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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2014-12-04
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTs2kKCV9pg
well I am an engineer who could I I I mentioned here hello I am an engineer I have an engineer I I M. and engineer I I in an engineer IBM engineer I am an engineer I I I am an engineer I I really am an engineer I am an engineer I am an engineer who Papa okay but seriously I am an engineer so why do
young women not want to go into engineering now that's a question that I have been trying to answer for several years until in two thousand and five I was asked be part of a research study we talk to three thousand girls across the country highly proficient in math I didn't wanna pursue engineering and when we asked them why they didn't want to pursue engineering the number
one response was also I got high do I look like a kiosk but it was the second response that really shocked me they said I want a job that helps people I have I was stunned he sees an engineer I feel some of law and at the time of the research I've been an engineer for twenty five years and throughout that time every morning I would
wake up happy so excited knowing that I could use my art skills to draw I could use my creativity to solve problems and I knew in my heart that the projects that I was working on was improving the quality of life for lots of people at that moment I was committed to fix the reception problem but the problem actually is a lot bigger than that it's
not that we just need more women engineers we need more engineers period the world is facing massive challenges the National Science Foundation recently released a report indicating the world's grand challenges access to clean water economical energy sources such as solar infusion as we face peak oil production the urgent need to repair and restore our rapidly decaying infrastructure and rapid climate change and that's just to name
a few so who in this world is in the best position to tackle these grand challenges engineers but despite these daunting challenges and the tremendous need the fact is we are facing a serious shortage of engineers Reuters reported last month that the shortage of engineers and sanitation experts is seriously undermining the effort to halt the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and the Financial Times reported
earlier this year that the shortage of engineers is threatening the UK's economic recovery and the United States airforce just announced that the number of engineers and sciences retiring from the United States airforce has doubled in the last five years no one to replace so why don't students want to go into engineering well believe it or not two of the largest barriers preventing the building of a
pipeline of new engineers public perception and the media public can't see past the brains of an engineer the public doesn't equate our profession with socially aware compassionate individuals and ideas the humanness of engineering has been lost and when we size up the world's problems that need engineering solutions and acknowledge the fact that we don't have enough engineers to tackle these issues well that's a big problem
for engineers and the world in the public also doesn't appreciate the fact the engineers make some pretty darn good leaders for example what did the CEOs of Walmart General Motors Ford Motor Company eighteen T. IBM Johnson and Johnson and Amazon have in common with the CEOs of a few other little small companies called apple Google Facebook Microsoft and Yahoo they all have engineering degrees yep according
to business insider thirty three percent of all the SMP CEOs are engineers being an engineer is not mutually exclusive with being a leader yet in January of this year according to a survey only nine percent of the public surveyed even thought that an engineer would even make a good CEO the media is powerful and can change the perception of what an engineer looks like and what
an engineer does look at the field of forensic science nobody knew what forensic science was people weren't going into universities to get a degree in forensics tell that little show called CS I came along and changed all the fact J. forensic science and cachet some entry some excitement and now universities are filled with eager freshman's wanting to study forensics on so imagine engineers using their athletic
abilities to scale mountains cross rapids do the impossible and imagine engineers come cities and towns in remote villages help rebuild their %HESITATION they've been ravaged by war or whether to South or imagine yet engineers going what is the question what our planet have enough chin enough water too much carbon dioxide engineers get to do some pretty cool thanks they get to do research and not just
research on how to improve the quality of our life but to do research to determine whether or not we're actually gonna live and not die I had the great opportunity when I was on the national science board to go to the South Pole now that was cool I mean a really cool I mean minus fifty seven degrees could hold seriously the air at the South Pole
purest on earth and the research that we are doing down there is to determine how carbon dioxide is actually going to affect the air quality and to determine how to improve the air that we breathe how much carbon dioxide can the air have before we can no longer three important questions to get answers to especially critical in this case because if we're not breathing well that
that's a proper so with all the negative perceptions out there about engineers one might ask the question why did I become an engineer well I almost didn't I wanted to be an interpreter a lawyer an interior designer because I loved art until that fateful day at my high school when I was asked to attend a career day on engineering far being I mean I was artistic
I was creative I was a people person not an engineer so I sat on the very back row preparing to take a nap up on stage presenter engineer had the most amazing drawings of buildings and I'd love to draw and I'd love to draw buildings he had my attention and when he affirmed that I could have art and creativity in my job I was sold so
I bet you're thinking that my next line is going to be and she lived happily ever after that's not what happened you could my two trusted advisers my guidance counselor and my math teacher they discouraged me from going to engineering they said it was a bad idea I flunked out I didn't have the aptitude I wasn't smart enough to be an engine and then my grandmother
who I had no word gave me the final blow she said if engineering on John but you know actually I'm so grateful for those discourage mints because they made me even more determined I love being an engineer and I realize though that there are folks out there that are facing the same issues that I did and they don't and won't study engineering I need to be
that guy that came to my high school change my life I need to be the one that goes to students to tell them what engineering really yes I need to re humanize engineering but how but there's a website called engineer girl developed by the National Academy of engineering and I love being a part of it engineer girl helps girls take back beat to go in and
study engineering they help girls chat with other professional women engineers and to be able to ask some questions such as going into college finding a job work life balance just about anything that's on their mind but mostly it allows girls to see whether they can connect with us real engineers and ask us questions like why did you decide become an engineer and secondly they really are
trying to determine whether they can actually fit in survive thrive in a man's world and I love telling them stories about how women engineers can do the impossible including a story about Emly Roebling a self trained engineer who in the only team sovereignty led the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband was injured on the job site and remember that geek status given to us
engineers I also tell those young ladies I have wear heels to work eighty five percent of the time and I've never worn a pocket protector so what can you do to help well we need people to step up speak out we need to tell more stories we need to tell stories about what engineering really is and whether that's on TV whether it's in the movies words
in the press about the big problems that engineers solve the people we help and the world we make better if we could re humanize scrutineering change our image we can change our future and make this world a better place for all of us and so someday I hope when someone asks you you can probably now say that you or someone you know if an engineer thank
