AEDC engineers ‘Make a Difference’ by helping local youth ‘discover engineering’

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) engineers and personnel have volunteered their time, during the past year, to make a difference in the lives of local students by helping them discover engineering.

This experience, "Discover Engineering - Let's make a difference," is the theme of the Engineers Week, Feb. 16-22. During Engineers Week, local engineering society volunteers will continue their support of helping youth discover engineering through multiple events including a MathCounts competition, a student design competition, an Engineer-for-a-Day program and a banquet.

The MathCounts competition is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Feb. 15 at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Middle school mathletes utilize their skills to answer math questions in "bee-style" contests. Teams include Harris Middle School, Shelbyville; Highland Rim Elementary School, Fayetteville; East Middle School, Tullahoma; West Middle School, Tullahoma; The Webb School, Bell Buckle; and Moore County Middle School, Lynchburg. The winning team will be recognized at the Engineers Week Banquet and will advance to the state competition.

High school teams will participate in the Student Design Competition at the Hands-On-Science Center in Tullahoma on Feb. 18. Tenth through 12th grade students design, build and compete their designs against other teams. The teams will be given kits with identical materials and will have one and a half hours to design, build and test.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three scoring teams.

Engineer-for-a-Day is Feb. 19. Engineer-oriented, junior and senior high school students will tour AEDC, have lunch and then go with a mentor to observe engineers at work. Some students will stay at AEDC, others will visit companies in the local area.

On Feb. 25, the Engineers Week Banquet will be at the Manchester/Coffee County Conference Center. The banquet speaker is Andy Allen, a former astronaut and presently the vice president and general manager for Jacobs Technology at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Allen was selected to become an astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in June 1987. He is a veteran of three space flights and has logged over 900 hours in space. He was the pilot on the Space Transport System-46 (STS-46) mission in 1992 and STS-62 in 1994 and was mission commander on STS-75 in 1996. Allen retired from the Marine Corps and left NASA in Oct. 1997. He has since served in various industry leadership positions, including president of the FIRST Foundation (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and associate program manager for Ground Operations with United Space Alliance.

The banquet social begins at 5:30 p.m., dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are available through Feb. 21 and cost $30. Tickets may be purchased through John Jordan, 454-4335; Harry Clark, 454-4495; Jim Link, 454-6093; Paul Kelly, 454-6542; Bill Carpenter, 393-6632; and Joe Wehrmeyer, 454-4345.

The Engineers Week activities are sponsored by the Tullahoma Chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, the Highland Rim Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Tennessee section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, the Project Management Institute, and the Arnold Association of Professional Societies.

During the week of activities, volunteers have the opportunity to conduct hands-on activities with students; talk to a group of students about engineering; or participate in community engineering events.

Volunteers are invited to assist in the events. To volunteer or for more information, contact Paul Kelly at 454-6542.