Gear up for National Week of Engineering

The College of Engineering (CENG) is gearing up for the annual National Week of Engineering, Feb. 18 to 22, planning student activities, outreach and entertainment.

“Engineering is known as the stealth career,” said Amy Hewes, CENG director of publications and communications. “In fact, engineering is so much more than that and it touches all our lives in so many ways.”

Student activities are scheduled throughout the week along with days devoted to various themes: Monday is Opening Day, Tuesday is Northrop Grumman Showcase Day, Wednesday is Sustainability Day, Thursday is Outreach Day and Friday is Closing Day.

“Students have been working on this event for at least four months,” CENG director of alumni and donor relations Donna Aiken wrote in an e-mail. “They’ve completely reformatted their event, using it as an opportunity to help bring our engineering student community together.”

CENG is revving up its energy in reaching out to women and underrepresented minorities interested in the engineering field. In fact, the Society of Women Engineers, Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement and the Engineering Student Council (ESC) are planning to spend Thursday at local elementary and high schools.

“Engineering can be a daunting major even for the most studious of students,” Aiken wrote. “We want our engineering students to know that they have reasons to be proud of their major and proud of being engineers.”

With an ample 26 percent of Cal Poly’s students – approximately 5,300 – enrolled in the CENG, engineers have a large role on campus.

“Engineering affects everything from transportation to telecommunication, not just roads and bridges,” Hewes said. “It’s about improving the quality of life and solving the problems of the 21st century.”

In addition to the established activities and themes, this year the college will focus on the omnipresent topic of sustainability.

“It’s a problem but it’s so exciting that students today will be the ones to make the world a better place,” Hewes said. “Just like my generation was all about the space race and the man on the moon, this generation will be likewise: excited and inspired to take on the challenges facing us.”

National Engineers Week has been celebrated on campuses nationwide since its 1951 inception by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Cal Poly’s is organized by the ESC, with this year’s engineering exhibition week being sponsored by Lockheed Martin, URS Corporation, REC Solar and Northrop Grumman.