Engineering Ambassadors Take San Diego! - Lola Buonomo

ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) invited Engineering Ambassadors to speak at the 2013 ASME International ME Education Leadership Summit. With all the demand and interest in Engineering Ambassadors, it is quickly turning into a national network. The purpose of this trip was to help ASME understand exactly what our program does and how we fulfill their aspirations to improve diversity in mechanical engineering. In order to turn Engineering Ambassadors into a true national network, we need support of the structure and scale. We gave a ten minute presentation on the program and a ten minute sample outreach presentation. We feel it is better to show not tell. So for ASME to truly understand Engineering Ambassadors we brought them back to their high school physics class for an EA presentation on robotics. We were speaking to a fairly large group comprised of Mechanical Engineering Department Heads, CEOs, and ASME officers. In the weeks of preparation leading to the event I was sure I would be nervous standing up there giving this talk. But something happened between the hours of preparation and practice runs. I finally realized I was talking about something I loved. I didn’t have to memorize facts or fake any enthusiasm. This organization is what I am passionate about and all I am doing is sharing that with others. Once I had this realization I was excited to speak in front of everyone. Getting up there and giving the presentation was just icing on the cake.

Kathleen and I embarked on this adventure together with some five star treatment as we walked on the tar mat to get to our airplane. (That’s how big our State College airport is.) Some many hours later we touched down in San Diego ready for this trip of a lifetime. Prepared only to attend meetings and give presentations of the Engineering Ambassadors program, we had no idea what we were really in store for. Everyone was so positive and interested in the organization and the work we were doing. I immediately felt our mission growing and reaching more schools across the nation. It was an extremely rewarding experience!

Aside from the presentations, Kathleen and I had the chance to spend every other waking minute outside! From finding trees to climb to beaches to play on I felt like a kid again. We walked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Even the 3 mile walk from dinner on the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier back to our hotel with Dr. Karen Thole, Christine Haas, and many more ASME members. This was such an amazing experience and I am so lucky I got to spend it with my best friend. I’ve put together a little video montage of our trip to show just how incredible it really was. Enjoy!