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February 12, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR KRIS MOODY
IN NH
Ask your friends to point out one single thing that they like
to do because
it's fun, and prove that an engineer isn't responsible for
that fun
thing. Think about video games, which are obvious. But how
about regular
sports? Who designs the bats and balls, bikes and skateboards,
helmets and
sneakers? Doesn't it seem kind of fun to create something
from
nothing? Imagine being able to say that you helped create
new fuel
efficient cars, or prosthetic limbs for victims of land mines.
Or how
about those long lists of engineers' names in movie credits?
Those
engineers created the special effects, the lighting and so
much more in the
movies. Or how about the sailors racing the America's Cup
Challenge, or
doing solo around the world races? There is a ton of technology
that goes
into those boats and the skills the sailors need to know to
use them. That
is exciting! Here are a few links to some stuff that I think
is NOT
boring. Maybe your friends will think some of this is fun
too! This is an
on-line lunar robot that you can try out over the
web: http://www.thetech.org/hyper/robotics/atyourcommand/index.html.
Check out Rodney, upper torso humanoid robot currently under
development: http://www.fuzzgun.btinternet.co.uk/rodney/rodney.htm
. And
look at this invention, intended to help totally blind people
"see" using
sound. (http://www.seeingwithsound.com/)
Imagine working on something so
cool, and actually making the world a better place at the
same time. That
is not boring.
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A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON
IN IL
It's really great that you like Engineering and Sciences!
Just your enthusiasm
for your classes and extracurriculars is the only thing that
will convince
them! If you know of an event in the community or at school
where your friends
can see demos of experiments or science projects, that might
convince them.
People have to experience things on their own in order to
be convinced. Also,
what is boring to them, may not be boring to you, and vice
versa. You just have
different interests - that's what makes the world work!
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A: FROM MENTEE SARAH IN CO
Science, Engineering and Tecnology are some of the fastest
growing career
fields today. You can explain to them that being a girl, you
have many
opportunities to succeed in these areas. Compare some of the
cool things you
learn in these classes to TV shows such as CSI, ER, Law and
Order, The Agency
or many others. In these shows, they use fingerprinting, DNA
electrophoresis,
DNA sequencing, genetic engineering, computer bioinformatics
and much more to
solve crimes or mysteries. These situations are thrilling
and suspensful to
find out "Whodunit" or how are they going to fix
the problem. Maybe you
should tell your friends to take some of these types of classes
and they too
will see that 'hands on' projects are really fun and can be
used to everyday
life.
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