[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK

 Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to those 
men and women who have made the world we live in a better place through 
advances in engineering. Since 1951, the week that includes George 
Washington's birthday has been dedicated as National Engineers Week 
(EWeek) to increase public awareness and appreciation of the 
engineering profession and technology. Our first president began his 
career with agricultural, military, and land surveying skills leading 
to his later recognition as the nation's ``first engineer.''
  Last year's EWeek summit on ``The Business of Diversity'' gathered 
more than 100 business, government, and engineering leaders in 
Washington to find ways to increase the number of women and minorities 
in today's engineering workforce. This year, February 20-26 will be 
filed with activities designed by engineers for future engineers. 
Through national and local activities, students, women, and minorities 
are the focus of a campaign designed to interest them in a future in 
engineering.
  ``Discover E'' is a program in which engineers visit K-12 classrooms 
to answer questions and interact with students in designing and 
building small projects. The Future City Competition is for seventh and 
eight grade students, and the National Engineering Design Challenge is 
a high school program involving teams of students, teachers, and 
engineer mentors. All of these activities are geared toward introducing 
students in an interactive, hands-on way to engineering basics and open 
their eyes to the engineering inventions that are part of their daily 
lives.
  Hundreds of 3M engineers in Minneapolis/St. Paul and throughout the 
country will visit local schools. In Minneapolis, 3M is organizing a 
reception involving some of the minority engineering student groups at 
the University of Minnesota and other local colleges. There, 3M 
engineers will talk about career planning and other experiences. Also 
in Minneapolis, The Works, a museum for the entire family, makes 
learning about technology interesting, understandable, and fun. The 
Works was created in 1995 with many hands-on, minds-on exhibits about 
technology centered on kids ages 5-15.
  Schools have traditionally focused their teachings on the body of 
scientific knowledge, oftentimes neglecting the process of discovery 
that engineers use to help create new advances for our modern world. 
With the support of sponsors like 3M and NASA, programs during EWeek 
integrate this process of discovery and the use of technology into 
mathematics, science, language arts, and other topics. I am a strong 
supporter of exposing our children to the world around them and hope 
this awareness will get them involved and spark their interest in the 
future of engineering.
  EWeek also recognizes the countless engineers who have influenced 
nearly every aspect of our lives as a result of their dedicated work 
and the numerous technological advances they inspired. These 
contributions were honored at a luncheon in Washington on February 22 
naming the 20 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. 
The winners were chosen for their impact on the quality of life in the 
20th Century, and range from the harnessing of electricity to computer, 
telephones, and even air conditioning.
  These are just a few of the many events planned across America this 
week to urge today's youth from all backgrounds to consider a career in 
engineering. As someone who, early in my career, worked for an 
engineering firm, I appreciate this effort tremendously. I wish to send 
out my thanks to everyone who helps make the EWeek events possible, and 
the field of engineering exciting and entertaining.

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