This week is Engineers Week — an event started by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951 that’s dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated engineering workforce by raising awareness about engineering careers and encouraging young people to pursue them.
With the demand for engineers already high and expected to continue to grow at a rate above average for all occupations, educators and employers are utilizing innovative means of increasing awareness and interest in the field and ensuring opportunities for students wishing to pursue engineering careers.
“The need for engineers who can fill important jobs is outpacing the number of students going into engineering,” said Brandon Mitchell, professor of physics at West Chester University. “We need to figure out how to prepare students for a successful college experience and get them trained for the jobs of the future.”
One way to do that, he said, is to develop programs that enable students to earn degrees tailored for particular jobs in a shorter time than expected.
Mitchell was instrumental in developing a dual degree program in quantum science and engineering in partnership with the University of Delaware (UD). The innovative program enables students to earn a bachelor’s degree in physics in three years at West Chester, and a master’s degree in quantum science and engineering in two years at Delaware.
It is meant to prepare students to work in the emerging field of quantum computing, an area that is expected to experience an annual growth rate of about 31% between now and 2028.
“There are a lot of jobs and a lot of growth in the area of quantum information,” Mitchell said. “We need to get students prepared to work in that field.”
Michael Manfre, 25, is a physics major at West Chester who, with his younger brother, Tyler, was recently accepted into UD’s master’s program. The opportunity to earn a dual degree and prepare for a job in an emerging field is exciting, he said, and one he hopes will prepare him for a meaningful career.
“I think it’s going to be a great field to work in,” he said.
At Penn State Berks in Spring Township, engineering faculty, staff and students regularly engage with area middle and high school students to educate them about opportunities in the field of engineering.
“We bring high schoolers to campus all the time to show them what our engineering students are doing,” explained Rungun Nathan, professor of engineering. “We want to help them match their interests with a field of engineering.”
High school students will be on campus Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as part of Engineers Week programming.
Penn State Berks also works closely with area industries through the Berks Learning Factory, a program in which client companies provide industrial design projects for engineering students to pursue.
And the school is exploring the possibility of offering a degree that combines engineering and business in an effort to move graduates more seamlessly into engineering jobs within businesses.
“It would allow graduates to speak both those languages,” Nathan said.
Both Penn State Berks and West Chester work to encourage students from a diverse range of backgrounds to pursue STEM programs at their schools.
West Chester’s Center for STEM Inclusion, which Mitchell leads, offers programs meant to guide students who are of color and low income from elementary school to a bachelor’s degree in STEM.
“These students have a lot of talent, but a lack of exposure,” Mitchell said. “We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity.”
On Friday, March 1, the university will hold its fourth annual Day of Giving, a 24-hour, online giving event that supports various initiatives and programs — including the Center for STEM Inclusion. More information about the Day of Giving can be found at wcufoundation.org.
Penn State Berks recently received a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for engineering students with demonstrated financial need.
While demand for engineers in emerging fields like quantum sciences is increasing rapidly, the need for more traditional types of engineering is not going away, said Mark Stabolepszy, vice president of civil engineering at Spotts, Stevens & McCoy, a Wyomissing-based firm with offices in West Chester, Allentown and Lancaster.
“There’s always going to be a need for people to build roads and water systems,” he said.
Electro-mechanical engineering major Kushal Joshi, 22, said a love of building and fascination with 3-D printing drew him to the field of engineering and led him to Penn State Berks, where he is a senior.
“I like that engineering can be applied in so many different ways,” Joshi said. “There’s practically no end to how engineering affects our everyday lives.”
Kalyn Lee Hess, 28, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering at Penn State Berks, said she decided to pursue the field after taking time to travel and engage in service work between graduating from high school and entering college.
“I realized there’s a ton of problems in the world, and at the end of the day, it’s engineers who are solving those problems,” Hess said. “I wanted to be part of the solution.”
Source: Berkshire mont