Engineering society recruits students in face of shortage (2/15)

Posted February 14, 2009 at 11:19 pm
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Still don’t know what you want to be when you grow up?

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers wants to give you some advice: Wall Street bankers are out, and engineers are in.

According to a recent report by the SME, there are not enough engineers in the United States to fill available jobs, much less the millions of jobs left vacant by retiring baby boomers.

The report states that U.S. colleges are graduating 70,000 engineers a year — not meeting the 100,000 needed.

McNeese State University’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology is doing its part to drum up awareness of this field of study.

At 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, the engineering department will hold a community open house in Drew Hall and the Engineering Teaching Lab Building.

This and several other activities are scheduled on campus in celebration of National Engineers Week, Feb. 15-21. The designation was established in 1951 by the National Society of Profes-sional Engineers as an annual campaign to raise public awareness of engineers and the work they perform.

“The goal of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology is to provide excellent learning opportunities through a hands-on approach with state-of-the-art equipment and labs,” said Dr. Nikos Kiritsis, dean of the college.

More than 300 students from 16 high schools in Louisiana and Texas will attend an open house 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, geared specifically for high school juniors and seniors. Activities will include tours of departmental and campus facilities and demonstrations of McNeese student projects in the areas of civil, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering, as well as engineering technology disciplines.

At the open houses, the community will have the chance to see more than $500,000 in new equipment and improvements to laboratories, according to Dr. Nikos Kiritsis, dean of the college.

The chemical engineering lab, or ETL 105, received a major facelift over the summer with new equipment, an HVAC upgrade, painting, floor treatment, lighting upgrade, fume hood replacement and utilities. Among the $336,000 in equipment purchases were a liquid-to-liquid extraction demonstrator, a pH analyzer, a modular chemical reactor system, a gas-to-liquid absorption column and a six pass heat exchanger. There is also an industrial refrigeration trainer located in ETL 116.

In addition, a $150,000 state grant received by engineering department head Dr. Jonathan Sullivan was used to purchase a process trainer, which demonstrates temperature, pressure, level and flow.

Kiritsis said that at 9 a.m.-noon Wednesday, Feb. 18, the college is planning student enrichment activities for its engineering and engineering technology students in the Business Conference Center. Lunch will follow.

For more information, call Kiritsis at 337-475-5857.

American Press staff writer Heather Regan White contributed to this report.

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