Re: Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???
 

We already have super high tech robots engaged in an international competition

the winners are presently roaming around on Mars, and in orbit taking digital images of distant galaxies, and flying commercial and fighter jets all over the world.

The problem is, the people who made these robots are invisible in our culture.

Re: Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???
 

The problem with engineering is that most people cannot feel that they are vicariously participating in it. NASCAR fans, I'll bet, like to imagine sometimes that on their way to work, they're driving at Daytona. Others love the feeling when a shot is is sunk from half court. People feel engaged and exhilarated when James Bond narrowly escapes death at the hands of Baron Semedi.

Engineering simply does not have that pull. It's challenging, interesting, awe-inspiring, but it lacks one important factor- the average Joe pushing pencils doesn't feel that they could ever do something like that. They are excited by whats being done, but they lack that personal, important connection where they feel like the person under the spotlight. It's very hard to convey the exhilaration felt when a machine or piece of software performs as it should, perhaps millions of miles away from home, after months or years of work. Sure, people on the moon are cool, and you can imagine bouncing up and down across the vast lunar surface, but you can't feel the tension lifting after you realize that you *haven't* just killed you colleagues on a barren world thousands of miles away.

Engineering will never pull the publics *undivided* attention because it's unintimate. It may awe them for awhile, but all toys soon lose their appeal.

Re: Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???
 

That's why folks have to invent new toys. ;)

Here's my reply, sent about 12.93 seconds ago:

Mr. Teschler,

I suppose I should preface my message by noting that I do mentor a FIRST Robotics team here in Columbia, South Carolina. Perhaps I have had a swig of the proverbial Kool-Aid. (Then again, I'm working towards a business degree, so perhaps I only sipped it.)

The average person in the United States probably knows who won the Daytona 500. A bunch know who won the Super Bowl--the championship of a game involving running around a patch of grass with a ball without getting the life knocked out of you. And I'll bet that a lot of people in this country know the name of someone who has won American Idol. Some will probably know them all, along with the runners-up. But how many people know the name of even one person involved with the Mars Exploration Rovers?

Fantasia Barrino won the third season of American Idol, which began about two weeks after Spirit landed on Mars. The finale, and her victory, came some four months later. Have you heard anything from her lately? The rovers were built to last 90 Martian days; Spirit is on day 782, about eight and a half times what was planned, and are still sending amazing images back to our little patch of dirt.

As a business student, I had to take a course on management this semester. One of the lectures included Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which covers the basic things a person requires to live and live happily. The hierarchy reads, from lowest to highest:

Physiological (food and water)
Safety/Security (a safe physical/emotional environment, permanence and stability)
Belongingness (friendship, acceptance)
Esteem (positive self-image)
Self-actualization (fulfillment, competence, developing one's full potential)

My time as a student on the team, then as a mentor, made me realize that marketing was a good fit for me, probably better than engineering. (After all, if you're going to have a competition that will rival the NBA, you're going to need folks to bring people there, recruit students and mentors, et cetera.) If I can help the kids on my team reach that fifth level, even if it's not in engineering, then my time working with the organization that you write as a punch line is entirely worth it.

Sincerely,



William Leverette

PS: Here's a start on the people behind the Mars Exploration Rovers: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/people/

Re: Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???
 

Well, let's see....... I've been an engineer now for about 36 years (BSEE, Clarkson College, 1970) and I can't say I ever felt the urge to be "glamourous." Can't say I ever had the urge to get rich, either.

I knew I wanted to be an engineer from age 12, when I had my first ham radio license and started building radios. I like being an engineer for the same reason I like hanging around my team and building robots - it's challenging, stimulating, rewarding, and fun!

As far as those engineers that move on to other fields, as was already noted, society can use doctors, lawyers and businessmen that understand the technical world. In the 80's I went back to school and earned two MBAs, in management and finance, not because I wanted to be a rich businessman, but because I thought it would make me a better engineering manager. It greatly broadened my view of the world, but I still consider myself an engineer, first and forever.

I also think the author of the article starting this thread "doesn't get it." Dean does. It ain't about glamour, it's about DOING.

Re: Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???
 

Well, I think this is a first: I sent a letter to a magazine and got a response! I won't post the reply here, as that's not good netiquette, but I will say it was positive.