NEW YORK CITY — The Metropolitan (MET) Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in collaboration with NYC Public Schools and the Salvadori Center, hosted more than 200 high school and middle school students at its Cities of the Future Screening & Engineering Design Experience at the New York Hall of Science. The event aligns with NYC Public Schools’ Student Pathways Initiatives, the goal of which is to ensure every graduate is equipped for college and career success with a foundation of academic excellence, essential real-world skills and hands-on experience, a valuable college and career head start.
The program included a screening of ASCE’s IMAX film Cities of the Future, which explores how civil engineers and engineering innovations will reshape our communities to meet evolving needs for the next 50 years. The event also included sessions on sustainability and resilience, panel discussions with experienced civil engineers, and hands-on engineering challenges to give students a sense of the kinds of projects they could explore.
After the film and panel, students explored New York Hall of Science’s “City Works” exhibit and participated in an engineering design challenge by the Salvadori Center, a nonprofit that introduces young people to careers in the built environment. A high school teacher from Manhattan observed, “I see students super connected. They are so excited and are connecting all the dots and missing gaps they had within their thought process. I’m really excited something like this was offered.” Angel, one of the high school participants, reflected, “It was very nice to have speakers and people who were actually in the field of civil engineering. It was nice to ask questions and engage with people who are in engineering.”
Despite record federal investments in U.S. infrastructure creating more opportunities than ever before, the civil engineering workforce is tens of thousands of engineers short of what is needed to complete the available civil infrastructure projects we depend on for safe transportation, clean water, and reliable electricity for residences and businesses. Today’s learning experience and networking opportunities with established engineering professionals showcased the benefits of a career in engineering, both from a personal career perspective and the many ways these careers benefit our communities.
This program was made possible with generous support from the ASCE Foundation and the UEF Foundation. To learn more about the program, please contact Kevin Longley, ASCE Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations.
Photos of the event here.
About the American Society of Civil Engineers
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 160,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.