[KenWittlief]

I never took Deans goal of going head to head against sports or the movie industry to make HS students think engineering is exciting and glamorous like sports or entertainment.

Ive always taken the approach of showing students that engineering and science careers are better choices, than pursuing sports or entertainment careers - better for different reasons than million dollar salaries or public recognition.

Engineers do something that is real. Hollywood can fly the Enterprise around the galaxy, engineers put humans on the moon, and probes and telescopes into places that collect real data, that advances our understanding of the universe.

There is a very amusing program on cable, how William Shatner (ie star trek) changed the world. They talk about all the stuff that was on the Star Trek series (like communicators, non-invasive medical equipment...) that has become a reality. It was scientist and engineers who made cell phones, mpeg compression, MRI scanners... a reality, not hollywood.

Ive been part of design teams that created systems that saved peoples lives. I wouldn't trade my career for anything.