provide leave-behind materials.  All you need to do is show up and explain why you think it is important that Congress change the way America teaches our students math, science and engineering. 

Personal meetings between voters and their elected officials are the single best way to influence Congress.  IEEE-USA will make it as easy as possible for you to hold your own meetings and make a real difference.

Funding

Most fly-in participants pay their own travel expenses. IEEE-USA will be providing some meals to all participants and has structured the event to minimize travel expenses.

IEEE-USA will be able to provide funding for a limited number of engineers to attend this event. Sponsored participants will be chosen based on the political importance of their legislators. In the past, some sections and regions have also been willing to sponsor a limited number of participants. Contact your section and region leaders directly for more details.

Can't Come to Washington, D.C.?

Meeting directly with legislators in Washington is the best way to influence Congress. But it is also the most difficult. If you can’t join us on 9 Feb, there are still ways for you to help technology engineers be heard. IEEE-USA encourages engineers who are interested in these issues to visit our Legislative Action Center (LAC) at: www.ieeeusa.org/policy/lac

From the LAC, you can learn about pending legislation and quickly contact your state and local legislators to tell them what you think. This isn’t as good as meeting your elected officials face-to-face, but it is still a great way to influence them.

Contacts:

Questions regarding fly-in logistics or Congressional meetings:
Russ Harrison
IEEE-USA
(202) 530-8326
r.t.harrison@ieee.org

Questions regarding Congress, legislation and the Career & Workforce Policy Committee:
Vin O’Neill
IEEE-USA
(202) 530-8327
v.oneill@ieee.org

Updated:  17 May 2011
Contact: Russ Harrison, r.t.harrison@ieee.org