Nine high school students from the Oklahoma City metro area recently visited Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) and experienced what it’s like to participate in several different engineering careers. MMAC partnered with the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) to host an "Engineer-For-A-Day" event. This opportunity allowed sophomore, junior, and senior high school students to visit the world of FAA engineering and get a first-hand look at several different engineering disciplines.
Kyle Daniel, Professional Mechanical Engineer and AMP-300 Operations and Maintenance Team Lead, organized and led the event. According to Kyle, this was an opportunity to "highlight engineering as a profession and show young people what an engineer does." He noted that there is a shortage of qualified professional engineers and many more are needed to fill a vast number of current and future engineering positions. The Engineer-For-A-Day event helped bridge that gap by taking students that are interested in engineering and showing them the engineering career possibilities that exist. Kyle pointed out that students may not know about the many different roles that exist within the various engineering disciplines. Engineer-For-A-Day allows students to see engineers and the systems, equipment, and processes they oversee in action.
The students’ day started with a briefing by several resident FAA engineers, including Rod Vargas (mechanical engineer), Bruce Davis (industrial and mechanical engineer), John Akin (mechanical engineer), and Bob Bruce (electrical engineer). Afterwards, they toured several different facilities to see engineers in action. The students visited with several electrical engineers as they toured Building 232, Power and Training Support Facility. They learned about the role engineers play in maintaining emergency back-up power to radar systems with generators and UPS systems. Another tour stop was the National Highway & Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) where they learned about aircraft crash investigations. Finally, the students saw the MMAC Central Command Management System (CCMS), the Center’s building automation control system, an integral component of MMAC Contingency Planning/Disaster Response.
One of the students expressed appreciation for the opportunity to attend this event. "I would like to say thank you for….explaining how each different type of engineer plays a part in the FAA and how their jobs intertwine and meet together to develop new ideas and research for the benefit of society." Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center is proud to partner with the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers and be able to host tomorrow’s engineers.
