Fifth Annual IEEE-USA Career Fly-In (8 - 9 February 2010)

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

Are you tired of complaining about America’s education system?

Are you tired of report after report documenting how poorly America is educating our next generation of scientists and engineers?

Do you want to stop discussing the problem and start fixing it?

Then join IEEE-USA in Washington, DC this February for our 5th annual Career Fly-In.

>>  Click To Register Now  <<

On February 8th and 9th, 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 Education Act.

The Engineering Education for the Innovation Economy Act of 2010 (or, the “E2 Education Act”) is a groundbreaking bill that will help states add engineering lessons to their K-12 science and math curriculums.  It has broad, bi-partisan support, but Congress’ agenda is already very crowded.  We need to force Congress to focus on this issue, and nobody can do that better than concerned voters.

Who is Qualified?

Everyone!  IEEE-USA needs all interested engineers (and 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 the Innovation Economy Act

The E2 Education Act will help states add engineering to their K-12 science and math curriculums.  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?

The E2 Education Act would help states introduce engineering to students as regular parts of the science curriculum.  The bill provides the states grant money to develop curriculums that introduce engineering and engineering concepts to students.  The bill then provides further grants to implement those curriculums.

The E2 Bill isn't just about engineering. Studies have shown that engineering is a great way to keep kids interested in 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 until after students have done the memorizing.

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 can be found here.

Some of the research on engineering education can be found here.

Fly-In Schedule (tentative)

The 2010 Career Fly-In will begin at 2:00 pm on February Eighth.  All participants will meet in the Capitol Visitors Center on Capitol Hill in Washington 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.

The next 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:  11 January 2010
Contact: Russ Harrison, r.t.harrison@ieee.org