Celebrating National Engineers Week 2019
It’s easy to take what engineers do for granted. Sure, sending satellites into space or robots deep into the sea may be exciting, but every time you turn on a light, cross a bridge, or drink clean water, you have an engineer to thank.
Engineers Week is all about celebrating what engineers do and how they contribute to our world—while also inspiring the next generation of engineers to get started on their journey. The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) started the event in 1951 and selected the third week in February to coincide with George Washington’s birthday, since our nation’s first president was also an accomplished engineer—he designed his Mount Vernon estate himself as well as a variety of new farm tools, including a plow that dispenses seeds.
This year, Engineers Week is February 17-23, with additional activities and programs running through March and April. Whatever your professional specialty, if you work in the engineering field, we’re celebrating you. Engineers Week is also a great time to volunteer a few hours to share your work and explain its importance. You'll find a wealth of resources to support your outreach. Check out these events:
Future City Competition
In this annual competition, middle-school kids from around the country imagine, design, and build a city of the future—first in SimCity, then as a scale model. On February 19, the finalists go head-to-head, presenting their designs to a panel of judges.
Ready to learn? Discover how BIM and IoT can be combined to create connected cities and campuses with the AU London 2017 class, Creating Smart Campuses and Cities Using BIM.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day
According to the Society of Women Engineers, only 13% of engineers are women today. But the numbers are changing for the better, with a 54% increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in engineering and computer science between 2011 and 2016. This February 21, engineers around the country will be hosting events and showing up as role models to encourage girls to pursue engineering careers.
Want to get your girls (and boys) designing and coding? Check out Tinkercad, Autodesk’s free browser-based design tool for kids. And Autodesk’s Making Starts Here website features dozens of kid-friendly projects with step-by-step instructions and video tutorials.
Global Marathon
This marathon has nothing to do with running. It’s a free weekly series of conversations and advice for women engineers and engineering students. This year’s topics include building confidence, achieving authenticity in the workplace, blending work and home life, building relationships across borders, and networking for success.
Check out these related AU classes. At the AU 2017 panel Inspiring the Next Generation: The Future of Women in Technology, Allison Scott, Christine Alvis, and 6 co-speakers shared their experiences overcoming the obstacles women face in the world of technology and engineering, and exchanged ideas about how to nurture the next generation of women in industry.
And at AU 2018, Minette Norman hosted the panel, Why Diversity and Inclusion Is Important for Your Business to discuss how greater diversity can give companies a competitive advantage.
Scientific discovery for its own sake is one thing. Then there’s the world we all live in. Engineers bridge the gap, bringing the power of possibility to our daily lives. Call it innovation, call it technology, call it progress, it’s an essential part of the future of making.
This Engineers Week, we’re celebrating all the engineers—and especially those in the AU community—who help make our world a better place.
