Engineers Do Make a Difference

-- Kimberly Chapple

I'm told Layer One is a term familiar to all of you design engineers. Designfax senior editor Richard Mandel named this page back when we began the section at the end of last year. It was his idea that Layer One would contain the interesting story of one design engineer anywhere in the world. We've written about a handful of you from OEMs, universities and hospitals, including Siemens Corp. engineer Chris Richardson who invented a novel mine detector and Dr. Jacob Tal of Galil Motion Control who goes from teacher to engineer to teacher. In May, we highlighted Dr. Paul MacCready -- father of human-powered flight -- an engineer with whom most of you are familiar.

The page continues to evolve.

This month I was trying to figure out who we were going to write about. I thought I should tie it into the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, where kids obsessed with technology turned on their fellow kids under the very noses of those adults closest to them, their parents and their teachers. A soundbite caught my ear -- someone saying "these boys were different...they weren't into sports, they were into technology." And I thought, well, that's not really that different. It's just that maybe they didn't know about the good things technology could be used for and maybe if they had, this might not have occurred. Then I thought, well, everyone and their brother is writing about this tragedy. Do I need to rub it in peoples' faces any more? What can I say that's different from any other perspective?

At the very moment I was pondering whether or not to write about it, I learned that right downstairs in my very own building was an armed guard posted due to threats of an ex-employee of another tenant in our complex. I thought "good thing we're moving across the street" and found out, no, there's an armed guard there, too -- this time due to a disgruntled stock owner. Even though I'm a writer, I still can't put into words the feeling that washed over me that day. I had my answer.

Now who would I write about? I couldn't pick one engineer. I felt the need to write about all engineers who could help these technically-savvy (or lacking) kids. But how could I tell people who are obviously very busy working on important things what to do when I'm not even doing it myself? So I went searching for an engineer who was already doing it, already helping. And I didn't have to look far. It seemed every time I opened the newspaper there was a story about an engineer who was doing some good for the world. There's David Fink, former Disney Imagineer and Sony executive, who took over as president and CEO of Inventure Place in Akron. He believes in "taking Inventure Place's most precious commodity -- Hall of Fame inductees -- out of the lab and into lecture halls at colleges and universities across the country. 'We want to take them out into the real world where they can inspire and educate,' says Fink. And give Inventure Place a little PR in the process." (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sunday Magazine, 5/2/99.) Another PD Sunday Magazine piece (4/25/99) entitled Good Will 101: Forget your Eighties ideas about money-grubbing engineers. A new course at Case Western Reserve University has students trading in their power suits for worn Levis includes a quote from James Wagner, dean of the CWRU School of Engineering, proclaiming, "an engineer's ultimate responsibility is to society." Then, my childcare provider's daughter attended a community service event where one award recipient was Jo Ann Charleston, a "scientist, pastor, community leader and, above all, a motivator...who as division chief for the office of educational programs at NASA Lewis Research Center, has utilized her position to empower young people and excite them about math and science." (Source: 5/7/99 Greater Cleveland Women of Achievement awards luncheon program.)

Well engineers, thank you. It looks like you're already doing it. You're making a difference (at least in Cleveland, anyway). Let me hear what the rest of you are doing. At Designfax, we'll be happy to write about it. And we'll be happy to thank you as many times as it takes to make this world a better place to live.

kchapple@designfax.net