Engineers Take the Spotlight

A recent article in the USA Today addresses the issue of scientists taking precedence over engineers.

The article discusses this issue with Dr. Henry Petroski, NY X ’63, the author of the recently published The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems.

Petroski points out that the under appreciation of engineers is not uniform across the world. “It is really telling, if you look at Asia and all the large building projects and efforts in high-speed rail undertaken there. They prize engineering, they want engineering and they are educating engineers,” said Dr. Petroski. Read a review of Dr. Petroski’s book

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A recent pageant at Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, crowned a Mr. Engineer and raised money for a good cause, the Embrace Kids Foundation.

The second annual Mr. Engineer pageant had 16 contestants and set out to dispel any stereotypes of ‘nerdiness’ that accompany male engineering students. This year’s winner, Shandon Campbell, constructed an outfit using duct tape for the “Enginerd” portion of the contest.

Emcee and senior engineering student Josh Tan, NJ B 2010, had this to say about the night’s festivities, “I hope that this event becomes a running tradition at Rutgers and in the School of Engineering.”

Read the full article from the Daily Targum

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A contest of another sort took place last week at New Jersey American Water, where employees were charged with the task of building a pocket protector of the future.

The winning design was “a solar-powered protector that could be used to charge an iPhone.” Read the press release for details on the other winning entries.

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