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Why I Became an Engineer
BY EVA KAPLAN-LEISERSON What influences someone to become an engineer? With all the different programs that aim to get young people into the pipeline, what's been working recently? PE talked to a sampling of young engineers to find out what influenced them to join the profession. While student programs like MATHCOUNTS and JETS helped introduce some engineers to the field, more often the influencing factor was a family member, teacher, or professional mentor. So PEs, look around you. Are there sons or daughters, nieces or nephews, students or coworkers who show an aptitude for the field? Who can you mentor? Twelve young engineers share their stories. Amy Barrett, P.E., Project Electrical Engineer
Hafer Associates, Evansville, Indiana; 30 years old Barrett's father was a seventh-grade math teacher and taught students who participated in MATHCOUNTS, the national middle school math competition. One of the engineers from the Cincinnati chapter of NSPE who volunteered with the school's team lived around the corner from Barrett's house and would stop by when he and his wife were out for walks. The PE's father encouraged her to look into engineering because of the engineers he met through NSPE and her strong math skills. She decided to join the field at 16. Barrett's father's influence also prompted her to attend engineering camps and visit college engineering departments to narrow down the discipline she would most enjoy. Her junior and senior year of high school, Barrett participated in the Cincinnati Junior Engineering Technical Society program, competing in the engineering competition now called TEAMS. "The real-world engineering problems helped me realize the opportunities that would be available to me if I entered a career in engineering," she says.
Source: PE Magazine |
