EWeek co-chairs hold
Congressional briefing

The co-chairs of Engineers Week (EWeek) 2006 — the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Northrop Grumman Corp. — held a Congressional noontime briefing during EWeek on the issue of K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

ASME, through its partnership with the Society of Women Engineers, assisted in the development of the content for the briefing as well as logistics for the session, which took place on Feb. 21. Although SWE has attended a number of Congressional briefings in the past, this event was the first briefing held by the society.

For many years, the National Science Board (NSB) has been encouraging outreach efforts by science and engineering professionals to augment and expand content knowledge for classroom teachers. This year, SWE and Northrop Grumman decided to respond to the NSB's challenge with their EWeek legacy project, "Connecting Educators to Engineering."

While prior EWeek outreach efforts had focused directly on students, "Connecting Educators to Engineering" concentrates on developing relationships between engineer volunteers and K-12 teachers, counselors, and students. For more information about the Connecting Educators to Engineering program, visit www.eweek2006.org.

The briefing's featured speakers included Ethan Lipton, president of the International Technology Education Association; Kathie Olsen, deputy director of the National Science Foundation; Neil Siegel, sector vice president of technology and vice president and chief engineer of Command, Control, and Communications at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems; and Beverly Henry Wheeler, president of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. Patricia Welesko Garland, chair of EWeek 2006, served as moderator for the event.

During the session, Congressional staff members, EWeek societies and sponsors, and other STEM education stakeholders learned about how professional societies are reaching out to educators, counselors, and K-12 students, through efforts like "Connecting Educators to Engineering," to help enhance STEM education in schools across the United States.

Participants also discussed the necessity of improving K-12 STEM education in the United States, as highlighted in the recent National Academies report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future."

More information about the Congressional briefing, including speaker remarks, will be available at www.eweek2006.org in the near future.

Last year, ASME signed an agreement to assist SWE in advancing its public policy initiatives and in strengthening its relationships with agencies and policymakers in Washington, D.C. Under terms of the agreement between the two engineering organizations, ASME will provide direct assistance to support SWE in the development and implementation of a public policy program in areas such as K-12 STEM education.

Information about the SWE-ASME partnership can be found at: www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/PressReleases/
Assist_Society_Woman.cfm.

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