Making A World of Difference: Engineers Week

On October 1, 2015, Caltech celebrated the launch of Engineers Week with a panel discussion on diversity and how engineers are making a world of difference. The launch was designed to energize national and international groups in their planning of programs and events to celebrate the accomplishments of engineers as well as to inspire the next generation during Engineers Week, which will be February 21–26, 2016. 

The Caltech event and webcast was opened by Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics, and the panel was moderated by Guruswami "Ravi" Ravichandran, the holder of the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science and the John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. The in-person audience included members of the Engineering and Environmental Science Academy at Pasadena's John Muir High School as well as Caltech students who are members of the Society of Women Engineers, Engineers Without Borders, and Science & Engineering Policy at Caltech.

Panel members included: Domniki Asimaki, Caltech professor of mechanical and civil engineering; Caltech senior Aileen Cheng, the president of the Caltech Society of Women Engineers; Sandra H. Magnus, executive director of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Andrew Smart, director of Society Programs and Industry Relations for SAE International; and John J. Tracy, chief technology officer of The Boeing Company.

As part of the wide-ranging discussion, the panelists shared with the audience an engineering accomplishment or solution that stirred their imagination. When asked to describe the motivation for her future research endeavors, Cheng recalled her response as a young girl to learning that her father was ill. "When I first learned my dad had Hepatitis B, I said, 'I've got to cure him'"—sparking an early interest in bioengineering, which she has also combined with computer science at Caltech. "I decided to look at ways to help people live longer."

The launch of Engineers Week is an annual event organized by DiscoverE, a foundation dedicated to sustaining and growing a dynamic engineering profession through outreach, education, celebration, and volunteerism. Each year an academic and a corporate partner are chosen to host the event and webcast. This year the academic partner was Caltech and the corporate partner was The Boeing Company.

Learn more about the 2016 Engineers Week by visiting http://www.discovere.org/our-programs/engineers-week.