Workshop: Formulating a Successful Engineering Ambassador Program

工程大使计划起源于宾夕法尼亚州立大学工程学院，其使命是增加寻求工程学位的人的多样性，并加强目前寻求工程学位的人的沟通和领导能力。为了增加多样性，该计划强调将正确的信使（具有先进沟通技巧的大学工程专业学生）与正确的信息（工程有助于我们日常生活的健康，幸福和安全）放在初中和高中班级的前面。此外，该方案还赋予这些信使先进的介绍战略，以有效地传播信息。来自美国各地的许多教师和部门负责人表示有兴趣在自己的机构效仿大使计划。该项目需要组织一个讲习班，向另外20所大学传播成功的工程大使方案。智力优势：尽管许多努力告知公众有关工程的职业机会，仍然有许多高中学生，教师和指导顾问对工程是什么缺乏理解。另一个问题是，大多数工程专业的学生很少有机会在课堂外进行公开演讲，这一点乍看起来似乎无关紧要。学生缺乏公开演讲的经验，课堂上教授的演讲原则缺乏基础，这导致业界不断发表评论，指出学生需要有很强的公开演讲技能。这个程序的智力价值在于用一个程序解决这两个问题。首先，该计划旨在教育不仅高中学生，而且他们的教师和指导顾问，对存在与工程学位的机会。此外，该计划为我们的工程专业学生提供了一个独特的机会，通过为他们提供一个课堂外的公开演讲机会，这将有助于提供信心，从而更好地接受先进的沟通技巧教育。更广泛的影响：拟议的研讨会的更广泛的影响将是（1）加强参与工程大使计划的学生的沟通技巧，从而使公众更加知情，（2）通过使用国家工程院推广的信息，招募不同的学生来学习工程。该研讨会还提供了一个建立全国工程大使社区的机会。

The mission of the Engineering Ambassador Program, which originated in the College of Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, is to increase the diversity of those seeking engineering degrees and to strengthen the communication and leadership skills of those currently seeking engineering degrees. To increase the diversity, the Program emphasizes placing the right messenger (college engineering students with advanced communication skills) with the right message (engineering contributes to the health, happiness, and safety of our everyday lives) in front of middle and high school classes. In addition, the Program has empowered these messengers with advanced presentation strategies to communicate the message effectively. Numerous faculty and department heads from across the United States are expressing interest in emulating the Ambassadors program at their own institutions. This project entails the organization of a workshop to disseminate the successful Engineering Ambassador Program to 20 more universities. Intellectual Merit: Despite the many efforts to inform the public about the career opportunities in engineering, there is still a dramatic lack of understanding by many high school students, teachers, and guidance counselors about what engineering is. Another problem, which at first might seem unrelated, is that few opportunities are given to most engineering students for public speaking that takes place outside of the classroom. This lack of public speaking experience by students and lack of grounding of presentation principles taught in the classroom has led to continued comments from industry indicating the need for students to have strong public speaking skills. The intellectual merit of this program lies in addressing both of these problems with one program. First, the program seeks to educate not only the high school students, but also their teachers and guidance counselors, on the opportunities that exist with an engineering degree. In addition, the program provides a unique opportunity for our engineering students to be better educated in advanced communication skills by giving them an out-of-the-classroom public speaking opportunity that will help to provide confidence. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of the proposed workshop will be to (1) strengthen the communication skills of those students participating in the Engineering Ambassador Program leading to a more informed public, and (2) recruit a diverse population of students to study engineering by using the messages promoted by the National Academy of Engineering. This workshop also provides an opportunity to establish a national community of Engineering Ambassadors.