“People don’t understand that there are so many different areas of engineering out there,” said Teresa Entwistle, project manager and assistant department manager of CDG, who helped coordinate the recent Engineering Discovery Fair .
More than 100 students from a variety of schools throughout the St. Louis region gathered at the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis on Lindell Boulevard to explore careers in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) fields.
LaWanda Jones, senior project engineer and corporate marketing manager of ABNA, said organizers were pleased by participation from area firms. They included ABNA, CDG, FIRST Robotics, Metropolitan Sewer District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Future engineers, Jones said, are in high demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, for example, that employment of biomedical engineers is projected to grow 62 percent from 2010 to 2020. This job growth is much faster than average and will add roughly 9,700 new jobs over a 10-year period. Software, environmental, civil, and petroleum engineering are other specialties in high demand.
“There’s a need for technical minds – people who are good in math and science,” Jones said.
Jones and Entwistle are experienced civil engineers who design and maintain public works such as roads, bridges and water, as well as, public facilities like railways and airports. Jones was instrumental in two multimillion-dollar projects: the re-design of I-64/ US40 and the Lambert Airport expansion. Entwistle has designed hazardous waste landfill designs and spent 10 years in the petroleum industry.
Along with Beth Qunindry, marketing manager of Engineers’ Club of St. Louis, Jones and Entwistle devised a grassroots marketing strategy to gain support for the initiative.
“We stopped people on the streets,” Jones said.
Da’Shon Taylor, 17, and D’Andre Traylor, 16, both of Construction Careers Center, attended the fair. They hope to pursuing careers in mechanical and civil engineering and scouted for prospective internships. After collecting several business cards, Taylor said he plans to follow-up with representatives from Ameren, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Boeing.
A few members of the University City High School FIRST Robotics Competition “Robo-Lions” team were perhaps the youngest representatives at the fair. Mike Sarver, 17, demonstrated a robot that he and fellow teammates designed and built.
FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – is a national nonprofit organization for students ages six-to-18 that hones teamwork and leadership skills. FIRST’s mission is to inspire students to become science and technology leaders.
Interactive displays engaged students, like Ameren’s Hand Crank Kilowatt-Hour generator that demonstrated the difficulty of manually producing electricity.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers displayed a small-scaled model of the Mississippi River that illustrated the dredging process. Dredging is a method used by engineers to repetitively remove naturally deposited sediment, like sand, from navigation channels to make water travel easier for barges and other boats.
“We wanted something for them to touch and see – not just something of conversation,” Jones said.
Now they are making preparations for next year’s Engineering Discovery Fair with hopes to add a panel discussion and the annual national observance of Engineer’s Week February 17–23.
But there is work to do in the meantime.
“We want any high school student who wants to see what an engineer does in the real world to be able to shadow an engineer in the St. Louis community,” Entwistle said.
Students were able to sign up for shadow assignments at the Engineering Discovery Fair; however, more engineer volunteers are needed to serve as mentors.
“We do want to reach out to any engineering department within any firm,” Jones said.
If you are interested in having a student shadow you, please contact Teresa Entwistle at entwistle@cdgengineers.com or LaWanda Jones at ljones@abnacorp.com.
For more information about FIRST Robotics – St. Louis region visit stlouisfirst.org.
