[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING OUR NATION'S ENGINEERS DURING NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Madam Speaker, as one of only a handful of engineers in 
Congress, I am proud again to sponsor a resolution honoring our 
Nation's engineers during National Engineers Week. This is my seventh 
year introducing this resolution, and it has a special significance 
this year.
  Next week will mark the 60th anniversary of Engineers Week, and with 
nearly half of the practicing engineers in our country eligible to 
retire over the next few years, the central goal of Engineers Week, 
attracting new students to engineering careers, has never been more 
important. That is why educating and inspiring America's youth about 
engineering and science needs to be a national priority.
  Engineers design and build all of our everyday products, such as 
bridges, airplanes, roads, computers, medical devices, cars and power 
plants, just to name a few. But engineering is more than that. 
Engineering is problem solving. We have many problems to solve, from 
our dependence on foreign oil to our crumbling infrastructure. And as a 
recent National Academies report explained, while only 4 percent of our 
Nation's workforce is composed of engineers and scientists, this group 
disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent.
  America's 2.5 million engineers have helped make our country great by 
solving problems and turning dreams into reality, and America's future 
depends on them. Unfortunately, oftentimes their contributions, though, 
go unnoticed. National Engineers Week seeks to fix this problem through 
events aimed at educating youth and fostering public awareness of the 
vital contributions made by engineers to our quality of life and our 
economic prosperity.
  Engineers Week promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and 
students of the importance of STEM education and literacy. This year's 
theme is ``Engineers Make a World of Difference: A Celebration of 
Engineer Volunteerism.'' It recognizes the more than 1 million hours 
annually that America's engineers contribute to public service.
  The celebratory events include the Future City Competition, Introduce 
a Girl to Engineering Day, and Discover Engineering Family Day, which 
all impart an appreciation of the wonders of engineering to our 
children of all backgrounds.
  I can attest to my own childhood experiences with science and 
engineering and how they captivated me. I remember in high school at 
St. Ignatius my calculus and physics teachers, especially Father Thul 
and Father Fergus, helped mold my childhood fascination into an 
interest in engineering. These teachers, together with informal 
experiences at places like the Museum of Science and Industry and even 
at Brookfield Zoo, helped motivate me to pursue an undergraduate degree 
in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University and a degree in 
engineering economic systems from Stanford. One of the central goals of 
National Engineers Week is to provide this kind of inspiration for the 
next generation of students.
  During Engineers Week in Chicago I will be attending the Engineers 
Week celebratory dinner, where they will give the Washington Award to a 
professor from Purdue University and will be honoring students who have 
made contributions in engineering through the Future Cities projects.
  I would like to encourage all of my colleagues to cosponsor this 
resolution and go home and find some Engineers Week celebrations that 
are going on and participate in them in your districts. This is a great 
opportunity for us to thank the engineers who have contributed so much 
to our country and inspire that next generation of engineers that our 
country so terribly needs to solve the problems that face us today.

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