Celebrate National Engineers Week
By Kristin Brynteson, Ed.D., NIU STEAM director
Happy National Engineers Week! This week we celebrate the difference engineers make in the world and help kids explore the world of engineering.
OK, here at NIU STEAM, we do that every week. But National Engineers Week gives us even more reasons to celebrate all things engineering! That’s easy to do since NIU has a variety of awesome programs to explore in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET). Granted, I may be a bit biased since my dad (class of 1969), my husband (class of 1994) and I (class of 1996) all have our undergraduate degrees from CEET.
In my early professional career, many years before I became the director of NIU STEAM, I was a Continuous Improvement Engineer for a division of Textron. It was my job to make sure our manufacturing processes ran smoothly and we got our products to our customers on time. I focused on product throughput, equipment runtime versus downtime, and product quality, as well as the health and safety of the people in the shop. It was a great job and I loved it!
So, what was my path to engineering? The funny thing is, as a kid, I had no interest in engineering. Or so I thought. I never took apart the toaster just to see how it worked. I didn’t really tinker with my dad’s electronics in the basement or engine parts in the garage, but I would watch and ask questions. I always asked questions. I didn’t really care about what was being tinkered with or fixed or built. I was more interested in how it was being done. I was the kid who was always looking for a better, easier way of doing things. I loved the process of doing and exploring how people made things happen. However, I had no desire to pursue a career in engineering. I’m a bit embarrassed to say that despite the fact that my dad was an engineer, I really didn’t know what engineering was. In school, I never explored engineering as a career path. Unlike today, engineering careers were not really promoted or discussed – at least not to a girl like me, the loud cheerleader with average grades who asked too many questions.
It wasn’t until my second year of college, and the fifth time I changed my major, that I stumbled on to the field of Industrial Engineering, an engineering discipline focused on optimizing processes and systems. For the girl always looking for the best way to do things, it was a perfect fit. It was the ah-ha moment I needed. Three years and one engineering internship later, I graduated and started my career as a Continuous Improvement Engineer. My only regret was not knowing about it earlier. It would have saved me from bouncing around majors, trying to find a fit.
I know that my path to engineering is not unique. It takes just one ah-ha moment or one discussion with the right person to spark an interest. Even today, there are kids out there asking questions, looking for ways to make the world better, who don’t know about all the opportunities available to them as an engineer. National Engineer Week is the perfect time to help them see what’s possible!
Here are some tips and ideas for introducing your curious problem solvers to the wide variety of engineering careers – including some of the resources, videos and podcasts available from NIU STEAM.
Tips and Ideas for Educators, Parents and Scout Leaders
- Invite a variety of engineers into your classroom or troop meeting as guest speakers. If there are no engineers available, here are some videos and podcasts you can use with your students.
- Video: The Joys of Mechanical Engineering, with Alanna Wilcox.
- STEM Read podcast: The sky isn’t the Limit with Aerospace Engineer Mishaal Ashemimry, the first Saudi woman to work for NASA.
- STEM Read podcast: Big Ideas for Little Makers, about teaching maker concepts to younger students.
- Failure Bites Podcast: Defining your Own Success with Netia McCray.
- Sound of Science Podcast: Industrial Engineering.
- Pick an everyday item and discuss what problem the item solved. Investigate all the people involved in making that item and what role they played.
- Have your students work together to solve a problem or improve something in your classroom, building or home.
- For more classroom or scout troop ideas, check out the videos below and hear how several Illinois STEAM Teachers are bringing engineering into their classrooms.
Even though I no longer work as an engineer, I use the knowledge and skills I learned as an engineer every day. Asking questions and looking for ways to continuously improve are key life skills. Even if your young people are not heading down an engineering career path, it’s important to build those skills. It is also important to understand how engineers impact our world and make it a better place.
Hopefully this has inspired you to explore ways to introduce your students to the exciting world of engineering. Have a great National Engineers Week! Don’t forget to thank an engineer!
