Contact: Bob Ratliff
The importance of 21st century communication skills will get the spotlight Feb. 20-25 during National Engineers Week 2000 at Mississippi State University.
One week during the month is set aside annually by more than 100 national organizations and corporations to increase public awareness of the engineering profession.
"The national theme for this year's activities is 'engineers communicating ideas for the 21st century,' and we're incorporating that message in our engineers week programs at Mississippi State," said Dean Wayne Bennett.
During the week, posters and other displays related to research by engineering students will be on display on the third floor of Mitchell Memorial Library.
"Women in Engineering" is the title for Monday [the 21st] activities. Karan Watson, associate engineering dean of graduate and undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University, will speak at a 7:30 a.m. breakfast in the Leo Seal M-Club and again at a noon luncheon in the Colvard Union ballroom.
In 1997, Watson received a U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Technology Mentoring.
On Tuesday [the 22nd], a 2 p.m. Union small auditorium presentation on supercomputing advances features Louis Turcotte, assistant for technology at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg. Turcotte has been involved in high performance computing for more than 20 years and will chair Supercomputing 2000, a November gathering of world high performance computing leaders in Dallas, Texas.
Wednesday [the 23rd] programs involve an E-Olympics competition for engineering students on the Drill Field and a 2 p.m. student public speaking competition sponsored by the college chapter of Toastmasters. Also, a 3 p.m. judging of research posters will take place in Mitchell Memorial Library.
On Thursday [the 24th], the college honors eight distinguished alumni at a 7 p.m. banquet in the Union ballroom.
The concluding Friday [the 25th] schedule includes:
--High School Student Day, which draws participants from around the state and involves tours of engineering research facilities and a variety of departmental displays in the union.
--A 10:30 a.m. public program led by Marshall Jones of Glenville, N.Y., General Electric Corporate Research and Development senior engineer and project leader. A pioneer in research with lasers and robots, Jones, who will discuss engineering career opportunities, has earned more than 60 foreign and U.S. patents for his inventions.