Recognizing engineers

Rick Nelson, Chief Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2005

Last month, I commented that it's increasingly difficult to attract youngsters to engineering professions, citing possible causes ranging from the difficulty of the subject matter to concern about employment prospects. Several readers proposed another possibility: a lack of recognition. Les Howell at Teradyne writes, "A songwriter or a producer is better known than the guys who produced TCP/IP."

My colleague John Dodge, editor in chief at sister publication EDN, advances a similar point. In a recent column (www.edn.com/article/CA526328), he quotes Geoffrey Orsak, dean of the School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University: "We have to celebrate our people. As long as we continue to view engineering as about widgets and not about people, we will have a perception problem."

To alleviate the perception problem, SMU and other universities along with Texas Instruments, National Instruments, and Tyco Electronics are supporting the Infinity Project, which, notes Orsak on the Infinity Project Web site (www.infinity-project.org), is designed to "fuel a love for engineering and technology" among high-school students and "to show students how they can use what they've studied to build better, brighter futures."

At Test & Measurement World, we've been addressing the recognition issue by encouraging our readers to nominate and vote for a "Test Engineer of the Year," who is the focus of a cover-story profile and who may designate a $20,000 educational grant to an engineering school, courtesy of sponsor National Instruments. In 2004, we honored Chris Grachanen, a metrologist who not only works diligently for his employer Hewlett-Packard but who has worked tirelessly for the metrology profession as a whole by developing metrology training programs. This year, we honored Anthony Levandowski, a recent UC-Berkeley engineering graduate who's racing against the clock to ready his autonomous motorcycle for the October 8 DARPA Grand Challenge.

Now, we're beginning the process of choosing our 2006 Test Engineer of the Year, and it's your turn to promote the profession by nominating a candidate. Just send me an e-mail giving some details on the individual's major professional contributions. Also include the phone number and e-mail address for the engineer, as well as for the PR manager at his or her facility (if you know it). Please send your nomination by June 24. Based on your recommendations, we will select six finalists and publish profiles about them in our September issue. From among those six, we will ask readers to vote on their choice for the Test Engineer of the Year.

Contact Rick Nelson at rnelson@tmworld.com.