Welcome back! We're excited to get started with our 2012/2013 academic year, and hope you are to. To get things started, here's Matt Krott (Senior, Mechanical Engineering) telling us all about our recent Engineering Ambassador National Workshop.
From August 17-19, the Engineering Ambassadors program took a huge step in being recognized on a national level. Over that weekend, students from 18 universities (and 3 continents!) were our guests at the Nittany Lion Inn for the first ever Engineering Ambassadors National Workshop.
Students and faculty from these universities signed up for a workshop that was incredibly busy yet rewarding. While students in attendance received a crash course in building effective presentations, the faculty from their respective schools met with representatives from organizations like the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Science Foundation and laid the foundation for these Engineering Ambassador programs across the country to form a national network. Together, we hope to enhance the messages that we create and help each other to change the conversations that younger generations are having about engineering.
Ambassadors from Penn State, as well as students from our partner programs at WPI, RPI, UConn, and the Simula Research Lab (Norway), played a big role in the success of the workshop by serving as mentors to the students from the attending universities. It was incredibly rewarding to watch these groups’ presentations evolve into full-fledged, 15-minute talks that show how engineers make a difference and contribute to the health, happiness and safety of society. Many of us formed true friendships with our groups, and we cannot wait to see what these new Ambassador programs can come up with in the future!
