Design Contests & Competitions
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bdfloyd
An Engineer is an artist who wants to know why.
koldeng
I agree that middle-schoolers are quite bright individuals...and even younger ...
Engineer: Defined
Naomi Price
6/1/2012 2:14 PM EDT
The students have voted and we have two winning definitions in the inaugural "Define Yourself" contest. High-school and middle-school students were asked to vote separately to choose the definition for "Engineer" that they found the clearest and most understandable, while also being interesting and inspirational. Their choices give some insight into the two age groups' different priorities:
Out of the final five definitions from the EE Times readers, the high schoolers chose, "An engineer designs an optimal solution to a problem using available parts, processes, and materials. Sometimes this includes invention of new parts, processes, or materials." from RWatkins with 44% of the votes. This literal definition that emphasizes the problem-solving challenges of engineering seemed to catch the older students' imaginations.
The middle-school students went for the more poetic and I think lofty definition. Their highest-ranking was, "An engineer is someone who takes the creativity of an artist, the knowledge of a scientist, the imagination of a writer, and the stamina of an athlete and turns science fiction into reality." with 67% of the votes and it came from snakinator.
RWatkins and snakinator will each receive a Certificate of Brilliance designed by illustrator Daniel Guidera showing their definitions.
Voting for the best definition of "Hacker" will begin soon!
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dczh716
6/1/2012 3:04 PM EDT
pretty good definitions, except that most engineers don't design anything.
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Redandgearhead
6/1/2012 4:12 PM EDT
So, do you think most kids would pick a description discussing PowerPoint presentations?
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t.alex
6/10/2012 1:01 AM EDT
Well this depends on the definition of 'design' here.
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EREBUS
6/1/2012 4:47 PM EDT
I thought the last one was spot on. If you are not designing anything, then you are not an engineer. QED!
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Tiger Joe
6/13/2012 6:00 PM EDT
In that case, there are engineers that exist only on paper (i.e. have the degree and PE license), and there are engineers that exist in practice (technicians, mechanics, and many others with less formal training).
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Bert22306
6/4/2012 4:10 PM EDT
Surprisingly cool definitions, given that at those ages, I hardly knew what engineering was. Mostly, I figured it out junior year in high school, when busy trying to come up with a major for college.
Before then, I assumed science and engineering were pretty much the same thing.
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DrewGuckenberger
6/6/2012 3:39 AM EDT
When my son was 4, he defined it this way, which I still really like:
"An engineer is someone who keeps growing.
An adult is someone who stops growing."
He said he wanted to be an engineer when he grew up, not an adult....
It's still posted in my cube as a daily reminder to avoid complacency and keep growing.
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GordonScott
6/6/2012 9:46 AM EDT
A mathematician, a scientist and an engineer are given with a problem to resolve for a great prize. They can take up to 10 steps to reach a target, but each step must be no greater than half the size of the previous step.
The mathematician declares it mathematically impossible.
The scientist says it appears impossible but will try it, which he does and proves it's impossible.
The engineer thinks a bit and says "ten steps gives us an answer to better than 0.1%, which is within reasonable measurement tolerances for this problem, I claim the prize".
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VectorForce
6/6/2012 2:55 PM EDT
Actually, the problem would have to be each step is less than half the distance to the target. As worded, just take one step all the way to the target.
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donq_#1
6/8/2012 5:53 PM EDT
Or, just initially aim well past the target and stop before you get there.
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RWatkins
6/11/2012 10:32 PM EDT
Mr VectorForce, please put your engineering hat on, develop a design that fits the problem at hand, and declare that your first step will be 512/1023 of the distance to the target, then your steps will be
512, 768, 896, 960, 992, 1008, 1016, 1020, 1022, and finally 1023 parts of the 1023 divisor. QED! Our job as engineers is not to question IF it can be done, but determine HOW to do it.
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Man21
6/23/2012 5:10 AM EDT
A quote from the eminent 'engineer' Theodore von Karman:
'Scientists study what is. Engineers create what has has never been.'
Scott Hamilton.
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abraxalito
6/29/2012 10:40 PM EDT
I'm with the middle schoolers. The question that interests me is - what are we doing with our middle schoolers to turn them into high schoolers? The difference in the two choices says to me that somehow we're maybe knocking the stuffing out of them.
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koldeng
8/29/2012 3:01 PM EDT
I agree that middle-schoolers are quite bright individuals...and even younger than that!
When I was just 7 years old, I wrote out my theory of how the planets formed by the accretion of dust particles (I still have the paper!), only to be laughed at by my science teacher. Many years later, that same theory was embraced by cosmologists...never underestimate a child's imagination!
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bdfloyd
9/7/2012 1:53 PM EDT
An Engineer is an artist who wants to know why.
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