Engineering Education — a New Dimension

Competition for jobs does have its advantages. In fact, graduating engineering students can continue to expect increases in starting salaries, according to recent job surveys. Engineering disciplines, including mechanical engineering, have offered the highest salaries for new grads for several years. You can find more details in this month's edition of the Mechanical Advantage online newsletter.

Sam Zamrik

But our concern as a body of professional engineers, educators, prospective employers, and early career engineers is how well these graduates are prepared to compete for jobs. We know that future engineers must be able to work in a much wider intellectual spectrum than ever before. Therefore, the curriculum must be changed to provide broader programs that reflect multidisciplinary and global thinking so that today's mechanical engineers can successfully navigate this new environment. This is an environment that requires knowledge of global business management and strong communication skills, which at present is lacking.

ASME is building its programs and services to help strengthen these offerings, through collaborative initiatives, such as the Engineering Management Certification International (EMCI), which has nearly 300 exam locations in the United States and Canada plus partnered locations in more than 75 countries. Also, ASME's Global Management for Engineering and Technology (GMET) training program continues its growth with global training partners in China, India, Malaysia, the United States, and others.

Clearly, the world in which engineers must work is becoming more complex and interrelated. Multidisciplinary thinking is a continuum process leading to transfer of knowledge, especially in emerging technologies, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), nanotechnology, bioengineering, energy, and robotics. ASME's efforts are growing to meet these needs at all lifelong learning levels. For example, we've created a working group on sustainability (via ASME's Community on Practice), we've focused on energy challenges through the recent creation of an energy grand challenge Web page (in ASME.ORG's technical communities), and we've experienced cross-matrix efforts in exciting new areas such as the recent Fuel Cell Conference in June, with active involvement with a performance test code committee, the Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology, the ASME Metropolitan Section, and more than 400 global fuel cell professionals. ASME is an excellent convener of emerging technologies when communities are forming.

This fall is already busy for senior engineering students involved in the ASME Human Powered Vehicles (HPV) competition. HPV is often a student-team capstone project in which student teams design and fabricate fast, sleek, and safe vehicles that are highly engineered for use on land, in the water, or in the air. ASME sponsors the HPV competition in hopes of finding prototype vehicles for everyday activities ranging from commuting to and from work to going to the grocery store. This year, HPV goes global with a contest taking place this month in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

One of the most exciting upcoming projects that bridge the gap between engineering school practicum and business theories is the first Innovation Showcase (I-Show), which will be launched at the ASME 2007 Congress, Nov. 9, in Seattle, Wash. At the I-Show, technological innovations will be presented to a judging panel of innovators, industry experts, venture capitalists, and intellectual property specialists. Focusing on product innovation and commercialization, teams with the most creative yet feasible ideas will be rewarded with industry recognition and seed funds. Successful teams will then attend Invention-to-Venture (I2V) workshops and learn about technology commercialization and business plan development, while matched with local entrepreneurs and experts to help them refine their product, and develop a business model and marketing plan.

Team applications for the 2008 I-Show — to take place on June 7, 2008, at the ASME Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. — will be available online at ASME.ORG by mid-September.

In today's business environment, mentoring plays a strong role in the development of students' education. I have talked to my students about my industrial experience, my consulting work, and litigation cases where a broad multidisciplinary knowledge of engineering is required. Mentoring allows students to question their mentors about how things happen outside the textbooks. All engineers should consider their role in mentoring the next generation of professionals.

Effective mentoring and "bridge programs" as students move into college curriculums are important for retaining both young women and men in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational paths. Interesting to note, an online National Science Foundation article ("Back to School: Five Myths about Girls and Science," from www.nsf.gov, Aug. 27, 2007) says, "One of the most effective interventions to help young women choose and sustain a STEM educational path and subsequent STEM career is mentoring." The ASME E-Mentoring Program is an online mentoring program designed especially for student members of ASME. The program is free to all student members and totally e-mail driven.

Significant to ASME's leadership building are district-led Student Leadership Seminars (SLSs), which usually begin in the fall. I'm happy to say that last year more than 500 students from 147 student sections participated, with more than 60 student section advisors in attendance. Eleven seminars were held at venues that included Puerto Rico and Mexico. This year we hope to see those numbers rise. The main purpose of these seminars is to promote valuable leadership skills that will help each ASME student section succeed. The focus this year will be on unifying the student sections within each district and increasing interaction among student sections and ASME-related industries. Keep involved with these events through online updates at ASME.ORG.

The beginning of each school year marks a celebration of new potential and the planting of seeds that bloom through the year. It is hectic, full of deadlines, new schedules, and new hopes and ambitions for the future. Enjoy the opportunities and make ASME a resource for achieving your engineering education goals. I welcome your feedback and suggestions on how ASME can further enhance your learning experience. You can contact me at president@asme.org.

— Sam Zamrik
ASME President 2007–2008

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