Engineers As Marketers

Marketing is a problem for engineers.

At the ASEE K-12 event, there was discussion about how we (as engineering educators) market careers in engineering. Students are told in high school that they have to be excellent in math and science, be willing to work more hours than most of their peers, and not have a date to the prom. Yet, we can't figure out why the enrollment numbers are going down. Our message isn't working.

Steve Grant, the VP of Intel said that math has been the gatekeeeper to engineering and we need to change that. Not every student that is good at math will make a good engineer and not every student that isn't so good at math will make a bad engineer. When I was in college, the advice that kept me in the college of engineering was that the world needs all kinds of engineers. There is strength in diversity.

To market to the majority of students, we need to relay our message with more color. Show engineers as compassionate, show engineering as heroic, show engineering as a way to contribute to society and as a way to make a difference. Overall, that seemed to be the message that we are not conveying. Especially with girls...many are dropping out of engineering because they want to help people. We are in one of the most helpful professions! We need to figure out how to show students how much we do for the world.

Marketing example: At the Engineering Education Service Center (EESC), we just put out a DVD called "Engineers Can Do Anything!" Originally, we (35+ years old - engineers and educators) were trying to put it together in-house. About half way through the project, we realized that maybe we didn't really know what drives a 15 year old kid to think about their career. So, we started over by hiring a 20 year old skateboarding multimedia student to do it for us. Rest assured, it came out much different than what we were putting together! After showing it to hundreds of middle and high school students, I can tell you it was an excellent decision. The kids at every showing were completely engaged! It was great and they now think that engineering isn't so "super- scientific and only for certain people" as one 8th grade girl told me.

What can we do to market our profession better? What are you doing that may be creative and/or innovative?

Celeste Baine
Director - Engineering Education Service Center
http://www.engineeringedu.com