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02.11

Changing the Conversation: About Engineering

On 30 November and 1 December 2010, at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, DC, several dozen high-level representatives of industry, government, academia and professional societies (including the IEEE) met to galvanize support for a coordinated, national messaging campaign about engineering — incorporating the National Academy of Engineering’s core public-outreach messages. Co-chairing the stakeholders’ workshop on “Changing the Conversation: From Research to Action,” were: National Academy of Engineering (NAE) President Chuck Vest and DuPont Board Chair/CEO Ellen Kullman.

Background

Since the 1980s, the NAE has sought to measure public attitudes toward engineering and technology and to raise public awareness of engineering. More recently, in April 2001, with funding from the Bechtel Foundation, the NAE initiated a new project to develop an inventory of current outreach programs for improving public awareness of engineering, which culminated in the 2002 publication of Raising Public Awareness of Engineering.

This study projected that total expenditures by engineering organizations could be as high as $400 million not including volunteers’ time. It recommended a “coordinated campaign” to improve public understanding of engineering with both short- and long-term actions, including agreement on consistent messages used throughout the community.

As a follow-up, on 5 March 2003, the NAE organized a workshop on promoting engineering awareness to define a vision, measurements of success, common messages and coordinated action. In 2008, the NAE published Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering, which called on the engineering profession to recast itself “as inherently creative and concerned with human welfare, as well as an emotionally satisfying calling” through core messages and associated taglines.

The core messages are:

·         Engineers make a world of difference.

·         Engineers are creative problem-solvers.

·         Engineers help shape the future.

·         Engineering is essential to our health, happiness and safety.

“Changing the Conversation” Stakeholders’ Workshop

In the workshop held at the end of 2010, attendees considered how polling and research reflects the limited understanding of most Americans on how engineers contribute to technological innovations and improve the world. NAE President Vest emphasized that this lack of knowledge makes it hard to attract young Americans, especially women and under-represented minorities, into engineering, which adds to the nation’s strength, national security and quality of life.

The attendees reviewed an early version of an online messaging resource, or toolkit, to be used by the engineering community for more effective and coordinate messaging. They also sketched out a strategic and tactical action plan “to promote a more positive and accurate image of engineering.”

The new “Changing the Conversation” website received a soft launch on 18 January and can be viewed at http://www.engineeringmessages.org/. The engineering community is encouraged to add its voice to the site, as individuals and by citing examples of effective messaging within their organizations. The website will be fully unveiled as soon as March.

During the workshop, the group considered the following priority actions:

·         Companies that fund others to conduct engineering outreach should ask those organizations to use the changing the conversation (CTC) messages and companies should try to align their own websites (including HR and recruiting) with the CTC messages.

·         Engineering schools should promote the CTC website and messages, including through their students who do outreach to K-12 schools.

·         All professional societies should endorse a common memorandum of understanding regarding use of the CTC messages and work with their members to help them adopt these messages.

Additionally, at the workshop, IEEE-USA Communications/Public Awareness Vice President Nita Patel joined a panel on how to use CTC messages, describing IEEE-USA’s “How Engineers Make a World of Difference” online video undergraduate scholarship competition. [See CTC website link at http://www.engineeringmessages.org/23673/26035.aspx.] Since 1981, IEEE-USA has collaborated with the AAAS, American Association of Engineering Societies, the Engineers Week Foundation, and NAE in promoting public understanding of engineering.

In March, the NAE is planning to hold a webinar or teleconference to update the workshop participants on progress made and future plans. NAE’s Committee on Implementing Engineering Messages includes: NAE’s Vest , DuPont’s Kullman, IEEE Executive Director James Prendergast , National Engineers Week Foundation Executive Director Leslie Collins, Georgia Tech Engineering College Dean Don Giddens, Gearon Hoffman President/Chief Creative Officer Bob Hoffman, Keiler and Co. Executive Creative Director Virginia Kramer, and Society of Women Engineers CEO/Executive Director Elizabeth Shanahan.

Pender M. McCarter, APR, Fellow PRSA, is senior public-relations counselor at IEEE-USA in Washington and provides PR counsel on promoting engineering awareness, technological literacy and engineering diversity. McCarter retired from the IEEE in January, 2007, after 25 years of employment, as IEEE-USA Director of Communications & Public Relations. His career spans more than 40 years in education, journalism and public relations.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.