GeoEngineers’ senior environmental geologist Rob Leet, PhD, LG; geotechnical engineer Dan Ciani, PE and senior hydrogeologist Joel Purdy, LG participated in the 2012 Engineering Fair held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle (WA) on February 11th. The annual fair is sponsored by the Puget Sound Engineering Council as part of National Engineers Week, February 19-24, 2012.
Rob, Dan, Joel and other post members manned the booth sponsored by the Seattle Post of SAME, the Society of American Military Engineers. Rob is the Individual Membership Chair for the Seattle Post. In 2011, the Seattle Post awarded over $20,000 in scholarships to students pursuing bachelor of science degrees in engineering, science or technology.
At the fair, representatives from engineering societies and colleges from around the Puget Sound talked with kids about what engineers do and offered special activities for kindergarteners and elementary, middle school and high school students. Engineers who participated in this year’s fair represented many kinds of engineering, including civil, geotechnical, environmental, electrical, industrial, manufacturing and mechanical.
After the event, Rob commented, “GeoEngineers has a strong commitment to increasing STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—education in the schools. It feels good to be contributing to that goal through this event.”
Joel added, “The multi-colored food coloring flowing through the groundwater model always catches the kids’ eyes from across the room. Once they’re at the booth, we can explain how water moves through the ground and reaches the lakes, rivers and wells. I am amazed at the genuine curiosity the young kids have about the model and the level of understanding, based on their questions. The parents seem to have great interest, too.”
